Explain how biological
factors may affect one
cognitive process
Command term: Explain-give a
detailed account including
reasons and causes
SAQ only
Points to remember:
• The cognitive process we will focus on is memory.
• The focus of the response should be biological factors.
• The learning outcome demands that two different
factors are included in the response.
Background information
Memory is the job of the brain. There are still many mysteries
about the biological structures that control and organise memory.
Cognitive researchers and neuroscientists work together to find
out how brain structures are involved in memory processes.
Neuroscientists have studied memory in different ways. Before
modern technology they could do post-mortem studies, stimulate
certain brain areas during an operation, study cases of people
with brain damage and do experimental work with animals.
Specifically, neuroscientists could study ways in which memory
processes were disrupted by measuring the effects of
experimental lesions in non-human animals and accidental brain
damage in humans.
Background information
With the advent of modern technology researchers have
new ways to study memory processes in the living brain.
Different scanning techniques such as PET (Positron
Emission Topography) and MRI (Magnetic Resonance
Imaging) scans now permit us to study brain regions which
are active under particular conditions of learning and
memory formation in both healthy and damaged brains.
To summarise, knowledge of the biological structures
involved in memory comes from case studies,
experimental research, animal research, and scanner
studies.
Basic brain structure
Homework: Make a model of the brain.
Use the diagrams on Murphology to help you.
The two factors we will study:
Factor 1: Damage to the hippocampus and amnesia.
Factor 2: The role of Acetylcholine in Alzheimer’s disease
(AD).