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Explain one technique used to study the brain in relation to behavior
Draganski - MRI; measured density of grey matter to test skill-learning behavior
Maguire - MRI; VBM for grey matter and Pixel-counting to calculate brain area to test knowledge of spatial information
Explain localization of behavior
Antonova - Hippocampus and spatial memory
HM: Milner - Hippocampus/Middle temporal lobe and memory formation/short to long term memory conversion
Maguire - Posterior Hippocampus and previously learned spatial information, anterior hippocampus and encoding new environmental layouts
Sharot et al - Amygdala and emotional/flashbulb memories
Explain neuroplasticity
Draganski - Learning how to juggle and measuring grey matter
Explain the effect of one neurotransmitter on human behavior
Antonova - Acetylcholine and encoding spatial memories in humans
Rogers & Kesner - Acetylcholine and the consolidation/formation of spatial memory
Explain one ethical consideration in one study of the brain and behavior
Sharot et Al?? PTSD??
Explain the use of one research method
HM Milner - Longitudinal case study of the hippocampus and memory formation
Explain the role of one antagonist
Antonova - Scopalamine and inhibiting the formation of spatial memories
Rogers & Kesner - Scopalamine and inhibiting the consolidation/formation of spatial memory
Explain the formation of neural networks
Draganski - Learning how to juggle and measuring grey matter
Maguire - Testing Taxi Drivers’ grey matter and Pixel-counting to calculate brain area to test knowledge of spatial information
Explain neural pruning
Draganski - Learning how to juggle and measuring grey matter
Maguire - Testing Taxi Drivers’ grey matter and Pixel-counting to calculate brain area to test knowledge of spatial information
Explain the effect of one agonist (endogenous agonists are agonists that are already a part of our nervous system)
Antonova - Acetylcholine and encoding spatial memories in humans
Caspi et Al - Serotonin transporter gene 5-HTT and depression
Newcomer et Al - Cortisol and verbal declarative memory
Rogers & Kesner - Acetylcholine and the consolidation/formation of spatial memory
Explain the role of inhibitory or excitatory synapses in one behavior
Antonova - Excitatory Acetylcholine and encoding spatial memories in humans
Rogers & Kesner - Excitatory Acetylcholine and the consolidation/formation of spatial memory
Explain one evolutionary explanation of one behavior
Caspi et Al - Serotonin transporter gene 5-HTT and depression
Wedekind - The role of MHC and human attraction/mate selection
Explain the use of one research method in one study of genes and behavior
Caspi et Al - Depression and the 5-HTT gene through an association study involving 847 college students
Kendler et Al - Depression using a correlational twin study with a large sample of twins
Explain the role of one gene in one behavior
Caspi et Al - Serotonin transporter gene 5-HTT and depression
Antonova (2011)
Aim: To investigate the effect of scopolamine and acetylcholine on spatial memory in the hippocampus
Participants: 20 male participants
Design: Double-blind, counterbalanced repeated measures design.
Procedure: Participants were injected with either scopolamine or a placebo in separate sessions then asked to navigate a VR arena while their brain activity was measured using fMRI. The task required them to learn and remember the layout of the arena. After the task, participants were required to recall the layout of the arena, and they came back to do it again a few weeks later with the opposite condition.
Baumgartner et al (2008)
Aim: To investigate the role of oxytocin in promoting trust during a trust game.
Participants: 49 participants, both men and women
Design: Double-blind
Procedure: Participants were administered either oxytocin or a placebo via nasal spray then asked to play a game where they decided whether to trust another player with money. The decision involved transferring money to the other player, who could either return some of it or keep it. Brain activity was measured using fMRI to track how oxytocin affected the amygdala
Caspi et al (2003)
Aim: To investigate if the short allele mutation of the 5-HTT gene, which is involved in serotonin transport, predisposes individuals to depression when exposed to stressful life events.
Participants: 847 New Zealand adolescents, who were assessed for their 5-HTT gene variation and followed up over time.
Design: Longitudinal study, Matched Pairs
Procedure: Participants were assessed for depression symptoms and measured for frequency of stressful life events
Draganski (2004)
Aim: To investigate whether learning a new skill, such as juggling, leads to structural changes in the brain.
Participants: 24 participants, with no prior juggling experience
Design: Experimental study with a pre-test/post-test design
Procedure: Participants were randomly assigned to either a juggling group or a control group. The juggling group was trained to juggle for 3 months. The control group did not practice juggling. Brain scans (using MRI) were conducted before the training, immediately after the training period, and again after no juggling practice.
HM: Milner (1966)
Aim: To investigate the role of the hippocampus in memory formation and consolidation
Design: Longitudinal Case Study with multiple research methods
Procedure: Researchers conducted a series of memory tests with H.M. before and after his surgery. These included:
Testing his ability to recall information and form new long-term memories, Conducting a variety of memory tasks, such as word recall and learning new motor tasks, to assess his short-term and long-term memory abilities, Observing his behavior over time to assess his ability to retain new information.
Findings: HM retained short term memory, could not form new long-term memories, but could occasionally recall memories from before the surgery
Maguire (2000)
Aim: To investigate the role of the hippocampus in spatial memory
Participants: 16 right-handed male London taxi drivers, who had been driving for at least 1.5 years, 50 regular right-handed people from a database
Design: Quasi-experiment using structural MRI scans
Procedure: Taxi drivers and control participants underwent MRI scanning to measure their posterior and anterior hippocampus.
Findings: Taxi drivers had larger posterior hippocampi, control participants had larger anterior hippocampi
McGaugh & Cahill (1995)
Aim: To investigate the effect of emotionally arousing experiences on the consolidation of memories.
Participants: 52 participants
Design: Experimental design with two groups
Procedure: Participants were given propanolol (prevents activation of amygdala) or a placebo and were shown two versions of the same story (one involving a woman witnessing a traumatic accident and the other a neutral version of a woman in a hospital), then participants were tested for their memory of the story.
Newcomer et al (1999)
Aim: To investigate the effect of cortisol on memory
Participants: 51 participants 18-30 year old
Design: Matched Pairs
Procedure: Participants were tested and matched for a high, low, and placebo dose of cortisol to take over 4 days. The participants then completed a verbal memory test of a passage and assessed for how well they remembered it.
Rogers & Kesner (2003)
Aim: To determine the role of acetylcholine in the formation of spatial memory
Participants: 30 rats
Design: Experimental Design with a placebo
Procedure: Rats were trained to run through a maze to find food. After training, the rats either given scopolamine or a placebo, and then tested on their ability to navigate the maze again.
Sharot et al (2007)
Aim: To investigate the role of the amygdala in the formation of flashbulb memories
Participants: 24 participants in NYC during 9/11
Procedure: Participants in an fMRI scanner viewed word cues linked to either summer holidays or 9/11, with brain activity recorded while recalling the events. Summer memories served as a baseline for comparison.
Findings: Amygdala activity was higher in patients who recalled 9/11 in greater detail and were closer to the event site
Wedekind (1995)
Aim: The aim of the study was to determine whether one's MHC would affect mate choice.
Participants: 49 female and 44 male university students.
Design: Double-blind experiment
Procedure: Male participants wore a t-shirt for two nights and women participants were asked to smell the shirts and rate how pleasant and attractive the scents were.
Zhou (2014)
Aim: To see the effect of AND and EST on heterosexual/homosexual men and women
Participants: 96 participants, 24 of each gender and each sexuality
Design: Repeated Measures
Procedure: Participants were shown a set of dots that move in a certain way to mimic a human motion and to identify what gender they thought it represented while being exposed to the smell of cloves with either EST, AND, or a control solution.
Findings: For each sexuality besides lesbian/bi women, they would find the figures more masculine/feminine when exposed to the respective pheromone of their preferred gender but not when the opposite pheromone was present.
