Dose-Related Sex Differences In The Establishment Of Conditioned Disgust (Anticipatory Nausea), And The Effect Of Peripubertal And Adult Immune System Stimulation With The Endotoxin Lipopolysaccharide (Lps) On Learning And Memory In The Rat, Caylen J. Cloutier

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This thesis examined sex differences in the establishment of lithium chloride (LiCl) – induced conditioned disgust behavior (anticipatory nausea) to a distinct context, as well as, the establishment of conditioned place avoidance (CPA) using rodent models. Also examined were potential sex differences in response to treatment with the bacterial endotoxin, lipopolysaccharide (LPS), and its effect on learning and memory. In Chapter 2, male and female naïve Long-Evans rats were injected (intraperitoneally; i.p.) with either 200 µg/kg LPS or 0.9% (NaCl), 90 minutes prior to i.p. injections of either 128 mg/kg LiCl or 0.9% NaCl, and immediately placed into a distinctive …

Role Of Causal Information In Patient Education: An Experimental And Clinical Approach, Karen M. Zhang

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Abstract

It is somewhat paradoxical that few patient education interventions actually consider the processes by which individuals best learn health-related information. The paucity of empirically validated teaching strategies impedes efforts to improve the delivery of care in cardiovascular rehabilitation and secondary prevention (CRSP) programs. The main goal of this dissertation was to examine whether explaining how illness pathophysiology, symptoms and health behaviour are interconnected (i.e., causal information) enhances the effectiveness of patient education materials.

This question was first addressed in a laboratory setting (Study 1) in which younger and older adults read about a fictitious disease under two conditions. Younger …

An Extension Of The Dimensional Comparison Theory: A Test Of Emotional Intelligence Self-Concepts., Caitlin J. Spencer

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

According to the Dimensional Comparison Theory (DCT), individuals’ self-concepts of abilities are influenced not only by external sources of evaluation within the same domain, but also internal comparisons of abilities across different domains, resulting in negative contrast effects for self-concepts in dissimilar domains and positive assimilation effects for self-concepts in similar domains. These dimensional comparisons have been primarily tested with academic domains to date, yet social-emotional learning is an important complement to academic learning. The present study sought to extend the DCT to Emotional Intelligence (EI) self-concepts in a sample of 1,069 Canadian children and adolescents, aged 9-18 years. Using …

Individual Differences In Stress And Coping: Testing A Model Of Decisional Control, Bryan D. Grant

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Quantifying the processes of coping is one way to make the concept both descriptive and testable. Decisional Control (DC) is a formal, mathematically-specified, normative model which prescribes that an individual faced with a variety of alternatives in a stressing situation will attempt to minimize objective and perceived threat of an adverse event inherent within their choices. In this study, a game-theoretic probability mixture model created for DC was evaluated using established indexes of model fit to empirical decision and choice data. Sources of empirical departure from the fully normative model predictions, notably individual and group cognitive mapping of choice linked …

Evidence Based Care For Iraqi, Kurdish, And Syrian Asylum Seekers And Refugees Of The Syrian Civil War: A Systematic Review, Cisse Nakeyar, Paul A. Frewen

2016 Undergraduate Awards

A systematic review of literature reporting on the prevalence of assessment measures, treatments, and biomarkers used in the diagnosis and treatment of PTSD in Iraqi, Kurdish, and Syrian refugees was undertaken. A search of medical, psychological, and sociological databases was conducted on all relevant literature published between January 2011 and March 2016. Seventeen manuscripts met the study inclusion criteria. Seven assessment measures were used in more than one study, four of which were clinically administered (Vivo checklist of war, detention, and torture; Clinically Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS); Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview; and Hamilton Depression Scale) and three of which were …

Resting-State Network-Specific Breakdown Of Functional Connectivity During Ketamine Alteration Of Consciousness In Volunteers., Vincent Bonhomme, Audrey Vanhaudenhuyse, Athena Demertzi, Marie-Aurélie Bruno, Oceane Jaquet, Mohamed Ali Bahri, Alain Plenevaux, Melanie Boly, Pierre Boveroux, Andrea Soddu, Jean François Brichant, Pierre Maquet, Steven Laureys

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

BACKGROUND: Consciousness-altering anesthetic agents disturb connectivity between brain regions composing the resting-state consciousness networks (RSNs). The default mode network (DMn), executive control network, salience network (SALn), auditory network, sensorimotor network (SMn), and visual network sustain mentation. Ketamine modifies consciousness differently from other agents, producing psychedelic dreaming and no apparent interaction with the environment. The authors used functional magnetic resonance imaging to explore ketamine-induced changes in RSNs connectivity.

METHODS: Fourteen healthy volunteers received stepwise intravenous infusions of ketamine up to loss of responsiveness. Because of agitation, data from six subjects were excluded from analysis. RSNs connectivity was compared between absence of …

The Serotonin Transporter Promoter Polymorphism Moderates The Continuity Of Behavioral Inhibition In Early Childhood., Victoria C Johnson, Katie R Kryski, Haroon I Sheikh, Heather J Smith, Shiva M Singh, Elizabeth P Hayden

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

Persistently elevated behavioral inhibition (BI) in children is a marker of vulnerability to psychopathology. However, little research has considered the joint influences of caregiver and child factors that may moderate the continuity of BI in early childhood, particularly genetic variants that may serve as markers of biological plasticity, such as the serotonin transporter linked polymorphic region (5-HTTLPR). We explored this issue in 371 preschoolers and their caregivers, examining whether parent characteristics (i.e., overinvolvement or anxiety disorder) and child 5-HTTLPR influenced the continuity of BI between ages 3 and 5. Measures were observational ratings of child BI, observational and questionnaire measures …

Usage Of Swi (Susceptibility Weighted Imaging) Acquired At 7t For Qualitative Evaluation Of Temporal Lobe Epilepsy Patients With Histopathological And Clinical Correlation: An Initial Pilot Study., Benjamin Y M Kwan, Fateme Salehi, Pavlo Ohorodnyk, Donald H Lee, Jorge G Burneo, Seyed M Mirsattari, David Steven, Robert Hammond, Terry M Peters, Ali R Khan

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

OBJECTIVES: Ultra high field MRI at 7T is able to provide much improved spatial and contrast resolution which may aid in the diagnosis of hippocampal abnormalities. This paper presents a preliminary experience on qualitative evaluation of 7T MRI in temporal lobe epilepsy patients with a focus on comparison to histopathology.

METHODS: 7T ultra high field MRI data, using T1-weighted, T2*-weighted and susceptibility-weighted images (SWI), were acquired for 13 patients with drug resistant temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) during evaluation for potential epilepsy surgery. Qualitative evaluation of the imaging data for scan quality and presence of hippocampal and temporal lobe abnormalities were …

Quantifying And Comparing The Pattern Of Thalamic And Cortical Projections To The Posterior Auditory Field In Hearing And Deaf Cats., Blake E Butler, Nicole Chabot, Stephen G Lomber

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

Following sensory loss, compensatory crossmodal reorganization occurs such that the remaining modalities are functionally enhanced. For example, behavioral evidence suggests that peripheral visual localization is better in deaf than in normal hearing animals, and that this enhancement is mediated by recruitment of the posterior auditory field (PAF), an area that is typically involved in localization of sounds in normal hearing animals. To characterize the anatomical changes that underlie this phenomenon, we identified the thalamic and cortical projections to the PAF in hearing cats and those with early- and late-onset deafness. The retrograde tracer biotinylated dextran amine was deposited in the …

Neural Measures Reveal Implicit Learning During Language Processing., Laura J Batterink, Larry Y Cheng, Ken A Paller

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

Language input is highly variable; phonological, lexical, and syntactic features vary systematically across different speakers, geographic regions, and social contexts. Previous evidence shows that language users are sensitive to these contextual changes and that they can rapidly adapt to local regularities. For example, listeners quickly adjust to accented speech, facilitating comprehension. It has been proposed that this type of adaptation is a form of implicit learning. This study examined a similar type of adaptation, syntactic adaptation, to address two issues: (1) whether language comprehenders are sensitive to a subtle probabilistic contingency between an extraneous feature (font color) and syntactic structure …

Assessing The Impact Of Emotion In Dual Pathway Models Of Sensory Processing., James H. Kryklywy

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

In our daily environment, we are constantly encountering an endless stream of information which we must be able to sort and prioritize. Some of the features that influence this are the emotional nature of stimuli and the emotional context of events. Emotional information is often given preferential access to neurocognitive resources, including within sensory processing systems. Interestingly, both auditory and visual systems are divided into dual processing streams; a ventral object identity/perception stream and a dorsal object location/action stream. While effects of emotion on the ventral streams are relatively well defined, its effect on dorsal stream processes remains unclear.

The …

The Neurocognitive Underpinnings Of Arithmetic In Children And Adults: Examining The Roles Of Domain General And Domain Specific Abilities, Anna A. Matejko

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

What are the cognitive underpinnings of arithmetic and how do they contribute to individual differences in children’s calculation abilities? Behavioural research has provided insights into which domain general (e.g. working memory) and domain specific (e.g. symbol-quantity associations) competencies are important for the acquisition of arithmetic skills. However, how domain general and domain specific skills are related to arithmetic at the neural level remains unclear. This thesis investigates the interplay between arithmetic and both domain general and specific competencies in the brain.

In Chapter 2 I examine how visuo-spatial working memory (VSWM) networks overlap with those for arithmetic in children and …

Probing The Nature Of Deficits In The ‘Approximate Number System’ In Children With Persistent Developmental Dyscalculia, S Bugden, Daniel Ansari

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

In the present study we examined whether children with Developmental Dyscalculia (DD) exhibit a deficit in the so-called 'Approximate Number System' (ANS). To do so, we examined a group of elementary school children who demonstrated persistent low math achievement over 4 years and compared them to typically developing (TD), aged-matched controls. The integrity of the ANS was measured using the Panamath (www.panamath.org) non-symbolic numerical discrimination test. Children with DD demonstrated imprecise ANS acuity indexed by larger Weber fraction (w) compared to TD controls. Given recent findings showing that non-symbolic numerical discrimination is affected by visual parameters, we went further and …

A Quantitative Comparison Of The Hemispheric, Areal, And Laminar Origins Of Sensory And Motor Cortical Projections To The Superior Colliculus Of The Cat., Blake E Butler, Nicole Chabot, Stephen G Lomber

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

The superior colliculus (SC) is a midbrain structure central to orienting behaviors. The organization of descending projections from sensory cortices to the SC has garnered much attention; however, rarely have projections from multiple modalities been quantified and contrasted, allowing for meaningful conclusions within a single species. Here, we examine corticotectal projections from visual, auditory, somatosensory, motor, and limbic cortices via retrograde pathway tracers injected throughout the superficial and deep layers of the cat SC. As anticipated, the majority of cortical inputs to the SC originate in the visual cortex. In fact, each field implicated in visual orienting behavior makes a …

Cognitive Schemas As Longitudinal Predictors Of Depressive Relapse/Recurrence In An Undergraduate Population, Daniel Machado

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Abstract

This study assessed longitudinally the predictors of relapse/recurrence in major depressive disorder, as well as future depressive symptomatology, by examining how people organize information and beliefs about the self and how this changes over time. A secondary objective was to assess the long-term stability of self-schema structures. A sample of undergraduate students completed a computer-based task assessing schema structure, as well as two measures of schema content at baseline, and three and six-month intervals. Analyses for relapse/recurrence yielded insignificant results. However, as predicted, social cognitive distortions at Time 1 and schema structure for negative interpersonal content at Time 1 …

Novel Predictors Of Women's Surname Retention At Marriage, Melanie Maceacheron

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Women’s marital surname change was investigated as a potential marital commitment signal, and strategy for enhancing investment from in-laws and husband.

Hyphenating or keeping premarital surname for all U.S. destination brides marrying in Hawai'i in 2010 was significantly correlated with a women’s income measure (r = .78, p < .000) and with the analogous statistic for men (r = .64, p < .000), by bride’s state of residence. The women’s measure, only, remained significant under regression of both predictors. The interaction of state Gini and the women’s income measure in a regression including the interaction components as predictors was positively predictive (adjusted-R² = .57). None of several other predictors suggested by previous research or related to Gini or income were significant under regression, alongside the women’s income measure. The older the bride, from any jurisdiction, marrying in Hawai'i in 2010, the more likely to hyphenate/keep premarital surname (χ² (1) for …

Category Learning In Older Adulthood: Understanding And Reducing Age-Related Deficits, Rahel R. Rabi

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Executive functions are important for learning rule-based (RB) categories, as well as non-rule-based (NRB) categories (e.g., categories learned implicitly, without a verbal rule). However, executive functioning is known to decline with age, leading to age-related deficits in category learning. The current thesis examines RB and NRB category learning in older adults using category sets that vary in difficulty (e.g., rule complexity, number of stimulus dimensions, salience of stimulus dimensions). In Chapter 2, older adults and younger adults completed three category sets (simple single-dimensional RB, disjunctive RB, and NRB). Older adults learned the simple, single-dimensional rules quite well. In contrast to …

Goal Alignment: Construct Development And Measurement Of A Moderator Of Commitment, Jose A. Espinoza

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Previous research has provided evidence that commitment to one target can have implications for outcomes of relevance to another. In this research, I propose a construct, goal alignment, to help explain these crossover effects. I also develop a scale to assess goal alignment, the target-free Goal Alignment Measure (GAM), and investigate its moderating effects as they pertain to organizational and occupational commitment. Two studies were conducted in this research, an experimental vignette design with a student population and a survey study with full-time employees. Results provide support for the psychometric quality of the GAM but mixed support for goal alignment …

Construal Levels In The Context Of Sport Imagery And Performance, Celina S. Kacperski

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The purpose of this dissertation was to investigate what role abstract and concrete construal levels play in sport imagery and how they impact sport performance outcomes. Another major purpose was to provide an introduction to a new mixed methods data analysis approach and to apply the developed methodology in the context of a qualitative study investigating construal levels in sport imagery. Three studies were conducted with these purposes in mind.

The first study describes a mixed methods analysis of spontaneous sport imagery. 12 elite athletes participated in semi-structured interviews about their experiences with imagery before and during competitive events. Thematic …

Social Factors Modulate Toxin (Licl)-Induced Conditioned Disgust Responses In Male Rats, Nathalie Boulet

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Rats, which are a non-emetic species, display conditioned disgust responses when re-exposed to a context previously associated with sickness. These conditioned disgust responses can be used to model anticipatory nausea in humans, a growing problem faced by numerous chemotherapy patients. This thesis found that social factors, in addition to contextual factors, can play a role in the expression of toxin (LiCl)-induced conditioned disgust in rats. The results show that a familiar, but not unfamiliar, social partner can serve as a cue for the display of conditioned gaping. Further, a variety of sensory cues may play a role in the development …

The Acute Effects Of Nicotine And Exercise On Working Memory, Steven Guirguis

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Nicotine, an alkaloid found in tobacco leaves, has been used by humans for its psychoactive properties for centuries. Specifically, nicotine has been consistently shown to improve cognitive performance (Heishman, Kleykamp, & Singleton, 2010). Similar effects also have been shown with exercise (Chang, Labban, Gapin, & Etnier, 2012). The purpose of the present study was to examine whether a 20 min bout of moderate-intensity exercise enhances cognitive performance (working memory) as effectively as 4 mg of NICORETTE® gum in a non-smoker population. Twenty-three non-smokers (M age = 25.87; 13 female) underwent a three-week randomized counterbalanced procedure. The N-Back Task was used …

The Effects Of Reading Metaphor On Perceptual Distance Judgments, Jeffrey N. Reid

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The present research examined the effects of reading metaphor on judgments of distance between people. In two experiments, we found that reading metaphor induced participants to perceive pairs of models shown in pictures as physically farther apart compared to reading either literal language, or nothing aside from instructions. A third experiment ruled out that this effect was due to participants feeling closer themselves to the models and a fourth experiment ruled out that this effect was related to perceived social distance. Construal level theory posits that there are multiple dimensions of psychological distance and that these dimensions are cognitively related. …

A Trial-By-Trial Window Into Sensorimotor Transformations In The Human Motor Periphery., Chao Gu, Daniel K Wood, Paul L Gribble, Brian D Corneil

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

UNLABELLED: The appearance of a novel visual stimulus generates a rapid stimulus-locked response (SLR) in the motor periphery within 100 ms of stimulus onset. Here, we recorded SLRs from an upper limb muscle while humans reached toward (pro-reach) or away (anti-reach) from a visual stimulus. The SLR on anti-reaches encoded the location of the visual stimulus rather than the movement goal. Further, SLR magnitude was attenuated when subjects reached away from rather than toward the visual stimulus. Remarkably, SLR magnitudes also correlated with reaction times on both pro-reaches and anti-reaches, but did so in opposite ways: larger SLRs preceded shorter …

Defining And Predicting Dropout From Children’S Mental Health Services: A Novel Need-Based Definition Of Dropout, Kimberly Williams Dossett

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Background: Dropout from children’s mental health services has negative impacts on children, families and community mental health agencies. In order to reduce dropout, it is essential to correctly define individuals as treatment dropouts, and understand the predictors of dropout. Methods: Manuscript 1 describes the development of a novel need-based definition of dropout and contrasts this definition to existing definitions of dropout in the literature. Manuscript 2 uses the need-based definition to examine predictors of dropout, and compares predictors of dropout using different definitions of dropout. Results: The need-based definition categorizes individuals differently from existing definitions of dropout. Caregiver needs are …

Communication Intervention For Individuals With Down Syndrome: Systematic Review And Meta-Analysis, Nicole Neil, Emily A. Jones

Education Publications

A systematic review was conducted to identify effective intervention strategies for communication in individuals with Down syndrome. We updated and extended previous reviews by examining: (1) participant characteristics; (2) study characteristics; (3) characteristics of effective interventions (e.g., strategies and intensity); (4) whether interventions are tailored to the Down syndrome behavior phenotype; and (5) the effectiveness (i.e., percentage non-overlapping data and Cohen’s d) of interventions. Thirty-seven studies met inclusion criteria. The majority of studies used behaviour analytic strategies and produced moderate gains in communication targets. Few interventions were tailored to the needs of the Down syndrome behaviour phenotype. The results …

Why Numerical Symbols Count In The Development Of Mathematical Skills: Evidence From Brain And Behaviour, Rebecca Merkley, Daniel Ansari

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

Numerical skills measured prior to school entry are predictive of mathematics achievement longitudinally. It is therefore important that young children start school with strong mathematical foundations. Here we review evidence from behavior and neuroimaging that highlights numerical symbol knowledge as a key mediator between informal and formal mathematical competencies. We argue that future research should aim to elucidate cognitive and neuronal mechanisms underpinning the acquisition of symbolic knowledge. Furthermore, multiple aspects of numerical symbol knowledge, such as identification, cardinality, and ordinality, should be emphasized in preschool childcare environments

Effects Of Material Properties And Object Orientation On Precision Grip Kinematics., Vivian C Paulun, Karl R Gegenfurtner, Melvyn A Goodale, Roland W Fleming

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

Successfully picking up and handling objects requires taking into account their physical properties (e.g., material) and position relative to the body. Such features are often inferred by sight, but it remains unclear to what extent observers vary their actions depending on the perceived properties. To investigate this, we asked participants to grasp, lift and carry cylinders to a goal location with a precision grip. The cylinders were made of four different materials (Styrofoam, wood, brass and an additional brass cylinder covered with Vaseline) and were presented at six different orientations with respect to the participant (0°, 30°, 60°, 90°, 120°, …

Rapid Decrement In The Effects Of The Ponzo Display Dissociates Action And Perception., Robert L Whitwell, Gavin Buckingham, James T Enns, Philippe A Chouinard, Melvyn A Goodale

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

It has been demonstrated that pictorial illusions have a smaller influence on grasping than they do on perceptual judgments. Yet to date this work has not considered the reduced influence of an illusion as it is measured repeatedly. Here we studied this decrement in the context of a Ponzo illusion to further characterize the dissociation between vision for perception and for action. Participants first manually estimated the lengths of single targets in a Ponzo display with their thumb and index finger, then actually grasped these targets in another series of trials, and then manually estimated the target lengths again in …

A Longitudinal Investigation Of Predictors Of The Association Between Age 3 And Age 6 Behavioural Inhibition., Victoria C Johnson, Thomas M Olino, Daniel N Klein, Margaret W Dyson, Sara J Bufferd, C Emily Durbin, Lea R Dougherty, Elizabeth P Hayden

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

Children who exhibit elevated levels of the temperament trait behavioural inhibition (BI) across time may be at greatest risk for anxiety. However, little research has investigated the influence of other temperamental traits, particularly positive emotionality (PE), on the continuity of BI in childhood, nor whether parental overprotection influences associations between early and later child BI. To explore whether PE and overprotection shape associations between early and later BI, this longitudinal study of three-year-olds (

Measuring Engagement Of The Executive Control Network From 3 Months Of Age, Michelle Tran

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The executive control network (ECN) is critical for higher cognition and executive function (EF). Despite its importance, no scientific consensus has been reached on how and when it begins to function. In the present study, we assessed the development of the ECN in awake infants less than a year old by employing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and naturalistic stimuli. First, we identified evocative movies that engaged infant attention. We then transferred them into adult imaging to test for which movie evoked the highest ECN response. Strong ECN responses were evoked while viewing Despicable Me, therefore we implemented this …