Psychology Commons^™

The Influence Of Maternally Regulated Prenatal Sensory Experience On Postnatal Motor Coordination In Neonatal Bobwhite Quail, Starlie C. Belnap

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Comparative animal studies aid in understanding how prenatal sensory experiences regulated by maternal activity facilitate or interfere with growth and phenotype development. However, there is a paucity of information on how prenatal sensory experience influence postnatal motor performance. In this series of studies, we used an avian model, the bobwhite quail, to evaluate the effects of prenatal temperature (study 1), prenatal movement (study 2), prenatal light duration (study 3), and prenatal light presentation pattern (study 4) on hatchability, growth and postnatal motor performance in 24hr quail neonates. In study 1, quail embryos were exposed to naturally occurring cool (36.9°C) or …

Multivariate Genome-Wide Association Study Of Rapid Automatised Naming And Rapid Alternating Stimulus In Hispanic American And African–American Youth, Dongnhu Thuy Truong, Andrew Kenneth Adams, Steven Paniagua, Jan C. Frijters, Richard Boada, Dina E. Hill, Maureen W. Lovett, E Mark Mahone, Erik G. Willcutt, Maryanne Wolf, John C. Defries, Alessandro Gialluisi, Clyde Francks, Simon E. Fisher, Richard K. Olson, Bruce F. Pennington, Shelley D. Smith, Joan Bosson-Heenan, Jeffrey R. Gruen

Psychology: Faculty Scholarship

Background: Rapid automatised naming (RAN) and rapid alternating stimulus (RAS) are reliable predictors of reading disability. The underlying biology of reading disability is poorly understood. However, the high correlation among RAN, RAS and reading could be attributable to shared genetic factors that contribute to common biological mechanisms.

Objective: To identify shared genetic factors that contribute to RAN and RAS performance using a multivariate approach.

Methods: We conducted a multivariate genome-wide association analysis of RAN Objects, RAN Letters and RAS Letters/Numbers in a sample of 1331 Hispanic American and African-American youth. Follow-up neuroimaging genetic analysis of cortical regions associated with reading …

Ptsd Precipitating From Sexual Abuse And Combat War Exposure And Co-Morbid Disorders Of Chronic Pain, Substance Abuse And Immune Systems, Jessica Anzalone

Honors Program Theses and Projects

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a trauma and stress related disorder that some people develop after exposure to a traumatic life altering event. The person must witness the traumatic event, have the traumatic event occur to a loved one, or experience a traumatic event first hand. According to the publication of the American Psychiatric Association, the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), the diagnostic criteria for the identity of PTSD must include behavioral symptoms that accompany PTSD in four diagnostic clusters; re-experiencing, avoidance, negative cognitions and mood, and arousal (American Psychological Association, 2018). Two …

Timing Is Everything: Temporal Dynamics Of Brain Activity Using The Human Connectome Project, Francesca Lofaro

Summer Research

Most neuroimaging studies produce snapshots of brain activity. The goal of this project is to examine the temporal dynamics of how these areas interact through time, using fear as a case study to assess how regions involved in fear interact. Working with Matlab computer code, I sort through the large fMRI dataset known as the Human Connectome Project to extract neuroimaging data from patients with different NIH Toolbox Fear-Somatic survey scores to assess the temporal dynamics between brain regions. The results will allow an understanding beyond which areas are involved, and instead will provide a picture of how these areas …