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Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Theses/Dissertations

Motivation

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Dissecting The Neural Circuits Mediating Pain-Induced Negative Affect And Drug-Seeking Behaviors, Tamara Markovic May 2021

Dissecting The Neural Circuits Mediating Pain-Induced Negative Affect And Drug-Seeking Behaviors, Tamara Markovic

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Understating the function of neural circuits and the state-depended adaptations within them is one of the fundamental aims in the field of neuroscience. With recent technical developments in monitoring circuit dynamic, such as calcium (Ca2+) imaging, visualizing synaptic connections using viral approaches and manipulating neuronal activity in cell-specific manner such as optogenetic and chemogenetics, we are now able to mechanistically link the activity and function of neural circuits with behavioral outcomes.Using the above-mentioned techniques, I demonstrate that pain induces somatic adaptations in the Ventral Tegmental Area (VTA) dopamine (DA) neurons to drive anhedonia-like behaviors. Pain is a complex phenomenon composed …


Understanding Task Interference In Prospective Memory Using On-Line Probes: Strategic Delay Or Limited-Capacity Monitoring?, Francis T. Anderson May 2020

Understanding Task Interference In Prospective Memory Using On-Line Probes: Strategic Delay Or Limited-Capacity Monitoring?, Francis T. Anderson

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In prospective memory (PM) research, a common finding is that people are generally slower to respond to a given ongoing task (OT) when they have to perform a PM task concurrently, as compared to performing the OT alone. Multiprocess theory claims that this slowing, termed task interference, is indicative of monitoring processes. Monitoring is thought to be cognitively demanding and heavily reliant on working memory, as people hold their intention in mind and look for features relevant to the PM task. PM decision control (PMDC) theory, instead, proposes that task interference reflects a strategic and intentional delay strategy. To address …


Effort, Avolition And Motivational Experience In Schizophrenia: Analysis Of Behavioral And Neuroimaging Data With Relationships To Daily Motivational Experience, Adam Culbreth Aug 2019

Effort, Avolition And Motivational Experience In Schizophrenia: Analysis Of Behavioral And Neuroimaging Data With Relationships To Daily Motivational Experience, Adam Culbreth

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Recent research has suggested an association between motivational impairment in those with schizophrenia and reduced willingness to expend effort on experimental tasks. However, few studies have examined the neural correlates of effort-based decision-making in those with schizophrenia. In the current study, we aimed to examine willingness to expend effort, the associated neural circuitry of effort-based decision-making, and the impact of experimentally-defined effort-based decision-making on daily motivational experience in schizophrenia. We recruited 28 individuals with schizophrenia and 30 healthy controls to perform an effort-based decision-making task while undergoing fMRI scanning. In order to assess whether willingness to expend effort was associated …


Effort, Avolition And Motivational Experience In Schizophrenia: Analysis Of Behavioral And Neuroimaging Data With Relationships To Daily Motivational Experience, Adam Culbreth Aug 2019

Effort, Avolition And Motivational Experience In Schizophrenia: Analysis Of Behavioral And Neuroimaging Data With Relationships To Daily Motivational Experience, Adam Culbreth

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Recent research has suggested an association between motivational impairment in those with schizophrenia and reduced willingness to expend effort on experimental tasks. However, few studies have examined the neural correlates of effort-based decision-making in those with schizophrenia. In the current study, we aimed to examine willingness to expend effort, the associated neural circuitry of effort-based decision-making, and the impact of experimentally-defined effort-based decision-making on daily motivational experience in schizophrenia. We recruited 28 individuals with schizophrenia and 30 healthy controls to perform an effort-based decision-making task while undergoing fMRI scanning. In order to assess whether willingness to expend effort was associated …


Dissociable Effects Of Monetary, Liquid, And Social Incentives On Motivation Across The Adult Life Span, Jennifer Crawford Aug 2019

Dissociable Effects Of Monetary, Liquid, And Social Incentives On Motivation Across The Adult Life Span, Jennifer Crawford

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Humans are social creatures and, as such, can be motivated by aspects of social life, like approval from others, to guide decision-making in everyday life. Indeed, a common view in the aging literature is that older adults have a stronger orientation towards socioemotional goals or incentives, relative to other incentive modalities, like money, because of changing motivational priorities in older adulthood. In prior work, however, we found that older adults actually showed greater effects of monetary relative to primary (liquid) incentives, suggesting alternative interpretations of impaired motivational integration and/or slower adaptation to incentive conditions. The current study tested these alternatives, …


A Neural Network For Uncertainty Anticipation And Information Seeking, Jensen Kael White May 2019

A Neural Network For Uncertainty Anticipation And Information Seeking, Jensen Kael White

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In a world flooded with ‘click bait’, ‘alternative facts’, and ‘fake news’ one’s ability to seek out, discern, and value information is of utmost importance. Although contemporary phenomena, these cultural ills take advantage of an evolutionarily-preserved drive for humans and nonhuman animals to monitor for and pursue opportunities to gain information. Indeed, in a natural environment where rewards are scarce and can be risky, animals often seek sensory cues as a source of information about future outcomes. Interestingly, humans and nonhuman animals will seek sensory information that provides advance information that predicts an outcome even when this information does not …


Humans Integrate Monetary And Liquid Incentives To Motivate Cognitive Task Performance, Debbie Yee Dec 2015

Humans Integrate Monetary And Liquid Incentives To Motivate Cognitive Task Performance, Debbie Yee

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

It is unequivocal that a wide variety of incentives can motivate behavior. However, few studies have explicitly examined whether and how different incentives are integrated in terms of their motivational influence. The current study examines the combined effects of monetary and liquid incentives on cognitive processing, and whether appetitive and aversive incentives have distinct influences. We introduce a novel task paradigm, in which participants perform cued task-switching for monetary rewards that vary parametrically across trials, with liquid incentives serving as post-trial performance feedback. Critically, the symbolic meaning of the liquid was held constant (indicating successful reward attainment), while liquid valence …


Social Networking Website Use And Eating Pathology: Relations, Moderators, And Motivation To Improve, Michelle S. St. Paul Aug 2015

Social Networking Website Use And Eating Pathology: Relations, Moderators, And Motivation To Improve, Michelle S. St. Paul

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Social networking website (SNW) use has been found to be associated with decreased body image or esteem and increased eating disorder (ED) symptoms. In turn, SNW use may also be associated with decreased motivation to improve body image (BI) and reduced self-efficacy in one’s ability to do so. However, the impact of SNW use on motivation or self-efficacy to improve BI has not yet been studied. Also, particular moderators of the relationships between SNW and eating pathology have not yet been evaluated. This study aimed to: 1) replicate past literature by examining the relation between SNW use and eating pathology, …