PSYC2010 Lecture Notes - Lecture 20: Autonomic Nervous System, Neuroimaging, Cortisol

• School: Memorial University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC2010
• Professor: Michele Mercer

Document Summary

Scientific method: pose a theory or research question, set up hypothesis, design a way to test hypothesis (research method, collect data, analyze results, make conclusions, replicate. Data (facts: frequency, strength, duration, latency. Two types of psychological data: behavioural data, psychophysiological (neurobiological) data. Heart rate, blood pressure, respiration, pupil dilation, levels of stress hormone levels (e. g. , cortisol) Measures of brain function: electrical activity (eeg, erps, neuroimaging (e. g. , fmri, pet, nirs) 3 major categories: descriptive (non-experimental, correlational, experimental. How do we collect the data: often determined by the topic. Topic/subject: control over environment and variables. Experimenter makes no effort to alter ss experiences. Naturalistic observation: study behaviour under natural circumstances, (cid:862)(cid:271)a(cid:271)(cid:455) (cid:271)iographies(cid:863) darwin, piaget, freud, case study (or clinical method) Observer influence (subject reactivity: participants may react in unnatural ways, can be minimized. Observer bias: observers record what they expect, rather than what really happens, a serious danger. I(cid:374) the (cid:862)field(cid:863) or (cid:374)atural e(cid:374)(cid:448)iro(cid:374)(cid:373)e(cid:374)t (cid:449)here behaviour happens.