Neuroscience and Neurobiology Commons^™

Learning How To Build A Neural Network Model Of The Tactile Periphery, Vicky Chang

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

First order neurons in the hairless skin of human hands have spatially complex receptive fields that allow for the detection of spatial details. These spatially complex receptive fields arise from the branching of mechanoreceptors, which converge and connect to first order neurons. This arrangement allows us to process our sensory environment through detecting the edge orientation of a touched object for instance, and do things like read braille.

These spatially complex receptive fields can studied by using a feedforward neural network to model the tactile periphery. By understanding the processing at the level of the tactile periphery, we can better …

Intergenerational Transmission Of Functional Connectivity Profiles In Isolated Reading And Math Networks: A Scoping Review And Study Proposal, Ashini Peiris, Ira Gupta, Lien Peters, Eric D. Wilkey

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

The scoping review surveyed the existing literature on the topic of resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) and mathematical cognition. The review revealed that rsFC is indicative of distinct long-term developmental trends in mathematical processing, alluding to individual differences in math abilities. Though there have been multiple studies that investigate individual differences in functional connectivity patterns related to math development and math learning disorders, no study has directly investigated to what degree these neurobiological factors are heritable. To address this topic, the following intergenerational transmission (IT) study is proposed. IT is the transfer of personal values, abilities, behaviours, and traits, from parents …

Task-Based And Resting-State Functional Connectivity In Children With Dyscalculia, Ira Gupta

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

Resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) is a unique method in neuroimaging that measures the spontaneous neural activity as the brain is at rest, not actively undergoing any task. It is important in investigating brain patterns that result from brain regions working together throughout an individual’s development. The application of this technique has been limited in the mathematical cognition field, and thus, should be explored further. This preregistration poster focuses on the depth of the literature and studies available in regards to RSFC and math cognition through a scoping review, and then proposes a study in which task-based and resting-state functional connectivity …

Assessing Reading Comprehension And Memory Recall Of Children With Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Jasmeen Mander

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

This project examined the influence of background knowledge on reading comprehension and memory recall of children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in comparison to typically developing children. Furthermore, the true or false scores and average story recalls of the two groups of children, ADHD and without ADHD were also compared. The participants varied in ages 9-14 years old and were assigned a self-paced reading task followed by 24 true or false questions and two memory recall questions. For both groups of children, the amount of background knowledge an individual conveyed did not correlate to their reading comprehension and memory recall. …

Incorporating Action Information Into Computational Models Of The Human Visual System, Justin Zhou

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

Deep convolutional neural networks (DCNNs) have been used to model the ventral visual stream. However, there have been relatively few computational models of the dorsal visual stream, preventing a wholistic understanding of the human visual system. Additionally, current DCNN models of the ventral stream have shortcomings (such as an over-reliance on texture data) which can be ameliorated by incorporating dorsal stream information. The current study aims to investigate two questions: 1) does incorporating action information improve computational models of the ventral visual system? 2) how do the ventral and dorsal streams influence each other during development?

Three models will be …

Memoir Dataset: Quantifying Image Memorability In Adolescents, Gal Almog, Yalda Mohsenzadeh

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

Every day, humans observe and interact with hundreds of images and scenes; whether it be on a cellphone, on television, or in print. Yet a vast majority of these images are forgotten, some immediately and some after variable lengths of time. Memorability is indeed a property intrinsic to all images that can be extracted, as well as predicted. While memory itself is a process that occurs in the brain of an individual, the concept of memorability is an intrinsic, continuous property of a stimulus that can be both measured and manipulated. We selected images from the MemCat data set that …