Life Sciences Commons^™

Functional Dissociations Revealed By Representational Similarity Analysis Of Color-Word Stroop, Michael Freund

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The color-word Stroop task is often used in cognitive neuroscience as a common platform for both theoretical and experimental approaches to cognitive control. Yet traditionally, there has been tension between these two approaches. Theoretical models of Stroop have focused on representation: for example, how distributed and overlapping representations of the two stimulus dimensions (color, word) are prioritized, and how conflict between these dimen- sions is represented and used to regulate control. In contrast, neuroimaging experiments have primarily focused on ‘univariately’ (uniformly) mapping the effects of conflict to par- ticular brain regions. This focus on univariate changes in brain activity limits …

Cognitive, Neural, And Educational Contributions To Mathematics Performance: A Closer Look At The Roles Of Numerical And Spatial Skills, Zachary C.K. Hawes

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The principal aims of this thesis were to (1) provide new insights into the cognitive and neural associations between spatial and mathematical abilities, and (2) translate and apply findings from the field of numerical cognition to the teaching and learning of early mathematics.

Study 1 investigated the structure and interrelations amongst cognitive constructs related to numerical, spatial, and executive function (EF) skills and mathematics achievement in 4- to 11-year old children (N=316). Results revealed evidence of highly related, yet separable, cognitive constructs. Together, numerical, spatial, and EF skills explained 84% of the variance in mathematics achievement (controlling for chronological age). …

Changes In Hemodynamic Response To Faces, Scenes, And Objects In A Visual Statistical Learning Task: An Fmri Analysis, Aaron T. Halvorsen

Honors Theses

Learning causes changes in brain activity and neural connections. Statistical learning is an implicit learning process that involves extracting regularities from the environment and finding patterns in stimuli based on their transitional probabilities. The following study describes an attempt to elucidate temporal changes in hemodynamic activity for three category-specific brain areas using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Blood oxygen-level dependent signal (BOLD) responses were collected while subjects viewed faces, scenes, and objects with high and low transitional probabilities in an fMRI scanner. We expected brain activity to show a temporal shift in timing of activation when comparing BOLD signal responses …

Variance Partitioning Reveals Consistent Representation Of Object Boundary Contours In Lo Across Different Datasets, Mark D. Lescroart, Utkarsh Singhal

MODVIS Workshop

No abstract provided.

Neurological Discrepancies Between Bipolar Disorder, Schizophrenia And Schizoaffective Disorder, Nat Bush

Senior Theses and Projects

As neurological research advances, so does the understanding of how disorders and diseases develop and how they can be treated. The debate of how mental disorders develop has been ongoing and complicated, as there is still no clear understanding of their cause. In this study, fMRI scans of individuals with bipolar disorder (BPD), schizophrenia (SZP), and schizoaffective disorder (SAD), and a control group were collected in six cities in the United States and were preprocessed to screen out scans that do not succeed in the standardization process. The subjects were included in three analyses: one that compares the subjects based …

Cognitive Rehabilitation Of Prospective Memory Deficits After Acquired Brain Injury: Cognitive, Behavioral, And Physiological Measures, Meaghan Race

Senior Theses and Projects

Acquired brain injury (ABI) affects approximately 3.5 million Americans each year and is associated with cognitive and emotional changes. Prospective memory (PM) deficits are important predictors of functioning in daily life for individuals with ABI. Previous studies have shown that cognitive rehabilitation therapy (CRT) via PM training has a high rate of success in improving quality of life, independence and productivity for ABI survivors. There is limited information on utilizing imaging techniques in relation to changes in cognition and behavior following rehabilitation; however, previous studies suggest that imaging provides evidence that CRT could be related to changes to underlying brain …

The Generalization Of Fear Condition Between Viewed And Imagined Percepts, Lauryn Michelle Burleigh

LSU Master's Theses

Mental images can provoke intense emotional states (Holmes & Matthews, 2010). Imagery and perception have common neural and physiological mechanisms, including activation of the early visual areas (Albers et al., 2013). We tested the prediction that individuals can acquire fear to imagined percepts and if this fear transfers to viewing percepts, using fMRI and self-reported measures to determine participants’ fear. The participants completed a task in which they viewed and imagined two stimuli, and were fear conditioned when imagining the CS+. Participants are only told that mild electrical stimulation will be paired with one of the stimuli, but not which …