case studies Flashcards
(30 cards)
why was Phineas Gage’s case so important?
it helped establish the link between brain function and personality
what happened to phineas gage?
Phineas Gage suffered an injury to the skull and front left part of the brain. (responsible for personality, emotions and problem solving.)
what was the effects of phineas gages injury
After his injury his friends observed that his personality seemed to change and become more angry and agressive.
who was walter freeman?
an american neurologist in the early 1900’s
what did walter freeman aim to do?
to find a surgical solution for various mental disorders such as depression and schizophrenia
he thought he could alleviate patients suffering and improve their emotional and behavioural regulation by performing a prefrontal lobotomy
what was the ‘ice pick method’ walter freeman developed?
inserting a sharp instrument resembling and ice pick, through the eye socket into the brain where it was moved back and forth to server the connections
this was done with no anesthesia and not in a sterile environment. Eventually Freeman did 2 at a time (1 with each hand) for efficiency)
what were the long term side effects of the ice pick lobotomy?
cognitive impairments, personality changes, diminished emotional responses.
what was the aim of roger sperrys split brain study
to investigate how the 2 hemispheres of the brain function independently
who did roger sperry do this experiment on
on individuals who had undergone surgery to severe their corpus callosum
cats and monkeys
what methods were used in roger sperrys study
- presenting images to only 1 visual field
- flashed briefly
- asked to describe or draw what they saw
what were the key findings of roger sperrys study
-the human brain has specialised function and can work independently
-language in left
-spatial in right
how did sperrys work contribute to psychology
what were the limitations of sperrys work
-small sample
-no control group
- each patient had a different level of corpus servering
what was the aim of Harlow’s monkey experiment
to investigate whether contact comfort or the provision of food is more important when forming infant-mother attachment in rhesus monkeys
who were the participants of harlow’s experiment
8 newborn Rhesus monkeys
what were the 2 groups in harlows experiment
monkeys with surrogate mother and monkeys with normal mothers
what year did Harlow do his monkey experiment
1958
independent variable of harlow’s experiment
whether the milk bottle was attached to the cloth or wire meshed surrogate
dependant variable of harlow’s experiment
the time spent on the surrogates
what were the results of harlow’s experiment
monkeys spent more time feeding on the cloth mother by a significant amount
why did harlow use Rhesus monkeys
because of their similar DNA to humans
what was the method of harlow’s experiment
- the newborn monkeys were immediately separated from their mothers
- before the experiment began the monkeys were placed into an individual cages with a cloth blanket
- next they put the monkeys in a controlled and isolated room that contained the 2 artificial monkeys: the cloth mother and the wire mother
what was the monkey’s reaction to their cloth blanket being taken and washed and why was this interesting
they showed intense emotional distress and this was curious because it contradicted the idea attachment was because of food
how were the 2 surrogate mothers different in harlow’s experiment
cloth mother: is made out of the cloth the monkey shad in their cages
wire mother: is made out of just wires with a milk bottle attached.
