Explain one technique used to study the brain in relation to behaviour with reference to one study

Name the studies used

Maguire, Draganski, Scoville, Antonova, Milner, Sharot et al, Phelps

What was the procedure of Sharot et al’s study?

• Participants underwent an fMRI

• During fMRI they were shown a list of words ( associated with holidays e.g. airplane) and either summer or winter

• Participants linked the words to either their holidays or 9/11

• Brain activity of participants recalling their previous summer acted as a baseline

• Researchers compared brain activity between recalling the previous summer and 9/11

• Participants rated the vividness, detail, confidence in accuracy and arousal

• Participants then wrote a description of their personal memories

What were the results of Sharot et al’s study?

• Participants with a flashbulb memory were closer to the Trade Centre on the day of 9/11

• Flashbulb participants had more amygdala activity recalling 9/11 than recalling their memories of the previous summer

• Participants further from the Trade Centre on 9/11 did not have a flashbulb memory and had equal amygdala activity recalling 9/11 and their previous summer

How does Sharot et al’s study link to brain scanning techniques ?

• Use of an fMRI allowed amygdala activity to be observed

• Amygdala activity allowed the researchers to link recall accuracy with emotion

• Without the fMRI the researchers would not be able to prove/provide a basis for their correlation between emotion and recall accuracy

What was the procedure for Phelps’ study ?

• Participants in NYC on 9/11 were asked to recall their memories of 9/11 and the previous summer whilst completing an fMRI

• Participants rated the vividness and detailed their memories of 9/11 and the previous summer were

What were the results of Phelps’ study ?

• Participants further awa from the 9/11 site recalled less detail and reported having less vivid recollection of 9'/11

• Participants closer to the site of 9/11 recalled greater detail of the day and reported the memory being vivid

• Participants closer to 9/11 had more amygdala activity than those further away from 9/11

How do the results of Phelps’ study link to brain scanning techniques ?

• Participants closer to the site of 9/11 recalled more detail and reported their memory of the day being more vivid than those further from 9/11

• Participants closer to the 9/11 site showed more amygdala activity than those further away

• The amygdala is responsible for fear and reward

• The amygdala is involved with the formation of a flashbulb memory

• The amygdala can be linked the process of forming emotion based memories e.g. near death experiences because the group closer to 9/11 had both high amygdala activity levels and highly vivid/detailed recollections of the day

• Without the fMRI the researchers could not have linked the emotional arousal to the vividness and accuracy or recall