Neurosciences Commons^™

Clinical Case Study: The Effects Of Real-Time Iemg Biofeedback On Facial Muscle Activation Patterns In A Child With Congenital Facial Palsy, Alyssa Molina

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Experimental findings are limited concerning efficacious procedures for facial reanimation following persistent idiopathic facial paralysis or paresis. Additional research examining the use of real-time integrated electromyography (iEMG) biofeedback for young children with persistent idiopathic facial paralysis is one approach to further understand the efficacy of electrophysiology biofeedback techniques in facial reanimation for this age group and etiology. iEMG research has applications in interventions for pathology of nerves and muscles affecting animation of the face. The proposed clinical case study will adopt real time iEMG visual biofeedback to facilitate facial reanimation in a preadolescent child. Quantitative measurements will determine orofacial muscle …

Neural Control Of Tongue Movements Across Effort Levels, Megan Rovang, Angela M. Dietsch

UCARE Research Products

Background

A hallmark of Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a mismatch between the perceived effort and actual forces exerted during functional activities such as speech. Current evidence supports therapy to help reset this perception of effort, but the neurological underpinnings of such treatments are unclear. This study examined brain activity during tongue movements performed at varying levels of effort to determine (1) which brain areas are involved in each task, and (2) which areas, if any, scale in activation according to effort level. These results, considered with the neurological changes associated with PD, can be used to develop and refine treatment …

Exploring Oculomotor Trends In Collegiate Athletes, Brett Whorley, Julie A. Honaker

UCARE Research Products

Collaborative efforts to improve athlete safety without significantly hindering the rules of the games aim to develop a novel system to better measure and diagnose concussions. Provided that common signs of concussions include blurred vision, distant gaze, and dizziness, the Dizziness and Balance Disorders Lab at UNL believes that the simple oculomotor exam studied in this project may be applied to this procedure. Within the broader goal to better understand the causes, signs, symptoms, and prognosis of concussions, researchers desired to further investigate the results of this oculomotor test. The aim was to identify and interpret correlations between collegiate athlete …

A Urinary Metabolic Signature For Multiple Sclerosis And Neuromyelitis Optica, Teklab Gebregiworgis, Helle H. Nielsen, Chandirasegara Massilamany, Arunakumar Gangaplara, Jay Reddy, Zsolt Illes, Robert Powers

Jay Reddy Publications

Urine is a metabolite-rich biofluid that reflects the body’s effort to maintain chemical and osmotic homeostasis. Clinical diagnosis routinely relies on urine samples because the collection process is easy and noninvasive. Despite these advantages, urine is an under-investigated source of biomarkers for multiple sclerosis (MS). Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR) has become a common approach for analyzing urinary metabolites for disease diagnosis and biomarker discovery. For illustration of the potential of urinary metabolites for diagnosing and treating MS patients, and for differentiating between MS and other illnesses, 38 urine samples were collected from healthy controls, MS patients, and neuromyelitis optica-spectrum …

Embracing Multiple Definitions Of Learning, Andrew B. Barron, Eileen A. Hebets, Thomas A. Cleland, Courtney L. Fitzpatrick, Mark E. Hauber, Jeffrey R. Stevens

Eileen Hebets Publications

Definitions of learning vary widely across disciplines, driven largely by different approaches used to assess its occurrence. These definitions can be better reconciled with each other if each is recognized as coherent with a common conceptualization of learning, while appreciating the practical utility of different learning definitions in different contexts.

Learning is a major focus of research in psychology, neuro- science, behavioral ecology, evolutionary theory, and computer science, as well as in many other disciplines. Despite its conceptual prevalence, definitions of learning differ enormously both within and between these disciplines, and new definitions continue to be proposed [1]. Ongoing disputes …

Brain Science And Stem Learning, Dennis L. Molfese

DBER Speaker Series

Brain Science is an interdisciplinary science and as such touches on a host of domains that among others include Behavioral & Social Sciences, Biological Sciences, Computer & Information Science, Economics, Engineering (multiple domains from Electrical to Mechanical to Structural), Education, Human Resources, Engineering, Environmental, Education, Geosciences, Engineering, Mathematical, Physical Sciences, Psychology, and Zoology. The approach provides a means to study matter from an assortment of elements to the integration of complex domains that stretch from the interactions of neuropeptides to conscious thought that cover the lifespan of single cell organisms to humans. We will touch on a few of these …

Empathy-Based Conservation: An Interdisciplinary Approach To Conservation Policy And Decision-Making, Kaitlyn Delashmutt

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

In the late 20^th century, neuroscientists in Italy discovered a neuron in the brain capable of mentally mimicking the emotions derived from the actions of others (Rizzolatti and Craighero, 2004). It is the process that makes your elbow ache when someone else knocks their elbow on the counter or the uncontrollable smile that creeps up when someone smiles at you. No questions asked, people intuitively sense what others are feeling. The old school of thought was that humans deduced through logic and reason the actions of others and interpreted the emotions through a rational process (Carew et al, 2008). …

A New Nonlinear Classifier With A Penalized Signed Fuzzy Measure Using Effective Genetic Algorithm, Julia Hua Fang, Maria L. Rizzo, Honggang Wang, Kimberly A. Espy, Zhenyuan Wang

Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory: Faculty and Staff Publications

This paper proposes a new nonlinear classifier based on a generalized Choquet integral with signed fuzzy measures to enhance the classification accuracy and power by capturing all possible interactions among two or more attributes. This generalized approach was developed to address unsolved Choquet-integral classification issues such as allowing for flexible location of projection lines in n-dimensional space, automatic search for the least misclassification rate based on Choquet distance, and penalty on misclassified points. A special genetic algorithm is designed to implement this classification optimization with fast convergence. Both the numerical experiment and empirical case studies show that this generalized …

Mathematics Deficiencies In Children With Very Low Birth Weight Or Very Preterm Birth, H. Gerry Taylor, Kimberly A. Espy, Peter J. Anderson

Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory: Faculty and Staff Publications

Abstract Children with very low birth weight (VLBW, < 1500 g) or very pre-term birth (VPTB, < 32 weeks gestational age or GA) have more mathematics disabilities or deficiencies (MD) and higher rates of mathematics learning disabilities (MLD) than normal birth weight term-born children (NBW, > 2500 g and > 36 weeks GA). MD are found even in children without global disorders in cognition or neurosensory status and when IQ is controlled, and they are associated with other learning problems and weaknesses in perceptual motor abilities and executive function. Factors related to poorer mathematics outcomes include lower birth weight and GA, neonatal complications, and possible abnormalities in brain structure. While little is known about the nature of MD in these children, studies of MLD in other neurodevelopmental disorders and in children with learning disabilities provide useful models for further …

Age-Related Differences In Reaction Time Task Performance In Young Children, Sergey Kiselev, Kimberly A. Espy, Tiffany Sheffield

Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory: Faculty and Staff Publications

Performance of reaction time (RT) tasks was investigated in young children and adults to test the hypothesis that age-related differences in processing speed supersede a “global” mechanism and are a function of specific differences in task demands and processing requirements. The sample consisted of 54 4-year-olds, 53 5-year-olds, 59 6-year-olds, and 35 adults from Russia. Using the regression approach pioneered by Brinley and the transformation method proposed by Madden and colleagues and Ridderinkhoff and van der Molen, age-related differences in processing speed differed among RT tasks with varying demands. In particular, RTs differed between children and adults on tasks that …

Viewing Preschool Disruptive Behavior Disorders And Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Through A Developmental Lens: What We Know And What We Need To Know, Anil Chacko, Lauren Wakschlag, Carri Hill, Barbara Danis, Kimberly A. Espy

Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory: Faculty and Staff Publications

Although DSM-defined DBDs and ADHD manifest during early childhood in meaning¬ful ways, the emphasis of extending the DBD and ADHD nosology, which is based on studies of older youth, to younger children potentially limits the utility of these symptoms. Given that it is clear that DBDs and ADHD often emerge during early childhood and that early intervention is most efficacious, developing a more refined understanding of the clinical phenomenology of behavior disorders in early childhood is a critical next step. We contend that an approach that emphasizes the developmental specification of symptoms has the potential to address several long-standing issues …

Growth Mixture Modeling Of Academic Achievement In Children Of Varying Birth Weight Risk, Kimberly A. Espy, Julia Hua Fang, David Charak, Nori Minich, H. Gerry Taylor

Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory: Faculty and Staff Publications

The extremes of birth weight and preterm birth are known to result in a host of adverse outcomes, yet studies to date largely have used cross-sectional designs and variable-centered methods to understand long-term sequelae. Growth mixture modeling (GMM) that utilizes an integrated person- and variable-centered approach was applied to identify latent classes of achievement from a cohort of school-age children born at varying birth weights. GMM analyses revealed 2 latent achievement classes for calculation, problem-solving, and decoding abilities. The classes differed substantively and persistently in proficiency and in growth trajectories. Birth weight was a robust predictor of class membership for …

Power Of Models In Longitudinal Study: Findings From A Full- Crossed Simulation Design, Hua Fang, Gordon P. Brooks, Maria L. Rizzo, Kimberly A. Espy, Robert S. Barcikowski

Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory: Faculty and Staff Publications

Because the power properties of traditional repeated measures and hierarchical multivariate linear models have not been clearly determined in the balanced design for longitudinal studies in the literature, the authors present a power comparison study of traditional repeated measures and hierarchical multivariate linear models under 3 variance-covariance structures. The results from a full-crossed simulation design suggest that traditional repeated measures have significantly higher power than do hierarchical multivariate linear models for main effects, but they have significantly lower power for interaction effects in most situations. Significant power differences are also exhibited when power is compared across different covariance structures.

Pattern Recognition Of Longitudinal Trial Data With Nonignorable Missingness: An Empirical Case Study, Julia Hua Fang, Kimberly A. Espy, Maria L. Rizzo, Christian Stopp, Sandra A. Wiebe, Walter W. Stroup

Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory: Faculty and Staff Publications

Methods for identifying meaningful growth patterns of longitudinal trial data with both nonignorable intermittent and drop-out missingness are rare. In this study, a combined approach with statistical and data mining techniques is utilized to address the nonignorable missing data issue in growth pattern recognition. First, a parallel mixture model is proposed to model the nonignorable missing information from a real-world patient-oriented study and concurrently to estimate the growth trajectories of participants. Then, based on individual growth parameter estimates and their auxiliary feature attributes, a fuzzy clustering method is incorporated to identify the growth patterns. This case study demonstrates that the …

Short-Term Memory, Working Memory, And Executive Functioning In Preschoolers: Longitudinal Predictors Of Mathematical Achievement At Age 7 Years, Rebecca Bull, Kimberly A. Espy, Sandra A. Wiebe

Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory: Faculty and Staff Publications

This study examined whether measures of short-term memory, working memory, and executive functioning in preschool children predict later proficiency in academic achievement at 7 years of age (third year of primary school). Children were tested in preschool (M age = 4 years, 6 months) on a battery of cognitive measures, and mathematics and reading outcomes (from standardized, norm-referenced school-based assessments) were taken on entry to primary school, and at the end of the first adn third year of primary school. Growth curve analyses examined predictors of math and reading achievement across the duration of the study and revealed that better …

Changing The Rules At The Drop Of A Hat: An Erp Study Of Preschoolers' Set-Shifting Ability, Sandra A. Wiebe, Daniel J. Carroll, Megan Herrington, Sari Raber, Kimberly A. Espy

Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory: Faculty and Staff Publications

We examined the neural correlates of set-shifting in 5-year-old children and examined whether the ease of switching was affected by varying the number of non-switch trials preceding a switch.

Drd2 Genotype And Prenatal Exposure To Tobacco Interact To Influence Infant Attention And Reactivity, Sandra A. Wiebe, Kimberly A. Espy, Christian Stopp, Jennifer Respass, Travis Jameson, Jodi Huggenvik

Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory: Faculty and Staff Publications

The present study examined the effects of dopamine receptor D2 genotype and PTE status on early infant neurobehavior.

Using Confirmatory Factor Analysis To Understand Executive Control In Preschool Children: I. Latent Structure, Sandra A. Wiebe, Kimberly A. Espy, David Charak

Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory: Faculty and Staff Publications

*This article may not exactly replicate the final version published in the APA journal. It is not the copy of record. http://content.apa.org/journals/0012-1649 Although many tasks have been developed recently to study executive control in the preschool years, the constructs that underlie performance on these tasks are poorly understood. In particular, it is unclear whether executive control is comprised of multiple, separable cognitive abilities (e.g., inhibition and working memory) or whether it is unitary in nature. A sample of 243 normally developing children between 2.25 and 6 years of age completed a battery of ageappropriate executive control tasks. Confirmatory factor analysis …

Perinatal Ph And Neuropsychological Outcomes At Age 3 Years In Children Born Preterm: An Exploratory Study, Kimberly A. Espy, Theresa E. Senn, David A. Charak, Jill Tyler, Sandra A. Wiebe

Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory: Faculty and Staff Publications

The impact of extreme prematurity and related hypoxic-ischemic events on brain development recently has begun to be characterized with modern neuroimaging methods, although comparatively less is known about the neuropathology in those born at heavier birth weights. Even subclinical levels of perinatal hypoxia-ischemia, as indexed by perinatal blood pH, are related to intelligence in school-aged children born preterm. Given the impact of hypoxia-ischemia on white matter and the emerging evidence of specific executive and mathematic deficits in children born preterm, the impact of perinatal hypoxia-ischemia on these outcomes was explored in children at relatively low-risk for sequelae. In a sample …

A Bayesian Multilevel Modeling Approach For Data Query In Wireless Sensor Networks, H. Wang, H. Fang, K. A. Espy, D. Peng, H. Sharif

Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory: Faculty and Staff Publications

In power-limited Wireless Sensor Network (WSN), it is important to reduce the communication load in order to achieve energy savings. This paper applies a novel statistic method to estimate the parameters based on the realtime data measured by local sensors. Instead of transmitting large real-time data, we proposed to transmit the small amount of dynamic parameters by exploiting both temporal and spatial correlation within and between sensor clusters. The temporal correlation is built on the level-1 Bayesian model at each sensor to predict local readings. Each local sensor transmits their local parameters learned from historical measurement data to their cluster …

Using Confirmatory Factor Analysis To Understand Executive Control In Preschool Children: I. Latent Structure, S. A. Wiebe, K. A. Espy, D. Charak

Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory: Faculty and Staff Publications

Although many tasks have been developed recently to study executive control in the preschool years, the constructs that underlie performance on these tasks are poorly understood. In particular, it is unclear whether executive control is comprised of multiple, separable cognitive abilities (e.g., inhibition and working memory) or whether it is unitary in nature. A sample of 243 normally developing children between 2.25 and 6 years of age completed a battery of age appropriate executive control tasks. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to compare multiple models of executive control empirically. A single-factor, general model was sufficient to account for the …

The Neural Correlates Of Inhibitory Control In Preschool Children: Go/No-Go Task Demands Influence Erp Amplitude And Latency, S. A. Wiebe, D. J. Carroll, S. Raber, K. A. Espy

Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory: Faculty and Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Genetic Factors In Preschool Executive Control: Relations Between Serotonin Genotype, Working Memory, And Set Shifting, S. A. Wiebe, M. Y. Chang, A. R. Johnson, J. Huggenvik, T. Jameson, K. A. Espy

Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory: Faculty and Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Genes And Behavior In Preschool Children: The Relation Between Dopamine Genotype And Latent Executive Control, S. A. Wiebe, M. J. Moehr, A. R. Johnson, M. Y. Chang, J. Huggenvik, T. Jameson, K. A. Espy

Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory: Faculty and Staff Publications

Objective: Dopaminergic neurotransmission is implicated in the executive control of cognition and behavior (Braver & Cohen, 2000). Presence or absence of particular dopamine gene alleles relates to executive control performance (Casey, 2002; Roesch-Ely, 2005) and to attention problems and ADHD (Durston, 2005; Schmidt, 2001). The present study examined the relation between dopamine genotype and executive control in normally-developing preschool children. Participants and Methods: The sample included 133 children (66 girls; mean age 4 years, range 2;2-6 years). Children completed a battery of executive control tasks, and were genotyped for 4 dopamine genes: the dopamine receptors DRD2 and DRD4, the dopamine …

Measuring The Development Of Executive Control With The Shape School, K. A. Espy, R. B. Bull, J Martin, W. Stroup

Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory: Faculty and Staff Publications

Although several neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders can emerge during the preschool period, there are comparatively few instruments to assess executive control. Evidence for validity of the Shape School (K. A. Espy, 1997) was examined in a sample of 219 typically developing young children. There was good evidence for validity, as Shape School performance variables were interrelated and were associated to other criterion measures considered to measure aspects of executive control. Also suggesting validity, the Shape School variables varied as a function of whether the task demands (a) were executive, (b) required inhibition of a prepotent response or context-controlled selection among …

Working Memory, Executive Functioning, And Children's Mathematics, R. Bull, K. A. Espy

Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory: Faculty and Staff Publications

Approximately 3-6% of school-age children are estimated to have mathematics difficulties (Badian, 1983; Gross-Tsur, Manor, & Shalev, 1996; Kosc, 1974, Lewis, Hitch, & Walker, 1994). There are many more children in regular school classrooms who struggle with mathematics but whose performance is not considered sufficiently poor to be classified as meriting a specific disability in mathematics. Specific mathematic learning disability (MLD) is defined in psychiatric and educational venues as a large discrepancy between mathematics ability compared to reading and general intellectual ability, although the size of the discrepancy required varies. To further complicate matters, mathematic difficulties are associated with other …

Genetic Bases Of Executive Control In Preschool Children: Trails-P Performance Is Related To Drd2 Genotype, S. A. Wiebe, M. Y. Chang, J. Huggenvik, T. Jameson, K. A. Espy

Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory: Faculty and Staff Publications

Several studies link the D2 dopamine receptor (DRD2) with executive control and the ability to adapt behavior to changing contextual contingencies in human adults (Roesch-Ely 2005; Rodriguez-Jimenez 2006) and in animal models (Kruzich 2004). The present study examined relations between DRD2 and executive control in human development. Recently, a version of the Trail-Making Task suitable for preschool children was developed, which does not require knowledge of letters or numbers (TRAILS-P; Espy 2004). The Trail-Making Test is a neuropsychological test sensitive to frontal or executive dysfunction (Reitan 1955) where subjects must connect stimuli on a page in sequence, connecting letters only …

Inhibitory Processes In Young Children And Individual Variation In Short-Term Memory, Kimberly A. Espy, Rebecca Bull

Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory: Faculty and Staff Publications

A precise definition of executive control remains elusive, related in part to the variations among executive tasks in the nature of the task demands, which complicate the identification of test-specific versus construct-specific performance. In this study, tasks were chosen that varied in the nature of the stimulus (verbal, nonverbal), response (naming, somatic motor), conflict type (proactive interference, distraction), and inhibitory process (attention control, response suppression) required. Then performance differences were examined in 184 young children (age range = 3 years 6 months to 6 years 1 month), comparing those with high (5 or more digits) and low (3 or fewer …

Assessment Of Executive Function In Preschool-Aged Children, Peter K. Isquith, Jennifer S. Crawford, Kimberly A. Espy, Gerard G. Gioia

Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory: Faculty and Staff Publications

Assessment of the overarching self-regulatory mechanisms, or executive functions, in any age group is challenging, in part due to the complexity of this domain, in part due to their dynamic essence, and in part due to the inextricable links between these central processes and the associated domain-specific processes, such as language, motor function, and attention, over which they preside. While much progress has been made in clinical assessment approaches for measuring executive functions in adults and to some extent in adolescents and school-aged children, the toolkit for the preschool evaluator remains sparse. The past decade, however, has seen a substantial …

The Contribution Of Executive Functions To Emergent Mathematic Skills In Preschool Children, Kimberly Espy, Melanie D. Mcdiarmid, Mary F. Cwik, Melissa Meade Stalets, Arlena Hamby, Theresa E. Senn

Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory: Faculty and Staff Publications

Mathematical ability is related to both activation of the prefrontal cortex in neuroimaging studies of adults and to executive functions in school-age children. The purpose of this study was to determine whether executive functions were related to emergent mathematical proficiency in preschool children. Preschool children (N= 96) were administered an executive function battery that was reduced empirically to working memory (WM), inhibitory control (IC), and shifting abilities by calculating composite scores derived from principal component analysis. Both WM and IC predicted early arithmetic competency, with the observed relations robust after controlling statistically for child age, maternal education, and child vocabulary. …