Life Sciences Commons^™

Mapping The Functional Organization Of Human Frontoparietal Cortex With Fmri, Geetika Gupta

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Higher-order cognitive functions, such as working memory, attention, and decision making, depend strongly on the functional integrity of frontal and parietal cortices. However, the internal workings of the frontoparietal network (FPN) are not well understood. A major contributor to this knowledge gap is our limited understanding of the intrinsic functional organization of the FPN. In order to address this gap, we examine task-dependent reconfigurations of functional connectivity (FC) within the FPN. We analyzed fMRI task-state data from 924 individuals from the Human Connectome Project Young Adult study. Our results show that FC within the FPN is highly stable across time …

How Does The Brain Represent Digits? Investigating The Neural Correlates Of Symbolic Number Representation Using Fmri-Adaptation, Celia Goffin

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

How does the brain represent numerical symbols (e.g., Arabic digits)? Activity in left parietal regions correlates with symbolic number processing. Research with functional resonance imaging adaptation (fMRI-A) indicates that the intraparietal sulcus (IPS) exhibits a rebound (increase in activation) effect when a repeatedly presented number is followed by a new number. Importantly, this rebound effect is modulated by numerical ratio as well as the difference between presented numbers (distance). This ratio-dependent rebound effect could reflect a link between symbolic numerical representation and an approximate number system (ANS). In this doctoral dissertation, fMRI-A is used to investigate mechanisms underlying symbolic number …

The Role Of Individual Differences In Bilingual Language Processing, Emily S. Nichols

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

In this thesis, I investigated the neural correlates of bilingualism, and how individual differences in both brain and behaviour affect second language processing. To date, theories of bilingualism have tended to treat bilinguals as a uniform group, while in practice they vary greatly in both experience and ability. By examining how individual differences in proficiency and age of acquisition contribute to second language learning and processing, I sought to address this issue. In chapter two, I used event-related potentials to investigate how age of acquisition and proficiency modulate processing of a novel versus a grammatical rule that is similar across …

Function And Dysfunction In Distinct Facets Of Empathy, Lindsay D. Oliver

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Empathy is crucial for successful social interactions and it is impaired in many devastating disorders. Empathy deficits are highly burdensome for affected individuals, caregivers, and significant others, and costly for society as a whole. However, empathy is thought to be a multifaceted construct, including cognitive empathy, affective sharing, and empathic concern components. These constituents may be linked to different behavioural outcomes and neurocognitive substrates, and presentation varies depending on the facets affected. Thus, there is a critical need to determine the behavioural and neurocognitive substrates of different components of empathic responding, and how these are affected in particular disorders.

The …

Functional Connectivity In The Motor Network Largely Matures Before Motor Function, Jordynne L V Ropat

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The brain changes in many ways in the first year. It is not known which of these changes are most critical for the development of cognitive functions. According to the Interactive Specialization Theory, developments in behaviour result from changes in brain connectivity. We tested this using functional connectivity magnetic resonance imaging (fcMRI) of the motor system. fcMRI was acquired at three and nine months – two time-points between which motor behaviour develops enormously. Infants were additionally compared with adults. Subjects were scanned with a 3T MRI scanner, yielding BOLD signal time-courses that were correlated with one another. Our results do …

Top-Down Modulation Of Category Specific Extrastriate Cortex In A Task-Switching Paradigm, Katie Knapp

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

During selective attention, visual stimuli compete for processing capacity. Increased activation is found in extrastriate regions that represent the attended stimulus. However, little research has been done looking at activation in extrastriate regions when attention is shifted between stimulus features. To address this, participants completed a switching task during fMRI scanning. They attended to the colour or motion of bivalent stimuli on different trials. It was hypothesized that attentional modulation would be seen in colour area V4 and motion area V5 and that this modulation would help explain switch costs, a term used to describe why we are slower and …