More experience = Bigger Brain
In the study in “More experience = Bigger Brain” Mark Rosenzweig, Edward Bennett, and Marian Diamond were doing research with rats to look for differences in brain growth as a result of in the environment they live in. Their research question was, “does a stimulating environment helps the brain development?” Rosenzweig pg13 The reason they did this study was that they wanted to know if a more luxurious environment will have an impact on the growth of the brain. Their hypothesis was that the rats in an impoverished cage would have more brain growth than the other rats placed in the laboratory cage, and enriched environment.
The research that Rosenzweig, Bennett, and Diamond did was a laboratory observation. It was a laboratory experiment because they were in control of the rat’s environment. By controlling their environment they are able to conduct their research to see if a more stimulated environment indeed causes greater brain growth. They decided to use rats because they produce more offspring quickly. They place the rats randomly in to the three cages they had different environments for the experiment. The independent variable is what cages the rats is placed in and dependent variable is brain growth. The experimental group was the rats that were paced in special cages that was different form the others and the control group was the rats that where keep in the litter they were born in. The correlation in this study is the environment the rats live in and the brain growth.
Rosenzweig, Bennett, and Diamond used three different cages, each with different characteristics to determine if the brain grows more with a simulating environment than a standard environment. The first cage was called the laboratory cage. In this cage the researchers had it set up to where there would always be food and water along with other rats in the same cage. The second cage was called the impoverished environment cage. In this cage they had it set up to where the rat was alone and isolated from the others rats but also was given food and water. The last cage that was set up for the experiment was called the enriched cage. This cage was set up to be larger than the others with multiple items that the rats could use any time they wanted along with food and water. The rats lived in these cages for four to ten weeks. At the end the examiners measured the brain development. They gave them the rat without telling them what their environment was so they were able to get an accurate measurement without the examiners giving a bias testing results. After they got all the information from the examiners they were then able to conduct their final analysis. There wasn’t a major difference between the rats that lived in enriched and impoverished environment but, the rats that was living in the enriched cage did have more of a brain growth.
The researchers were able to demonstrate that the more stimulating environment you have at a young age, the more your brain will be able to grow. When other researchers decide to do more experiment on the brain to see how it is able become more complex they will have a base line to start their research a come up with their own results. An example for this study can be used to understand the human behavior if the researchers knew that background of the person childhood as a young kid then they will be able to understand the brain grow as the person’s aged.
The connection between the research and the psychology book is the bio psychological perspective it is the study that focus on the brain function like problem solving which ties into the study of “More experience = Bigger Brain.” With this perspective point of view it looks at the complexity of the brain. In the experiment the researchers perform they looked at the complexity of the rat’s brain by having them live in different cages.
I can use this information to live a better life by gaining more skills to use in the future. By learning more I can changing my brain structure and it will become more complex as you gain more knowledge.
Work Cited
Hock, Roge. Forty Studies That Changed Psychological Exploration into the History of Psychological research. NJ: Pearson education, Inc. 2005, 2009, 2013
Ciccarelli, Saundra K., White J. Noland, (2009, 2012, 2014). Psychology: Special Edition for Delta Psychology. NJ
In the study in “More experience = Bigger Brain” Mark Rosenzweig, Edward Bennett, and Marian Diamond were doing research with rats to look for differences in brain growth as a result of in the environment they live in. Their research question was, “does a stimulating environment helps the brain development?” Rosenzweig pg13 The reason they did this study was that they wanted to know if a more luxurious environment will have an impact on the growth of the brain. Their hypothesis was that the rats in an impoverished cage would have more brain growth than the other rats placed in the laboratory cage, and enriched environment.
The research that Rosenzweig, Bennett, and Diamond did was a laboratory observation. It was a laboratory experiment because they were in control of the rat’s environment. By controlling their environment they are able to conduct their research to see if a more stimulated environment indeed causes greater brain growth. They decided to use rats because they produce more offspring quickly. They place the rats randomly in to the three cages they had different environments for the experiment. The independent variable is what cages the rats is placed in and dependent variable is brain growth. The experimental group was the rats that were paced in special cages that was different form the others and the control group was the rats that where keep in the litter they were born in. The correlation in this study is the environment the rats live in and the brain growth.
Rosenzweig, Bennett, and Diamond used three different cages, each with different characteristics to determine if the brain grows more with a simulating environment than a standard environment. The first cage was called the laboratory cage. In this cage the researchers had it set up to where there would always be food and water along with other rats in the same cage. The second cage was called the impoverished environment cage. In this cage they had it set up to where the rat was alone and isolated from the others rats but also was given food and water. The last cage that was set up for the experiment was called the enriched cage. This cage was set up to be larger than the others with multiple items that the rats could use any time they wanted along with food and water. The rats lived in these cages for four to ten weeks. At the end the examiners measured the brain development. They gave them the rat without telling them what their environment was so they were able to get an accurate measurement without the examiners giving a bias testing results. After they got all the information from the examiners they were then able to conduct their final analysis. There wasn’t a major difference between the rats that lived in enriched and impoverished environment but, the rats that was living in the enriched cage did have more of a brain growth.
The researchers were able to demonstrate that the more stimulating environment you have at a young age, the more your brain will be able to grow. When other researchers decide to do more experiment on the brain to see how it is able become more complex they will have a base line to start their research a come up with their own results. An example for this study can be used to understand the human behavior if the researchers knew that background of the person childhood as a young kid then they will be able to understand the brain grow as the person’s aged.
The connection between the research and the psychology book is the bio psychological perspective it is the study that focus on the brain function like problem solving which ties into the study of “More experience = Bigger Brain.” With this perspective point of view it looks at the complexity of the brain. In the experiment the researchers perform they looked at the complexity of the rat’s brain by having them live in different cages.
I can use this information to live a better life by gaining more skills to use in the future. By learning more I can changing my brain structure and it will become more complex as you gain more knowledge.
Work Cited
Hock, Roge. Forty Studies That Changed Psychological Exploration into the History of Psychological research. NJ: Pearson education, Inc. 2005, 2009, 2013
Ciccarelli, Saundra K., White J. Noland, (2009, 2012, 2014). Psychology: Special Edition for Delta Psychology. NJ