Psychology Commons^™

Distinct Neural Circuits Underlie Prospective And Concurrent Memory-Guided Behavior, Amanda G. Hamm, Aaron T. Mattfeld

Department of Psychology

The past is the best predictor of the future. This simple postulate belies the complex neurobiological mechanisms that facilitate an individual’s use of memory to guide decisions. Previous research has shown integration of memories bias decision-making. Alternatively, memories can prospectively guide our choices. Here, we elucidate the mechanisms and timing of hippocampal (HPC), medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), and striatal contributions during prospective memory-guided decision-making. We develop an associative learning task in which the correct choice is conditional on the preceding stimulus. Two distinct networks emerge: (1) a prospective circuit consisting of the HPC, putamen, mPFC, and other cortical regions, which …

Effects Of Cannabinoid Administration For Pain: A Meta-Analysis And Meta-Regression, Julio A. Yanes, Zach E. Mckinnell, Meredith A. Reid, Jessica N. Busler, Jesse S. Michael, Melissa M. Pangelinan, Matthew T. Sutherland, Jared W. Younger, Raul Gonzalez, Jennifer L. Robinson

Department of Psychology

No abstract provided.

Prefrontal Pathways Provide Top-Down Control Of Memory For Sequences Of Events, Maanasa Jayachandran, Stephanie B. Linley, Maximilian Schlecht, Stephen V. Mahler, Robert P. Vertes, Timothy A. Allen

Department of Psychology

We remember our lives as sequences of events, but it is unclear how these memories are controlled during retrieval. In rats, the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) is positioned to influence sequence memory through extensive top-down inputs to regions heavily interconnected with the hippocampus, notably the nucleus reuniens of the thalamus (RE) and perirhinal cortex (PER). Here, we used an hM4Di synaptic-silencing approach to test our hypothesis that specific mPFC→RE and mPFC→PER projections regulate sequence memory retrieval. First, we found non-overlapping populations of mPFC cells project to RE and PER. Second, suppressing mPFC activity impaired sequence memory. Third, inhibiting mPFC→RE and …

The Role Of Hedonics In The Human Affectome, Susanne Becker, Anne-Kathrin Brascher, Scott Bannister, Moustafa Bensafi, Destany Calma-Birling, Raymond C.K. Chan, Tuomas Eerola, Dan-Mikael Ellingsen, Camille Ferdenzi, Jamie L. Hanson, Mateus Joffily, Navdeep K. Lidhar, Leroy J. Lowe, Loren J. Martin, Erica D. Musser, Michael Noll-Hussong, Thomas M. Olino, Rosario Pintos Lobo, Yi Wang

Department of Psychology

Experiencing pleasure and displeasure is a fundamental part of life. Hedonics guide behavior, affect decision-making, induce learning, and much more. As the positive and negative valence of feelings, hedonics are core processes that accompany emotion, motivation, and bodily states. Here, the affective neuroscience of pleasure and displeasure that has largely focused on the investigation of reward and pain processing, is reviewed. We describe the neurobiological systems of hedonics and factors that modulate hedonic experiences (e.g., cognition, learning, sensory input). Further, we review maladaptive and adaptive pleasure and displeasure functions in mental disorders and well-being, as well as the experience of …

The Effects Of Positive Affect And Episodic Future Thinking On Temporal Discounting And Healthy Food Demand And Choice Among Overweight And Obese Individuals: Protocol For A Pilot 2×2 Factorial Randomized Controlled Study, Sara M. Levens, Sara J. Sagui-Henson, Meagan Padro, Laura E. Martin, Elisa M. Trucco, Nina A. Cooperman, Austin S. Baldwin, Angelos P. Kassianos, Noreen D. Mdege

Department of Psychology

Background: Unhealthy behaviors (eg, poor food choices) contribute to obesity and numerous negative health outcomes, including multiple types of cancer and cardiovascular and metabolic diseases. To promote healthy food choice, diet interventions should build on the dual-system model to target the regulation and reward mechanisms that guide eating behavior. Episodic future thinking (EFT) has been shown to strengthen regulation mechanisms by reducing unhealthy food choice and temporal discounting (TD), a process of placing greater value on smaller immediate rewards over larger future rewards. However, these interventions do not target the reward mechanisms that could support healthy eating and strengthen the …

Changes In Parental Prosody Mediate Effect Of Parent-Training Intervention On Infant Language Production, Michele Morningstar, Dainelys Garcia, Melanie A. Dirks, Daniel M. Bagner

Department of Psychology

No abstract provided.

Sex Differences In Gains Among Hispanic Pre-Kindergartners’ Mental Rotation Skills, Carla Abad, Rosalie Odean, Shannon M. Pruden

Department of Psychology

The current study explores change in mental rotation skills throughout the pre-kindergarten year in a Hispanic population to better understand the development of early sex differences in mental rotation. Ninety-six Hispanic children (M = 4 years 8 months) completed a mental rotation task at the beginning and end of pre-kindergarten. Results suggest Hispanic boys and girls differed in gains on mental rotation ability, with boys improving significantly more than girls during pre-kindergarten on a mental rotation task. This study highlights the significance of studying mental rotation abilities in a Hispanic population of pre-kindergarten aged children and suggests the importance …

Infant Hand Preference And The Development Of Cognitive Abilities, George F. Michael, Julie M. Campbell, Emily C. Marcinowski, Eliza Nelson, Iryna Babik

Department of Psychology

Hand preference develops in the first two postnatal years with nearly half of infants exhibiting a consistent early preference for acquiring objects. Others exhibit a more variable developmental trajectory but by the end of their second postnatal year, most exhibit a consistent hand preference for role-differentiated bimanual manipulation. According to some forms of embodiment theory, these differences in hand use patterns should influence the way children interact with their environments, which, in turn, should affect the structure and function of brain development. Such early differences in brain development should result in different trajectories of psychological development. We present evidence that …

Quantifying Motor Experience In The Infant Brain: Eeg Power, Coherence, And Mu Desynchronization, Sandy L. Gonzalez, Bethany C. Reeb-Sutherland, Eliza Nelson

Department of Psychology

The emergence of new motor skills, such as reaching and walking, dramatically changes how infants engage with the world socially and cognitively. Several examples of how motor experience can cascade into cognitive and social development have been documented, yet a significant knowledge gap remains in our understanding of whether these observed behavioral changes are accompanied by underlying neural changes. We propose that electroencephalography (EEG) measures such as power, coherence, and mu desynchronization are optimal tools to quantify motor experience in the infant brain. In this mini-review, we will summarize existing infant research that has separately assessed the relation between motor, …

Novel Methodology To Examine Cognitive And Experiential Factors In Language Development: Combining Eye-Tracking And Lena Technology, Rosalie Oden, Alina Nazareth, Shannon M. Pruden

Department of Psychology

Developmental systems theory posits that development cannot be segmented by influences acting in isolation, but should be studied through a scientific lens that highlights the complex interactions between these forces over time (Overton, 2013a). This poses a unique challenge for developmental psychologists studying complex processes like language development. In this paper, we advocate for the combining of highly sophisticated data collection technologies in an effort to move toward a more systemic approach to studying language development. We investigate the efficiency and appropriateness of combining eye-tracking technology and the LENA (Language Environment Analysis) system, an automated language analysis tool, in an …

Addressing The Gap: A Blueprint For Studying Bimanual Hand Preference In Infants, Sandy L. Gonzalez, Eliza Nelson

Department of Psychology

No abstract provided.

Do Cavies Talk? The Effect Of Anthropomorphic Picture Books On Children's Knowledge About Animals, Patricia A. Ganea, Caitlin F. Canfield, Kadria Simons-Ghafari, Tommy Chou

Department of Psychology

Many books for young children present animals in fantastical and unrealistic ways, such as wearing clothes, talking and engaging in human-like activities. This research examined whether anthropomorphism in children's books affects children's learning and conceptions of animals, by specifically assessing the impact of depictions (a bird wearing clothes and reading a book) and language (bird described as talking and as having human intentions). In Study 1, 3-, 4-, and 5-year-old children saw picture books featuring realistic drawings of a novel animal. Half of the children also heard factual, realistic language, while the other half heard anthropomorphized language. In Study 2, …

Do Storybooks Really Break Children's Gender Stereotypes?, Carla Abad, Shannon M. Pruden

Department of Psychology

A book review on An open book: What and how young children learn from picture and storybooks. Special Issue of Frontiers in Developmental Psychology.

Edited by J.S. Horst and C. Houston-Price

Stuck In The Moment: Cognitive Inflexibility In Preschoolers Following An Extended Time Period, Carolina Garcia, Anthony Steven Dick

Department of Psychology

Preschoolers display surprising inflexibility in problem solving, but seem to approach new challenges with a fresh slate. We provide evidence that while the former is true the latter is not. Here, we examined whether brief exposure to stimuli can influence children’s problem solving following several weeks after first exposure to the stimuli. We administered a common executive function task, the Dimensional Change Card Sort, which requires children to sort picture cards by one dimension (e.g., color) and then switch to sort the same cards by a conflicting dimension (e.g., shape). After a week or after a month delay, we administered …

Computational Modeling Reveals Distinct Effects Of Hiv And History Of Drug Use On Decision-Making Processes In Women, Jasmin Vassileva, Woo-Young Ahn, Kathleen M. Weber, Jerome R. Busemeyer, Julie C. Stout, Raul Gonzalez, Mardge H. Cohen

Department of Psychology

Objective: Drug users and HIV-seropositive individuals often show deficits in decision-making; however the nature of these deficits is not well understood. Recent studies have employed computational modeling approaches to disentangle the psychological processes involved in decision-making. Although such approaches have been used successfully with a number of clinical groups including drug users, no study to date has used computational modeling to examine the effects of HIV on decision-making. In this study, we use this approach to investigate the effects of HIV and drug use on decision making processes in women, who remain a relatively understudied population.

Method: Fifty-seven women enrolled …

A Network Model Of Observation And Imitation Of Speech, Nira Mashal, Ana Solodkin, Anthony Steven Dick, E. Elinor Chen, Steven L. Small

Department of Psychology

Much evidence has now accumulated demonstrating and quantifying the extent of shared regional brain activation for observation and execution of speech. However, the nature of the actual networks that implement these functions, i.e., both the brain regions and the connections among them, and the similarities and differences across these networks has not been elucidated. The current study aims to characterize formally a network for observation and imitation of syllables in the healthy adult brain and to compare their structure and effective connectivity. Eleven healthy participants observed or imitated audiovisual syllables spoken by a human actor. We constructed four structural equation …

Measuring Empathizing And Systemizing With A Large Us Sample, Daniel B. Wright, Elin M. Skagerberg

Department of Psychology

A large number of people completed one of two versions of the empathizing quotient (EQ) and systemizing quotient (SQ). One version had the negatively phrased items all re-worded. These re-worded items were answered more rapidly than the original items, and for the SQ produced a more reliable scale. Subjects gave self-assessments of empathizing and systemizing, and these were moderately correlated, r≈.6, with their respective quotients. Females had on average higher empathizing scores and males had on average higher systemizing scores. If a female-male pair was chosen at random, the female would have the higher empathizing score about two-thirds of …

Male Sexual Dysfunction And Infertility Associated With Neurological Disorders, Mikkel Fode, Sheila Krogh-Jespersen, Nancy L. Beckett, Dana A. Ohl, Charles M. Lynn, Jens Sønksen

Department of Psychology

Normal sexual and reproductive functions depend largely on neurological mechanisms. Neurological defects in men can cause infertility through erectile dysfunction, ejaculatory dysfunction and semen abnormalities. Among the major conditions contributing to these symptoms are pelvic and retroperitoneal surgery, diabetes, congenital spinal abnormalities, multiple sclerosis and spinal cord injury. Erectile dysfunction can be managed by an increasingly invasive range of treatments including medications, injection therapy and the surgical insertion of a penile implant. Retrograde ejaculation is managed by medications to reverse the condition in mild cases and in bladder harvest of semen after ejaculation in more severe cases. Anejaculation might also …