Ib-Psychology Boa Essay

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The biological level of analysis, Short Answer Questions: 1. Explain one study related to localization of function in the brain: One study related to the localization of function in the brain was carried out in 2004 by Hamann etal. Localization refers to the idea that behaviour, emotions and thoughts originate the brain in specific localizations. Hamann’s study indicated that localization of sexual activation in the amygdala differs from men and women. Localization in the study was amygdala whereas the function was sexual activity. A correlation method was used, in order to find out the relationship between amount of amygdala activated in men and women when they looked at sexually arousing photographs, neutral photographs and blank screen with a visual fixation cross. Hamann used 28 participants, 14 men and 14 women. He examined brain activity with fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) as they were looking at different kind of pictures. The result of the study seemed to be that amygdala and hypothalamus exhibited substantially more activation in men than in women when viewing the same sexual arousing photographs. This was specially noticed in the left amygdala of the brain in men. Thus, the study shows that different functions (such as behaviour, emotions etc.) is carried out in different localizations in the brain. 2. Explain how one principle from the biological level of analysis may be demonstrated, using one piece of research: One principle of biological level of analysis states that cognitions, emotions and behaviours are products of the anatomy and physiology of our nervous and endocrine system, meaning that all observable behaviour, as well as internal mental activity of an individual can be traced back to physiological events. Therefore one may found a link for example between a specific hormone and a specific behaviour for

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