Does early visual experience physically shape how the brain develops?
Classic study: Blakemore and Cooper (1970), Development of the brain depends on the visual environment. Aim, method, results and conclusions, evaluation, and links to the biological area and neuroplasticity.
An OCR A-Level Psychology answer to the classic biological study, Blakemore and Cooper (1970) on how the visual environment shapes brain development. Covers the aim, the controlled-rearing animal study with vertical or horizontal stripes, the behavioural and neural findings, evaluation, ethics, and links to Maguire and the biological area.
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What this dot point is asking
Blakemore and Cooper (1970) is the classic study in the biological area for the theme "brain plasticity", paired with Maguire. You must know its aim, method, results and conclusions, evaluate it, and explain what it tells us about the biological area and how experience shapes the brain.
The answer
Aim and method
Results and conclusions
Evaluation
- Control and validity. A precisely controlled rearing environment gives strong internal validity, supporting the experience-shapes-the-cortex conclusion.
- Objective evidence. Single-cell recordings give hard neural data, not just behaviour.
- Theoretical impact. Major evidence for experience-dependent neuroplasticity.
- Ethics. Serious concerns about depriving and potentially harming animals.
- Generalisability. Cats are only a model for human vision, and the single-orientation environment is extreme and unnatural.
Examples in context
Example 1. Why this study defines the biological area. The biological area explains behaviour through physical brain processes. Blakemore and Cooper show that the structure of the visual cortex itself is built by experience, so a behavioural ability (seeing certain orientations) depends on physical neural development. This grounds perception in the biology of the brain, a core biological-area idea.
Example 2. The contrast with Maguire. Blakemore and Cooper is paired with Maguire et al. (2000), who found London taxi drivers had a larger posterior hippocampus. Where the kitten study shows experience shapes the developing brain (and the cost of deprivation), Maguire shows experience can reshape the adult human brain (the benefit of enrichment). Both demonstrate neuroplasticity, the classic-contemporary comparison the exam asks for, and let you discuss animal versus human evidence.
Try this
Q1. State what the kittens were exposed to in the cylinders. [1 mark]
- Cue. Either vertical or horizontal black-and-white stripes (only one orientation).
Q2. Explain what the absence of certain visual-cortex neurons showed. [2 marks]
- Cue. Neurons for the unseen orientation failed to develop because they were never stimulated, showing the brain is shaped by early visual experience (neuroplasticity).
Q3. Explain one ethical weakness of the study. [2 marks]
- Cue. The kittens were deprived of normal visual experience and potentially harmed (impaired vision, distress), raising serious animal-welfare concerns about protection from harm.
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of OCR exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
OCR 201910 marksDescribe the method and results of Blakemore and Cooper's (1970) study of the visual environment. [10 marks]Show worked answer →
A description item testing method and results (AO1).
Method: a controlled laboratory study using kittens. From about two weeks old, kittens were raised in darkness except for a few hours a day spent in a tall cylinder painted with either vertical or horizontal black-and-white stripes. They wore a collar that prevented them seeing their own bodies, so they experienced only one orientation of lines. At about five months, their vision and behaviour were tested in a normally lit room, and single-cell recordings from the visual cortex examined which orientations neurons responded to.
Results: the kittens showed behavioural blindness for the orientation they had not experienced; for example, a horizontally reared kitten could not perceive vertical lines (it would not respond to a vertical rod) and bumped into objects, though it adapted somewhat over time. Neurally, the visual cortex had almost no cells responsive to the orientation the kitten had never seen; cells responded mainly to the orientation it had been exposed to.
Markers reward the controlled-rearing method (stripe cylinders, collar, restricted exposure), the behavioural blindness for the unseen orientation, and the matching absence of cortical cells for that orientation.
OCR 202112 marksDiscuss the strengths and weaknesses of Blakemore and Cooper's (1970) study. [12 marks]Show worked answer →
A balanced evaluation (AO3) using method to support points.
Strengths: high control over the visual environment (a precisely controlled rearing setup) gives strong internal validity, supporting the conclusion that experience shaped the visual cortex; objective single-cell recordings provide hard neural evidence; and the study demonstrates neuroplasticity, that the brain is shaped by early experience, with major theoretical impact.
Weaknesses: serious ethical concerns about depriving and potentially harming animals; the use of cats means extrapolation to humans is uncertain (though the cat visual cortex is a reasonable model); and the artificial single-orientation environment is extreme and unlike natural development, limiting how the precise findings generalise.
A strong answer concludes that the controlled method gives compelling evidence for experience-dependent brain development, but the animal sample and ethical cost are significant limitations. Markers reward developed strengths and weaknesses, including the animal-ethics point, with a judgement.
Related dot points
- Contemporary study: Maguire et al. (2000), Navigation-related structural change in the hippocampi of taxi drivers. Aim, method, results and conclusions, evaluation, and links to the biological area and Blakemore and Cooper.
An OCR A-Level Psychology answer to the contemporary biological study, Maguire et al. (2000) on the hippocampi of London taxi drivers. Covers the aim, the MRI quasi-experiment with VBM and pixel counting, the posterior and anterior hippocampus findings, the correlation with experience, evaluation, and links to Blakemore and Cooper and the biological area.
- Classic study: Sperry (1968), Hemisphere deconnection and unity in conscious awareness. Aim, method, results and conclusions, evaluation, and links to the biological area and hemispheric lateralisation.
An OCR A-Level Psychology answer to the classic biological study, Sperry (1968) on hemisphere deconnection. Covers the aim, the quasi-experiment with split-brain patients, the tachistoscope and tactile tasks, the lateralisation findings, evaluation, and links to Casey and the biological area.
- Contemporary study: Casey et al. (2011), Behavioral and neural correlates of delay of gratification. Aim, method, results and conclusions, evaluation, and links to the biological area and Sperry.
An OCR A-Level Psychology answer to the contemporary biological study, Casey et al. (2011) on the neural correlates of delay of gratification. Covers the aim, the longitudinal follow-up of Mischel's marshmallow participants, the go/no-go task and fMRI, the prefrontal cortex and ventral striatum findings, evaluation, and links to Sperry and the biological area.
- Research methods and techniques: experiments, self-report, observation and correlation; variables and operationalisation; experimental designs; hypotheses; and the strengths and weaknesses of each method.
An OCR A-Level Psychology answer to research methods and design, covering laboratory, field and quasi-experiments, self-report, observation and correlation, independent and dependent variables, operationalisation, experimental designs, directional and non-directional hypotheses, and the strengths and weaknesses of each technique for Component 1.
- Sampling methods, ethical considerations, reliability and validity, levels of measurement, and recording, analysing and presenting data.
An OCR A-Level Psychology answer to sampling and data handling, covering random, stratified, systematic, opportunity and self-selected sampling, BPS ethics, reliability and validity, levels of measurement, and how to record, analyse and present qualitative and quantitative data for Component 1.
Sources & how we know this
- OCR Level 3 Advanced GCE in Psychology (H567) specification — OCR (2015)