Case Studies, (CP)

Question 1

what are case studies?

Answer 1

• research method where unique or a typical individuals are studies (e.g individuals who have suffered brain damage)
• researchers gather data through asking the individual directly, and getting them to do tests (e.g. recalling numbers, or doing fMRI) to get quantitative data, or using medical records, inerviews with friends, families and medical professionals to get qualitative data
• typically a longitudinal study, to gather information about a person’s past as well as their present behaviours

Question 2

case study of HM

what was the study of HM?

Answer 2

• HM underwent surgery to remove his hippocampus to alleviate severe epileptic seizures.
• Developed anterograde amnesia (inability to form new memories):
  - Could not recall his new address.
  - Unable to find his home after the family moved house.
• Later developed retrograde amnesia (inability to recall past memories):
  - Did not remember his uncle had passed away three years before the surgery.
• Retained skills such as signing his name.
• Learned new procedural skills, e.g., tracing a star using a mirrored reflection.
• The hippocampus is critical for explicit long-term memory but not for implicit/procedural long-term memory.

Question 3

Strengths of HM’s case study

Evaluate a strength of HM’s case study

Answer 3

I - a strength of HM’s case study is that it can be used to study or atypical behaviour, gaining indepth insights into how memory works
J - for example, anterograde and retrograde amnesia is specific to HM and therefore his memory experiences will be unique and impossible to recreate in lab conditions
E - therefore, making HM’s case useful for investigating brain damage as it gives information about how different parts of the brain are responsible for different types of memory

Question 4

Weakness of HM’s case study

Evaluate a weakness of HM’s case study

Answer 4

I - However, each case study is of one individual with brain damage
J - therefore the results from HM about STM – LTM transference are unlikely to be representative of memory issues within a wider population.
E - Therefore, the generalisability of the findings about memory and how it works will be limited through this evidence and perhaps experiments are a better way of investigating cognitive psychology.