Psychology Commons^™

Working Memory During The Menstrual Cycle: A Study Of The Role Of The Different Phases Of The Menstrual Cycle On Working Memory, Daniella Brownrigg

Brescia Psychology Undergraduate Honours Theses

This study investigated the role of the menstrual cycle phases (Follicular, Luteal and Menstruation) on working memory components (verbal and visuospatial). Eighty-eight undergraduate students attending Brescia University college completed a survey regarding: demographics, menstrual cycle information and working memory cognitive tasks. The cognitive tasks were the Corsi Block Tapping Test and a shorter version of the Hooper Visual Organization test for visuospatial working memory; and the Forward Digit Span Test and the Semantic Verbal Fluency Subset: Animals from the Barcelona Test for verbal working memory. Participants were categorized into the different menstrual phases they were experiencing. No significant differences were …

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 …

The Differences Between Visual And Auditory Pattern Separation, Alvira Khurram

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

• There has been limited investigation into pattern separation in modalities other than the visual domain, specifically little study of auditory pattern separation.

• Research on developing a measure of auditory pattern separation can aid in growing our understanding of memory and encourage further research of pattern separation in the auditory domain.

• Using Stark’s visual MST and an auditory MST (created by Helena Wang) the differences in performance of participants across the tasks was compared.

• The performance of the visual MST group was found to be not significantly different from the performance of the auditory MST group, as …

Sustained Neural Activity Correlates With Rapid Perceptual Learning Of Auditory Patterns, Björn Herrmann, Kurdo Araz, Ingrid S. Johnsrude

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

Repeating structures forming regular patterns are common in sounds. Learning such patterns may enable accurate perceptual organization. In five experiments, we investigated the behavioral and neural signatures of rapid perceptual learning of regular sound patterns. We show that recurring (compared to novel) patterns are detected more quickly and increase sensitivity to pattern deviations and to the temporal order of pattern onset relative to a visual stimulus. Sustained neural activity reflected perceptual learning in two ways. Firstly, sustained activity increased earlier for recurring than novel patterns when participants attended to sounds, but not when they ignored them; this earlier increase mirrored …

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 …

Is Social Rank Correlated With Cognitive Ability In Black-Capped Chickadees?, Gloria Hyun Young Cho

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Traditionally, dominant animals have been regarded as better competitors in all aspects of life, including cognition. However, the survival and reproductive advantages of being a dominant chickadee are surprisingly modest. It is possible that subordinate individuals compensate for the disadvantages of a lower rank with better cognitive abilities. If dominants are monopolizing prime food sources, subordinates may have developed better associative learning skills by learning to associate novel types of stimuli with food rewards. In this thesis, I asked whether dominance rank is correlated with cognitive ability in Black-capped Chickadees. I determined dominance rank in six flocks of six chickadees, …

Formation Of Implicit Memories From A Narrative Played During Sleep, Amanat Ludhar

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Though, it was previously thought that the sleeping brain was dormant, research suggests that participants can process salient stimuli and form implicit memories of simple stimuli (e.g. words) during sleep. Thus, the current study aimed to determine whether participants could form implicit memories of a narrative played during sleep, and what role different sleep stages played in this memory formation. Participants were played a story while taking a nap, and EEG was used to track time spent in different sleep stages. Later, participants completed an implicit memory task where they were asked to differentiate between animal and non-animal words through …

Exploring Cognitive Maps Through Sketching, Melissa M. Nantais

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Abstract

Periodic testing has been found to improve the accuracy of participants’ cognitive maps when an onscreen map is provided, however, it is unclear whether the same results would occur without the onscreen map. The current study investigated whether drawing a map periodically while exploring the virtual environment Silcton would improve cognitive map accuracy. Participants explored Silcton and were stopped every 4 minutes to either sketch a map of Silcton, identify items seen in Silcton, or colour an unrelated picture, and a baseline group was not stopped. All groups drew a final sketch map and completed a direction estimation task. …

Thirty-Five Years Of Computerized Cognitive Assessment Of Aging — Where Are We Now?, Avital Sternin, Alistair Burns, Adrian M. Owen

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

Over the past 35 years, the proliferation of technology and the advent of the internet have resulted in many reliable and easy to administer batteries for assessing cognitive function. These approaches have great potential for affecting how the health care system monitors and screens for cognitive changes in the aging population. Here, we review these new technologies with a specific emphasis on what they offer over and above traditional ‘paper-and-pencil’ approaches to assessing cognitive function. Key advantages include fully automated administration and scoring, the interpretation of individual scores within the context of thousands of normative data points, the inclusion of …

Understanding Perirhinal Contributions To Perception And Memory: Evidence Through The Lens Of Selective Perirhinal Damage, Marika C. Inhoff, Andrew C. Heusser, Arielle Tambini, Chris B. Martin, Edward B. O'Neil, Stefan Köhler, Michael R. Meager, Karen Blackmon, Blanca Vazquez, Orrin Devinsky, Lila Davachi

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

© 2019 Elsevier Ltd Although a memory systems view of the medial temporal lobe (MTL) has been widely influential in understanding how memory processes are implemented, a large body of work across humans and animals has converged on the idea that the MTL can support various other decisions, beyond those involving memory. Specifically, recent work suggests that perception of and memory for visual representations may interact in order to support ongoing cognition. However, given considerations involving lesion profiles in neuropsychological investigations and the correlational nature of fMRI, the precise nature of representations supported by the MTL are not well understood …

Impaired Object-Location Learning And Recognition Memory But Enhanced Sustained Attention In M2 Muscarinic Receptor-Deficient Mice, Carola Romberg, Susan Bartko, Jürgen Wess, Lisa M. Saksida, Timothy J. Bussey

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

© 2018, The Author(s). Rationale: Muscarinic acetylcholine receptors are known to play key roles in mediating cognitive processes, and impaired muscarinic cholinergic neurotransmission is associated with normal ageing processes and Alzheimer’s disease. However, the specific contributions of the individual muscarinic receptor subtypes (M1–M5) to cognition are presently not well understood. Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the contribution of M2-type muscarinic receptor signalling to sustained attention, executive control and learning and memory. Methods: M2 receptor-deficient (M2−/−) mice were tested on a touchscreen-operated task battery testing visual discrimination, behavioural flexibility, object-location associative learning, attention and response control. Spontaneous …

Individual Differences In The Allocation Of Visual Attention During Navigation, Mikayla Keller

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

There are large individual differences in the ability to create an accurate mental representation (i.e., a cognitive map) of a novel environment, yet the factors underlying cognitive map accuracy remain unclear. Given the roles that landmarks and cognitive map accuracy play in successful navigation, the current study examined whether differences in the landmarks that individuals look at while navigating are related to differences in cognitive map accuracy. Participants completed a battery of spatial tests: some that assessed spatial skills prior to a navigation task, and others that tested memory for the environment following exploration of a virtual world. Results indicated …

Image Memory For Hyperpalatable Foods In University Aged Females, Leila M. Mackay

Brescia Psychology Undergraduate Honours Theses

Hyperpalatable foods are high in sugar and/or fat and highly processed. These foods increase dopamine in the brain similar to other rewards, such as drugs of abuse, producing pleasure and an enhanced drive to consume them. Undergraduate students (n = 44) completed an explicit memory task where they were asked if they recalled various types of food (high sugar, high fat, sugar+fat, fruits, vegetables and breads) and non-food images. Questionnaires evaluating eating patterns were also completed. It was hypothesized that hyperpalatable foods would be recalled better and faster than less-palatable foods or non-food images. The study found that hyperpalatable …

Sleep-Based Memory Processing Facilitates Grammatical Generalization: Evidence From Targeted Memory Reactivation., Laura J Batterink, Ken A Paller

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

Generalization-the ability to abstract regularities from specific examples and apply them to novel instances-is an essential component of language acquisition. Generalization not only depends on exposure to input during wake, but may also improve offline during sleep. Here we examined whether targeted memory reactivation during sleep can influence grammatical generalization. Participants gradually acquired the grammatical rules of an artificial language through an interactive learning procedure. Then, phrases from the language (experimental group) or stimuli from an unrelated task (control group) were covertly presented during an afternoon nap. Compared to control participants, participants re-exposed to the language during sleep showed larger …

Does Sleep Enhance The Consolidation Of Implicitly Learned Visuo-Motor Sequence Learning?, Jeremy Viczko

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Sleep has been shown to facilitate the consolidation (i.e., enhancement) of simple explicit (i.e., conscious) motor sequence learning (MSL). It remains unclear the degree to which this applies to implicit (i.e., unconscious) MSL. Employing reaction time and response generation tasks, we investigated the extent to which sleep is involved in consolidating implicit MSL, specifically whether the motor or the spatial cognitive representations of a learned sequence are enhanced by sleep, and whether these changes support the development of explicit sequence knowledge across sleep but not wake. Our results indicate that spatial and motor representations can be behaviourally dissociated for implicit …

Dancing In The Dark: Sleep-Dependent Motor Skill Memory Consolidation And Periodic Limb Movement Disorder, Valya Sergeeva

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Periodic Limb Movement Disorder (PLMD) is a neurodegenerative disease characterized by dysfunction of the striatum and brief, repetitive limb movements during sleep. PLMD can severely disrupt non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep. Motor skills learning and memory consolidation are dependent on striatal activation, the latter enhanced by NREM sleep. Therefore, we investigated whether individuals with PLMD had learning and sleep-related memory deficits, and whether this putative deficit was related to sleep quality or symptom severity. 14 adults with a PLM index >15/hr underwent two nights (baseline, training) of polysomnographic recording. 15 age-matched healthy controls underwent three nights (baseline, undisturbed training and …

Category Learning In Older Adulthood: A Study Of The Shepard, Hovland, And Jenkins (1961) Tasks., Rahel Rabi, John Paul Minda

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

Shepard, Hovland, and Jenkins (1961) examined the categorization abilities of younger adults using tasks involving single-dimensional rule learning, disjunctive rule learning, and family resemblance learning. The current study examined category learning in older adults using this well-known category set. Older adults, like younger adults, found category tasks with a single relevant dimension the easiest to learn. In contrast to younger adults, older adults found complex disjunctive rule-based categories harder to learn than family resemblance based categories. Disjunctive rule-based category learning appeared to be the most difficult for older adults to learn because this category set placed the heaviest demands on …

The Representational-Hierarchical View Of Pattern Separation: Not Just Hippocampus, Not Just Space, Not Just Memory?, B. A. Kent, M. Hvoslef-Eide, L. M. Saksida, T. J. Bussey

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

Pattern separation (PS) has been defined as a process of reducing overlap between similar input patterns to minimize interference amongst stored representations. The present article describes this putative PS process from the "representational-hierarchical" perspective (R-H), which uses a hierarchical continuum instead of a cognitive modular processing framework to describe the organization of the ventral visual perirhinal-hippocampal processing stream. Instead of trying to map psychological constructs onto anatomical modules in the brain, the R-H model suggests that the function of brain regions depends upon what representations they contain. We begin by discussing a main principle of the R-H framework, the resolution …

Neurogenesis-Mediated Forgetting Minimizes Proactive Interference., Jonathan R Epp, Rudy Silva Mera, Stefan Köhler, Sheena A Josselyn, Paul W Frankland

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

Established memories may interfere with the encoding of new memories, particularly when existing and new memories overlap in content. By manipulating levels of hippocampal neurogenesis, here we show that neurogenesis regulates this form of proactive interference. Increasing hippocampal neurogenesis weakens existing memories and, in doing so, facilitates the encoding of new, conflicting (but not non-conflicting) information in mice. Conversely, decreasing neurogenesis stabilizes existing memories, and impedes the encoding of new, conflicting information. These results suggest that reduced proactive interference is an adaptive benefit of neurogenesis-induced forgetting.

Phase Of Spontaneous Slow Oscillations During Sleep Influences Memory-Related Processing Of Auditory Cues., Laura J Batterink, Jessica D Creery, Ken A Paller

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

UNLABELLED: Slow oscillations during slow-wave sleep (SWS) may facilitate memory consolidation by regulating interactions between hippocampal and cortical networks. Slow oscillations appear as high-amplitude, synchronized EEG activity, corresponding to upstates of neuronal depolarization and downstates of hyperpolarization. Memory reactivations occur spontaneously during SWS, and can also be induced by presenting learning-related cues associated with a prior learning episode during sleep. This technique, targeted memory reactivation (TMR), selectively enhances memory consolidation. Given that memory reactivation is thought to occur preferentially during the slow-oscillation upstate, we hypothesized that TMR stimulation effects would depend on the phase of the slow oscillation. Participants learned …

Context-Dependent Egr1 Expression In The Avian Hippocampus., Stephanie L Grella, Mélanie F Guigueno, David J White, David F Sherry, Diano F Marrone

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

In mammals, episodic memory and spatial cognition involve context-specific recruitment of unique ensembles in the hippocampal formation (HF). Despite their capacity for sophisticated spatial (e.g., for migration) and episodic-like (e.g., for food-caching) memory, the mechanisms underlying contextual representation in birds is not well understood. Here we demonstrate environment-specific Egr1 expression as male brown-headed cowbirds (Molothrus ater) navigate environments for food reward, showing that the avian HF, like its mammalian counterpart, recruits distinct neuronal ensembles to represent different contexts.

Finding The Engram., Sheena A Josselyn, Stefan Köhler, Paul W Frankland

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

Many attempts have been made to localize the physical trace of a memory, or engram, in the brain. However, until recently, engrams have remained largely elusive. In this Review, we develop four defining criteria that enable us to critically assess the recent progress that has been made towards finding the engram. Recent 'capture' studies use novel approaches to tag populations of neurons that are active during memory encoding, thereby allowing these engram-associated neurons to be manipulated at later times. We propose that findings from these capture studies represent considerable progress in allowing us to observe, erase and express the engram.

Contrasting Styles In Cognition And Behaviour In Bumblebees And Honeybees., David F Sherry, Caroline G Strang

Psychology Publications

Bumblebees and honeybees have been the subjects of a great deal of recent research in animal cognition. Many of the major topics in cognition, including memory, attention, concept learning, numerosity, spatial cognition, timing, social learning, and metacognition have been examined in bumblebees, honeybees, or both. Although bumblebees and honeybees are very closely related, they also differ in important ways, including social organization, development, and foraging behaviour. We examine whether differences between bumblebees and honeybees in cognitive processes are related to differences in their natural history and behaviour. There are differences in some cognitive traits, such as serial reversal learning and …

Effects Of Caffeine On Memory In Rats, Cisse Nakeyar

2015 Undergraduate Awards

Caffeine is typically used to counter the effects of fatigue by enhancing performance for cognitive tasks, it is also known to suppress appetite. The current study is conducted to determine if caffeine would have an effect on memory. Twenty-four male Long Evans rats (375-425g) were used, they were randomly assigned to one of three groups: saline control (0.9% saline), caffeine low dose (15mg/kg), and caffeine high dose (50mg/kg). Testing was conducted in a Skinner box with a retractable lever that dispensed food when pressed. Rats were trained for five consecutive days for 10-15 min sessions. Then, two days of baseline …

The Ha-Ha Holocaust: Exploring Levity Amidst The Ruins And Beyond In Testimony, Literature And Film, Aviva Atlani

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

ABSTRACT

Jewish humour sheds a crude light on the social, political, and historical realities of the Holocaust. Paradoxically, contentiously, doses of levity during this period were very much a reality, and even a psychological necessity. The purpose of my thesis is to explore the historical, social, and political ramifications of such laughter provoking manifestations. In doing so, the nuances are highlighted which are found within the laughter of the ghettos, the transit camps, and the concentration camps. Furthermore, some of these jokes, and their subsequent variations, reappear within the discourse of children of survivors. The dissertation explores how some of …

Sharp Emergence Of Feature-Selective Sustained Activity Along The Dorsal Visual Pathway., Diego Mendoza-Halliday, Santiago Torres, Julio C Martinez-Trujillo

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

Sustained activity encoding visual working memory representations has been observed in several cortical areas of primates. Where along the visual pathways this activity emerges remains unknown. Here we show in macaques that sustained spiking activity encoding memorized visual motion directions is absent in direction-selective neurons in early visual area middle temporal (MT). However, it is robustly present immediately downstream, in multimodal association area medial superior temporal (MST), as well as and in the lateral prefrontal cortex (LPFC). This sharp emergence of sustained activity along the dorsal visual pathway suggests a functional boundary between early visual areas, which encode sensory inputs, …

Effects Of Classroom Design And Atmosphere Towards Affective Reactions And Memory Of Content, Brittney Bonnick

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The purpose of the present study was to investigate how a classroom’s design can alter an

individual’s memory of content and affective reactions towards the experience. 123 University of

Western Ontario Undergraduate students who were part of a first year psychology participation

pool listened to a video lecture on schizophrenia and then completed two paper and pencil

questionnaires. The first was a multiple-choice assessment of participant memory for lecture

material, and the second was a Likert scale on the perceived learning experience. The

atmosphere of the classroom as well as the design of the desk arrangements was changed for

different …

Bilateral Saccadic Deficits Following Large And Reversible Inactivation Of Unilateral Frontal Eye Field., Tyler R Peel, Kevin Johnston, Stephen G Lomber, Brian D Corneil

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

Inactivation permits direct assessment of the functional contribution of a given brain area to behavior. Previous inactivation studies of the frontal eye field (FEF) have either used large permanent ablations or reversible pharmacological techniques that only inactivate a small volume of tissue. Here we evaluated the impact of large, yet reversible, FEF inactivation on visually guided, delayed, and memory-guided saccades, using cryoloops implanted in the arcuate sulcus. While FEF inactivation produced the expected triad of contralateral saccadic deficits (increased reaction time, decreased accuracy and peak velocity) and performance errors (neglect or misdirected saccades), we also found consistent increases in reaction …

Rule-Based Category Learning In Children: The Role Of Age And Executive Functioning., Rahel Rabi, John Paul Minda

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

Rule-based category learning was examined in 4-11 year-olds and adults. Participants were asked to learn a set of novel perceptual categories in a classification learning task. Categorization performance improved with age, with younger children showing the strongest rule-based deficit relative to older children and adults. Model-based analyses provided insight regarding the type of strategy being used to solve the categorization task, demonstrating that the use of the task appropriate strategy increased with age. When children and adults who identified the correct categorization rule were compared, the performance deficit was no longer evident. Executive functions were also measured. While both working …

Failure To Replicate Retrocausal Recall, Imants Barušs, Vanille Rabier

Psychology

In two temporally inverted memory experiments, Daryl Bem found that participants had better recall for words that were practiced after the recall task than for control words that were not practiced after the recall task. We attempted to replicate the second of Bem’s two experiments with the addition of a personality measure. After completing the Six Factor Personality Questionnaire, participants (n = 102) interacted with a computer on which they were shown 48 nouns, one at a time, then asked to type as many of the words as they could recall, and then asked to practice a random selection …