Key Studies Flashcards
(16 cards)
Åhs et al. (2009) - The amygdala in the perception of fearful stimuli
Aims: To investigate connections between phobias and activation of the amygdala
Methods:
- Participants were 16 Swedish females who identified as having fear of snakes or spiders
- Placed in brain imaging machine (PET)
- Shown various images of snakes or spiders and other neutral stimuli
Results:
- Activity in the amygdala was higher when they were perceiving images of the stimuli they were afraid of (i.e snakes and spiders) than when perceiving neutral images.
Conclusions:
- The amygdala plays an important role in fear as it helps to activate our flight/fight response when we see threatening stimuli
Robbins et al. (1996) - Dual task study of working memory “The chess study”
Aim: To see how interfering tasks would affect working memory performance
Methods:
- Participants were 20 male chess players from Cambridge, UK, ranging in abilities
- They had to view an arrangement of chess pieces and then recreate this arrangement on a new board
- Two conditions: verbal and visual/spatial interference… Verbal interference: repeated the word “the” while viewing the first chess set and also when recreating it
Visual/spatial interference: tapped a sequence into a keypad in their laps while viewing the first board and while recreating it
Results:
verbal: 16/25 (64%)
visual/spatial: 4/25 (16%)
Conclusions:
- Verbal interference leads to higher scores because participants can use two different working memory systems. Visuospatial interference uses up more visuospatial sketchpad capacity.
- If working memory was all one system, there would be no difference in scores between the groups
- This is evidence for the existence of different slave systems that control processes of different modalities of information
Loftus and Palmer (1974) - Leading questions and the misinformation effect “The car crash study”
Aim: To see if leading questions can create false memories
Methods:
- Students watched clips of car crashes (5 to 30 sec long)
- They were then given a series of questions to answer. The critical question was: “How fast was the car going when it …?”
- The IV was the verb used in the question and the DV was their speed estimates
- In a second experiment, only three conditions: “hit”, “smashed”, and no question, were included and after one week the participants were asked if they saw broken glass
Results:
- Stronger verbs led to higher average speed estimates
- Experiment 2: 32% of the “smashed” condition said they saw broken glass (compared to 14% in the “hit” condition and 12% in the control condition)
Conclusions: The higher intensity verb acts as false information and caused the misinformation effect by producing a false memory of something that didn’t happen. This suggests that memory is reconstructive in nature and the information we hear after an event can distort how we remember it.
Bandura, Ross and Ross (1961) - The Bobo doll experiment
Aim: To see if observing aggressive behaviour would affect aggressive behaviour
Methods:
- 72 boys and girls from Stanford Uni nursery (aged 2.5 - 5.5 yrs old)
- Three conditions:
1) Aggressive condition: kids observed an adult model acting aggressively towards a large inflatable clown doll
2) Nonaggressive condition: kids observed the adult model playing nicely with the doll
3) Control condition: kids did not observe a model
- Some kids watched a model of the same gender and others watched a model of a different gender
- Kids were then put in a room and observed for 20 mins
Results:
- Kids in the aggressive condition had higher rates of aggressive behaviour
- Boys who observed a male model and girls who observed a female model were more likely to imitate the behaviour
Conclusions:
- Observational learning: behaviour can be learned by observing others
- Identifying with the model could increase the likelihood of observed behaviour being imitated and learned
Berry (1967) - Cross-cultural comparison of conformity - Temne and Innuit
Aim: To compare conformity rates of people from two different types of cultures
Methods:
- Compared to the Temne people with Innuit people (as well as Scottish control group)
- Researchers used a variation of the Asch paradigm to measure conformity
- Also compared traditional and modern communities from each culture
Results:
- Temne people had higher rates of conformity than the Innuit (and Scottish)
- Traditional communities had higher rates of conformity than the modern communities across all cultures
Conclusions:
- Temne people need higher rates of cooperation in order to survive (because they are agricultural)
- The Innuit encourage more individualism as their method of gathering food doesn’t require as much cooperation as agricultural societies
- Enculturation processes are influenced by the values a culture needs to succeed
- Cultural norms and values can influence behaviour (e.g. conformity)
- Individualistic cultures (Innuit, Scottish) may conform less than collectivist ones (Temne)
Bransford and Johnson (1972) - Schema activation and comprehension “The laundry study”
Aim: To see how prior knowledge (schema) can influence comprehension and memory
Methods:
- Participants listened to a passage of information that was deliberately vague - the passage was about doing laundry
- Three conditions:
1) Title before
2) No title
3) Title after
- Two dependent variables: comprehension (self-scored), and memory (free recall test)
Results:
- Comprehension (out of 7):
Title - 4.5
No title - 2.3
Title after - 2.1
- Memory (out of 18):
Title - 5.8
No title - 2.8
Title after - 2.6
Conclusion: Schemas can improve comprehension and memory of new information because they enable us to relate new information to our existing knowledge of a subject
Peterson and Peterson (1959) - Duration of STM “The trigram study”
Aim: To test the duration of the short-term memory store
Methods:
- Participants tried to remember meaningless trigrams (e.g. PTR, MPT, XTB)
- After hearing trigrams, participants counted backwards in 3s from a random number to prevent rehearsal which stopped the information travelling to LTS
- Delays were 0, 6, 12, or 18 seconds
Results:
- As the time delay was increased, memory for the trigrams decreased
- After 18 seconds, there was almost zero recollection of the trigrams
Conclusions:
This study supports the following claims of the STS:
- the average duration of the STS is about 18 seconds
- our STS is limited in duration
- rehearsal is needed for information to transfer to the LTS from the STS
Milner and Scoville (1957) - Case Study of HM
Aim: To understand the role of the hippocampus in memory
Methods:
- Henry Molaison (HM) had his hippocampus removed to cure epilepsy
- After surgery, his epilepsy was better but he suffered amnesia
- Observations, interviews and tests were conducted
Results:
- His general personality and IQ were unaffected
- He could hold information in his STS if he kept rehearsing it, but it would not transfer to his LTS
- He was able to remember old memories from before the surgery but was not able to create new long-term memories
- The star-tracing test found that his procedural memory was intact but his declarative memory was damaged
Conclusions:
- The hippocampus plays an important role in memory consolidation (transfer to STS to LTS) but only for declarative memory
- MSM: memory needs to be transferred to LTS in order to be retrieved
- MSM biological evidence: if all our memories were in one store, HM would not be able to use one memory (STS) while being unable to transfer these to another (LTS)
Feinstein (2012) - Case study of SM
Aim: To see if the amygdala plays a role in the experience of fear
Methods:
- SM is a patient with bilateral amygdala damage due to a genetic condition
- Prior research showed she has impairment in fear recognition
- Researchers tested her fear response in three ways:
1) Exotic pet store (snakes, spiders, etc)
2) Haunted house
3) Scary film clips
- Questionnaires and interviews were used to gather data on life experiences relating to fear
Results:
- SM displayed no fear
- She could display other emotions, like happiness and excitement
- SM regularly finds herself in dangerous situations, like being held at knife point and being in an abusive relationship
Conclusions:
- The localisation of the amygdala is shown through the lack of fear response when the amygdala is not functioning as usual
- The role of the amygdala is to cause a fear response and this is a healthy evolutionary adaptation
Passamonti (2012) - Serotonin, tryptophan and the brain
Aim: To investigate whether a lack of serotonin would disrupt communication between the PFC and the amygdala
Methods:
- True experiment, repeated measures, double blind
- 30 healthy participants
- Participants drank a tryptophan depletion drink (reduce serotonin), or a placebo drink (on different days, in a randomized order to avoid an Order Effect
- Placed in an fMRI machine and viewed images of different types of faces - Angry / Sad / Neutral.
Results:
- When the participants drank the serotonin-depleting drink, they showed reduced function in their PFC when perceiving images of angry faces while in the fMRI.
- The results also showed that reduced serotonin disrupted the neural network communication between the amygdala and the PFC when viewing angry faces.
Conclusion: The reduced function in the PFC when exposed to angry faces (a threat) could explain serotonin’s link with aggression – people can’t inhibit their impulsive reaction to the threat because serotonin is affecting the part of the brain that helps us to stop acting impulsively.
Maguire et al. (2000) - Neuroplasticity in London taxi drivers
Aim: To investigate the role of the hippocampus in navigational and spatial skills, and the extent to which the brain shows changes (plasticity) to these areas
Methods:
- Quasi experiment involving 16 right handed male London taxi drivers + control group of 50 right handed males who did not drive taxis
- All of the participants were given an MRI scan. The scans from each group were compared to look for any structural differences between the taxi drivers and the non-taxi drivers.
Results:
- Increased grey matter was found in the brains of the taxi drivers, especially in the posterior hippocampus
- A positive correlation was found between the amount of time spent as a taxi driver and volume in the right posterior hippocampus.
- The control group of non-taxi drivers had a significantly larger greater volume of grey matter in the anterior hippocampi than the taxi drivers, suggesting that the grey matter in the taxi drivers had been redistributed.
Conclusion: The correlation between the spatial memory and changes in the posterior right hippocampus suggest neuroplasticity in response to experience / learning.
Kendler (2006) - Contribution of genetics in major depressive disorders
Aim: To determine the genetic vulnerability as a contributing factor in the development of major depressive disorder.
Methods:
- Correlational study, twin study, interviews
- 15, 493 twin pairs that were listed in the national Swedish twin registry
- Trained interviewers carried out telephone interviews. They assessed lifetime major depression by using modified DSM-IV criteria.
- The interviewers also asked questions about the twins’ “shared environment” (living in the same household) and their “individual-specific environment” (adult personal life events) that may make members of the twin pair more susceptible to depression.
Results:
- The results indicate that the concordance rates for major depression were significantly higher in women than men. In addition, the correlations were significantly higher in monozygotic twins (identical) than in dizygotic twins (fraternal).
Conclusion: This study suggests both that the heritability of major depression is higher in women than in men and that some genetic risk factors for major depression are sex-specific. In addition, the study confirms the level of heritability of major depression found in other studies, strengthening the reliability of European twin studies.
Lamm (2018) - Delayed gratification across cultures “The marshmallow test”
Aim: Investigate differences of delayed gratification across cultures
Methods:
- Quasi experiment, 201 four year old children (125 German, 76 Cameroonian)
- Each child sat in a room by themselves and they are given a marshmallow. The researcher tells them that if they wait ten minutes, they can get a second one. This is a test of their ability to delay gratification.
- In addition to the marshmallow test, the researchers gathered additional data on the values of the parents and their parenting styles through surveys and interviews.
Results:
- The results revealed that the Cameroonian children showed better delay-of-gratification performance than their German peers. Almost 70% of the Cameroonian kids were able to wait for a treat, compared to less than 30% of German kids.
- Revealed that culture-specific maternal socialization goals and interaction behaviours were related to delay-of-gratification performance. Cameroonian mothers’ focus on ‘hierarchical relational socialization’ goals (obeying and respecting elders) seems to support children’s delay-of-gratification performance more than German middle-class mothers’ emphasis on ‘psychological autonomous socialization’ goals (individuality and personal freedom) and sensitive, child-centered parenting.
Cialdini (1976) - Basking in Reflected Glory and Social Identity Theory
Aim: To investigate the tendency to associate oneself publicly with successful others
Methods:
- Part 1 (Field Experiment): fans from “football universities” clothing was observed following a big football game
- Results 1: Students tended to wear more apparel associating themselves with their own university football team following a win compared to when they lost
- Part 2 (Interviews): students were interviewed about the performance of their school’s football team following a game
- Results 2 - 32% of students referred to the team as “we” when describing victories. In contrast, only 18% used the word “we” when talking about their school’s team losing.
Conclusion: Social identity (the groups you belong to) play an important role in self-esteem. To maintain a strong sense of self-esteem, people tend to closely associate themselves with a group when it’s successful, and establish distance from a group when it fails
McGaugh & Cahill (1995) - The Role of Emotion in Memory Formation
Aim: To study the role of emotion in the creation of memories
Methods: True experiment. 18 participants were divided into two groups. Each groups saw 12 slides accompanied by either a boring story or an interesting one. After viewing the slides participants were asked to rank how emotional they found the story on a scale of 1-10. Two weeks later participants were tested on their memory of the stories. There was also a follow up study with a 3rd group who watched the interesting story but were injected with beta blockers which prevented activation of the amygdala and the release of adrenaline and coritsol.
Results: Participants who had heard the emotionally arousing story had a much better recall of the story. Participants who had received the beta blockers did no better than the group that heard the mundane story.
Conclusion: The amygdala plays a significant role in the creation of emotional memories linked to emotional arousal. It also shows that the hormones cortisol and adrenaline released during stress response helps in memory recall of emotional memories.
