An investigator is interested in the potential role of the occipital lobe in motion detection. She predicts that the occipital lobe mediates the behavior of motion detection. To test this hypothesis she first trains a pigeon to peck a key for food delivery when a moving stimulus is present and not to peck when a stationary stimulus is present. She then lesions the occipital lobe and observes that the pigeon no longer pecks in the presence of a moving stimulus. She concludes that the occipital lobe is the part of the brain responsible for detection of motion.
Answer these questions:
1) Is she correct in her conclusion? Can she draw such a conclusion based solely upon her work here? Why or why not? (Be sure to provide concrete reasons for your responses)
2) What different methods could/should she have used instead, to draw her conclusions more accurately and validly? (You must offer up and explain at least two different methods from our chapter and how she should use them, in order help strengthen her conclusions)
3) If the scientist redid her study, but using 3 groups this time (NO-lesion control group, SHAM-lesion control group, EXPERIMENTAL-lesion group), and got these results, what could she conclude about the relation between lesioning the occipital lobe and detection of motion ? (Write your response as a statement she could conclude).