Biological Level Of Analysis Essay
ERQ: Discuss the use of brain imagining techniques in the BLOA
In the Biological Level of Analysis Psychologists have to understand the structure and functions of parts the human body and how those structures affect our behaviour. In particular they have study the brain and in order to do this they use imaging techniques such as MRIs and PET scans. This technology allows these researchers to study the ‘active brain’. They both have different functions and are used for different situations.
Magnetic Resonance Imaging or MRIs are an example of an imaging technique that allows psychologists to study the structure of the brain. Using both magnetic and radio waves it creates a cross-section image. They can identify changes in the brain structure
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The aim of this study was to investigate the role of the hippocampus in spatial memory. The study took 16 healthy, experience black-cab taxi drivers who were all right handed and between the ages of 32 and 62 years. The researchers took MRI scans of their brains and compared these images to the brain scans of 50 non-taxi driver, right handed males who were controls. Comparing the two set of results it was evident that the cab drivers had significantly larger posterior hippocampi than the control. They also had smaller anterior hippocampi to the control. Another discovery made was that there was a link between the Hippocampi’s volume as well as the years of experience as a cab-driver – it showed positively for the posterior and negatively for the anterior hippocampi. This study proved that the posterior hippocampi had a function in our spatial …show more content…
It strived to see if there was a link between brain abnormalities and murderers who had pled guilty ‘by reason of insanity’ (NGRIs). This would prove that certain changes were a cause of violent behaviour. Raine took a sample of 41 of these convicts and conducted PET scans on them. Glucose tracer were used. The psychologists compared the scans of the brains of these murderers to the scans of 41 control subjects who had no criminal record. All of the participants had to follow a simple task during the scan that dictated they press a button when a certain number appeared. The 41 convicts were chosen based on referrals given to Raine based on issues such as brain injury or hyperactivity. He found that these NGRIs had a significantly lower amount of activity in their prefrontal and parietal areas but their occipital ares had higher. The NGRIs and control were equal for the temporal areas. The results of the NGRIs proved that there was an increased risk of violence in
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