fisher - aim
investigate neural mechanisms of romantic love
fisher - participants
17 “intensely in love”
mean age 21
in love around 7 months
fisher - method
placed in fMRI
view photo of loved on for 30 seconds
filler activity for 40 seconds
view photo of emotionally neutral acquaintance = 30 seconds
filler activity = 20 seconds
brain responses compared
fisher - results
pattern of activation in brain in response to photos of loved ones
especially prominent in dopamine rich areas
Martinez and Kesner - aim
determine the role of acetylcholine in memory formation
Martinez and Kesner - method
mice run t-maze to find food in 1 arm
timed how long it takes
after running the maze but before memory consolidation injected with 1 of 3 chemicals
scopolamine - blocks acetyle receptors inhibiting any response
physostigmine - breaks down enzyme acetylcholinesterase, breaking down acetyl receptors in synapse
placebo - control for adrenalines effect on memory
mice timed how long it takes to run maze again
Martinez and Kesner - results
scopolamine group took longer and made more mistakes
physostigmine group learned faster and made less mistakes
Martinez and Kesner - strengths
control = reliable
easily replicable
Martinez and Kesner - weaknesses
rats can smell food not remember its location
low ecological validity
fisher - strengths
replicable
reliable (lab)
fisher - weaknesses
culture bias - generalisability
low ecological validity