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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

The Role Of Gamma Oscillations And Cortical Inhibition In The Development Of Working Memory In Adolescence, Christopher P. Walker Dec 2019

The Role Of Gamma Oscillations And Cortical Inhibition In The Development Of Working Memory In Adolescence, Christopher P. Walker

Dissertations & Theses (Open Access)

Adolescence is a dynamic period of social, cognitive, and biological changes. In particular, working memory, the ability to actively encode and maintain information over a short period of time, develops early in childhood and gradually increases in capacity and stability during adolescence. The precise neurophysiological mechanism by which working memory capacity increases during adolescence is unclear. The objective of this investigation was to evaluate the role of cortical gamma-band (> 30 Hz) oscillations—which are associated with working memory in adults—for the development of working memory capacity in adolescents, and to identify the extent to which the temporal profile of gamma-aminobutyric …


Using Meditation To Improve Measures Of Attention In Older Adults, Sabrina Ford Aug 2019

Using Meditation To Improve Measures Of Attention In Older Adults, Sabrina Ford

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Age-related cognitive decline greatly impacts quality of life for older adults. Previous research has indicated that meditation may act as a neuroprotective factor to prevent age-related cognitive decline. This thesis sought to replicate previous findings and investigate if a four-week meditation intervention would improve sustained attention. Participants 60 years and older (n=27, 17 female) were recruited and assigned to a focused-attention (FA) meditation or relaxation group which met for four weeks, three times a week. Resting-state EEG was used to collect individual alpha peak frequency (iAPF) and frontal alpha asymmetry (FAA). The Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART) was also …


Reduced Gabaergic Signaling At The Axon Initial Segment Decreases Vigilance State Transitioning, Austin John Boren Aug 2019

Reduced Gabaergic Signaling At The Axon Initial Segment Decreases Vigilance State Transitioning, Austin John Boren

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Sleep is a highly regulated homeostatic process that is disrupted in an estimated 50-70 million Americans. Regulation of sleep depends upon coordinated signaling of multiple neurotransmitter systems. In particular, inhibitory gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) signaling is required to suppress wake-active brain regions in order to initiate and maintain sleep states. GABA type A receptors (GABAARs) are ionotropic receptors with subunit compositions uniquely enriched on subcellular domains of target cells. α2 subunit-containing GABAARs are the primary target of GABA released onto the axon initial segment (AIS), a site critical for phasing the oscillatory activity of cortical cells. α2-containing GABAARs have previously been …


A Hidden Markov Factor Analysis Framework For Seizure Detection In Epilepsy Patients, Mahboubeh Madadi May 2019

A Hidden Markov Factor Analysis Framework For Seizure Detection In Epilepsy Patients, Mahboubeh Madadi

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Approximately 1% of the world population suffers from epilepsy. Continuous long-term electroencephalographic (EEG) monitoring is the gold-standard for recording epileptic seizures and assisting in the diagnosis and treatment of patients with epilepsy. Detection of seizure from the recorded EEG is a laborious, time consuming and expensive task. In this study, we propose an automated seizure detection framework to assist electroencephalographers and physicians with identification of seizures in recorded EEG signals. In addition, an automated seizure detection algorithm can be used for treatment through automatic intervention during the seizure activity and on time triggering of the injection of a radiotracer to …


Electroencephalogram As A Diagnostic Tool In Acquired Brain Injury, Michael Zarra Apr 2019

Electroencephalogram As A Diagnostic Tool In Acquired Brain Injury, Michael Zarra

Senior Theses and Projects

The ability of electroencephalogram (EEG) to be used as a diagnostic device for acquired brain injuries (ABI) has been conceptualized previously. Averaged event-related potentials (ERP) derived from an EEG are suitable as markers of dysfunction however, distinctive properties in the frequency domain have not been established previously. In the present study, we examined pre- existing EEG signal data of healthy adults (HA), mild ABI (mABI), and severe ABI (sABI) human groups. Through Fourier analysis performed in MATLAB, we found that individuals in our sample population (n=80) were able to be categorized into their respective group based on common neuronal activity …


Solution-Focused Therapy Changes Neurophysiological Activation In Collegiate Athletes: An Intervention Study, Kyler T. Shumway Feb 2019

Solution-Focused Therapy Changes Neurophysiological Activation In Collegiate Athletes: An Intervention Study, Kyler T. Shumway

Doctor of Psychology (PsyD)

Neurophysiological research has begun to uncover how therapy produces change in the brain. To examine this phenomenon, many studies have controlled for specific symptoms to identify where therapy has the greatest effect (Linden, 2006). In athletic performance, anxiety represents a significant struggle for college athletes (Mabweazara, Leach, & Andrews, 2017). The present study intended to examine the impact of brief therapy on brain activation and competition anxiety in college athletes. A sample of collegiate athletes (n = 17) participated in a pre-post intervention study. Pre- and post-intervention measures included electroencephalogram (EEG), galvanic skin response (GSR), self-report anxiety measures (SAS-2, GAD-7), …