Biological Level Of Analysis Essay

II. Biological Level of Analysis General Learning Outcomes
I. General Learning Outcomes
A. Emotions and behavior are products of the anatomy and physiology of the nervous and endocrine systems
a. This principle says that certain processes in the brain, neurotransmitters, as well as hormones play a role in behavior
b. These processes form the basis of the biological level of analysis, relating to how it functions and therefore affects human behavior
i. This is related to the idea of localization of function, which is the idea that different parts of the brain do different things and thus our behavior
1. Myres and Sperry (1953) on split-brain
a. Aim was to determine the effect of the severing of the corpus callosum on the transfer of information of one side of the brain to the other.
b. Method was laboratory experiment
c. Procedure was that they allowed split-brain cats to learn their way through a maze with one eye blindfolded and found that when the blindfold was removed and put on the other eyes
d. Results was that the cats appeared unable to repeat the learned behaviors
e. Interpretation is that when the corpus callosum was severed, it stop the transfer of information between the two parts of the brain
f. This relates to the outcome in that it exemplifies the effect of different parts of the brain can affect our behavior
2. Draganski et al. (2004) on changes in the brain after juggling training
a. Aim was to determine whether both functional and structural changes could be detected in the human brain as a result of learning a new motor skill
b. Method was experiment
c. Procedure was that half of the participants were required to spend three months learning to perform a basic juggling routine for a minimum of 60 seconds. Structural MRI scans were done before and after the three months of practice, and a third scan was made three months later, during which time participants were not supposed to practice their new skills
d. Results were that there were no significant differences in brain structure in the first scan, yet two areas of the brain were significantly different in size after training. The difference became smaller in the third scan, when practice has ceased. These differences were due to an increase in the volume in the two regions of the jugglers’ brain, which are associated with the retention of visually detected movement information rather than physical coordination
e. Interpretation is that the practice of watching balls moving through the air repetitively and learning to move in response to this strengthened the connections between neurons in the parts of the brain responsible for this activity
f. This relates to the outcome in that it directly shows that the brain is affected by behavior
B. Animal research may inform our understanding of human behavior
a. Based initially on Darwin’s work, that humans and the many types of animals are different species now because of thousands of years of evolutionary adaptation to environmental demands
b. This suggests that we share an earlier common ancestral species and in many ways are fundamentally the same; the human being is a type of animal
i. Therefore it is valid to try to make inferences about human behavior based on animal research, this is due to the mechanisms that underlie behavior are the core similarity we share with animals
C. Patterns of behavior can be inherited
a. Two branches of scientific inquiry demonstrate this principle very well: evolutionary psychology and the study of genetics
b. Genetic information is transmitted from parents to children and, over time, physical characteristics and behaviors that are helpful to an individual or social group in terms of surviving and reproducing can be passed on
i. Therefore, patterns of behavior that we see today are theorized to have been of evolutionary benefit
1. Heston (1966) on schizophrenia
a. Aim was to determine if schizophrenia is genetic
b. Method was correlational study
c. Procedure was that he

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