With references to one empirical study explain how environmental factors can have an affect on physiological process.

Environmental factors can play a big role in the behaviour of an individual. According to the principles of the biological levels of analysis nature can be as impactful as nurture, and therefore the surroundings and interactions of an individual can influence their behaviour and thus their physiological processes. A study conducted by Rosenzweig et al. (1972) intended to test how environmental stimuli affected neurological plasticity. This research consisted of subjecting three male rats, from the same litter, randomly to three different environments. One rat was put in a control condition where there were three other rats in the cage. The second was put in an impoverished condition in which the cage was empty and the rat was alone. Finally the third rat was put in a enriched condition with 10-12 other rats as well as different toys and games. After 30-60 days the rats brain's were examined. The researchers found that the different environments did in fact affect the development of neurons in the rats’ brains. The enriched condition rat's brain had more weight and increased thickness in the cortex compared to the impoverished rat's brain. They also found that the enriched condition rat had developed better memory and learning abilities compared to the control and impoverished rat. Moreover, a follow up to this experiment showed that even 30min a day in an enriched environment lead to the same changes in the brain as the rats that had been subjected to it for longer periods of time. However, the origin of the changes is not clear, whether it was the stimulus from the toys, the social activity, the exercise or possibly a combination of all the enriching aspects. Nevertheless, with the knowledge that brain plasticity is similar in both humans and animals Rosenzweig et al. (1972) were able to come to the conclusion that environmental factors can affect physiological processes by showing that different environments (enriched or impoverished) could change the neuron activity. Through this study, researchers suggested a generalisation to suggest that poverty could potentially put children at risk of mal-developped cognitive processes. However, despite the experiment's controlled environment and reliability it is difficult to generalise the findings to humans as the animals used do not possess perfectly transferable brain functionality.