psych IB SL studies

Loftus: Uses

Reconstructive memory: False memory

Gohar: Uses

Working Memory Model

Wade et al: Uses

Reconstructive memory: False memory

HM: Uses

Multi-Store Memory Model, Localization w/ Hippocampus

Neisser and Harsch: Uses

Flashbulb memory: reliability of memory, Emotion on Cognition

HM: Aim

To better understand the effects that the surgery had on HM

Gohar et al: Aim

To measure the effects of call rotations on sleep-wake times and Working Memory Capacity in internal medicine residents

Loftus: Aim

To determine if false memories of autobiographical events can be created through the power of suggestion

Wade et al: Aim

to investigate whether exposure to altered photographs can lead to false memories

Neisser and Harsch: Aim

To investigate participants’ memory of the Challenger Space Shuttle explosion

Neisser and Harsch: Procedure

. In this study, researchers challenged the accuracy of people's memories by asking them to recall details about the Challenger space shuttle disaster that occurred in 1986. Participants were asked to write down their recollections immediately after the event and then again two and a half years later.

Wade et al: Procedure

Participants were interviewed about 4 pictures three times over a 2 week period. 3 pictures were real photographs of experiences and one was fake: the subject riding in a hot air balloon

Loftus: Procedures

Participants’ relatives were interviewed about 3 real childhood memories of the participants then asked if they remembered a time when the pt was lost in the mall. The patients later received a questionnaire asking them to write about 4 memories and then return it. Then pt were interviewed twice about the 4 memories and asked to rate their confidence in their recollections.

HM: Procedure

Case study that used triangulation: IQ testing was given to HM, Direct observation, Interviews with HM, and Cognitive testing/ learning tasks.

HM: Results

HM Could not acquire new episodic knowledge nor semantic. He had a short term capacity however after 15 min we would forget it. He still maintained his procedural memories though.

HM: Conclusion

The study shows that short term and long term memory are two distinct stores and after having his hippocampus removed, his short term and pre-surgery long term memories stayed intact however he could not create new long term memories.

Gohar et al: Results

Residents completing the study had less sleep per night during their call month. Call rotation causes a greater self-reported sleepiness and lower MWC recall and more math errors when on call.

Gohar et al: Conclusion

During residents’ call month, pts had less sleep which adversely affected WMC and could be used to explain impaired judgement

Gohar et al: Procedures

during a 2 month period, pts wore actigraphy watches, logged in their sleep and completed WMC recall tests.

Loftus: Results

About 25% recalled a false memory however they ranked them less confidently than the other memories and wrote less about them.

Loftus: Conclusion

People can be led to believe that entire events happened to them after suggestions to that effect.

Wade et al: Results

Subjects recalled about 95% of the real memories by interview 3 however by interview 3 50% of the subjects recalled the false memory.

Wade et al: Conclusion

Results show that false photographs, like false narratives, can produce false memories of childhood experiences.

Neisser and Harsch: Results

Pt’s confidence about the correctness of their memory was high , however the consistency between the responses given 3 years apart was low. They couldn’t explain discrepancies in the answers, but they were extremely surprised when shown the two questionnaires.

Neisser and Harsch: Conclusion

We can have a very vivid and detailed memory about something, while not being completely accurate about the actual situations

Chiu (1972): Uses

Culture influences on cognition & behavior, cultural origin, cultural groups, cultural dimensions, enculturation

Chiu (1972): Aim

To carry out a cross-cultural comparison of cognitive styles in US and Chinese Students.

Chiu (1972): Procedure

A 28-item cognitive test was used where for each item there was three pictures shown and the pt had to pick which one did not belong.

Chiu (1972): Results

The US students scored much higher in an analytical sense where cow and chicken went together because they were both animals whereas the Chinese scored much higher in the contextual sense where cow is to grass because cow eats grass.

Chiu (1972): Conclusion

Chinese students group things holistically, basing grouping on relationships or symbiosis whereas the US grouped things analytically using abstract groups.

Berry and Katz (1967): What did it study

Culture influences on cognition & behavior, cultural origin, cultural groups, cultural dimensions, enculturation, conformity

Berry and Katz (1967): Aim

To investigate whether cultural differences in individualism vs collectivism affect conformity.

Berry and Katz (1967): Procedure

The researchers measured conformity through an Asch paradigm. Pts were asked to identity which line is the same length as the target however they are told that majority (either the Tenme or the Inuits) picked another line that was not the answer.

Berry and Katz (1967): Results

The tenme were much more likely to go along with the majority whereas the inuits were mostly unaffected by the suggestion.

Berry and Katz (1967): Conclusion

The more individualistic Inuits were less likely to conform than the collectivist Tenme because conformity was a group norm engrained into Tenme society.

Shah et al (2015): Uses

Acculturation

Shah et al: Aim

To study the association between acculturation and obesity.

Shah et al: Procedures

Pts participated in an interviewer led WHO STEPS questionnaire and BMI was calculated. Logistic regression was used to determine risk factors for being obese and to asses the relationship between years of residency and obesity.

Shah et al: Results

Migrant workers in the UAE had a significantly higher BMI than the comparison group. The longer they stayed in the UAE, the higher their BMI became.

Shah et al: Conclusion

Acculturation may contribute to unhealthy eating behaviors, resulting in obesity and being overweight. This may be explained by the fact that migrants moving into another culture may begin to develop more unhealthy eating behaviors than they would’ve in their native culture.

Scheele et al (2012): Uses

Hormones

Ronay and von Hippel (2010): What did it study?

Hormones

Scheele et al (2012): Aim

to investigate the role of oxytocin in promoting fidelity in humans.

Scheele et al: Procedures

86 Heterosexual men (some in relationships and some single), oxytocin or placebo administered intranasally. Pts were given two tasks: they were asked to walk towards an attractive female until they felt uncomfortable and were shown series of photos with 4 types- positive social picture (pretty lady), positive non-social picture (landscape), Negative social pictures (gore), negative non-social pictures (dirt) and then were asked to pull a joystick if they liked the pic, push if they did not.

Scheele et al: Results

Stop distance paradigm: oxytocin caused only taken men to keep greater distance from attractive female.

Approach/avoidance task showed only that pos. social pic (pretty lady) was affected my oxytocin.

Scheele et al: Conclusion

Oxytocin causes men in a relationship to keep a greater distance from attractive women who are not their partner, thus promotes fidelity.

Townsend: Uses

Schema

Townsend: Aim

To investigate the impact of inappropriate context on the comprehension of a prose passage.

Townsend: Procedures

Participants listened to two ambiguous passages about familiar topics (“Making Toast” and “Making a Kite”) under one of four context conditions. The passages were constructed such that they did not explicitly mention the topic. Half of the students were given appropriate contextual information about the passages either just before or just after hearing the passages. The remaining students either received no contextual information or received inappropriate contextual information about the passages. Audiotape recordings were made of an adult female reading the passages at approximately two words per second with normal pauses between sentences. Following an interpolated activity (nonverbal math problems), participants were asked to recall passage information.

Townsend: Results

Recall of the passage information was significantly lower for those subjects who were not able to activate an appropriate schema at the time of acquisition of the material. Students given inappropriate contextual information recalled less material than students given no contextual information.

Townsend: Conclusion

A meaningful prose text can remain relatively incomprehensible when a context does not activate an appropriate schema at the time of acquisition of the title. High levels of comprehension depend on relevant schema being engaged. The activation of inappropriate schema is more debilitating to comprehension than providing no contextual information at all.

Sharot: Uses

Flashbulb Memory, Emotion & Cognition, Localization, Technique (fMRI)

Sharot: Aim

To investigate the neural mechanism of flashbulb memory by comparing the brain response to recollecting the 9/11 attack as compared to control events.

Sharot: Procedures

Three years after the attacks, participants were asked to retrieve memories of that day as well as memories of personally selected control events from 2001. Participants were split into 2 groups:

• The Downtown Group (they had been in downtown Manhattan, close to the World Trade Center, at the time of the attack)

• The Midtown Group (they were a few miles away)

• Placed in an fMRI scanner, participants saw a series of 60 cue words, either “summer” or “September.” On seeing the word September they had to provide a memory related to the terrorist attack. On seeing the word summer they had to provide an autobiographical memory from the preceding summer of 2001.

Sharot: Results

Selective activation of the left amygdala occurred when participants were recalling events from 9/11, but not control events. Selective activation of the left amygdala correlated with the proximity of the participant to the World Trade Center during the attacks.

Sharot: Conclusion

Results suggest supporting evidence for the idea that flashbulb memories have a unique neural basis. However, this is only true for individuals who personally experience the events. Close personal experience is critical to engaging the neural mechanism that underlies flashbulb memories. Selective activation of the left amygdala may be the neural mechanism of the flashbulb memory – the left amygdala is activated when the event that is being recalled is shocking and personally consequential.

Hamilton and Gifford: Uses

Biases, Dual Processing Model (System 1/Intuitive Thinking), Stereotype

Hamilton and Gifford: Aim

To investigate illusory correlations based on the co-occurrence of infrequent events.

Hamilton and Gifford: Procedures

Participants read a series of descriptions of behavior exhibited by two fictional groups, one larger than the other, to assess their perceptions of group characteristics. The ratio of good and bad actions between both Group A and B are equal.

Hamilton and Gifford: Results

Group A was overestimated to have more positive traits compared to Group B, and the vice versa appeared with negative traits.

Hamilton and Gifford: Conclusion

The study concluded that people form illusory correlations between group membership and behavior, leading to biased perceptions of groups based on their size. These were reinforced with confirmation bias

Snyder and Swann: Uses

Biases, Dual Processing Model (System 1/Intuitive Thinking), Stereotype

Snyder and Swann: Aim

To investigate the process by which individuals use social interaction to actively test hypotheses about other people.

Snyder and Swann: Procedures

Researchers told female college students that they would meet a person who was either an introvert or an extrovert. They were then asked to prepare a set of questions for the person they were going to meet. Participants came up with questions that corresponded to the type of person they were told they would meet.

Snyder and Swann: Results

Those participants who thought they were meeting an introvert had questions like:

• "What do you dislike about parties?"

• "Are there times when you wish you were more outgoing?"

Those participants who thought they were meeting extroverts prepared questions like:

• "What do you do to liven up a party?"

Snyder and Swann: Conclusion

The questions participants came up with confirmed the participants’ stereotypes of the personality types that they were told they would meet.

Bruner: Uses

Bruner: Social Identity Theory

Bruner: Aim

To examine the effects of social identity on prosocial and antisocial behavior toward teammates and opponents.

Bruner: Procedures

Participants completed questionnaires at the beginning, middle, and end of the season assessing three dimensions of social identity (cognitive centrality, ingroup ties, ingroup affect), cohesion, and prosocial and antisocial behavior toward teammates and opponents.

Bruner: Results

Ingroup affect had a positive effect on prosocial teammate behavior. This means that athletes who reported deeper feelings associated with being a member of their team engaged more frequently in prosocial behaviors toward their teammates, such as encouraging or offering constructive feedback.
Young athletes with high ingroup ties did not significantly report engaging in more frequent antisocial behavior toward opponents. Researchers suggest this may be due to team norms regarding how opponents are treated.

Bruner: Conclusion

Findings highlight that social identity may play a salient role in regulating prosocial and antisocial behavior in youth sport. Changes in cohesion may partially explain these effects. Consistent with Social Identity Theory (SIT), young athletes with greater emotional investment in their group may engage in prosocial behavior toward teammates as a means to enhance self-worth and/or to demonstrate commitment to group-level performance.

Van Hook: Uses

Assimilation

Van Hook: Aim

To explore whether and how arrival during childhood affects healthy eating.

Van Hook: Procedures

Used data from the 1999/00 – 2011/12 Continuous National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), a nationally representative, cross-sectional study conducted by the CDC. NHANES collects 24-hour dietary recall data over two different days by interviewers (Day 1 in person/Day 2 by telephone). Researchers analyzed a restricted version of the NHANES that contains detailed information on immigrants’ year and month of arrival from their country of origin

Van Hook: Results

Arrival in middle childhood (vs. infancy, adolescence, or adulthood) was associated with less healthy eating in adulthood. After adjusting for the negative effects of migration during middle childhood, researchers found that the duration of U.S. residence was not associated with less healthy diets as previously reported.

Van Hook: Conclusion

The dominant explanation of immigrants’ unhealthy eating behaviors is that acculturation leads to the adoption of the American lifestyle. Researchers found that immigrants who arrive in middle childhood appear to be particularly vulnerable to unhealthy assimilation. Migration during this sensitive period—when the effects of being a societal outsider may be amplified—appears to raise immigrants’ health risks.
Researchers point to a potential role of schools. Immigrants arriving between ages 6–11 likely attend school as the “new kid” and may have had to make rapid adjustments while facing social pressures to adopt “foreign” ways of eating. Their outsider status during this sensitive developmental period may have contributed to pressures to conform and adopt unhealthy American eating behaviors.

Lapidus et al: Uses

Neurotransmitters & Antagonist

Crocket et al: Uses

Neurotransmitter & Agonist & Neuron

Draganski et al: Uses

Neuroplasticity & Neural Networks & Neural Pruning & Techniques (MRI)

Draganski et al: Aim

To investigate whether structural changes in the brain would occur in response to practicing a simple juggling routine

Draganski et al: Procedures

Experiment: Participants were separated into two groups, juggling and non juggling groups: where they learned a routine and both groups went under 3 MRIs (1 at the start, 2 after 3 months, 3 after 6 months)

Draganksi et al: Results

No significant difference in the structures of both participant groups brains but the juggler groups showed significantly more brain matter at the 3 month mark and even at the 6 month mark when they hadn’t practiced for 3 months.

Draganski et al: Conclusion

Grey matter grows in the brain in response to environmental demands and shrinks in the absence of stimulation

Crocket et al: Aim

To investigate the effects of serotonin on prosocial behavior

Crocket et al: Procedures

Experiment: Participants separated into two groups, placebo and the other given Citalopram (SSRI), Participants were then given moral dillemmas based on the trolley problem where one must chose to kill one to save five or vice versa but in an impersonal way and in a personal scenario.

Crocket et al: Results

The impersonal scenario was unaffected by Citalopram but in the personal scenario the Citalopram made pts less likely to interfere.

Crocket et al: Conclusion

Citalopram reduces the acceptability of personal harm and this in a way promotes prosocial behavior. Increased serotonin in the brain may cause one to be more opposed to harming others

Lapidus et al: Aim

To test the safety and effectiveness of using ketamine to treat depression

Lapidus et al: Procedures

Experiment: Participants were allocated into two conditions, one being a placebo and the other was actually given ketamine (administered intranasally) Pts self reported their depression using a MADRS one day after treatment

Lapidus et al: Results

After 24hrs, pts of the ketamine group had a significant decrease in their depression symptoms, no reported side-effects

Lapidus et al: Conclusion

Ketamine could be a safe and effective way to treat depression as it is faster acting than the leading SSRI.

Makhanova et al (2021): Uses

Genes

Makhanova et al: Aim

To examine where CD38 is associated with cognitions and perceptions that help couples strengthen their bond during the newlywed period.

Makhanova et al: Procedures

Correlations study, pts were sent questionnaires or online surveys, and were asked to complete them independently prior to a lab session 3-months after wedding. During lab session, the couples engaged in a series of problem-solving tests together and a dna saliva sample was taken. The couples then completed a survey every night for 2 weeks and then finally responded to several of the sam questionnaires again every 4 months for 3 years, including measures of relationship success.

Makhanova et al: Results

Participants with CC profiles showed more gratitude, trust, and marital satisfaction than those with an AA or AC.

Makhanova et al: Conclusion

The variation of CD38 gene were associated with bonding-relevant cognitions and overall martial satisfaction over the course of the first 3 years.

Buss (1989): What did it study?

Evolution: Choice of mates

Buss: Aim

To investigate the cross-cultural similarities and differences in mate preferences in males and females

Buss: Procedure

Survey on what age they would prefer to get married, age gap between self and spouse and number of children as well as a section of 18 characteristics that required them to rate those characteristics in desirability

Buss: Results

Females rate financial prospects higher than males and like a mate older than them. Males rate physical attractiveness higher than females and like a mate younger than them.