Canli et al. 2000 - Biological Approach

Canli et al. - Brain scans and Emotions 

AIM: 

• To show that emotive images will be remembered better than those that have little emotional impact on an individual. 

TWO CENTRAL QUESTIONS ADDRESSEDL:

1.) Whether the amygdala is sensitive to varying degress of emotional intensity to external stimuli.

2.) Whether the level of intensity enhances memory for the stimuli.

BACKGROUND:

• 2 Types of medical scans: 

1.) Structural - Takes detailed pictures of the brain structure.

2.) Functional- Shows activity levels in areas of the brain.

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is a neuroimaging procedure that uses MRI technology to measure brain activity by detecting changes associated with blood flow.

• These scans allow a living brain to be seen without surgery.
• Patients placed in a scanner that sends a strong magnetic field through their head. 
• Magnetic field causes the nuclei in hydrogen molecules in brain to spin and so the scanner picks this up. 
• As hydrogen concentration vary in different parts of brain- scanner is able to create a very detailed picture of the brain. 
• Researchers used fMRI to Identify areas of the brain that have specific functions. 
• Areas shown to have a significant association with emotions and memory are the subcortical areas of the brain, including amygdala.

The Amygdala: Plays a key role in processing of emotions and is responsible for determining where memories are stored in the brain and which are kept. 

La Bar & Phelps (1998) suggested: 

- emotional arousal aids the process of memory consolidation and therefore emotional experiences are memorised better. 

Canli et al. (1999) found: 

- Participants who had a strong amygdala activation in response to a set of emotional stimuli also showed superior memory for those stimuli. 

RESEARCH METHOD:

Laboratory experiment - participants were tested in an artifical environment and was not comparable to am everyday situation. 

- Use of fMRI scanners limits the realism that can be introduced as they are large machine and participants have to lie still while measurements are taken. 

DESIGN: 

Repeated Measures Design- participants contributed to each of the 4 conditions depending on their rating of each scene.

The Independent Variable : the intensity of the emotional arousal to each of the 96 scenes that were presented to each participant. 

The Dependent Variable (2 Key Measures):

1.) Level of activation of the amygdala measured by fMRI during the first stage of the experiment when exposed to each of the 96 scenes. 

2.) Measure of memory when participants had to recognise the images 3 weeks…