As Psychology - Section C

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Section C: Describe how the physiological approach can explain a behaviour/phenomenon. (4 marks) Describe how the physiological approach can explain the abilities of split-brain patients. The physiological approach assumes that the abilities of split-brain patients are significantly determined by individuals’ brain structure and function. The abilities of the split-brain patients are different from normal individuals in the study of Sperry because their corpus callosum has been severed. This means that information from one hemisphere cannot be transferred to the other hemisphere. If you place an object in the right hand of the split-brain patient then they will be able to identify the object in speech and writing. Whereas if the same object was placed in the left hand of a split-brain patient then they will make wild guesses and claim that they are not holding anything. Normal people can identify an object regardless of the hand they are using because their corpus callosum is intact. Describe how the physiological approach can explain the experience of dreaming. The physiological approach will explain that dreaming is experienced as a result of the physiological changes in the human brain, i.e. electrical activity. The brain is more active when asleep than in comparison to when someone is awake. The study of Dement and Kleitman demonstrates an association between REM and sleeping. More participants recalled a higher incidence of dreaming during REM periods than NREM periods. There were some instances where dreaming occurred during NREM sleep but this is explained by assuming that the memory for a dream persisted for some time and thus appeared to occur during NREM sleep. The study also demonstrated that a link between eye movement patterns and the content of the dream. For example, one participant dreamt two people throwing tomatoes at each other

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