IB Psychology Studies to Know Table of Contents Study Page # Bailey and Pillard (1991) 1 The role of oxytocin on trust Baumgartner et al (2008) with Vacek et al (2002) 4 Caspi et al (2003) 7 HM: Milner (1996) 9 Harris and Fiske (2006) 7 12 A Gay Brain? Cimon LeVay (1991) 15 Maguire (1999) 18 Martinez and Kesner (n.d) - 20 Meaney et al (1988) 22 Newcomer et al (1999) - 25 Rosenzweig, Bennet and Diamond (1972) 28 Zak (2009) - a” Bartlett (1932) 34 Brewer and Treyens (1981) 36 Brown and Kulik (1977) 39 Loftus and Palmer (1974) 7 44 Loftus and Pickrell (1995) : 46 McGaugh and Cahill (1995) 7 48 Neisser and Harsch (1992) 50 Rosenthal and Jacobson (1998) 55 Schachter and Singer (1962) 59 Sharot et al (2007) 62‘Speisman et al (1964) 65 Yuille and Cutshall (1986) | 67 ‘Abrams ot al (1990) \ 69 ‘Aronson and Mills (1959) v 72 Asch (1951) 76 | chen et al (2005) 79 Cialdini et al (1975) at Festinger (1956) 84 Wheeler and Fiske (2005 or 2006) 87 Johnson et al (1964) - 90 Kulkofsky et al (2011) - 7 — 92 Petrova et al (2007) 94 Rogers and Frantz (1961) : 97 Ross, Amabile and Steinmetz (1977) 100 Sherif et al (1954) - 102 Steele and Aronson (1995) 405 Taife! (1970) 107 | Zhang, Winterich and Mittal (2010) i 110vey fester ay partledar ceseacch methods art used D the loiel DA * Disests a oy . . . Tewhat extent doe s geneke inheritance influence, INBINEING ., pehaviow?. SE atlractio mtntned thee feof Stiidy: Batley & Pillard (1991) The role of genetics in the study of human behaviour has been very influential. Prior to research that indicated that sexual orientation may have its roots in our genetic coding, homosexuality was considered a ‘mental illness, In some countries and states within the USA, homosexuality was illegal. Bailey & Pillard’s (1991) study is one of the more frequently cited studies of the genetic basis of sexual orientation. Itis important fo understand how the study was done and why the study is rather problematic. The procedure The researchers recruited monozygotic (MZ) and dizygotic (DZ) twins as well as adoptive brothers through gay publications, All of the sample was voluntary and male. All twins in the study were raised together — which means that we can reasonably assume that the environment was highly similar. Sexual orientation of relatives was assessed either by asking relatives directly, or when this was impossible, asking the gay participant who had volunteered for the study. In addition, the researchers used questionnaires to assess the participants’ level of Childhood Gender Non-conformity (CGN). Childhood gender nonconformity is a phenomenon in which pre-pubescent children do not conform to expected gender-related patterns, and/or identify with the opposite gender. Gender non-conformity in children can have many forms, reflecting various ways in which a child relates to his or her gender. ‘These behaviours include, but are not limited to: + Cross gender clothing and grooming preferences; * Playing with toys generally associated with the opposite sex; + Preference for playmates of the opposite sex; * Identification with characters of the opposite sex in stories, cartoons or films, ete tok-nthinking. co uke 1Ciihancinc Results Bailey & Pillard found ‘that 52% of MZ twins were both self-identified homosexuals, 22% of DZ twins were s0, and 11% of non-related adopted brothers were so. Later study showed that non- ‘twin brothers had a rate of 9.2%. This evidence shows that the more closely genetically linked a pair is, the more likely they both are to exhibit gay or straight tendencies. ‘The researchers found that the participants’ self-reported history of childhood gender non- conformity did not predict homosexuality in any of the three samples, Thus, childhood gender nonconformity does not appear to be correlated with the development of homosexuality. However, monozygotic pairs were very similar in their level of childhood gender nonconformity. Discussion “The fact that the researchers found an increased frequency of homosexuality in MZ supports a genetic link for homosexual behavior. However, there are several limitations of this study. First, there is the problem of the sample. ‘The sample was “nonrandomly selected.” It was done through advertisements in gay-friendly magazines. The fact that itis not a random sample means that the study is open to ascertainment bias. ‘This is a problem in many pedigree and twin studies which hope to establish a genetic link for behaviour. The fact that all of the people who contacted the researchers already had a gay member of the family, skews the data. ‘To understand this better, think about doing a study on the primary sex ratio in humans. If we asked all the women present to report the number of male and female siblings in their family, the women will report collectively a higher ratio of females. This method of data collection would be biased towards families in which there is at least one women (themselves), includes many families in which they are only-children, and excludes families with no female and ‘multiple males. So, by using a sample where everyone already has one gay male in the family, the sample is no longer representative. ‘Another problem of this study is the reliance of self-reported data. Even zygosity was determined by asking the participants. So, a person could say that his twin was MZ, but there ‘was no evidence provided to verify this ifthe twin was not contacted. The low level for adopted brothers could be partly because there were a lot of participants who didn’t want the brother contacted, Often the sexuality of the brother was reported by the gay twin, but without verification from the brother, Often the relatives were not contacted. BB csrrcon ning sotecms speitsCintannirnc In addition, the participants were asked to report on their level of Childhood Gender Non- conformity. Even in cases where both brothers filled in the questionnaires, there is the problem that this information is retrospective in nature - that is, they aze trying to recall what their behaviour was like as children. Memories are open to distortion, especially as the stereotype of the “gay child” may influence their perceptions of what they were like asa child. The reliability of this data is highly questionable, There are other limitations of the study which are true of most studies of sexuality. First, the construct of homosexuality is difficult to standardize. Its difficult to know what exactly it means to be “homosexual” and whether it would be interpreted equally by all who answer the questionnaires. . In addition, the sample sizes of such studies tend to be very small. There is a limited number of ‘MZ and DZ twins. And they limited their sample to males. And then they had to look for those sets of male twins where at least one brother was self-identified as gay. This isa limited pool and thus questions of generalizability arise, Lastly, there is the question of reductionism. Though genetics may play a role in our sexual orientation, the question is to what exient do environmental influences also play a role in our sexual orientation? Most probably our sexual orientation is not attributable to a single gene, nor solely to biological factors. In addition, perhaps the dichotomous nature of heterosexual vs. homosexual may be less clear than we would like to believe, References Bailey, Michael J and Richard C Pillard. A Genetic Study of Male Sexual Orientation. Archives of General Psychiatry (December 1990). Hh extin care nminng ten tok-inthinking cout 3« Discuss Line! at sh Heuke research mededs acu + Exp + » Functions of 12. hormones on human beheviews 9 To whet evtent Ao bio, Factors inf lence hamanrelahongyer a | The role of oxytocin on trust Introduction ‘The hormone oxytocin is a hormone that acts primarily as a neurotransmitter in the brain. | Oxytocin is known to be involved in child birth. Ithas long been known that the hormone is released during labour and facilitates birth, breastfeeding, and initiation of maternal behaviour. Researchers have also investigated the role of oxytocin in pair bonding, orgasm and social behaviour such as trust. The hormone is sometimes called the "cuddle hormone" because it is related to sexual arousal and bonding in couples. Animal research with prairie voles (Vacek et al. 2002) has found that prairie voles are monogamous. This has been linked to the fact that oxytocin is released into the brain of the feinale during sexual activity. For the male it seems that | thehormone vasopressin has a similar effec. If secretion ofthe hormones is blocked during sexual activity the couple will not exhibit the normal behaviour of being monogamous. ‘Trust is an important social tool that allows humans to form productive and meaningful relationships at a personal and a professional level. However, bonds of trust are fragile and can | be disrupted by a single act of betrayal such as an extramarital affair or telling secrets to a third | part. tis hard to trust someone and be betrayed and sometimes this experience is so hard that people begin to avoid social company. They may develop a social phobia, ‘Trust is also important in professional relationships or in business. Researchers have been interested in how trust may influence behaviour in economics. Procedure Baumgartner et al. (2008) did a study within the field of neuroeconomics where they used. neuroimaging (FMRI) to study the role of oxytocin in creating trust between participants during a social game called the “trust game.” This game is used by economists and neuroscientists to study social interaction. In a typical trust game, an investor (player 1) must decide whether he | orshe will keep a sum of money (for example 10 dollars) or share it with a trustee (player 2). If the sum is shared, the investment is tripled (30 dollars). Player 2 (the trustee) now has to decide whether he or she will repay the trust by sharing the gain with player 1 so that each gets 15 dollars or violate the trust by keeping the money. This game is thus built upon the dilemma of either trusting or not trusting, Trusting is profitable but there is also a risk in trusting, Drom e nteremon rns tenors 1¢ INTHINKING The hormone oxytocin has among other things been associated with social bonding and facilitation of social interactions. This has also been seen in trust games where it has been found that investors who are given a sniff of oxytocin before the game are more likely to trust the other player and engage in risk. Baumgartner etal. (2008) studied what happens in the brain when trust breaks down. | © ‘Aim: The aim of the study was to investigate the role of oxytocin following breaches of trust. ‘This was an experimental study where the researchers used neuroimaging, 49 participants were placed in an fMRI scanner. They received either oxytocin or a placebo via a nasal spray. Participants were then told to act as investors in several rounds of a trust game with different trustees. They were also told that they were to engage in a risk game, which is the same as a trust game in teriné of financial risk but it is played against a computer instead of a human partner. ‘The participants received feedback from the experimenters. The procedure was divided into a pre-feedback phase and a post feedback phase and the feedback was given in between the two. The feedback given indicated that about 50% of their decisions (in both kinds of games) resulted in poor investment because their trust was broken, Results The researchers saw that the feedback had different results, Participants who had received a placebo before they started playing were more likely to decrease their rate of trust after they had been briefed that their trust had been broken. Participants whi had received oxytocin in the nasal spray continued to invest at similar rates. Apparently it did not matter to them that their partner had broken their trust: The researchers could also see that different brain areas were active in the two groups, Participants in the oxytocin, gtoup showed decreases in responses in the amygdala and caudate nucleus, The ainygdala is a structure in the brain involved in emotional processing and feat learning: It has many oxytocin receptors. The caudate nucleus is associated with learning and memory; it plays a role in reward-related responses and learning to trust. BB von caca.narontarnnmae seonwitk-inthinking.co.uk 2 i)¢ INTHINKING Discussion ‘The researchers hypothesized that oxytocin may have a role in decreasing fear reactions (via the amygdala) that may arise as a consequence of betrayal and our reliance on positive feedback that can influence future decisions (via caudate nucleus). It seems that oxytocin may facilitate the expression of trust even after trust has been violated by potentially lowering defense mechanisms associated with social risk. This seems to happen by ignoring the negative feedback, whick is important for adapting behaviour in the future. An interesting finding was that the researchers could only observe these behavioural and neural results when participants played the trust game but not when they played the risk game against a computer. According to the researchers this suggests that oxytocin’s effect on trust only comes into play in interactions with real people. Trust is an important adaptive mechanism, which helps humans to find out how to navigate among other humans. Humans need to be with other human beings, as there is a "need to belong’; but they also need to be careful in terms of trust. Lover levels of oxytocin are certainly adaptive in some situations in order to protect against potential harm but itis also important to be able to forgive and forget if long-term relationships and mental well-being should be preserved. . The results of this study can help us understand how mental disorders such as social phobia may develop. It could be due to an excessive fear of betrayal. However, longterm lack of social interaction can result in psychological and physiological disorders. Results like these could indicate that levels of oxytocin play an important role in the consequences of betrayals that we all have to deal with during life. A further step in research could be to examine how levels of oxytocin influence real life betrayals. Another field to explore could be gender differences in responses to betrayal after oxytocin administration.. . Te core Te what exkat does genehc inheritance influence behaviour? « Towhet extet does ence. inheritance Influence. behaviour ? & * Topalhad ene do" Bio Fats. inflvence abnormal. behaviur 2. ; aspi et al. . He Analize eHolosy of 41 affective disordec Casi etal caried ola stidy to thé role that gen futation and epigerietios may play in major see au depressive disorder. You can use this sty for the following learning ‘iethods are. used at the biological level of analysis. ey xfeeey To what extent doas genetic inhentan Aim Diathesis stress theories of depression predict that an individual's sensitivity to stressful events depends on their genetic make-up. If an individual has a specific genotype, then interaction with the environment may cause these genes to beexpressed. The aim ofthis study was determine whether there is evidence for a gene-environment interaction (G x E) for a mutation of the serotonin transporter gene - 5-HTT. The serotonin transporter is involved in the reuptake of serotonin in brain synapses. Procedure Caspi and his team looked at a sample of 847 New Zealand 26-year-olds. All were members of a cohort that had been assessed for mental health on an every-other-year basis until they were 21 They were divided into three groups based on their 5-HTT alleles: Group 1 had two short alleles; Group 2 had one short and one long allele; Group 3 had two long alleles. The mutation of the 5 HTT gene has the shorter alleles. Roughly 43% of people have the shorter alleles, The participants were asked to fill n a "Stressful life events" questionnaire which asked them about the frequency of 14 different events - including financial, employment, health and relationship Stressors - between the ages of 21 and 26. They were also assessed for depression, However, much more research is needed before a clear relationship between a gene and a depression can be established, Results Caspl et al concluded that people with one or two copies of this short allele exhibited more depressive symptoms, diagnosable depression and suicidal ideation in relation to stressful lfe- events than individuals who carried the long allele of 5-HTT.ina later study by Moffitt & Caspi, the researchers looked at DNA samples from 127 people who are part ofa longitudinal prospective study looking at mental health. The sample had been monitored for over 25 years. At five-year intervals scientists recorded any major life events and signs of depression. They found that 80 per cent of those with two short S-HTT genes became depressed after three or more negative fe events in a year, whereas those with two long genes appeared resilient - only 30 per cent developed the illness in similar situations. They also found that childhood maltreatment predicted adult depression only among individuals carrying a short allele and not ‘among those carrying the longer allele. ‘The researchers have also found evidence to support this in cases of bullying.HM: Milner (1966) Milner carried out a ciassic case study of the role of the hippocampus on memory formation. ‘You can use this study for the following learning objectives: Discuss how and why particular research methods are used atthe cognitive level of anal sis{Co5)) #xplain how biological factors may affect gne cognitive process. ( (3, Cog ) Evaluate two models or theories of one cognitive process. (Coq) Discuss the use of technology in investigating cognitive processes. (Bio Cos) Explain one study of localization of function. (By ) Bio, Examine one interaction between cognition and physiology in terms of behaviour, (G5 ) Background HM is perhaps the most famous participant in a psychological study ever. It is a longitudinal case study and many different data collections methods have been used over the years. HM was born in Manchester, Connecticut in 1926. HM fell off his bicycle when he was aged 7 and sustained a serious head injury. Epileptic attacks began when he was 10; they were assumed. to be connected to the accident. At the age of 27 he had become so incapacitated by his seizures that he could not lead a normal life and medication did not help him. With the approval of the Patient and his family, the neurosurgeon William Scoville performed an experimental surgery where he removed tissue from the medial ‘temporal lobe (including the hippocampus) on both sides of HM’s brain. Brenda Milner is a neuropsychologist who studied HM until he died in 2008. The first time Brenda Miller visited HM after the operation she observed that he forgot daily events nearly as fast as they occurred, for example, he forgot names of persons to whom he had just been introduced. He described his own state “like waking from a dream; every day is alone in itself” (Milner et al. 1968), ‘After the operation HM remembered his childhood very well. His personality appeared largely unchanged. There was no general intellectual impairment but he could recall little of the 12 years before to the operation in the beginning. When some time had passed after the operation, HM’s retrograde amnesia (ic. memory for events before the operation) diminished and by 1966 he only had problems remembering the period of about one year before the operation, HM suffered from anterograde amnesia. For example, he was unable to remember the faces of people he met after the operation. A psychologist could spend the moming testing him but in the aftemoon HM would act as if the psychologist were somebody he had never seen before. He could not recognize people who came to see him regularly for six years.Aim To study the biological reasons for anterograde amnesia in patient HM. Procedure In order to carry out her research, Milner used many different strategies. This is an example of how method triangulation may be used in a case study: + Psychometric testing: IQ testing was given to HM, His results were above average. + Direct observation of his behaviour; + Interviews with both HM and with family members. . + Cognitive testing: memory recall tests as well as learning tasks - such as reverse mirro drawing. + Corkin later did an MRI to determine the extent of the damage done to HM's brain. Findings HM could not acquire new episodic knowledge (memory for events) and he could not acquire new semantic knowledge(general knowledge about the world). ‘This suggests that the brain structures that were removed from his brain are important for long-term explicit memory. ‘The researchers also found that he was able to remember his house and could draw a picture of the floor plan of his new home. This indicates that he was able to form a cognitive map of the spatial layout of his house. ‘HM had a capacity for working memory, since he was able to carry on a normal conversation. This requires a minimal level of retention cof what has just been heard and said. On being asked to recall the number 584, HM was able to do so even 15 minutes later, apparently by means of constant verbal rehearsal. However, after the task was over, the number and HM’s strategy in remembering it were lost. Memories in the form of motor skills, ic. procedural memories, were well maintained, for example he knew how to mow a lawn. He also showed improvements on the performance of new skills such as reverse mirror-drawing in which he had to acquire new eye-hand coordination (Milner, 1966). ‘An MRI scan of HM’s brain was performed in 1992 and 2003 where Corkin analysed the extent of the damage. It was possible to see that parts of HM’s temporal lobe including the hippocampus had the most damage. However, the damage was less extensive than originally estimated by Scoville, Damage to the hippocampus explains the problem of transferring short- term memory to long-term memory as this is the area where the neurotransmitter acetylcholine is believed to play an important role in learning and formation of explicit memories. ‘The following is a summary of the key findings: + The memory systems in the brain constitute a highly specialized and complex system. «The hippocampus plays a critical role in converting memories of experiences from short- term memory to long-term memory. + However, researchers found that short-term memory is not stored in the hippocampus as HM was able to retain information for a while if he rehearsed it.‘+ Since HM was able to retain some memories for events that happened long before his surgery it indicates that the medial temporal region is not the site of permanent storage but rather plays a role in the organization and permanent storage of memories elsewhere in the brain, + Implicit memory contains several stores - for example, procedural memory, emotional ‘memory and skills and habits. Fach of these areas is related to different brain areas.Harris & Fiske (2006) Harris & Fiske carried out a study to look at the role of the brain in prejudice. You can use this study for the following learning objectives: Discuss how and vity particular raséarch mistiod8 are used atthe biological level of analysis. ( Bio ) Discuss the use of brain imaging technologie’ in investigating the relationship between biological factors and behaviour. : (Bio To what extent do sean a and: biologie ee) Heat ‘emotion? (: Bie a es Background Research by Wheeler & Fiske (2005) found that when looking at photos of someone from an out- ‘group, in this case when white students look at photos of a black male, there is @ neurological response when categorizing someone as a member of an out-group. That response includes the activation of the amygdala as well as the pre-frontal cortex. From an evolutionary point of view, it makes sense that we perceive out-groups as a threat, but then can use our prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for social cognition, to evaluate the threat and then mediate the response of the amygdala, However, not all stereotypes about out-groups are the same - and they do not all present the same level of threat to the in-group. ‘The stereotype content model (SCM) is a theory proposed by Susan Fiske that stereotypes. possess two dimensions: warmth and competence. Social groups are peroeived as warm if they do not compete with the in-group for the same resources and they are considered competent if they are high in status - that is, economically or educationally successful. Thus, lack of competition predicts perceived warmth and status prediots perceived competence. ‘According to this model, Fiske proposed four types of stereotypingrele Low Competence: High competence High warmth ———_Paternalistic stereotype Admiration | Low Warmth | Contemptuous stereotype Envious stereotype Aim Harris & Fiske wanted to observe the role of the prefrontal cortex and the amygdala in reacting to what they called "extreme out-groups"- that is, homeless and addicts. The researchers wanted to see the biological correlates of a "contemptuous stereotype.” Procedure ‘The sample was made up of 22 Prinoston University undergraduates. The group was divided into two - with half the group seeing images of people and half seeing images of objects. Before being put into the scanner, participants used a computer screen to practice rating a series of neutral photos for each of the four emotions: pride, envy, pity, disgust. This was done as a control to make sure that the participants understood the nature of the task Onee in the fMRI, participants were shown six sets of ten photographs. These photos included people with disabilities, rich businessmen, older people, American Olympic athletes, and homeless People. The participants were shown a response screen after each image and then, using a joystick, were asked to choose which of the four emotions that they felt toward the image that was just displayed. Results Harris & Fiske found that there was a clear difference in brain activity when participants rated Pictures of addicts or homeless people; in addition to activation of the amygdala, their brains set off a series of reactions associated with disgust. The insulawas activated, which is usually a response to non-human objects such as garbage and human waste. Perhaps even more surprising, the part of {he brain that is activated when we think about other people or ourselves — the medial prefrontal cortex — was not activated. In other words, in the case of the homeless, their brains did not react to them as people. This study indicates that SIT may be overly simplified and that there are other factors that may play a role in our reaction to an out-group rather than simply the fact that they are members of an out- Group. Perceptions of threat to the in-group's resources as well as the out-group member's status may play a role in our perception of the out-group and how our brain reacts.Cinihanene A Gay Brain? The study of homosexuality has been a controversial subject in psychology. Before 1973 homosexuality was considered abnormal behaviour ~ a mental illness, Homosexuality was believed to be rooted in family problems (an overbearing mother, an absent father) or “arrested development” Homosexuality was also labeled as “criminal behaviour,” the behaviour was illegal in many states of the US as well as several European countries. To this day, homosexuality is punishable in many countries around the world. The delisting of homosexuality as “abnormal behaviour” by the American Psychological Association in 1973 encouraged psychologists to examine the potential roots of sexuality. The prevailing thought at the time was that sexuality was the result of various environmental factors twas difficult to study gay mien and lesbian women in the 1970's and 80's because of the stigma of being homosexual. “Coming out” in order to be studied was risky to family relationships, career, community membership, and in many cases, freedom from arrest. It wasn't until the late 1980's, with the spread of HIV infection and the disproportionate number of deaths from AIDS among gay ‘men, that gay men were willing to be open about their sexuality. This allowed early research which appears to indicate a biological root for sexuality. One of the first studies of this kind was done by Simon LeVay (1991). Procedure The alm of LeVay's study was to examine the nuclei of the anterior hypothalamus of the brain. This Part of the brain plays a role in the regulation of male-typical sexual behaviour, Up until his study, it Was believed that the INAH 3 nucleus of the hypothalamus was sexually dimorphic - thats, that tales had larger INAH 3 nuclei than women ~ and this was due to semual differences. LeVay hypothesized that the INAH3 would be larger in individuals sexually oriented toward women (heterosexual men and homosexual women) aid sinaller in individuals sexually oriented toward men (heterosexual women and horiosexual men). In other words, he believed that it might not be one's sex, but one's sexual orjentation that affected the size of the riucleus. Brain tissue was obtained from 41 subjects at routine autopsies of people who died at seven metropolitan hospitals in New York and California. 19 were homosexual men who had died of complications resulting from AIDS. 16 were presumed heterosexual males ~ six of them died of AIDS and ten of other causes. Six subjects were presumed heterosexual women - one had died of AIDS, the five others of other causes. No lesbian women were used in the study as this was a {hidden population” (see background information above). The mean age of each sample was 38.2, 428, and 41.2 respectively. All brain tissue was stained in order to measure the size of the nuclei using an electronic microscope. The tissue samples were coded and subsequent analysis was done without knowledge of the subject group to which each sample belonged. eeceres themes Hannba,InTinkingCinthinsxine Results Consistent with the hypothesis, the volume of the INAH3 nuclei was more than twice as large in the heterosexual men (0.12 mm*) as in homosexual men (0.051 mm®). The difference was still significant when the homosexual men were compared with only the six heterosexual men who died of complications from AIDS. There was a similar difference between the heterosexual men and the women (0.056 mm). There was no significant difference in the volume of INAH3 between the heterosexual men who died of AIDS and those who died of other causes. ‘The data support the hypothesis that INAH3 is dimorphic not with sex but with sexual orientation, atleast in men, However, LeVay noted in his report that the study, though opening up the possibility that sexuality may have biological roots, does not allow us to determine whether the size of the INAH 3 in an individual is the cause or consequence of that individual's sexual orientation ~ or if the size of the INAH 3 is actually influenced by a third variable. Evaluation ‘There have been several criticisms of LeVay's study. Many of these criticisms he discusses in his original report of the study: First, one cannot infer cause and effect. Such data show only correlation, not causation, If one interprets the data as indicating that the INAH3 of male homosexuals is smaller thin that of male heterosexuals, one still does not know whether that is a cause of homosexuality or a result of it. Breedlove (1997) has shown that the density and size of Certain neurons in rat spinal ganglia depend on the frequency of sexual intercourse. In this case, the behavior was affecting the neurons. LeVay also showed concern from the role of AIDS on the brain. Though his research attempts to rule out the role of HIV infection by comparing the hetersexual and homosexual men that died of ‘AIDS, the sample size is very small, so it may not be possible to do this effectively. In addition, AIDS manifests different symptoms. How the individuals died - as well as the treatments that they received - may have played a role in the results, ‘Another criticism is his choice of descriptive statistics. In using the mean, an average density for each group was determined. However, this does not allow us to understand the Individual differences. In fact, one of the INAH3 from a homosexual male was larger than all but one of those from the 16 heterosexual males in the study. Finally, there is the question of construct validity. Homosexuality has many forms, and is probably not a single phenotype. LeVay also uses the words “presumed heterosexual” in his report to show that he cannot guarantee that HIV was not contracted through gay sex. In addition, human sexuality isa very complex behaviour; to argue that itis determined by a singular nucleus in the brain is considered by many to be overly reductionist. Wh ooo cesta vs ceegmieely 2€infainxine The greatest strength of LeVay’s study is the way in which it opened up biological research on the Question of the origins of sexuality. It played a significant role in changing attitudes about “lifestyle choice,” and started a discussion about whether sexual orientation may not be a choice — a position taken today by the APA and BPS, References AA Difference in Hypothalamic Structure between Heterosexual and Homosexual Men Author(s): Simon LeVay Source: Science, New Series, Vol: 253, No. 5023 (Aug, 30, 1991), pp. 1034-1037 Published by: ‘American Association for the Advancement of Sclence Stable URL: ht ww.stor.ory/stable/2478803 SM.Breedlove (1997) Neonatal androgen and estrogen treatments masculinize the size of motoneurons in the rat spinal nucleus of the bulbocavernosuis. Cellular and Molecular Neurobiology, 17: 687-697 Ininking 3Maguire (1999) Maguire carried out a study to demonstrate how cognitive proesses may lead to neuroplasticity in the hippocampus. You can use this study for the following learning objectives: Discuss two effects of the environment on physiological processes. ( Biod Coq ) Explain one study related to localization of function. ( {Bic ) Discuss the use of technology in investigating cognitive processes, C Biot i) The original study is available here. Aim ‘The aim of the study was to see whether the brains of London taxi drivers would be somehow different as a result of the exceptional training that they have to do to be certified. What is known as “the Knowledge.” Procedure The participants for this study were 16 right-handed male London taxi drivers. The taxi drivers were ‘compared with the MRI scans of 50 right-handed males who did not drive taxis. In order to take part in the study, the participants had to have completed the "Knowledge" test and have their license for at least 1.5 years. The controls were taken from an MRI database, The sample included a range of, ages so that age would not be a confounding variable. ‘The study is correlational in nature as the IV is not manipulated by the researcher. The researchers were looking to see if there was a relationship between the number of years of driving a taxi and the anatomy of one’s brain, It was also a single-blind study - that is, the researcher did not know whether she was looking at the scan of a taxi driver or a control. The data from the MRI was measured using two different techniques: vowel-based morphemetry (VBM) and pixel counting. Voxel-based morphology (VBM) was used in this study to measure the density of grey matter in the brain. Pixel counting consists of counting the pixels in the images provided by the MRI scans in order to calculate the area of the hippocampus. Results “There were two key findings of the study. First, pixel counting revealed that the posterior hippocampi of taxi drivers were significantly larger relative to those of control subjects and the anterior hippocampi were significantly smaller. VEM showed that the volume of the right posterior hippocampi correlated with the amount of time spent as a taxi driver. No differences were observedin other parts of the brain. Maguire argues that this demonstrates that the hippocampus may change in response to environmental demands. How does this relate to localization of function? It appears that the posterior hippocampus is, involved when previously learned spatial information is used, whereas the anterior hippocampal region may be more involved during the encoding of new environmental layouts.Martinez & Kesner (n.d), 5... ing Martinez & Kesner* carried cout a study of the ole of acetylcholine on memory. You can use thi study for the following ledmning objectives: Discuss how and why particular research methods are tied atthe biological level of analysis. Explain effects of neurotransmission on human behaviour. Explain now biological factors may affect one cognilive process, Cofipanion is based on ‘the study below. The test, Keser 1991 The study which is. noted in the ‘OUP Course paradigm that he describes is outiined if ‘bSok by, edited by! Martine called Learning and Memory. Hel Sn To begin, watch this short version of his study. Aim To determine the role of acetylcholine in memory formation Procedure Martinez & Kesner wanted to determine the role of acetylcholine in memory formation. They first had mice run a simple t-maze to find food that was placed in one of the arms of the t. After having run the maze, but before memory could be consolidated, the researchers injected the mice with one of three chemicals, + The first group was injected with scopolamine which blocks the acetylcholine receptor sites and thus inhibits any response. «The second group was injected with physostigmine which breaks down the enzyme acetylcholinesterase which breaks down acetylcholine in the synapse. ‘+The final group was the control, given a placebo injection of saline solution. This was done to make sure that the fact of getting an injection alone was not responsible for change in memory. An injection could result in an increase in adrenaline which would be a confounding variable. ‘After being injected, the rats were again placed into the t-maze to see how long it would take them to find the food that they had previously located. Results ‘The findings were that the scopolamine group took longer and made more mistakes, whereas. the physostigmine group learned faster and made fewer mistakes. It appears that acetylcholine may play an important role in memory consolidation and retrieval. There are a significant number ofacetylcholine receptors on the hippocampus. Researchers have also found lower levels of acetylcholine in some Alzheimer's patients.Meaney et al (1988 #4 Bio, Seio,t Co -aney carried out a study of the role of stress hormones on memory. You can use this study for the folowing leaning objectives: To begin, watch this short version of his study. Aim To determine the effect of glucocorticoids (stress hormones) on memory. Procedure He and his team used an independent samples design. The rats were randomly allocated to one of two conditions. Handled rats: Newborn rats were handled daily by the researchers for three weeks - from the day of their bith until the day of weaning. During this time they were taken away from their mothers for 15 minutes and placed in a plastic container lined with a paper towel. They were then brushed for an intense 15 minutes to simulate the grooming of the mother rat. Nonhandled rats were left with their mother and there was not handling by the researchers. This group served as the control condition. Rats that were handled showed increased concentrations of glucocorticoid receptors compared to the non-handled rats. This would mean that they should be able to respond to a change in cortisol levels more efficiently At later ages, non-handled rats also showed elevated basal glucocorticoid levels. This means that over the two years of the non-handled rats’ fe, they were exposed to higher levels of glucocoriicoids. To test the effect of these elevated rates of stress hormones over their lifetime, two- year old rats were put into a pool of milky water. In the pool was a platform. Meaney and his team tracked the route of the rats as they sought out the platform based on the rats’ memories of previous attempts to escape the water.Results ‘The researchers found that high levels of glucocorticoids - stress hormones - in the early i resulted in changes that affected the rats in old age. Increased exposure to ‘adrenal glucocorticoids accelerated hippocampal neuron loss and cognitive impairments in aging, You can see that the non-handled rats took a much more circuitous route to get to the platform. ofa rat Hippocampal cell loss and pronounced spatial memory deficits emerged with age in the non-handled rats, but were almost absent in the handled rats. So, what has happened? |t appears that the extra stroking that the handled rats received led to an activation of genes which are responsible for the reaction to the stress response. This is an example of epigenetics - the grooming process “turns on” the genes which help the young rat cope with stress - which then leads to a longer and healthier life, Here is an image of the rat's stress circuit. When the rat is stressed, stress signals travel from the hypothalamus to the pituitary gland and then to the adrenal glands. The adrenal glands then release the hormone cortisol. Cortisol is released from the adrenal glands and travels to hippocampus, where it binds to glucocorticoid receptor sites. When cells in the hippocampus detect cortisol, which binds to the receptor sites, a message is sent to the hypothalamus that shuts down the Fight of Flight response. Pituitary gland Hypothalamus ‘The Stress Ciccut ~ aiso called the HPA Axis (for Hypothalames-Pituitary-Adrena), Long term exposure to cortisol causes neurons to admit more calcium through channels in their membrane. This leads to over-stimulation which then leads to hippocampal cell death. This is a Problem when it comes to our ability to create memory as the hippocampus is the location ofacetylcholine receptor sites. Loss of hippocampal cells correlates with lower levels of acetylcholine. Research shows that there is a correlation between high levels of glucocorticoids, low levels of acetylcholine and Alzheimer's.rickets hintaan Sha note Newcomer et al (1999) studied the effects of stress on verbal declarative memory. You can u study for the following leaming objectives: Gia Bede eee Discuss how and why particular research method aré used at the biological level of analysis. Newcomer et al (1999)... , 0a Explain the function of hormones in hurhan behaviour. ¢ Explain how biological factors nia Bifect one cognitive pr nt on physiological prbcessés, The original study is available heré..°? Discuss two effects ofthe envirog Aim The aim of the research was to investigate whether high levels of the stress hormone cortisol interfere with verbal declarative memory. Procedure All participants were employees or students at the Washington University Medical Center. All Participants were given a clinical interview with a physician. They were excluded from the sample if they were pregnant, had a history of mental illness, had suffered head trauma, or had suffered from any illness that had been treated with corticosteroids. in addition, participants not routinely sleeping during the night hours were excluded to standardized circadian rhythms. 'n order to investigate a possible link between cortisol and memory the researchers designed an experiment with three experimental conditions: * Condition 1 ~ high level of cortisol: The participants in the high level cortisol group were given a tablet containing 160 mg of cortisol on each day of the four-day experiment. This dose of cortisol produces blood levels similar to those seen in people experiencing a major stress event. * Condition 2 - iow level of cortisol: The participants in the low level of cortisol group were given a tablet containing 40 mg of cortisol per day. This dose is similar to the amount of cortisol Circulating in the blood stream of people undergoing minor surgical procedures such as having stitches removed, * Condition 3 ~ placebo group: The participants in this condition were given placebo tablets - that is, a tablet that looked like the other tablets but with no active ingredient, This was done in order to have a control group.Participants were assigned on a matched-pair design for gender and age. The experiment was done under a double-blind control. Al participants were asked to listen to and recall parts of a prose paragraph. This tested their verbal declarative memory. It is known that verbal declarative memory is often affected during long-term stress and the researchers knew from previous studies that cortisol could be involved in memory impairment. Results igh vets of corset ems oo ‘atcary pevtarenance om ~ i a i i esta ‘ays of trnatment ‘The study seems to clearly indicate an effect of stress related hormones on recall of declarative memory. Errors tended to be of omission rather than commission, indicating that the results are not due to attention impairment, but impairment of recall. In the placebo treated group, paragraph recall performance improved over the course of the four days, most likely do to a practice effect. In contrast, the cortisol treated participants did not show an overall improvement. The results indicated that high cortisol levels impaired performance in the memory task since the participants who received the highest level of cortisol also showed the worst performance in verbal declarative memory. The effect was not permanent, however. The performance of participants in the high cortisol condition retumed to normal after they stopped taking the hormone tablet. According to the researchers, these results demonstrate a clear link between levels of cortisol and remembering. It appears that cortisol interferes with the transfer of short-term memory to long-term memory that takes place in the hippocampus. This makes sense as there are several cortisol receptor sites on the hippocampus.Rosenzweig, Bennet & Diamond ped (1972) i Rosénziveig, Bennet & Diamond carried roite dass st a of neuritis You can use this Explain how principles that deine the biol Discuss how and why, panote na nimetiods oscar eee or Discuss ethical consiceraions related fo robes is - ti 19 cal ioeesses ie biological level of analysis. Discuss two effects ofthe oni invent on Aim In this classic study, Rosenzweig, Bennet & Diamond wanted to see if changing the level of stimuli in the environment would result in physical changes in the brain. Neuroplasticity refers to the ability of the brain to change as a result of one’s experience. Before this research was done, scientists believed that the brain changed up until a critical period in childhood. After that, no changes in the brain were believed possible. The aim of the study was to investigate whether environmental factors such as a rich or an impoverished environment would affect the development of neurons in the cerebral cortex. Procedure ‘Three male rats from a common litter were randomly allocated to one of three environments. In the control condition [CC] there were three rats in the cage. In the impoverished condition [IC], the researchers placed each rat in individual cages. The individual cages lacked the toys and the maze \which were in the enriched environment. For the enriched condition [EC], the researchers placed 10 = 12 rats in a cage containing different stimulus objects to explore and play with. All groups had free and adequate access to food and water. “The cats typically spent 30 to 60 days in their respective environments before they were killed in order for the researchers to study changes in the brain's anatomy. Results “The anatomy of the brain was different in the EC and the IC. There was an increased thickness and higher weight of the cortex in EC rats compared to that of IC rats. The researchers also noted that rats in the EC condition had developed significantly greater activity in the neurons in the cerebral cortex associated with transmission of acetylcholine, which is an important neurotransmitter for learning and memory't appears that the thickness of the cortex and the overall weight of the brain increased as a result of the enriched environment. Follow-up to this research indicated that just 30 minutes a day in an enriched environment produced the same changes in the brain in rats as had been observed in the original experiment where rats were exposed to the EC condition for a much longer period of time. One variable that was not clear in the enriched environment is whether it was the environment (the toys) or the social activity. Putting rats alone in large cages with toys for two hours a day showed no effect. The single rat tended not to play with the objects and instead rested and groomed himself. The enriched environment produced cerebral changes in a single rat only if the rat was stimulated to interact with the objects, Since brain plasticity is assumed to follow the same pattem in both animals and humans, the implications of the study are that the human brain should also be affected by environmental factors such as intellectual and social stimulation. It is now known that poverty is a major risk factor in children’s cognitive development as poverty is related to a number of risk factors such as poor nutrition, lack of access to good education and poor health. 24Zak (2009) Zak et al carried out a study to fe8t the role of testosterone on aggression. You can use this study for the following learning objectives aa Background Testosterone has a permissive effect on aggression. It appears that testosterone alone is not necessary for aggressive or violent behaviour. When aggressive mice are castrated, they become much less aggressive, in spite of the loss of testosterone, Notice - they don't become “not aggressive.” When testosterone levels of castrated rats are then increased, there is a very low threshold for aggressive levels to return to previous levels - much lower than the original levels. In addition, even when testosterone levels are doubled, this does not double an animal's level of aggression. It appears that testosterone "helps aggression to happen" but that the roots of aggression must lie elsewhere. In Sapolsky's classic essay "The Trouble with Testosterone,” he shows that in a baboon society, baboons show aggression to the baboons below them in the hierarchy, When “level 3° baboons are injected with high levels of testosterone, they show greater aggression, but only against the baboons below them, not the ones at their level or above. So, it appears that testosterone increases a primate's aggression, but doesn't cause it. The amygdala plays a key role in aggression. The amygdala communicates with teh hypothalamus by way of a cable of neurons called the stria terminalis. When the amygdala is aroused, it'sends electrical impulses called action potentials down the stria terminalis to the hypothalamus - and this, appears to be the way that aggression works, Research by Kendrick & Drewett (1979) showed that if testosterone levels are artificially increased - and the amygdala is already sending action potentials down the stria terminalis - then testosterone increases the rate of the action potentials by shortening the resting time between them. Its like it has "tured up the volume." There are several ways that people can be aggressive - not al of them physical. Testosterone also acts as an oxytocin antagonist. The study below uses a test very similar to Baumgartner et al. (2008) to see what the effect of testosterone will be.Aim To study the effect of testosterone on a male's generosity and sense of aggression. Procedure In this study, Zak wanted to create "alpha males" to see how they would react in an online trust game. The sample was made up of 25 male students. First, the researchers drew blood from the participants to establish baseline levels of testosterone. They then had the participants rub a gel on their shoulders. The participants were randomly allocated to one of two conditions: a prescription testosterone gel or a placebo. The men returned the next morning another blood test was done to record the actual increase in levels of testosterone in the participants. The treatment had doubled the amount of testosterone in the experimental condition. ‘Then the participants were asked to play the Ultimatum Game. Each participant in the game was told that he could be generous to another player with money he controlled - or he could be stingy. Stingy offers could be rejected by the other person. Rejected offers caused both men to lose all the money on the virtual table, The study was a double blind counter-balanced repeated measures design. The men returned four weeks later and repeated the procedure but this time got the other substance to rub on their shoulders. Results ‘The participants were 27% stingier when they had received the testosterone gel than when the received the placebo. The findings suggest that men with naturally high testosterone levels would be expected to be more selfish and also more likely to punish others for violations of social norms. When compared to the findings in Baumgarten's study, it appears that testosterone has the opposite effect of oxytocin - a rise in distrust and an increase in selfish behaviour.23L-O: How principles hab define the Cog Lok wizip ne demons! Evaluate, schema theory oc _ Disuasshow seclal or Cultural factors afectone Crs Sc Withrefereace to relevant re Search tudes towhed exhaaig ane 5 Key study: Bartlett (1932) War of the ghosts Introduction One of the leading résearchers in memory before Bartlett was the German psychologist Ebbinghaus (1885) who tried to study pure memory and forgetting rates by learning nonsense syllables and then reproduce them, Bartlett (1932) developed a different approach to the study ‘of memory when he asked people to reproduce an unfamiliar story they had read. Bartlett found | that people changed the story to fit into their existing knowledge. He argued that memory is an active process rather than a passive tape-recording of experience as suggested by Ebbinghaus. | Procedure | ‘The aim of his study was to investigate how memory of a story is affected by previous knowledge. He wanted to see if cultural background and unfamiliarity with a text would lead to distortion of memory when the story was recalled. Bartlett's hypothesis was that memory is reconstructive and that people store and retrieve information according to expectations formed by cultural schemas. Bartlett performed a study where he used serial reproduction, which is a technique where participants hear a story or see a drawing aid are told to reproduce it after a short time and then to do so again repeatedly over a period of days, weeks, months or years. Bartlett told participants a Native American legend called The War of the Ghosts. The participants in the study were British; for them the story was filled with unknown names and concepts, and the manner in which the story was developed was also foreign to them. The story was therefore ideal to study how memory was reconstructed based on schema processing. Results Bartlett found that participants changed the story as they tried to remember it -a process called distortion. Bartlett found that there were three patterns of distortion that took place. Assimilation: The story became more consistent with the participants’ own cultural expectations - that is, details were unconsciously changed to fit the norms of British culture. Leveling: The story also became shorter with each retelling as participants omitted information which was seen as not important. Sharpening: Participants also tended to change the order of the story in order to make sense of it using terms more familiar to the culture of the participants. They also added detail and/or emotions. The participants overall remembered the | main themes in the story but changed the unfamiliar elements to match their own cultural expectations so that the story remained a coherent whole although changed.Onihnxine Discussion Remembering is not a passive but rather an active process, where information is retrieved and changed to fit into existing schemas. This is done in order to create meaning in the incoming, information. According to Bartlett, humans constantly search for meaning, Based on his research Bartlett formulated the theory of reconstructive memory. This means that memories are not copies of experiences but rather reconstructions. This does not mean that memory is unreliable but rather that memory can be altered by existing schemas. ‘The study was performed in a laboratory and can be criticized for its lack of ecological validity although it used naturalistic material rather than nonsense material as was used in Ebbinghaus's study. The methodology used in the study was not rigorously controlled. Participants did not receive standardized instructions, so some of the distortions could be due to participants’ guessing or other demand characteristics. Bartlett's study was important at the time in that it pointed towards the possibility of studying cognitive processes like memory scientifically and the research resulted in support for schema theory and the theory of, reconstructive memory, which have been isefill theories in understanding human memory and social cognition. Bartlett is now técognized as one of the first cognitive psychologists. Reference Bartlett, F. (1932). Remembering: A study in Experimental and Social Psychology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. For further study http: //www.ppsis.cam.ac.uk/bartlett/index html The Bartlett archive at Cambridge Ittp://www,ppsis.cam,ac,uk/bartlett/Theor OfRemembering, htm A chapter on remembering ba, InTnking 2 ere solaceBrewer & Treyens (1981) Brewer & Treyens carriéd out a classic study of the role Of schema in memory. You can use this study for the following learning. objectives: - Explain how principles that define the cognitive level of analysis miay be demonstrated in research. Evaluate two models or theories of one cognitive process. Evaluate schema theory. Aim To study the role of schema in encoding and retrieval of episodic memory. The basic assumption of schema theory is that individuals’ prior experience will influence how they remember new information Procedure ‘The sample was made up of 86 university psychology students. Participants were seated in a room that was made to look like an office. The room consisted of objects that were typical of offices: a typewriter, paper and a coffee pot. There was also a table with tools and electronics, There were shelves along one wall and then the other walls were decorated with posters and a calendar. There were some items in the room that one would not typically find in an office - for example, a skull or a toy top. Finally, there were items that were omitted - such as books. Each participant was asked to wait in the professor's office while the researcher “checked to make sure that the previous participant had completed the experiment.” The participant did not realize that the study had already begun. The participants were asked to have a seat. All of the chairs except for one had objects on them. In this way, it was guaranteed that all participants would have the same vantage point in the office. The researcher left the room and said that he would retum shortly ‘After 35 seconds the participants were called into another room and then asked what they remembered from the office, When they finished the experiment, they were given a questionnaire. The important question was "Did you think that you would be asked to remember the objects in the room, 93% said "no." 30 participants carried out written recall and then verbal recognition; 29 participants carried out drawing recall; 27 carried out verbal recognition only.The recall condition: Participants were asked to write down a description of as objects as they could remember from the office. They were also asked to state the location, shape, size and colour of the objects. They were asked to "Write your description as if you were describing the room for someone who had never seen it.” After this, they were given a verbal recognition test in which they were given a booklet containing a list of objects. They were asked to rate each item for how sure they were that the object was in the room. "1" meant that they were sure it was not in the room; "6" meant that they were absolutely sure it was in the room. The questionnaire consisted of 131 objects: 61 were in the room; 70 were not. The drawing condition: In this condition participants were given an outline of the room and asked to draw in the objects they could remember. The verbal recognition condition: In this condition, the participants were read a list of objects and simply asked whether they were in the room or not. Results They found that when the participants were asked to recall either by writing a paragraph or by drawing, they were more likely to remember items in the office that were congruent with their ‘schema of an office - that is, the “expected items" were more often recalled, The items that were incongruent with their schema of an office - e.g. the skull, a piece of bark or the screwdriver - were not often recalled, When asked to select items on the list, they were more likely to identify the incongruent items; for example, they didn't remember the skull when doing the free recall, but gave it 6 on the verbal recognition task. However, they also had a higher rate of identifying objects which were schema congruent but not in the room. In the both the drawing and the recall condition, they also tended to change the nature of the objects to match their schema. For example, the pad of yellow paper that was on a chair was remembered as being on the desk. The trapezoidal work table was recalled as square. It appears that schema played a role in both the encoding and recall of the objects in the office,dy for the Brown & Kulik (1977) carried out a'classic stiidy of flashbulb memory. You can use this stu following learning objectives: 5 . Aim Brown & Kulik proposed that some events can be remembered as though our mind had Photographed them - what they calledflashbulb memories. They argued that these memories were caused when the event not only was surprising, but was of personal relevance to the life of the individual. They also argued that there must be a biological mechanism that led to the creation of these memories, but the following study did not investigate a biological component. The aim of their classic 1977 study was to investigate whether surprising and personally significant events can cause flashbulb memories. Procedure The researchers asked 40 black and 40 white American male participants to fil out a questionnaire (iMKr end regarding the death of public figures - such as President John F Kennedy and civil rights leader : Martin Luther King Jr - as well as of someone they personally knew. They were asked a series of questions about the event including: ‘+ Where were you when you heard about the event? + Who was with you when you head about the event? ‘+ What were you doing when you heard about the event? * How did you find out about the event? ‘+ How did you feel when you heard about the event? (to indicate level of emotion) + How important was this event in your life? (to indicate personal relevance) + How offen have you talked about this event? (to indicate rehearsal) The study was carried out in 1977. President Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963 and Martin Luther King was assassinated on April 4, 1968. Resultsa ‘The researchers found that 90% of the participants recalled a significant amount of detail about the day when these events occurred. Most participants had very detalled memories of the death of a loved one, However, there was a difference in their memories of teh assassination of public officials, based on the personal relevance of the event to the participant. 75% of black participants had fiashbulb memories of the murder of Martin Luther King, compared to 33% of white participants. Before reading the evaluation of the study below, you may want to watch this video. You will see here that when people are questioned about an important national event, they may say what they believe that they are supposed to say - a demand characteristic known as the social desirability effect.Loftus & Palmer (1974) ‘The researchers wanted to study the pheriomenon known as reconstructive mémory. The theory was first suggested by Bartlett (1932). He argued that established knowledge called schemas influence cognitive processing and demonstrated that cultutal schemas’ could distort memory. He argued that humans try t0 fin ing in what they experience and if Something seems unfamiliar they will try to fit the experi to existing sclera: me Loftus & Palmer performed & number of expe: memioty.can be manipulated by: in demonstrated that ie posable a false they have actually experienced the « eye witness festiniony where pa couit roorn. 2 z PPh 2 Experiment 1 Aim The aim of the research was to investigate whether the use of leading questions would affect estimation of speed. The researchers refer to the problems of leading questions in eyewitness testimony in their introduction and argue that some questions are more liable than others to influence estimates than others. Leading questions are defined by Loftus as a question which either by form or content suggests to @ witness which answer is desired. Previous research has demonstrated that people's memory for details after a car accident is inaccurate and that there is a tendency to overestimate the duration of a complex event. It seems that its particularly difficult to estimate speed of a moving car (Marshall, 1969). Since previous research had shown that estimation of speed was liable to distortion Loftus and Palmer hypothesized that people's memory for details of a complex event could be distorted if they were asked to estimate how fast the car was going. Therefore they set up two ‘experiments where participants were shown videos of traffic accidents and after that they had to answer questions about the accident. The participants were asked about the speed of the car in different ways. For example, participants were asked:” About how fast were the cars going when they smashed into each other?” or they were asked: “About how fast were the cars going when they hit each other?" This was based on the assumption that ‘hit! and ‘smashed have different connotations and activate different cognitive schemas about the severity of the accident, The researchers conducted two experiments. Both experiments had student participants, Procedure The researchers predicted thet using the word ‘smashed’ would result in higher estimation of speed than using the word ‘hit. The independent variable was the different words used in the critical‘question and the dependent variable was estimation of speed. 45 students participated in the experiment, They were divided into five groups of seven students. Seven films of traffic accidents were shown and the length of the films ranged from 5 to 30 seconds. These films were taken from driver's education films. ‘When the participants had watched a film they were asked to give an account of the accident they and seen and then they answered a questionnaire with different questions on the accident with one question being the critical question where they were asked to estimate the speed of the cars involved in the accident. There was one critical question which was the one asking the participant to estimate the speed of the cars involved in the accident. The participants were asked to estimate the speed of the cars. They were asked the same question but the critical question included different words. Nine participants were asked “About how fast were the cars going when they hit each other?" ‘The critical word "hit" was replaced by ‘collided’, ‘bumped! or ‘smashed’ or contacted’ in the other conditions which each had nine participants answering the question. Results ‘The mean estimates of speed was highest in the ‘smashed’ condition (40.8 mph) and lowest in the ‘contacted’ group (31.8 mph). The researchers calculated a statistical test and found that their results were significant at p $ 0.006. Table 1 Speed estimates for the Verbs used in Experiment 1 Verb Mean speed estimate (mph) Smashed : 40.8 7 : Collided 39.3 Bumped 381 - Hit 34.0 Contacted 318 - Discussion ‘The results indicate that the critical word in the question consistently affected the participants’ answer to the question. The researchers argued that it may be that the different speed estimates is the result of response-bias, i. the participant is uncertain about the exact speed and therefore a verb like “smashed” biases his or her response towards a higher estimate. It may also be that the way the question is formed result in a change in the participant's mental representation of the accident, i.e. the verb "smashed" activates a cognitive schema of a severe accident that may change the participant's memory of the accident. This distortion of memory is based on reconstruction so that itis not the actual details of the accident that are remembered but rather what is in line with a cognitive schema of a severe accident. This interpretation is in line with Bartlett's suggestion of reconstructive memory due to schema processing.In conclusion, it seems that participants’ memory of an incident could be changed by using suggestive questions. Evaluation The experiment was conducted in a laboratory and the participants were students. Lab experiments may be problematic in the sense that they do not necessarily reflect how people remember in real life. There may be a problem of ecological validity and it has been argued that this is the case here. ‘A support for this point could be that the films shown in the experiment were made for teaching Purposes and therefore the participants did not experience the same as ifit had been a real accident. However, strength of the experimental method is that confounding variables can be controlled so that itis really the effect of the independent variable that is measured. This was the case in this experiment and Loftus and Palmer could rightfully claim that they had established a cause-effect relationship between the independent variable (the critical words) and the dependent variable (estimation of speed). The fact that the experiment used students as participants has also been criticized because students are not representative of a general population. Another problem could be demand characteristics since the participants knew they participated in an experiment. This could affect their answers because they responded to what they thought would be appropriate answers, If this is the case it was not their memory that was tested. Experiment 2 In order to investigate if the differences in speed estimation in the first experiment could be due to the form of the question (schema processing) the researchers performed a second experiment. The aim of the experiment was to investigate if participants who had a high speed estimate in the first part of an experiment would say that they had seen broken glass in the second part of the experiment. The researchers hypothesized that this would happen. Procedure 150 students participated in this experiment. They were divided into groups of different sizes. They were shown a 1-minute film depicting a multiple car accident lasting around 4 seconds, After seeing the film the participants answered a questionnaire. First they described the accident in their own words, and then they had to answer a number of other questions. Fifty participants were asked:" ‘About how fast were the cars going then they smashed into each other?” Fifty participants were asked:” About how fast were the cars going when they hit each other?" The remaining fifty Participants were not asked to estimate speed. After one week the participants came back to the laboratory to answer some questions about the accident. There was one critical question this time in a list of a total of 10 questions and it was Placed randomly in the list in the questionnaire. The critical question was:" Did you see any broken glass?" The participants simply had to answer "yes" or “no”. In fact there was no broken glass in theYes No accident the participants had seen but the researchers assumed that broken glass was associated with high speed. Results ‘The mean estimate of speed of participants who had the critical question “About how fast were the ‘cars going then they smashed into each other?" was 10.46 mph. The mean estimate of speed of participants who had the critical question:"About how fast were the cars going when they hit each other?” was 8.00 mph, Table 2 Speed estimates for the verbs used in the first part of the second experiment Verb Mean Speed Estimates (mph) Smashed Hit | 8.00 In the ‘smashed! condition 16 participants said yes to having seen broken glass compared to 7 in the ‘hit condition. 6 participants in the control condition answered ‘yes’ to the question. 34 participants in the ‘smashed’ condition answered ‘no’ to the question compared to 43 in the ‘hit condition. Although most of the participants accurately reported no broken glass, more of the participants in the "smashed' condition said they saw broken glass. Table 3 ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ answers related to the critical quest id you see any broken glass? Response ‘Smashed Hit Control 16 7 6 34 43 44 A Chi-square test was calculated because the data was nominal. It was significant at ps0.26. ‘Therefor, it was concluded that smashed leads to more ‘yes’ responses as well as higher speed estimates, Discussion ‘The researchers argued that the results of the second experiment provided further support for the theory of reconstructive memory and schema processing. The wording of the critical question led to higher speed estimates in the first part of the experiment and this also had consequences for how participants answered in the second part of the experiment. Loftus and Palmer suggest that participants are influenced by the perception of the event but also of the post-event information provided by the critical question. The researchers argue that this information may be integrated in such a way that itis difficult to say where it came from when the participants try to recall the event. ‘The verb used in the critical question provides further information to the participant about the accident, The word ‘smashed’ gives the participant the idea of an accident that is severe and therefore he or she is more likely to think that there was broken glass.The results of this experiment can be interpreted in terms of Bartlett's theory of reconstructive memory, i.e. people tend to change details of an event when they try to remember it. This is probably also what happened when the participants in Loftus and Palmer's study tried to remember the original information when they were given information about the speed of the cars through the use of the either ‘ht’ or ‘smashed’. The participants may have used their past knowledge of serious car accidents to make the decision of whether or not they had seen broken glass (schema processing). Evaluation This study can also be accused of lacking ecological validity and therefore it may be difficult to generalize the findings to real life. The comments made on the first experiment also apply to the second one,Loftus & Pickrell (1995) Loftus & Pickerell carried out a classic study on false memories which has come to be known as the “Lost in the Mall” study. You can use this study for the following learning objectives Explain how principles that define the cégnitive level of analysis may be demonstrated in research (that is, theories and/or studies). Discuss ethical considerations related to research studies at the cognitive level of analysis. With refererice to relevant research studies, to what extent is.one cognitive process reliable? Aim To determine if false memories of autobiographical events can be created through the power of suggestion. Procedure 3 males and 21 females were the participants. Before the study, a parent or sibling of the participant was contacted and asked two questions. First, could you retell three childhood memories of the participant? Second, do you remember a time when the participant was lost in a mall? ‘The participants then received a questionnaire in the mail. There were four memories that they were asked to write about and then mail back the questionnaire to the psychologists. Three events were real and one was “getting lost in the mall.” They were instructed that if they didn’t remember the event, they should simply write “I do not remember this.” ‘The participants were interviewed twice over a period of four weeks. They were asked to recall as much information as they could about the four events. Then they were asked to rate their level of confidence about the memories on a scale of 1 - 10. After the second interview, they were debriefed and asked if they could guess which of the memories was the false memory, Results About 25% of the participants “recalled” the false memory. However, they also ranked this memory as less confident than the other memories and they wrote less about the memory on their questionnaire47McGaugh & Cahill (1995) MoGaugh & Cahill éa‘ried out & classic study of lashbulb memary, You can use this study for the following leaming objectives: Discuss how and why particular research inthods are | used at the cognitive level of analysis. Explain te function of hormones in human beheviou: i Background Ifyou experience a traumatic event like a car crash the physiological stress system automatically gets going. The body's “fight or flight” response kicks in and your heart starts beating faster. This is, because stress hormones like adrenaline andcortisol are released from the adrenal gland. When adrenaline reaches the brain it activates the amygdala to send a message that something important, ‘or dangerous has happened. The amygdala is believed to play an important role in emotional aspects of memory in that it attaches emotional significance to otherwise neutral stimuli. Generally, researchers believe that an “emotional memory’ is better remembered and they argue that this is because the amygdala is in communication with other brain regions when a memory is created, The following experiment by McGaugh & Cahill is evidence of the important role that the amygdala plays in the creation of flashbulb memories. Aim To study the role of emotion and the amygdala on the creation of memories. Procedure Participants were divided into two groups. Each group saw 12 slides which were accompanied by a very different story. In the first condition, the participant heard a rather boring story about a woman and her son who paid a visit to the son's father in a hospital where they witnessed the staff in a disaster preparation dril of a simulated accident victim. In the second condition the participant heard a story where the boy was involved in a car accident where his feet were severed. He was quickly brought to the hospital where the surgeons reattached the injured limps. Then he stayed in the hospitals for some weeks and then went home with is. mother, Two weeks after participating in the experiment the participants were asked to come back and their memory for specific details of the story were tested. The test was a recognition task thatconsisted of a series of questions about the slides with three options for them to choose from. For example, what was the job of the father of the boy in the story? A. A janitor B. A lab technician C. A surgeon. ‘The researchers then did a follow-up study. In the follow-up study the above procedure was repeated, but this time the participants in the "traumatic story" condition were injected with a beta- blocker called propranolol. This is a drug which is used to treat heart disease because the beta- blockers interfere with the release of adrenaline on the body so that the heart will pump more slowly and efficiently. However, in this study it was used to prevent activation of the amygdala. Results In the original version of the experiment the researchers found that the participants who had heard ‘the more emotionally arousing story demonstrated better recall of specific details ofthe story. They Could also recall more details from the slides. In the follow-up study they found that the those that had received the beta-blocker did no better than the group that had heard the "mundane" story. They therefore concluded that the amygdala plays a significant role in the creation of memories linked to ‘emotional arousal.Neisser & Harsch (1992) Neisser & Harsch carried out a classic study of flashbulb memory: You can use this study for the following learning objectives: = Discuss how and why particular research methods are used at the cognitive level of analysis. With reference to relevant research studies, to what extent is one cognitive process reliable? Background Ifyou ask anyone where they were on September 11°, the day that two airplanes were used to attack the World Trade Center in an act of terrorism, they will give emotional detail about what they were doing at the time. These vivid memories that are connected to such emotional moments in our .g are often referred to as “Flashbulb memories.” Flashbulb memories are highly detailed, exceptionally vivid ‘snapshots’ of the moment and circumstances in which surprising and personally relevant news was heard. Because of the emotional and highly personal nature of flashbulb memories, it is believed that they are highly resistant to forgetting. Flashbulb memories are one type of autobiographical memory. The accuracy of these memories, however, is debatable. A number of studies suggest that flashbulb memories are not especially accurate, but that they are experienced with great vividness and confidence. Much recent research has focused on the events of September 11". Talarico & Rubin (2003) recorded 54 Duke University students’ memory of first hearing about the terrorist attacks of ‘September 11 and a recent everyday event. They tested again either one, six, or thirty-two weeks later. Both the flashbulb and everyday memories declined over time. However, ratings of vividness and belief in accuracy declined only for the everyday memories. The power of the emotion related to the event correlated with belief in accuracy, but not actual accuracy of the memory. This led the researchers to conclude that flashbulb memories are not special in their accuracy, but only in their perceived accuracy. In 1992 Neisser & Harsch challenged the prevailing belief in flashbulb memory and argued that these memories are also prone to significant distortion. in order to do this, they had students recall their reactions to the Challenger disaster — an accident on January 28, 1986 in which a space shuttle exploded in space, live on television. The event was being watched around the world. One of the most celebrated members of the crew was a schoolteacher named Christa McAuliffe. Aim To determine whether flashbulb memories are susceptible to distortion. Procedure (On the morning afer the Challenger disaster — less than 24 hours after the event - 106 Emory University students in an introductory psychology course were given a questionnaire at the end ofthe class. They were asked fo write a description of how they heard the news. On the back of the questionnaire was a set of questions: © What time was it? + How did you hear about it? + Where were you? + What were you doing? = Who told you? ‘+ Who else was there? + How did you feel about it?* ‘+ How did the person who told you seem to feel about it?* + What did you do afterward? 2 "A years later they were given the questionnaire again. 44 of the original students - 30 women and 14 men - were now seniors at the university. They were not fold the purpose of the study until they arrived. They were given the original questionnaire to fill in again. This time they were also asked for each response to rate how confident they were of the accuracy of their memory on a scale from 1 Gust guessing) to 5 (absolutely certain). They were also asked if they had filled out a questionnaire on this subject before. Incredibly, only 11 participants or 25% said yes! ‘Seeing that there were discrepancies, semi-structured interviews were carried out a few months later in order to determine if the participants would repeat what they had written a few months earlier or revert to the original memory. The interviews were taped and transcribed. The interviewer presented @ prepared retrieval cue with the hope of prompting the original memories. Participants whose 1988 recall had been far off the mark were given a cue based on their original records; for example, the interviewer might ask “Is it possible that you already knew about the explosion before seeing it on television?” At the end of the interview the participants were shown their original 1986 reports in their own handwriting. Results The researchers were surprised to see the extent of the discrepancies between the original questionnaire and the follow-up 2 % years later. Here is a typical example: 24 hours after the accident: / was in my religion class and some poople walked in and started talking about it.I didn't know any details except that it had exploded and the Schoolteacher's students had all been watching which | thought was so sad. Then after class | went fo my room and watched the TV program talking about it and I got all the details from that. 2.8 years later: When / first heard about the explosion | was sitting | my freshman dorm room with my roommate and we were watching TV. It came on a news flash and we wereboth totally shocked. ! was really upset and | went upstairs to talk to a friend of mine and then {called my parents. In order to come up with a “score,” the researchers looked at the seven “content” questions ~ that is, rot the two that are about emotion (see asterisks above) ~ and gave a point if they matched the original response. The maximum total response was then seven. Accuracy Score on Recall Questionnaire Number of Participants 3° 4 °° 5 Accuracy Score ‘The mean score was 2.95/7.0. Eleven participants scored 0. Twenty-two of them scored 2 or less. Only three participants scored the maximum score of 7. What is interesting is that in spite of the lack of accuracy, the participants demonstrated a high level of confidence. The average level of confidence for the questions was 4.17Mean Confidence Ratings 15 10 - =f || 7 3 a | __|7 &l Participants ge L a 26 58 5 |p Pe 3 For the most part, participants told the same story in the spring as in the fall, when they were interviewed. Additional cues had litle effect on accuracy. When presented with the original questionnaire, participants were surprised and could not account for the discrepancies. - oi + 3.33 '3.67" 4 "4.33 Mean confidence rating 2.33 2.67Evaluation”€nfinxine Key study: Rosenthal and Jacobson (1966) Within the cognitive level of analysis psychologists study human mental processes. Intelligence is the ability to reason and think in complex ways as well as the ability to store and retrieve symbolic representations of knowledge based on experience. Researchers are interested in what factors influence the development of intelligence. A famous study demonstrated that IQ scores can be influenced by the expectations of others. Rosenthal and Fode (1963) demonstrated the experimenter expectancy effect in a lab experiment, Students were told that one group of rats had been bred to be particularly "maze bright’ - that is, they were particularly intelligent so it would be expected that they could learn the maze more quickly than the "maze dull" rats. This was exactly what happened. However, the rats were all standard lab rats and had been randomly assigned to the students who were not cheating in any way. The researchers argued that the students had influenced the rats unintentionally. One consequence of this study was that experimenter expectancies in scientific research are now controlled through standardized experimental procedures and rigorous controls such as single-blind and double-blind procedures. Rosenthal wondered if such expectancy effects could take place outside the research laboratory ~ for example in the classroom. Since teachers in the USA were given the students’ IQ scores in the beginning of the first grade could this bias their expectations to students’ performance so that unintentionally teachers would treat some students as potentially bright and others as less bright? Rosenthal called the expectancy effect in natural inter-personal settings outside the laboratory, the Pygmalion effect. This is linked to the concept of self-fulfilling prophecy originally suggested by the sociologist Robert Merton in 1948 using among other examples from the collapse of a bank in the early 1930s in the beginning of the economic crisis. According to ‘Merton a self-fulfilling prophecy followed three stages: Belief (false) that a certain event will happen in the future: expectation is created. * Expectation leads to new behaviour which would not take place if the expectation had not been created. + Expected evert actually happens ~ so the prophecy is fulfilled. Procedure : The aim of Rosenthal and Jacobsen (1966) was to investigate if teacher expectations could influence students’ intellectual performance. The study took place in Oak School with the cooperation of the school’s administration:Procedure: At the beginning of the academic year all students were given an IQ test called the TOGA, which is a non-verbal test of general ability that does not depend primarily upon skills earned in the school. It was also a test that the teachers in the school did not know. The teachers were deceived because they were told that the students had another IQ test - the Harvard Test of Inflected Acquisition. The teachers were also told that this test could predict whether students would improve academically in the year to come, In this way teachers were led to believe that students who scored high on the test would improve academically but the predictive value of the test was not true, however. Deception was thus used in order to raise specific expectations in the minds of the teachers. For ethical reasons, this field experiment focused on positive expectations and their impact on intellectual growth but one can imagine that negative expectations may have a similar effect. 18 classes from grade one through six were given the IQ test. The 18 teachers (16 women and 2 ‘men) were then given lists of the students in each class who had scored in the top 20% on the Harvard Test. These students were identified as potential intellectual bloomers in the academic year to come. However, the children had been assigned randomly to the experimental condition 50 it was not at all because of the results of the tests as the teachers were led to believe. The only difference between the experimental group and the control group was that the experimental group was told to be the ones who would show unusual intellectual gains during the academic year. Eight months after the start of the field experiment, the children were all retested with the ‘same IQ test and a change score was computed for each child. Results Generally all children designated as potential bloomers had significantly greater gains in IQ scores than did the control children. This was particularly so in the first and second grades. First graders in the control group had a gain of 12 points compared to the experimental group who had a gain of 27.4 1Q points. Table 1: Percentages of experimental and control participants gaining 10, 20 or 30 1Q points in First and Second Grade Children again [control (N=95) | Experimental (N-~19)- 10 points 49 79 20 points 19 7 | 30 points 5 at Bh oi cece ares uoing weaver to-indhiniking. co.uk 2Cinna In grades 5 and 6 the difference was not as or was even non-existent, For example, the mean gain in grade 6 was 10.7 in the control compared to the experimental group 10.0, Overall, the students through all grades showed an average of 12.2 point gain in the experimental group compared to an average of 8.4 in the control group. Evaluation The study was a field experiment and this means that the researchers could not control all variables. Methodological considerations involved if retesting of IQ by the teacher may have caused the teacher to treat the children differently and thereby influence the results, In order to control for this,three of the classes were retested by a school administrator who had nothing to do with the Oak School and who was blind to the purpose of the experiment. The results of these tests were not significantly different ftom the results of the teacher's own testing. This indicates that the results may be explained by the expectancy effect. It could be argued that there ate ethical intplications in this field experiment because it appeared that teachers may have encouraged some children to intellectual growth at the expense of others. However, it shotild be noted that both groups made substantial gains during the school year but the gains in the control group were lower than those in the experimental group. Overall, comparison of results from all classes showed that in the classes where the students made the highest gains the control group also had greatér gains. Another ethical consideration was that the experiment only dealt with positive expectations of students to avoid any stigmatization of students. Discussion There are important findings from this field experiment. First of al, it showed that the expectancy effect can also be related to real life settings. It also showed that the expectancy effect was particular strong in the early grades and riot very strong among older children. Rosenthal and Jacobson (1968) argued that the study showed that when teachers expect certain children to show greater intellectual development this is what happens. Since the results were based on mean scores of three classes and three teachers for each grade level itis difficult to explain the differences by aniything else that the expectations created by the IQ scores in the initial stage of the field experiment. As for the differences of the effect of the self-fulfilling prophecy between younger and older children the researchers argued that a possible reason for this was that younger children may be ‘more malleable than older children and that they are therefore more easily influenced by teachers’ communication and feactions. [| erences seat foicinthinking.co.uk 3Catan ‘The results have implications outside Oak School in that it points at the potential long-term effects of teachers’ expectation on student performance. This also gives rise to discussions on the usefulness - and even fairness ~ of IQ tests. It has been argued that intelligence tests have cultural and ethnic biases and that this is the reason why children from minority groups or ethnic groups do not perform as well as white children. This is a real concern and Rosenthal and Jacobsen (1966) actually showed that when teachers are given students’ IQ score they may meet students with expectations that are created on the basis of biased tests and this may lead to an unfair self-fulfilling prophecy. References Hock, R, E. (2001) Forty studies that changed psychology: Explorations into the history of paychological research. 4 ed, Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall. Rosenthal, R. and Jacobson, L. Teachers expectancies: Determinants of Pupils’ IQ gains. Psychological Reports, 1966, 19, 115-118. Rosenthal, R, and Jacobscn, L. (1968) Pygmalion in the classroom: Teacher expectations and pupils’ intellectual development. New York: Holdt, Rinehart and Winston. ett Hannibal, InThnkingSchachter & Singer (1962) ‘Schachter & Singer carried out a classic stuidy of the interaction of physiology and cognition in ‘emotions. You cari use this study for the followifig leaming objectives: Discuss how and why particular research methods are used at the cognitive level of analysis. Sade Discuss ethical considerations related to research studies at the cognitive level of analysis. To what extent do cognitive and biological factors infact in emotion? Exe 4 Coa Background ‘Schachter and Singer developed the Two-factor theory of emotion. The two-factor theory argues that we first have a physiological response to an environmental stimulus. The next step is called “cognitive labeling." The researchers argue that we use the immediate environment to search for Cues to label the physiological arousal. One of the ways that I do this is by social comparison - | look to others in my environment to determine how to feel. Aim To test the two-factory theory of emotion. There were three hypotheses which were being tested: 1. Ifa person experiences a state of physiological arousal for which they have no immediate explanation, they will label this state in terms of their "cognitive explanations" of its causes based on their current situation. 2. Ifa person experiences a state of physiological arousal for which they have an appropriate explanation, there will be no need to use extemal situational cues to label the arousal as an emotion. 3. Given no state of physiological arousal, despite situational cues, an individual will experience no emotion. Procedure For this study, the researchers had a sample of 184 male undergraduate students who volunteered in order to eam "bonus points" on an exam. They were told that they were going to be injected with a ‘new vitamin, Suproxin; however, in actuality they wore injected with adrenaline. For this study there were three Independent variables: + Physiological arousal - they were either injected with adrenaline or with a placebo + Explanation of arousal - they were either informed (told the correct symptoms) or misinformed (told the wrong symptoms) or ignorant (not told anything about symptoms),= Emotional cues - they were either exposed to a confederate who was "euphoric" - that is, very happy - or an angry confederate. ‘The participants were randomly allocated to one of four experimental conditions: 4. Adrenalin Ignorant - participants were given an adrenalin injection and not told of the: effects of the drug. 2. Adrenalin Informed - participants were given an adrenalin injection and warned of the ‘side effects’ of the drug 3. Adrenalin Misinformed - participants were given an adrenalin injection and told to ‘expect side effects but were told these would be numb feet and headache. Therefore, although they had side effects, they would not be able to explain them. 4, Placebo Group - Participants were given an injection of saline solution that would have no effect and were given no instructions of what to expect. This was the control group. Participants were then allocated to either the euphoria condition or the anger condition. in both cases they were asked to wait in a room with a confederate. In the euphoria situation the confederate acted silly - playing with a hoolah hoop. In the anger condition, the confederate acted angrily, acting outraged and ripping up a questionnaire. To measure emotions, the researchers observed the participants’ behaviour through a one-way mirror. In addition, they also used self-reported data at the end of the study to determine the participants’ level of happiness. They did not use self-reported data on anger because they feared that the students would not be honest as they might fear not getting their "bonus points." Results “The results are rather complex. In the euphoric situation, adrenaline ignorant and misinformed participants reported higher levels of happiness than those that were informed. This could be attributed to the fact that they felt some physiological change but did not realize that it was the result of adrenaline. However, there was no difference between those two groups and the placebo. So, in the euphoria condition, the third hypothesis was not supported. In the angry condition, adrenaline ignorant participants behaved significantly more angrily than either the informed or the placebo participants. This appears to support all three hypotheses.Feedback Sharot et al (2007) Sharot et al studied the bioiogical basis of flashbulb memory. You can use this study for the following leaming objectives: = Explain how biological factors may affect one cognitive process. Discuss the use of technology in investigating cognitive processes. With reference to relevant research studies, to what extent is one cognitive process reliable? Evaluate one theory of how emotion may affect one cognitive process. Aim To determine the potential role of biological factors on flashbulb memories. Procedure This case study was conducted three years after the 9/11 terrorist attacks in Manhattan. The sample was made up of 24 participants who were in New York City on that day. Participants ‘were put into an fMRI. While in the scanner, they were presented with word cues on a screen. The list of words is listed in the chart below. In addition, the word "Summer" or "September" was projected along with this word in order to have the participant link the word to either summer holidays or to the events of 9-11. Participants’ brain activity was observed while they recalled the event. The memories of personal events from the summer served as a baseline of brain activity for evaluating the nature of 9/11 memories.hands reading sleep circle reporter weather classes evening news breakfast drink Junch Rew york eity | evening radio teacher street corner | hone work writing | building greed work | e-maia exam food quiet morning noise | vatking transportation mail boredon | red dream After the brain scanning session, participants were asked to rate their memories for vividness, detail, confidence in accuracy and arousal. Participants were also asked to write a description of their personal memories. Only half of the participants actually reported having what would becalled "flashbulb memories” of the event - that is, a greater sense of detail and a strong confidence in the accuracy of the memory. Those that did report having flashbulb memories also reported that they were closer to the World Trade Centre on the day of the terrorist attack. Participants closer to the World Trade Centre also included more specific details in their written memories Results Sharot and her team found that the activation of the amygdala for the participants who were downtown was higher when they recalled memories of the terrorist attack than when they recalled events from the preceding summer, whereas those participants who were further away from the event had equal levels of response in the amygdala when recalling both events. The strength of amygdala activation at retrieval was shown to correlate with flashbulb memories. ‘These results suggest that close personal experience may be critical in engaging the neural mechanisms that produce the vivid memories characteristic of flashbulb memory.