Schmolck - Contemporary study Flashcards
(14 cards)
What was the aim of Schmolck?
To investigate the effect of specific brain damage on semantic memory.
To investigate the relationship between semantic test scores and brain damage.
What was the Sample of Schmolck?
6 patients with brain damage
3 with MTL and 3 with MTL+
One was HM
8 controls matched on age, gender, IQ.
What was the procedure of Schmolck?
Lab study over 5 different sittings.
- 13 tasks, 9 from the semantic test battery as line drawings of 24 animals and 24 objects.
These pictures were grouped in sixes: 6 land animals, 6 birds, 6 musical instruments, 6 vehicles, etc.
Similar pictures: the participants are shown 6 pictures sharing a theme and asked to point out the one that the researcher names
Category fluency: the participants were asked to give as many examples as possible from each theme within a minute
Category sorting: the participants were given all 48 pictures and asked to sort them into “living” or “man made”
Definitions: the participants were shown a picture and asked to define it by the theme it fitted into
What was the results of Schmolck?
- MTL performed similarly to control group.
- MTL+ performed worse than MTL
- HM performed the best in the MTL+ group but still worse than controls.
- MTL+ 50% for living objects, 62% for non-living.
- HM got 67% for living objects and 90% for non-living objects.
What was the conclusion of Schmolck?
Anterolateral temporal cotext is responsible for semantic knowledge.
How is Schmolck generalisable?
Quite a large sample for specific brain damage types.
Not andro or gynocentric
How is Schmolck NOT generalisable?
Small sample do difficult to generalise
How is Schmolck reliable?
all given the same questions about line drawings.
Lab study, highly replicable due to control over EVs
How is Schmolck applicable?
understanding brain damage and how semantic memory is affected o we know how to tackle different types of memory loss in therapy
How is Schmolck NOT applicable?
Only applicable to a very specific group in society. Didn’t find out what MTL WAS responsible for, just that MTL+ was semantic memory.
How is Schmolck valid?
Structured environment so high control of EVs, Cause and Effect.
How is Schmolck NOT valid?
Low ecological validity, lab study. Low mundane realism as naming animals and objects is not the brain at its full capacity.
How is Schmolck ethical?
Confidentiality
Consent
How is Schmolck NOT ethical?
Issues with consent as they have brain damage so may not remember that they consented.
They may also not remember that they have the right to withdraw.
