University of British Columbia's Undergraduate Journal of Psychology

Metaplasticity: A New Frontier in the Neural Representation of Memory

2012-05-29T11:12:54-07:00

Modification of the strength of connections between neurons is widely accepted to be essential for information storage in the brain and thus form the basis of learning and memory. However, many regulatory mechanisms must exist in order for the richness of learning and memory to emerge from the simple long-term potentiation and depression of synapses. Metaplasticity, the regulation of synaptic plasticity by prior history of synaptic activity, is a newly discovered phenomenon which offers a deeper understanding of how synaptic plasticity is able to occur within an effective dynamic range and result in meaningful, coordinated changes in neural activity. A complete understanding of the mechanisms of plasticity and metaplasticity would not only be valuable for clinical application, but provide a link between the fields of biology, psychology, and cognitive science.

Startle Reflex as a Physiological Measure of Emotion Regulation

2012-05-29T11:12:55-07:00

In the present study, the startle blink reflex is used as a measure of emotion regulation to affective picture stimuli. Based on the biphasic theory of emotion, it is hypothesized that the startle response will be largest in magnitude in the presence of negative emotional stimuli (Vrana, Spence, & Lang, 1988). It is also hypothesized that when attempting to decrease emotion, participants will show smaller blink magnitudes to negative images, and larger blink magnitudes when attempting to decrease emotion to positive images due to the aversive nature of the startle reflex. The present study highlights the difficulty of finding emotion regulation to positive images with the startle blink paradigm. Participants were 6 female undergraduate students who viewed negative, positive and neutral affective picture stimuli, and attempted to either maintain or suppress their emotional responses to the images. Emotion modulation of the startle response was recorded before regulation instruction onset. Significant differences were found in blink magnitude for emotion modulation between positive and negative images, but neutral images were not significantly different from either. For negative images, blink magnitudes during emotion suppression were significantly smaller than when maintaining emotion. No significant regulation differences were found for the positive images.

Did he Really Earn it? An Examination of Anabolic-Androgenic Steroid Use in Sports

2012-05-29T11:12:55-07:00

Performance-enhancing drug scandals have tarnished the reputation of many professional athletes in a wide variety of sports, from baseball to swimming to cycling. This paper will examine the literature in order to determine the effects of anabolic-androgenic steroids (AAS) on both performance and physical and psychological health; the prevalence in both professional and amateur sports; how steroids are used; how they produce their intended effects; and a brief history of doping in sport and relevant associations created to deal with doping in sport. The literature will be reviewed with the ultimate goal of adding support to the opinion that anabolic-androgenic steroid use should not be allowed a place in the professional sporting environment. Analysis of this question proves to be increasingly relevant as more players are indicted for illegal use of performance-enhancing drugs, and as the ethics of “cheating” by using PEDs are cited as a reason to keep great baseball players from the Hall of Fame. Additionally, it holds important implications in other competitive areas such as academic performance and scaling.

The Negative Effect of Doodling on Visual Recall Task Performance

2012-05-29T11:12:55-07:00

Doodling consists of drawings that are often made to pass the time while an individual’s primary attention is elsewhere. Therefore, it is often seen as a sign of lack of attention. Studies have shown that doodling can actually be beneficial to recall performance on auditory tasks since it does not require many executive resources and may serve to stop mind wandering without affecting attention on the main task (Andrade, 2009). To date, there have been no studies investigating whether recall performance is affected when the primary task requires the same modality as doodling; the present study aimed to determine whether doodling would affect performance on a visual recall task. Participants (n=14) were randomly assigned to either the ‘doodling’ or ‘non-doodling’ condition. Both groups observed a collection of images that they were then instructed to recall from a second list presented directly afterwards, with the ‘doodling’ group instructed to doodle while observing the first set of images. As hypothesized, the mean number of recalled images by the doodlers was found to be significantly lower than that of the non-doodlers. This was likely due to the fact that doodlers’ visual processing resources were divided between the two tasks. An implication of this finding is that multitasking in activities which require the same primary modality as that of the main task can have a negative effect on the amount of information processed and retained.

Want Help From a Stranger? Ask About Their Religious Belief

2012-05-29T11:12:55-07:00

The "altruistic curve" describes the inverse relationship between people's willingness to perform altruistic acts and social distance between the helper and the helped. This study looked at the difference between people's altruism towards friends and charity using a cold pressor task. It studied how the different moral functions of moral judgment, using the Moral Foundations Questionnaire (Graham, Haidt, & Nosek, 2009), for religious people influenced the levels of altruism. This study found that purity/sanctity was highly correlated with religion and the relationship between purity/sanctity and altruism was mediated by in-group/loyalty and authority/respect. Therefore, it suggests that it is not religiosity that influences altruistic behaviour, but the moral foundations religious people score highly on.

Communal Male Role Models: How they influence identification with domestic roles and anticipation of future involvement with the family.

2012-05-29T11:12:55-07:00

The division between work and family is still gendered in our society. I will present evidence that this seems to have an influence on individuals’ self concepts, their association with work and family, and how they predict their work-family balance in the future. Furthermore, I will discuss how previous research has shown the influence of career-oriented female role models but has neglected the possible influence of male role models. In this study we investigated whether exposing female and male participants to 3 different conditions of male exemplars, differing on their work-family balance in lifestyle, from family orientation over a balanced lifestyle to extreme career orientation, will influence their implicit associations with work and family as well as their predictions of their future life. Consistent with our predictions, a preliminary data analysis focusing on female participants shows different anticipations of their future work-family balance when exposed to family oriented male models rather than balanced or career- oriented males.

Craniopagus: Overview and the implications of sharing a brain

2012-05-29T11:12:55-07:00

Craniopagus twins, who are conjoined at the head, are uncommon and often misunderstood. While craniopagus is rare in itself, Krista and Tatiana Hogan are unique even among craniopagus twins: their brains are connected. In this review, I will explore the history of craniopagus as well as our current understanding of the malformation. Furthermore, I will discuss surgical separation techniques, classification systems, and how these have led to higher survival rates in separated craniopagus twins. Surgical separation of craniopagus twins is perhaps the most formidable of all neurosurgery operations, particularly in the presence of shared neural tissue. Krista and Tatiana fall into this daunting category. The risk of neural damage, coupled with circulatory complications, led Krista and Tatiana’s physicians to conclude a separation would be too dangerous. Consequently, Krista and Tatiana are left with a connection that is both novel to documented research and exquisitely mysterious. They possess what their pediatric neurosurgeon Dr. Doug Cochrane has called a “thalamic bridge” (Dominus, 2011a). Krista and Tatiana’s thalamic bridge will provide significant insight into the study of cognition and behaviour, and may even have significant implications to the philosophy of mind. Furthermore, their connection will be accompanied by major social change, as we must redefine our definition of what it means to be an individual. For us to understand how being part of a pair is more important than being an individual to one’s identity, we must shift our perspective and eliminate our preconceived notions of individuality.

Psychology: A Closer Look at what Psychologists Bring to the Table

2012-05-29T11:12:55-07:00

This paper aims to explore the vital contributions that the field of clinical psychology is consistently giving to the citizens of Canada. The services provided by psychologists are unique in their own right, however there is much confusion in the healthcare field regarding the specificity of their roles, and the average healthcare consumer can be overhwhelmed in trying to understand the differences between psychologists and other mental health professions. This advocacy peice ultimately serves to clarify what it is psychologists bring to the table, including an exploration of the benefits of psychotherapy, issues around cost-effectiveness of psychological treatment and medicare coverage, differences between psychologists and other mentalhealth professionals, and the promotion and preventative role psychologists maintain concerning mental health issues. Overall, the goal of this paper is to outline the overall worth and functionality of the field of clinical psychology.

Pedophilia and Brain Function

2012-05-29T11:12:55-07:00

Pedophilia is defined as a sexual deviation in which an individual becomes sexually attracted to a prepubescent child. With high prevalence rates and growing public concern, there has been a need to empirically investigate the neuropsychological basis of pedophilic behavior. This review examines the resulting research starting with the differences shown by pedophilic individuals in IQ with the normal population. It follows to emphasize that all of findings may contain an innate bias due to the social denigration that is attached with research conducted on known pedophiles. The current understanding of the onset of pedophilia points to abnormal brain morphological development: a discussion between the frontal/dysexecutive hypothesis and the temporal/limbic hypothesis illustrates that neurological structures that may be associated with and account for pedophilia. Morphological differences between pedophilic individuals and non-pedophilic individuals are further substantiated by the link between left-handedness and a diagnosis of pedophilia. Developmental reports of head injuries further support this claim as pedophiles are more likely to have experienced head trauma at an early age. Modern brain imaging studies have enabled researchers to identify that those diagnosed with pedophiles have altered brain activity when presented with sexual stimuli in comparison with those not diagnosed.

Too Much Sex, a Mental Disorder? Examining Both Sides of the Debate on Hypersexual Disorder

2012-05-29T11:12:55-07:00

Over the recent decades, the concept of pathological excessive sexual behavior has been an ongoing source of controversy. The controversy is centered on the defining characteristics of excessive sexual behaviors and the extent to which these behaviours should be considered pathological. This controversy is intensified after Kafta (2010)’s proposal of including hypersexual disorder in the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). According to Kafta’s proposal, for a person to be diagnosed with this disorder, he or she must have recurrent and intense sexual fantasies, urges, and behaviours which are not due to direct physiological effect of a drug-related substance and which cause significant personal distress or impairment (American Psychiatric Association, 2010). In this literature review, arguments for and against the inclusion of hypersexual disorder in the DSM-5 were examined.