12 mark essay about brain functioning and driving psychology paper 3
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Course
Unit 3 - Biological psychology
Institution
PEARSON (PEARSON)
This essay is worth 12 marks on psychology paper 3 where you are given as random scenario and the examiner expects you to think on your feet and use your knowledge to answer the essay, in this scenario its about driving ability and explains why on can't remember their route to school and on explain...
The parietal lobe is involved in processing information from our senses including having an important
role in language processing. Jay may have damaged his parietal lobe therefore he may have not
processed the speed sign, stated 30mph, whilst driving. This can explain why he sped during his driving
test and failed the exam. Raine found that in the brains of the NGRI’s, there were lower blood glucose
levels in the parietal areas of the brain compared to the control. This supports the explanation that Jay
may have damaged his parietal lobe, leading him to fail his driving exam, as the parietal lobe is essential
for language processing such as reading speed signs.
The hippocampus is responsible for memory, consolidation, navigation and spatial awarness. Nishka may
have damaged her hippocampus therefore she may have been able to remember and process the
spatial information surrounding her whilst she drives to school, such as not being able to navigate which
lane to take when she is on the motorway to go to school. This can explain why she keeps on forgetting
her route to school and relies on her Sat Nav on her phone to go to school. Multistore, memory model
states that Nishka may have not paid attention to her surroundings, such as reading signs whilst driving
on the motorway, therefore she may have not been able to rehearse the signs to go to school as the
visual information has been decayed within the first three seconds in the STM. This is a weakness as it
shows that not only damage to the hippocampus can explain why Nishka cannot remember the route to
school but also paying attention and rehearsing the directions to school allows the information to be
stored in her LTM therefore, using damage to the hippocampus alone to explain why Nishka cannot
remember the route to school is less useful as it is too simplistic as It fails to consider the complexity of
memory.
The amygdala is responsible for processing emotional responses, memory and decision making. The left
side of the amygdala is inhibitory and the right side is excitatory. Jay may have damaged his left
amygdala therefore, his left part of the amygdala cannot inhibit the right part of the amygdala, which is
excitatory. This could explain why he failed his driving exam as he may feel excited when he was
speeding during his driving test. Charles Whitman shot 16 students at a Texas university as he had a
tumour pressing on his limbic system, near his amygdala. This is a strength as it shows that damage to
the amygdala shows that the right side of the amygdala cannot be inhibited which can lead to
inappropriate behvaiours being shown such as Jay speeding in his driving exam which isn’t appropriate.
The basal ganglia processes information on movement and planning responses. It is also linked to habit
learning and reward. Jay’s basal ganglia may be oversensitive so when Jay goes go-karting and gets
praised and encouraged by his dad, Jay is more likely to speed. This could explain why Jay overspeed in
his driving exam, resulting into him failing. Social learning theory states that Jay may have observed his
role model’s behaviour such as speeding in a race track. Jay retains this in his long term and
demonstrates this behaviour by speeding in his exam. This is a weakness as it shows that the basal
ganglia may not be the only factor into him failing his driving exam as Jay may have overspeed in his
exam because he wants to be like his role model who is racer, in hoping that he would get recognition
and praise like his role model.
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