VCE Psychology Question Thread

FH ⭐️

hihi. does anyone have an easy(ish) way of remembering the function of each part of the nervous system?
im always confusing the brain and spinal cord functions, and it doesn’t matter how much i read the textbook/ watch edrolo i don’t get it 😭😭😭

girlmeetsvce

I like to think of it like this:

Brain - receives info, coordinates a response to it.
Spinal cord - sends info to the brain and carries instructions from the brain.
Autonomic - managing all involuntary movement through MOG (muscles organs glands).
Somatic - voluntary movement.
Sympathetic - arousing
Parasympathetic - cooling down

E.g. I'm playing basketball. When I see a teammate looking to pass the ball, sensory info (where the ball is and how it looks) is detected by the somatic nervous system --> spinal cord relays msg to the brain --> the brain decides to change hand position to receive the catch --> sends instructions down the spinal cord to skeletal muscles in the somatic nervous system.

During the game, the sympathetic nervous system would be dominant to energise my body. After the game, it is likely to be parasympathetic, as that would help restore the body to normal levels of functioning.

FH ⭐️

girlmeetsvce omg thank you so much!! clarifies so much for me 😭
__

girlmeetsvce also if someone could explain brain waves, amplitude frequency + what is total vs partial sleep deprivation I'd be so grateful!

sorry, i can’t explain total vs partial sleep deprivation— haven’t covered that yet. BUT i can explain the brain wave stuff 🙂

brain waves = measured in an EEG which detects, amplifies and records the electrical activity of the brain

frequency = rate — the number of brain waves that occur per second
amplitude = height — intensity and height of the brain waves

on an EEG…

high frequency = waves close to each other ( imagine like: | | | | | )
low frequency = waves further apart ( imagine like: | | | | | | )
high amplitude = wave lengths are higher/further apart ( imagine like: /\/\/\/\/\ )
low amplitude = wave lengths are lower/closer ( imagine like: -__-— )

an EEG is likely to show (copied from edrolo textbook)

higher frequency and lower amplitude in REM sleep.
high frequency and low amplitude in NREM sleep stage 1 (transitioning from wakefulness to sleep), but lower frequency and higher amplitude than normal-waking consciousness.
medium frequency and medium amplitude in NREM sleep stage 2 (light sleep).
lower frequency and higher amplitude in NREM sleep stage 3 (deep sleep)

4 types of brain waves:

beta = high frequency and low amplitude
alpha = high frequency (but lower than beta) and low amplitude (but higher than beta)
theta = medium frequency and medium/high amplitude
delta = low frequency and high amplitude

girlmeetsvce

also if someone could explain brain waves, amplitude frequency + what is total vs partial sleep deprivation I'd be so grateful!

girlmeetsvce

No worries at all, thank you too!! This explanation gives so much clarity 🙂

marine

when is it ok to say someones got partial sleep deprivation?

FH ⭐️

marine partial sleep deprivation is when there is sleep but of a lower quality/quantity. so for example: i got 5 hours of sleep last night and felt quite tired today, therefore i am partially sleep deprived because i had low quantity and probably quality of sleep.
side note (js so youre not confused): TOTAL sleep deprivation is when there is absolutely no sleep for 24 or more hours, so basically pulling an all nighter

marine

FH ⭐️ thank you ‼️

FH ⭐️

i (painstakingly) went through each vcaa exam for psych and notes relevant/irrelevant questions 🙂

questions you CAN do

VCAA 2013
MCQ
4, 9-23, 28, 30, 33, 35-38, 41, 43, 45, 46, 50-55, 57-60, 62, 64, 65
SA
6, 8, 17
Section C
1, 2, 3, 4, 5

VCAA 2014
MC
3, 9, 11, 12, 14-17, 19, 24, 25, 27, 29, 32, 33, 35, 38, 39, 42, 45-47, 50-57, 59, 62
SA
1, 3, 4, 5, 6a, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12
Section C
1, 3

VCAA 2015
MCQ
2-6, 8, 9, 10, 15, 19, 22, 23, 25-28, 30-39, 48-51, 57-65
SA
1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10a, 10c, 12, 13a
Section C
1, 2, 3

VCAA 2016
MC
1, 6, 8, 10-12, 16, 19-22, 24-27, 32-34, 41-44, 46-49, 53, 55, 58, 61-63
SA
1 (replace ‘social learning theory’ with observational learning), 3, 4b,d,e, 5b, 9, 10, 11a, 14
Section C
1, 2, 3, 4

questions no longer relevant

VCAA 2017
MC
10, 28, 37, 43, 44
SA
2, 5b

VCAA 2018
MC
25, 33, 40, 47-50
SA
7d

VCAA 2019
MC
19, 20, 22, 35
SA
2b

VCAA 2020
MC
17, 20, 23, 25, 26, 31
SA
(none)

VCAA 2021
MC
13, 26, 43, 50
SA
3a, 4e, 6a, 6b(i)

VCAA 2022
MC
6, 21, 28, 46
SA
3a

girlmeetsvce

Hey guys! For this VCAA question (3b, 2021 exam), I thought the IV would be gender but the answer guide said whether 3 or more or no caffeinated drinks had been consumed. Could someone help me understand where I went wrong please?

Effect of caffeine on Parkinson’s disease
by F Marrow
Drinking caffeinated drinks has been associated with reduced tremors in people with Parkinson’s
disease. A recent study of 284 newly diagnosed Parkinson’s disease patients has gone one step further

to explore if the gender of a person changes the effects of caffeine on the severity of tremors

The researchers interviewed the patients to understand their motor and non-motor symptoms and their
caffeine consumption history.
Of the patients, 204 were classified as caffeine drinkers (three or more cups per day, including coffee,
tea and energy drinks) and 80 were classified as non-caffeine drinkers (0 cups per day).
Results showed that, compared to non-caffeine drinkers, caffeine drinkers:
•had early onset of symptoms
• were younger
• had fewer motor and non-motor symptoms
• had lower resting tremor scores.
Interestingly, the relationship between caffeine consumption and tremor severity was only significant
in males.

marine

girlmeetsvce i think because in the question stem it's comparing non-caffeine drinkers with caffeine drinkers. also in the stem it's given the number of caffeine or non-caffeine drinkers rather than the number of males and females that participated in the experiment. it doesn't give enough detail about the gender aspect and because it's written more as a side note you could say gender is an extraneous variable.

FH ⭐️

marine should be option A as it serves as a control group (baseline to compare results to). the salt will have no impact, similar to what a placebo would do. it wouldn’t be option B as having some sort of light isn’t providing a baseline as the variable of light is still being manipulated. option C and D would be incorrect as they are alterations to the experiment thus various experimental groups.

girlmeetsvce i replied to your email but ill provide my answer here too. in essence, in the context of this experiment, they're testing the effect of caffeine through the correlation of gender. gender isn’t being investigated explicitly, rather the effects of caffeine per gender. i would put this into a context of a between subject design where the same participants are used in both groups— you can change caffeine consumption but you cannot change gender (in an experimental context).

marine

can someone explain why the answer is a for q28 on the 2023 vcaa exam? thanks!

Researchers conducted an experiment to investigate the influence of the chemical theophylline on the circadian
rhythm of rats in dark conditions. Theophylline is found naturally in brewed tea and acts to stimulate central
nervous system activity. The study was conducted on 10 rats, which were administered a single theophylline dose
(0.5 mg/kg) one hour before they fell asleep, and were then monitored for two days using an electroencephalograph
(EEG) with no access to natural or artificial light. Three major states of consciousness were analysed during the
48 hours of observation: waking, NREM sleep and REM sleep.
Question 28
The use of a control group in this study would require a group of rats that
A. receives 0.5 mg/kg of a salt solution.
B. is exposed to full light conditions for one of the two days.
C. is sleep-deprived for the two days following administration of theophylline.
D. is a different species of rats, genetically modified to not digest theophylline.

girlmeetsvce

how would I answer this?

Question 3 (5 marks)
Explain how brain imaging of patients with Alzheimer’s disease has provided evidence of the role of
episodic and semantic memory in retrieving autobiographical events

FH ⭐️

girlmeetsvce oh i hated this question so much, hoping the psych exam isn’t like the bio exam (i don’t do bio i have heard it was crazy difficult). here was my approach

(1 mark) defining alzheimers (keyword: neurodegenerative disease)
(1 mark) symptom of alzheimers is a difficulty remembering autobiographic memories, which comprise of episodic and semantic memories
(2 marks) episodic and semantic memories are encoded by the hippocampus, and in a patient diagnosed with alzheimers, brain imaging will show a shrinkage in the hippocampus, leading to the inability to remember any new episodic or semantic memories as they cannot be properly encoded through the hippocampus
(1 mark) this highlights how autobiographical memories rely on the hippocampus for encoding

girlmeetsvce

thank youu omg yea I read the reddits about the bio exam and am praying for psych to not be as hard!!

jess

I need to do some hard core revision what are anyone's favourite websites/channels/resources any and all recommendations would be greatly appreciated for pretty much any area of the syllabus😊

FH ⭐️

jess edrolo is great, if u don't have it they're on atar.rocks
also a podcast on spotify which is pretty good https://open.spotify.com/show/5zSTHptunIcTxB61drBwwH?si=jajV3JMtQ6yRHO3BcG7JPA

girlmeetsvce

hey guys I'm struggling with VCAA research methods/key science skills questions, do you have any recommendations for how to improve before tomorrow?

FH ⭐️

girlmeetsvce just review over the more high-end stuff such as investigation methodology and analysing quality of data (accuracy, precision, repeat/producability, errors and validity).
the study design has it watered down im pretty sure, but as long as you know your main content knowledge i wouldn’t be overwhelmed not knowing science skills as it shouldn’t be heavily examined yk

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