Kaylee Aldrich

Ms. Donegan
PSY-211 WN101
1/27/2015
Does Experience Matter?
When Albert Einstein's brain was studied 100 years after his death, it was found the mass
was not particular interest, but the individual folds in ratio of specific parts of his brain. Reading
number two, "More Experience = Bigger Brain" in the Forty Studies That Changed Psychology,
studies the effects experience has on the brain, particularly physical changes. Mark Rosenzweig
and his colleague Edward Bennett and Marian Diamond performed 16 experience experiments
over 10 years to test the above question improved or disapprove other findings. Their hypothesis
is not directly stated in the text, but it can be inferred based on previous studies mentioned that
the authors thought that living in an enhanced environment physically change the brain.
This study is an experiment because it has at least two groups, one control and two
experimental, the rats are randomly assigned and the dependent variable is measurable. This
experiment was performed on rats because performing on humans would have been unmoral and
unethical. Therefore, three males were chosen from the same litter or randomly assigned to one
of three conditions. Condition one was a standard lab cage with several rats and adequate space
with food and water always available. Condition two was an entire burst environment with a
slightly smaller cage that was isolated in a separate room where the rat resided alone with
adequate food and water. Condition three, one was an enriched environment where 6 to 8 rats
lived in a large cage in which objects were from a pool of 25 rotated daily. The rats lived in the
environment for 4 to 10 weeks. To avoid bias, the person doing autopsy would not know in

which environment the rat was raised and the brains were measured, weighed, and analyzed to
determine the number of cell growth and levels of neurotransmitter activity (Specifically acetyl
cholinesterase). For this experiment, rats in condition one is the control group and those into in
three or experimental. The dependent variable is brain size, weight mount of cell growth, and
levels of neurotransmitter activity. From the results it can be concluded that there is a correlation,
but the authors did not instantly state it as causation.
The results indicated that the rats raised in the enriched environment did have a
difference in their brains. The amount of the brain mass or cells was not significantly different
for different at all between the three groups, but the level of neurotransmitter activity, ratio of
RNA to DNA, and ratio of the cortex to the rest of the brain was different. Findings of the cortex
seemed the most reliable because it accounted for the overall weight varying for each animal in
the cortex is related to many daily activities including the senses and learning. In all of the
experiments but one the results were significantly different between the groups in the enhanced
environment and those not in the enhanced environment. The difference between the
impoverished rats and standard rats was not as significant as the difference between the
impoverished rats and the enhanced rats or the standard rats in the enhanced rats.
Furthermore, the research was criticized for varied handling of rats in one group so they
performed another experiment and found that handling does not affect brain development.
Additionally, the rats that live in their natural environment where compared to those living in a
laboratory home. The outdoor rat showed greater brain development.
In the real world, this research spurred many other studies to confirm and expand the findings.
For example, learning helps bring growth and moving from an impoverished condition to an
enhanced condition will improve brain development in the evening adults. Marina diamond

found that curiosity is a key factor in that team mutilating neural tissue produces a cortex
response. In her words people who use their brains don't lose them. Rosenzweigs findings
lead to a belief in the Mozart effect. People believe or may still believe that when their
children listen to Mozart they become better learners. This conclusion is far-fetched, multiple
experiments would have to be conducted to actually test it validity. The results from this
experiment and on their findings may explain why children in higher income families score
higher on the ECT or SAT. It could explain why people in warmer climates seem happier. It does
explain why people would be inclined to believe the Mozart effect, does not support a
causation between Mozart music and increased brain development.
This Experiment can be related to studying memory and how experience plays a role in
what we learn and remember. Like we discussed in lecture the girl who was isolated for 12 to 13
years, could not walk or talk. She grew up in an in adequate environment and that her brain
development suffered. Experience changed her brain development. Apply what I have learned to
my own life, it is important to be curious and use your brain to its fullest function when reading
or walking outside I could ask questions about what I hear or see. Thinking critically will help
my brain to reach its full development and potential.it also would be important to set up and live
in an ideal environment. When studying I should have adequate lighting no background noise
and give what I'm working on my full attention. This ideal learning environment will help me to
fully understand the material I am learning and use it to better my knowledge.

Work Cited
Hock, Roger R. Forty Studies That Changed Psychology: Explorations into the History of
Psychological Research. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson, 2013. Print.
White, J. Noland. "Chapter 1." Psychology. By Saundra K. Ciccarelli. Third ed. N.p.:
Pearson Prentice Hall, 2014. 25-70. Print.
White, J. Noland. "Chapter 2." Psychology. By Saundra K. Ciccarelli. Third ed. N.p.:
Pearson Prentice Hall, 2014. 71-118. Print.