clinical case studies and experiments

Question 1

what is a clinical case study

Answer 1

an in depth study where multiple sources of data are gathered about a unique person ,group or situation

Question 2

what is primary and secondary data

Answer 2

Primary data Is data collected directly by the researcher, directly from the source

secondary data Is data that has been collected by someone other than the original researcher

Question 3

compare case studies to experimental studies

Answer 3

CASE VS EXPERIMENTAL
individual vs group (averages taken)
atypical people vs typical people
broad focus vs narrow focus

Question 4

give ways in which case studies are useful to psychologists

Answer 4

1)lots of info gathered about the pp=rich insight
2)studied over long periods of times helping to understand how cog psych can change longitudinally
3)case studies of brain injury patients allows us to investigate relationship between cognitive and bio processes
4)allow us to test our theories of cognitive processes in ways you can’t do in an experiment (deliberately hurting a brain)

Question 5

gives some weaknesses of using case studies as evidence in cog psych

Answer 5

1)each case is unique so the changes to cognition are also unique therefore the study can’t be generalised to non injured people
2)rare to know exactly which brain areas are injured as brain injury can be widespread so can’t be confident when drawing conclusions about the relationship between brain struc and cognition
3)lack of info on individual before brain injury means we can’t assume that the change to their cog is caused by the injury and wasn’t already there

Question 6

what happened to HM

Answer 6

through a surgical procedure intended to cure him of seizures, he lost the ability to make new memories but retained old ones

Question 7

what did the surgery consist of

Answer 7

removed the hippocampus from both sides of the brain as its importance was not known then

Question 8

explain what happened to HM’s memory after the surgery

Answer 8

-unable to store info into his ltm
-could teach him new skills but he didn’t remember being taught them
-developed anterograde amnesia
-it was as if he lived a continuous loop of time as he forgot things immediately after they happened
-never showed any signs of remembering the researcher (milner) even after 50 years of working together
-did smal experiments like drawing shapes whilst looking into a mirror ,discovered that he got better at it over time (rehearsal)

Question 9

what is anterograde amnesia

Answer 9

inability to take thing from stm to ltm to form memories

Question 10

what is retrograde amnesia

Answer 10

Inability to remember events that occurred before the incidence of trauma

Question 11

what happened to CW

Answer 11

-started of with headaches, then a fever and then forgets his daughters name
-bilateral destruction of the hippocampus and damage to the left of the frontal lobe
-he had viral encephalitis (inflammation in the brain caused by viral infection)
-destruction of hippocampus led to losing brain tissue

Question 12

how could the damage to CWs memory be seen in his actions

Answer 12

-anterograde amnesia; wrote stuff in his diary but didn’t recall writing them, recognises his writing but claims that someone else writing fake entries or that he was unconscious when he wrote them

Question 13

what could potentially explain CWs angry outbursts and heightened emotional state when shown his diary

Answer 13

1)damaged hippocampus potentially affecting his threat interpretation
2)damage to frontal lobe could effect/impair his impulse control
3)simply a frustrating situation as he now lives in a disturbing world

Question 14

what are some similarities between the case studies of CW and HM

Answer 14

-damage to hippocampus
-continuous loop of time (anterograde amnesia)
-retrograde amnesia; CW couldnt remember his duaghters name and HM couldnt remember Milner

Question 15

what are some differences between the case studies of CW and HM

Answer 15

-hippocampus completely removed in HM but still there in CW, only damaged
-diffused and widespread damage in CW as caused by an infection but easier to locate damage in HM
-HM was calm and friendly (no heightened emotions),CW wasn’t as calm

Question 16

what is declarative memory?

Answer 16

memory of facts and events

Question 17

what is procedural memory

Answer 17

type of implicit memory that stores information about how to do things (motor skills)

Question 18

how can the cases of HM and CW support the msm?

Answer 18

dissociatation between the LTM and STM

Question 19

how can the cases of HM and CW challenge the msm?

Answer 19

-challenges idea of maintenence rehearsal as even though the both used rehearsal they were still unable to encode into their LTM suggesting that it is not only rehearsal that effects this coding
-if there was more than one memory store then all his ability to do any skills would have been impaired however HMs motor skills were still intact suggesting that the LTM has more than one part as this is procedural (declarative and procedural)

Question 20

what is an experimental study

Answer 20

when the researcher deliberately changes one thing in order to find out if it has an effect on another thing

Question 21

why are experimental studies so important

Answer 21

they are the only research design that tells you weather one variable has a causal influence on another variable

Question 22

what 4 things make up an experiment

Answer 22

1)manipulation of an IV (two or more conditions)
2)measurement of a DV in each condition
3)all other variables are controlled
4)shows causal relationships

Question 23

What is an IV (Independent Variable)?

Answer 23

what the experimenter will deliberately change or manipulate in the investigation

Question 24

What is the DV (dependent variable)?

Answer 24

the variable being measured

Question 25

what is a confounding variable

Answer 25

any systematic condition apart from the IV

Question 26

what are the two problems with a confounding variable

Answer 26

1)any difference between the DV conditions might have been caused by the uncontrolled variable so you may end up concluding that the IV affected the DV when it hasn't 2)the uncontrolled variable might cancel out effect of IV so you end up concluding that IV had no effect on the DV when it did

Question 27

what is an experimental design

Answer 27

how you have organised your conditions

Question 28

what are the 3 experimental designs

Answer 28

Independent groups, repeated measures and matched pairs

Question 29

explain the independent group design

Answer 29

recruiting a sample and dividing them into 2 groups randomly, each PP is only exposed to one of the conditions and the average scores are compared

Question 30

give some strengths of the independent group design

Answer 30

reduces demand characteristics as less likely to guess aim as only take part in one condition

Question 31

give some weaknesses of the independent group design

Answer 31

-groups will differ from each other -individual differences makes comparisons less reliable

Question 32

explain the repeated measure design

Answer 32

where both groups are exposed to both conditions

Question 33

what are some weaknesses of the repeated measure design

Answer 33

-inc chance of demand characteristics and more likely to guess the aim if exposed to all conditions -problems of order and effect; eg fatigue or boredom -exposure to previous condition could effect (improve or deteriorate) their performance in the 2nd condition

Question 34

how can we reduce problems with the repeated measure design

Answer 34

1-using diff materials to avoid practice however these lists need to be similar otherwise it introduces a new confound 2-control order effect by using randomisation or counterbalancing

Question 35

what is randomisation

Answer 35

selecting randomly which condition the PP does first

Question 36

what is counterbalancing

Answer 36

group one does condition B then A group two does condition A then B (ABBA)

Question 37

why can it be argued that repeated measure design is better than the independent group one

Answer 37

gets rid of any confounds of individual differences as it measures the same persons results against each other

Question 38

describe how the matched pair design works

Answer 38

recruiting one sample, looking at each individual and matching them with someone similar. One person from the pair does condition one, the other does condition 2

Question 39

what is a strength of the matched pair design

Answer 39

ensures that the conditions can be compared reliably and that any difference found between the results is due to the DV and not individual differences

Question 40

what some weaknesses of the matched pair design

Answer 40

-time consuming to recruit two well matched samples -difficult to match PP -small sample so if one drops out you lose 2 PP and if you can't find a match then you lose that PP

Question 41

explain how matched pair design>ID and RM

Answer 41

-removes demand characteristics -reduces confounding effect of individual differences -reduces effect of order and practice

Question 42

what are some strengths of correlational studies

Answer 42

often occur in a natural setting without manipulating variables so more reflective of real life behaviour

Question 43

what are some strengths of experimental studies over correlational studies

Answer 43

correlational studies are unable to draw conclusions about causality as there are 3 possible conclusions however in an experiment there is only one possible factor that could've caused the change