PNB 2XC3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Rodent, Drosophila Melanogaster, Design Of Experiments

• School: McMaster University
• Department: Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour
• Course: PNB 2XC3
• Professor: Reuven Dukas

Document Summary

Analyzing: breaking up a whole into parts; examining in details. Critical tests of prediction using properly designed experiments by independent teams. The person who collects the data is blind to subjects" assignment to treatments. Both data collector and subjects are blind to the treatment. Explanation: observer bias, may have wanted to please professor, may find results that don"t exist. Much stronger outcome effects reported were in non-blind trials (experimenter bias) There is very strong placebo effect in humans. Placebo treatment of acupuncture had exact same effect of treating headaches (51- Causes of observed improvements in sham placebo treatment. Spontaneous improvement- actual improvement of problem, whether u seek help or not. Statistical regression to the mean (average)- if you do something over time, you get a pattern and a certain distribution (normal distribution) Getting alternative medicine treatment, but yet still taking advil (which is working?) Proper protocol for humans is double blind exp. Single blind experiments are vulnerable to experimenter"s bias.