Neuroscience and Neurobiology Commons^™

Investigation Of Neurotransmitter’S Knockdown Effect On Drosophila Melanogaster Female Aggression, Asil N. El Galad

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

Drosophila melanogaster (D. melanogaster) is a popular model organism in neurobiology. While aggression has been studied heavily in male drosophila, there's minimal research on aggression in female drosophila. Neurotransmitters influencing aggressive behaviour in female D. melanogaster are poorly understood. Various neurotransmitters such as dopamine, octopamine, and serotonin influence aggression in D. melanogaster Further investigation of the role of neurotransmitters on aggression is thus important. The purpose of our experiment is to observe the effect of the knockdown of dopamine, octopamine and glutamate on aggression in female D. melanogaster.

The Effects Of Prenatal Cannabis Exposure On The Basolateral Amygdala, Karen Kw Wong

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

Clinical and preclinical studies indicate prenatal cannabis exposure (PCE) pathologically affects fetal brain development and may increase vulnerability to neuropsychiatric disorders, including schizophrenia and mood/anxiety disorders. In review research from our lab suggests that fetal exposure to Δ9-THC sex-selectively impairs mesocorticolimbic (MCL) circuit function. However, there is a distinct lack of focus on PCE models on the BLA. The BLA plays a central role within the MCL where it directly interacts with the VTA, PFC and HIPP. Importantly, our model exhibits significant VTA hyperdopaminergic activity, and sex-specific alterations to PFC/HIPP glutamate firing, alongside region- and sex-specific changes in dopamine (DA), …

Resistance Training Improves White Matter Structural Connectivity In Older Adults At-Risk For Cognitive Decline, Ryu Lien

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

Diabetes is a global health concern that impacts 415 million people worldwide. Individuals who are at-risk for diabetes (characterized by high blood glucose and/or being overweight) have white matter atrophy, decreased cognitive function, and an increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Recently, resistance training (RT) has been shown to lower white matter atrophy and white matter lesion volume. However, investigating changes in white matter tracts is complex, hence previous findings remain inconclusive. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) serves as a highly sensitive tool that enables visualization and characterization of white matter tracts and has the potential to combat this complexity. The …

Human Claustrum Activation During Pain, Zoravar S. Sidhu, David A. Seminowicz, Brent W. Stewart

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

Chronic pain is one of the principal causes of disability in the world. Many if not all of us deal with or know of someone who deals with chronic pain. Interestingly, it appears that a mysterious part of the brain known as the claustrum has a hand in chronic pain. Although little is known about the actual function of the claustrum, it is hypothesized to synchronize cortical networks during tasks which have a cognitive load.

Recent literature has indicated that during chronic pain conditions, neural network recruitment is modified. In addition, an analysis of an existing fMRI data set determined …

Assessing The Impact Of Lipopolysaccharide On Learning And Memory In Rats, Anahat Luthra

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

The immune system and the central nervous system (CNS) have a bi-direction relationship, modulating one another.⁴ Proinflammatory cytokines released from CNS immune cells have an impact on cognitive processes such as learning and memory.¹ Liposaccharide (LPS), a cell wall component of Gram-negative bacteria, which is used to activate proinflammatory cytokine release has been found to impact learning and memory processes, such as in the anticipatory nausea paradigm (ANP).² Anticipatory nausea and vomiting is that which may occur before a chemotherapy treatment session begins in a patient who has had chemotherapy before. It is caused by triggers like …

Functional Neuroimaging Techniques To Examine Falls And Cognition In Older Adults: A Systematic Review, Tia M. Seleem, Raphael Gabiazon

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

Falls in older adults have been attributed to impaired cognition. There is potential for neuroimaging techniques to understand the biological components that are involved in the cognitive processes pertaining to falls. Therefore, the purpose of this systematic review was to analyze how functional neuroimaging can be used to examine the relationship between falls and cognition among older adults. The following five electronic databases were selected to identify peer-reviewed articles in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses: 1) Medline (via OVID), 2) PsycINFO (via OVID), 3) CINAHL (via EBSCO), 4) EMBASE (via OVID), and 5) Pubmed. …

Using A Musical Beat To Influence Linguistic Statistical Learning, Aspen Leung

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

The similarities between music and language continue to provide research questions in the area of psychology. Despite the large amount of research on this area of knowledge, there are still many existing questions in regards to the processing of musical and linguistic stimuli. Statistical learning involves the ability to extract statistical regularities from a stimulus and continues to be studied in both domains due to the similar hierarchical structure of music and language. Recently, neural entrainment (the synchronization of neural oscillations with the rhythm of an external stimulus) has been studied as a mechanism of statistical learning. Music has been …

Stimulus Duration Alters Temporal Sensitivity In Rat Model Of Audiovisual Perception, Juwairiya F. Ahmad

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

The aim of this experiment was to investigate the effect of stimulus duration on the perceived temporal order judgement in Long Evans rats.

Entropic Voxels Indicate Large Brain-State Repertoires, Adam Hull

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

Brain entropy is a measure that has been increasingly studied in neuroscience over the past decade. It is based on Shannon Entropy, a measure from Information Theory that quantifies the information capacity of a system from the probability distribution of its states. Brain entropy is thus posited to reflect the information capacity of the brain and has been linked to various cognitive abilities and states. However, most studies on brain entropy measure the time-series entropy of each voxel independently, ignoring any patterns that emerge from the relations between voxels. Here, we measured brain entropy of resting-state fMRI data based on …

The Ommaba Project, Katsiaryna Buchko

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

The Open Multimodal Music and Auditory Brain Archive (OMMABA) is the first multimodal (behavioural, EEG, and neuroimaging) database characterizing normal human auditory processing. My project aims to shed light on the importance of this collaborative project that is transforming the field of auditory cognitive neuroscience.

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 …

Effect Of Carbon Monoxide Releasing Molecule 3 (Corm - 3) On Platelet Adhesion To Human Brain Microvascular Endothelial Cells, Najat S. El-Farra

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

Sepsis is characterized by the widespread inflammation of the body. Systemic inflammation activates and recruits inflammatory cells (e.g., leukocytes) and platelets to the affected organs.

During these inflammatory conditions, human brain microvascular endothelial cells (hBMEC) and platelets both upregulate adhesive molecules rendering platelets to adhere to hBMEC.

Although carbon monoxide is thought of as a toxic molecule to many, previous work shows its anti-inflammatory properties. Evidence has shown carbon monoxide-releasing molecules (e.g., CORM-3; that release small, non-toxic amounts of CO) can combat the effects of severe inflammation in several in vivo animal model.

In this current study, we are looking …

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. …

Familiarity As A Motivator For Information-Seeking, Danielle Raynes-Goldfinger

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

Curiosity is an integral part of motivation and results in information-seeking behaviors to obtain rewarding information. Theories on curiosity suggest that it occurs when an information gap is detected. Here, we explored whether the assessment of familiarity may result in the induction of curiosity. We employed 3 phases, the first involving memorization of face-name pairs. Next, participants were presented with new and the old faces and were asked to judge whether they fully remembered the name, whether the face was familiar despite the name being unrecallable, or whether the face nor name was familiar. To conclude, we allowed participants to …

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 …

The Dissociable Impact Of Auditory Vs. Visual Emotional Cues On Visual Processing, Emma K. Stewart Bsc, Derek Gv Mitchell Phd

Western Research Forum

Background: Emotional information has privileged access to processing resources, which can cause it to have a distracting or facilitating effect on task performance for reasons that are poorly understood. The sensory modality through which it is presented may be one determining factor. Some findings suggest that auditory stimuli facilitate visual task performance while visual stimuli interfere with it, but there are conflicting findings.

Hypothesis: We hypothesize that emotional content of a different sensory modality from the task improves task-related performance via a general alerting and arousing effect for all stimuli, while emotional content of the same modality disrupts performance when …

Optimization Of The Touchscreen-Based Visuomotor Conditional Learning Task In Mice, Oren Princz-Lebel, David I. Wasserman, Miguel Skirzewski, Penny A. Macdonald, Lisa M. Saksida, Tim J. Bussey

Western Research Forum

The translational gap between animal models and clinical trials is a longstanding, yet largely unresolved, limitation in the study of cognition. This discrepancy is largely due to the differences in how cognition is assessed in animal models compared to those in clinical populations. In the stimulus-response (S-R) learning literature, for example, the techniques used to assess the acquisition of habitual behaviour differ greatly across species, leading to poor cross-species translation and often conflicting results. As a result, we set out to optimize a S-R learning task in mice using the touchscreen-based operant technologies. Similar to human studies, this touchscreen technique …

Optimization Of Simultaneous Facial Emg And Fmri, Maggie Prenger

Western Research Forum

The scientific study of emotion began in the 19^th century with Duchenne’s study of the “universal and immutable” language of facial expressions. In The Mechanism of Human Physiognomy, he manipulates human facial expressions by electrically stimulating facial muscles. Facial electromyography (EMG) is a modern technique that is reminiscent of Duchenne’s work; it allows researchers to measure facial muscle activity through surface recording electrodes, providing a real-time measure of natural emotional reactions.

Although facial EMG is a reliable measure of emotional behavior, it fails to provide any information about brain activity responsible for emotional processes. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) …

Spontaneous Mimicry Of Emotional Facial Expressions As A Function Of Trait Sadism, Cathleen Fleury, Mary Ritchie, Derek Mitchell

Western Research Forum

Using electromyography (EMG), it has been shown that facial muscles imperceptibly mirror the facial expressions of others, a phenomenon referred to as spontaneous facial mimicry. Facial mimicry may be involved in empathy processing, and is impaired in several empathy deficit disorders. It was previously believed to follow the direct-matching principle, a theory postulating that spontaneous facial mimicry involves the observer mirroring their partner’s expression exactly. However, several recent studies have demonstrated that context and individual differences may be influencing factors of spontaneous facial mimicry. In the present study, we propose to investigate the relationship between facial mimicry and empathy through …

Obstacle Negotiation And Dual-Tasking In People With A Unilateral Transtibial Amputation., Humberto Omana, Michael Payne, Ricardo Viana, Susan Winnifred Hunter

Western Research Forum

Background: Falls in people with a lower limb amputation (PLLAs) are common and most often occur while walking, resulting in physical and psychological consequences that adversely affect quality of life. Walking is a complex motor task requiring cognitive resources. Due to walking with a prosthesis, PLLAs report focussing on every step they take, indicating greater cognitive needs. However, cognitive resources are limited, and most of our everyday activities also involve the simultaneous performance of motor and cognitive tasks, known as dual-tasking. The inter-relationship between mobility, cognition and postural stability in PLLAs using a prosthesis is just starting to be understood. …

Multisensory Integration And Autistic Traits Using Non-Sociolinguistic Information, Sébastien A. Lauzon, Samantha E. Schulz, Zack I. Cohen, Ryan A. Stevenson

Western Research Forum

Background: Sensory processing issues are one of the most common complaints in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). One area of sensory difficulties in ASD that has been the focus of intense research in recent years is multisensory integration (MSI), or the ability to bind auditory and visual information into a single, unified percept. While integration of social or linguistic information is consistently shown to be an area of difficulty in ASD, results are less clear with simple, non-sociolinguistic stimuli. This study aims to address this ambiguity by determining whether MSI of non-sociolinguistic sensory information is related to traits and symptomatology …

Tinnitus And Dysfunctional Interactions Between Distributed Resting State Networks, Sivayini Kandeepan

Western Research Forum

It is known that peripheral lesions in the cochlea or the auditory nerve produce dysfunctional input to central auditory structures and induce changes in the auditory system causing tinnitus. Recently, it has been proposed that the unified percept of tinnitus could be considered as an emergent property of multiple overlapping dynamic brain networks, each encoding a specific tinnitus characteristic.

The aim of our study was to investigate the neuronal activation patterns associated with specific clinical tinnitus characteristics using fMRI. We hypothesize that tinnitus clinical characteristics could be associated with specific resting-state activity and connectivity patterns and that this could be …

P24. The Birds And The Beats: Perception Of A Beat In An Avian Model, Brendon Samuels

Western Research Forum

Background: Beat perception is a complex cognitive skill that enables humans to “feel” the beat in music, and is an essential component of synchronization of behavior and dance. The mechanisms in the human brain that facilitate beat perception are not entirely understood, and have only been studied thus far using non-invasive techniques. Some animals, such as songbirds, also seem to be able to detect a beat in rhythms, though this has never been formally tested independent of motor synchronization.

Methods: An operant experiment is used to assess if European starlings, a type of songbird, are capable of categorizing …

P32. Altered Sensory Processing In Response To Novel Dreadd-Induced Inactivation Of Gaba In Pedunculopontine Tegmental Nucleus, Niveen Fulcher

Western Research Forum

Niveen Fulcher¹, Cleusa De Oliveira², & Susanne Schmid^1,2

¹Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, University of Western Ontario

²Anatomy and Cell Biology, University of Western Ontario

Altered sensory processing in response to novel DREADD-induced inactivation of GABA in pedunculopontine tegmental nucleus

Background: Sensory processing deficits are associated with certain psychiatric illnesses, such as schizophrenia and autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Sensory filtering and sensorimotor gating are evolutionarily conserved preattentive responses that filter and block redundant sensory stimuli that would otherwise overwhelm our brains. To date, underlying mechanisms of these deficits are undefined. Prepulse …

P27. Acute Impact Of An Extremely Low Frequency Magnetic Stimulus On Human Neurophysiological Function - Magnetophosphene Perception, Cadence M. Baker

Western Research Forum

Background: Magnetophosphenes are classified as colourless, flickering lights that are perceived with closed eyes in the dark, and upon exposure to a magnetic field (MF). Uncertainties exist involving the MF threshold for magnetophosphene perception.

Methods: Forty subjects will be enrolled in this experiment aiming to provide a frequency-response curve of magnetophosphene perception under MF exposure. Subjects will sit in a whole head MF exposure device wearing a 64-channel MRI-compatible EEG cap. Subjects will be exposed to a MF with a frequency of 5-300 Hz, in the form of an increasing flux density ramp (increasing magnetic field flux density from 0-100 …

P35. Investigating The Effect Of Maternal Immune Activation On Sensory Filtering, Social Behaviour And Attention, Faraj Haddad

Western Research Forum

Background

Altered brain development is associated with many neuropsychiatric disorders like Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and schizophrenia. Environmental insults can interfere with neurodevelopment, and a prominent example is maternal infection during pregnancy. Epidemiological studies show that children born to mothers who were infected during pregnancy display a higher risk of developing ASD and schizophrenia, and this effect is mainly due to the maternal immune response. Polyinosinic-polycytidilic acid (Poly I:C) is a double stranded RNA molecule that mimics viral markers and elicits an immune response. When injected in pregnant rodents, this model produces offspring that exhibit core symptoms of ASD and …

P30. Optimizing Current Steering In Deep Brain Stimulation For Treating Parkinsonian Axial Motor Symptoms, Daphne Hui

Western Research Forum

Background: The proposed study will investigate deep brain stimulation (DBS), of the subthalamic nucleus (STN) to improve gait dysfunctions in advanced Parkinson’s Disease (PD). DBS requires implantation of electrodes into the brain that contain contacts where current traverses to stimulate neurons. Imprecise electrode implantations are inherent in surgical implantation; thus, contributing to the elusiveness of DBS on gait.

Methods: The proposed investigation will divide current between two contacts to receive 0, 30, 50, 70, or 100% of current, to find the best combination to improve gait. Gait changes associated with fractional combinations will be visually assessed with clinical scales, and …