Neuroscience and Neurobiology Commons^™

The Relationship Between Cognitive Impairment In Psychiatric Patients And Readmission Rate To An Inpatient Facility, Cherilyn Isis Schuff

Theses and Dissertations

The primary intention of this study was to further understand the impact of assessing cognitive impairment in psychiatric patients, as a mediating factor on readmission rates. Mild cognitive dysfunction impacts a patient’s functional outcomes (Bowie & Harvey, 2006; Davis et al., 2012; Marcantonio, et al., 2001). Little information exists to guide best practices in the treatment of adults with cognitive impairment who are hospitalized for acute conditions (Davis et al., 2012). A cognitive impairment may impact patient prognosis and ability to function outside of a setting focused on stabilization. Neuropsychological testing is a valuable tool in predicting a patient’s cognitive …

Characterizing Resting Cerebral Blood Flow In Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder With Arterial Spin Labeling, Hannah R. Wild

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a condition characterized by intrusive thoughts (obsessions) and ritualistic behaviors (compulsions) profoundly impacting daily functioning and quality of life. Neuroimaging studies using various techniques have revealed inconsistent resting cerebral blood flow (rCBF) patterns in OCD patients, particularly within the cortico-striatal-thalamo-cortical (CSTC) circuit and sensorimotor network. Arterial Spin Labeling (ASL) MRI offers a promising, noninvasive method for directly measuring rCBF. This study, using data from the Yale HCP Trio study, analyzed unmedicated OCD patients and healthy controls, who underwent two consecutive resting pulsed-ASL scans. OCD patients with lower obsessional severity exhibited higher perfusion in the pre- and …

Cerebrospinal Fluid Biomarkers Not Associated With Neurologic Compromise Among Mild Cognitively Impaired Reverters With Parkinson's Disease, Cameron Ryczek

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Parkinson's Disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disease characterized by motor (e.g. tremors) and non-motor symptoms (e.g. cognitive impairment). PD patients' change in cognitive functioning can be observed using the following classifications: cognitively intact, mild cognitive impairment (MCI), or dementia (PDD). MCI has many subtypes, one of which is MCI reversion which is defined as those with MCI at one time point reverting to cognitively intact later. While there is limited research into the utility of MCI reversion and its relationship with cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers in PD, this study will begin to elucidate this relationship. To this end, data from …

Psychophysiological Effects Of Increasing Awareness Of Nondual Consciousness In Young Adults With Depression And Anxiety, Milena Braticevic

CONSCIOUSNESS: Ideas and Research for the Twenty-First Century

Young adults increasingly suffer from anxiety and depression during the time of transition into adulthood. This research study examined the effects of increasing awareness of nondual consciousness in young adults who were experiencing various levels of anxiety and depression. The methodology was mixed-method and included four 1-hour group-based sessions over 4 weeks. Increasing awareness of nondual consciousness through educational, experiential, and behavioural components resulted in reduction in the average depression score from 19.4 (borderline clinical depression) to 10 (normal), and reduction in the average anxiety score from 12.7 (moderate anxiety) to 6.9 (mild). Participants reported increased mental, emotional, physical, and …

Cognitive Testing For Sport Concussion: The Immediate Post-Concussion Assessment And Cognitive Testing (Impact), Julia E. Maietta

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Sport concussion is among the most common injuries for an athlete to experience during sport participation. Because of the complex pathophysiological process that affects the brain during and after concussion, symptoms can be heterogeneous in presence and severity. Although most acute symptoms (e.g., headache, slowed processing speed, loss of consciousness, irritability, depression, anxiety) resolve within seven to 10 days for most athletes, there is evidence that higher initial symptom burden and other genetically based differences can lead to longer symptom duration and complicated recovery post-concussion. Because structural changes that commonly occur as a result of concussion (e.g., diffuse axonal injury) …

Trauma Healing With The Neurosequential Model Of Therapy And Bal-A-Vis-X, Becky Johnston

Educational Specialist, 2020-current

Stigma related to childhood trauma is shifting with the help of advancements in the understanding of neurobiology and interventions that are proving to be effective for healing. There are immense costs and consequences for survivors of childhood trauma and their loved ones that were not so long ago considered irrelevant and the notion that kids bounce back from adversity was previously popular in the psychological community (Perry & Szalavitz, 2017). The broad strokes of Dr. Bruce Perry’s clinical intervention model, The Neurosequential Model of Therapy (NMT) describes a trauma-sensitive, sequential approach to changing the stress response within mental health counseling. …

Effects Of Music Exposure On Autobiographical Memory In Alzheimer's Patients: A Systematic Review And Meta-Analysis, Gregory Vance

Honors Theses

The progression of Alzheimer’s disease is primarily characterized by a loss of memory concerning past events, as well as a lack in ability to create new memories. While this spans across many subsets of memory, such as recognition, recall, and autobiographical memory, there seems to be a lesser impact on musical memory in those with Alzheimer’s. Multiple studies have suggested that exposure to music and introduction of music therapy can even improve other aspects of memory in Alzheimer’s patients. This systematic review and meta-analysis sought to examine the relationship between music exposure and autobiographical memory specifically. A pool of electronic …

The Predictive Influence Of Challenging Behavior On Parent Stress In Young Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Paige Weir

LSU Master's Theses

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by deficits in social communication, restricted interest, and repetitive patterns of behavior. Individuals with ASD also exhibit challenging behaviors that affect parent and caregiver stress directly. However, researchers have not yet examined the predictive influence of specific challenging behaviors on parent stress, particularly in young children (i.e., infants and toddlers) with ASD. Therefore, the current study expands existing literature by a) investigating the influence that challenging behaviors of young children with ASD have on parent stress and b) examining the unique contribution that each behavior (i.e., aggressive/disruptive behavior, stereotypy, and self-injurious …

A Randomized Controlled Trial Of Psychological Outcomes Of Mobile Guided Resonant Frequency Breathing In Young Adults With Elevated Stress During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Al Amira Safa Shehab

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Deep breathing practices have shown promise in reducing stress, anxiety, and depression in different populations, including young adults. Specifically, resonant frequency breathing can exert an impact on stress response systems through the vagus nerve and the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. This may induce reductions in stress and improvement in emotion regulation. Young adults, including college students, tend to be at a higher risk for psychological distress, as they face several psychosocial challenges. The COVID-19 pandemic has imposed new and unique stressors that resulted in higher levels of stress and emotional symptoms and it has been shown that this may have placed …

Does Aberrant Connectivity Underlie The Experience Of Misophonia?, Kate Raymond

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Misophonia is a condition characterized by an extreme aversion to certain ordinary sounds, such as chewing or breathing. These sounds are typically innocuous but elicit strong feelings of anger, anxiety, and disgust as well as physiological stress in people with misophonia. This misophonic reaction to “trigger” sounds is also marked by increased activity in regions of the brain that process sound, ascribe salience, and regulate emotion (Kumar et al., 2017; Schroder et al., 2019). It has therefore been theorized that aberrant connectivity between these brain regions (particularly the anterior insula, auditory cortex, amygdala, and hippocampus) may underlie the experience of …

Altered Network Organization And Screen Time Use In Childhood Attention-Deficit / Hyperactivity Disorder (Adhd), Elizabeth Jane Hawkey

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Introduction: Symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have been associated with alterations in functional connectivity involving networks in the developing brain that support optimal cognitive control. However, a clear profile of altered connectivity has yet to emerge, and it remains unclear whether changes in behavioral patterns such as screen time (ST) contribute to ADHD symptomatology and altered connectivity in networks that support cognitive control. The current study examined connectivity between large-scale networks associated with cognitive control (CC), measures of executive function (EF) which index CC, and ST in children with ADHD. Methods: Our sample included 11,874 children (ages 9-11, 52% male) …

Having A High-Activity Catechol-O-Methyltransferase Allele Is Associated With Elevated Anxiety And Lower Salivary Dehydroepiandrosterone But Also Lower Alpha Amylase In Children With Chromosome 22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome., Jessie Beebe

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Chromosome 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (22q11.2DS) results from a hemizygous deletion located on the long arm of chromosome 22. The most common deletion sizes affect between 30 and 90 genes. Individuals with 22q11.2DS may develop serious developmental and psychiatric disorders. The phenotype is highly variable, however, and may be influenced by allelic variation of the retained copies of genes covered by the deletion. I set out to examine the effects of two genes, catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) and proline dehydrogenase (PRODH), in relation to anxiety in children and adolescents with 22q11.2DS. Individuals with the major COMT allele (higher activity) have significantly higher anxiety …

Resting State Functional Connectivity In The Default Mode Network: Relationships Between Cannabis Use, Gender, And Cognition In Adolescents And Young Adults, Megan Ritchay

Theses and Dissertations

Introduction: Cannabis is the most commonly used illicit substance in the United States, and nearly 1 in 4 young adults are current cannabis users. The psychoactive component of cannabis, THC, is active at cannabinoid receptors, type 1, or CB1 receptors. CB1 receptors play a critical role in neural development, and chronic cannabis use causes desensitization and downregulation of these receptors. Chronic cannabis use is associated with changes in resting state functional connectivity (RSFC) in the default mode network (DMN) in adolescents and young adults, although results are somewhat inconsistent across studies, likely due to differing methodologies. Additionally, cannabis effects appear …

Cerebellum-Seeded Functional Connectivity Changes In Trait-Anxious Individuals Undergoing Attention Bias Modification Training, Katherine Elwell

All NMU Master's Theses

Anxiety and anxiety related disorders are increasing at a drastic rate in the past decade, with the NIMH reporting that 31.1% of U.S. adults will experience an anxiety disorder at some point in their lives. Anxiety is commonly characterized by increased attention bias to threat. Attention Bias Modification (ABM) is a new treatment used to reduce individual’s attention bias towards threat. The extent to which ABM leads to underlying neural changes is still unknown. The cerebellum is a neglected brain structure, with new research provides evidence that cerebellum’s functional connectivity and shared networks with threat processing regions has a direct …

Learning To Feel Safe: A Translational Study Of The Influence Of Safety Learning On Anxiety-Related Overgeneralized Fear, Hyein Cho

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Anxiety disorders are among the most common mental health diagnoses, affecting about a third of the population in their lifetime. However, approximately a third of individuals with anxiety do not respond to current treatment approaches, highlighting the need to identify additional potential therapeutic mechanisms. Safety learning is one such mechanism, but methodological challenges and a dearth of research have prevented the field from advancing the understanding of the role of safety learning in the etiology and remediation of anxiety disorders. Animal research, using single-cued safety learning paradigms, has yielded promising early findings, demonstrating that safety learning directly reduces anxiety-related behaviors …

Exercise, Cognition, And Cannabis Use In Adolescents, Ileana Pacheco-Colón

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Heavy and/or chronic cannabis use has been associated with neurocognitive impairment and decline, often in domains such as memory and executive functioning. On the other hand, exercise has been linked to positive effects on brain and cognitive health across the lifespan, as well as to better substance use outcomes. Despite this, little is known about the ways in which exercise could help prevent or ameliorate adverse cannabis-related outcomes among adolescents.

Through three separate studies, the current dissertation examines interrelations among exercise, cognition, and cannabis use in children and adolescents in an effort to determine whether exercise can prevent or ameliorate …

Exploring Tactile Art-Making With Deafblind Students And Their Families: An Opportunity For Creative Play, Alice Rodgers

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

The impact of a deafblind diagnosis on an individual’s mental health and the well-being of the family involved can be profound. However, current research and available literature for the mental health treatment and therapy practices of deafblind persons and their families is limited (Kyzar et al., 2016; “WFDB Global Report 2018,” n.d.). This thesis used the Leeds Family Psychology and Therapy Service principles (Leeds FPTS) and the Expressive Therapies Continuum with established deafblind teaching strategies to facilitate an original arts-based community project entitled: “Things We Like.” This project provided an opportunity for deafblind students (ages three to 22) and their …

Neural Correlates Underlying The Interactions Between Anxiety And Cannabis Use In Predicting Motor Response Inhibition, Richard Ward

Theses and Dissertations

The ability to effectively withhold an inappropriate response is a critical feature of cognitive control. Prior research indicates alterations in neural processes required for motor response inhibition in anxious individuals, including those with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and those who engage in regular cannabis use. However, thus far most research has examined how anxiety-related symptoms and cannabis use influence response inhibition in isolation of one another. The current study examined the interactions between anxious symptomology and recent cannabis use in a sample that recently experienced a traumatic event using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during the completion of a Stop-Signal …

Functional Responding To Appetitive Faces Among Cannabis-Using Adolescents And Young Adults, Ryan Michael Sullivan

Theses and Dissertations

Cannabis use is associated with attenuated reward signaling, yet few studies have examined this relationship when viewing rewarding appetitive faces while undergoing functional neuroimaging. Furthermore, few neuroimaging analyses have examined the moderating role of gender on task-based fMRI outcomes. This study explored functional BOLD response elicited by appetitive faces while engaged in an affective go/no-go task, and specifically investigated the differences between cannabis-using and control groups, whether gender moderate findings, and brain-behavior associations. Participants (ages 16-26 years) were scanned after at least 3-weeks of monitored abstinence (cannabis-using group = 35; control group = 33). The findings demonstrated aberrant activation in …

The Incorporation Of Indigenous Tradition In Psychedelic-Assisted Psychotherapy: A Pathway To Cultural Inclusivity Within Mental Health, Angelo Adonnis Winings

Senior Projects Spring 2021

The use of psychedelic medicine has been a part of society and the evolution of humanity since the beginning of our existence. Throughout the years, these practices were integrated into cultures around the world throughout the years, as societal structures promoted traditional practices reflective of ritual and custom. One such practice that survived the test of time is the use of psychoactive substances to promote mental states that put the user in touch with spiritual ancestors as well as with the subtleties of the world around them. These practices included tribal usage in indigenous cultures from Africa, the Americas, parts …

Data-Driven Approach To Dynamic Resting State Functional Connectivity In Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Carissa Weis

Theses and Dissertations

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a heterogenous psychological disorder that may result from exposure to a traumatic event. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), symptoms of PTSD have been associated with aberrations in brain networks that emerge in the absence of a given cognitive demand or task, called resting state networks. Most previous research in resting state networks and PTSD has focused on aberrations in the static functional connectivity among specific regions of interest (ROI) in the brain and within canonical networks constrained by a priori hypotheses. However, dynamic fMRI, an approach that examines changes in brain network characteristics over …

Historical Trauma Response Scores As A Function Of Unresolved Grief And Substance Use Disorder In American Indian Populations, Andrew R. Saunders

Undergraduate Research Symposium

Abstract

Researchers are interested in the outcomes of interventions, specifically, measuring historical trauma (HT) among American Indian/Alaska Native communities and the long-term distress and substance abuse as a result of historical trauma response (HTR). Previous literature has implicated limitations in the clinical conceptualization of the relationship between intergenerational transfer of HTR and substance abuse. The aim of the current study is to examine treatment efficacy of 50 homosexual, American Indian males randomized to a culturally-adapted juxtaposition of (1) Group Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT), (2) Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT), and (3) Historical Trauma and Unresolved Grief Intervention (HTUG), or (4) waitlisted on …

Neurodevelopmental Mechanisms Of Adverse Trauma Outcomes In Emerging Adulthood, Olena Kleshchova

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Background: Exposure to traumatic stress and adversity during the formative years of development can have adverse effects on mental health, neuroendocrine stress system function, and the brain, that persist into adulthood. One candidate mechanism that might confer vulnerability to enduring adverse outcomes of early life trauma is disruption of normal brain maturation. As the brain matures, functional interactions among brain regions change until the functional brain architecture (i.e., the functional connectome) reaches a mature state in adulthood. Given that different neural circuits have distinct developmental trajectories and sensitive periods, traumatic stress at a given point in development might have …

Sex/Gender Differences In Serial Position Profiles In Patients With Mild Cognitive Impairment And Healthy Controls, Emnet Z. Gammada

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Introduction: Alzheimer’s disease disproportionately affects more women, but paradoxically, men have a higher incidence of Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI). Researchers have suggested that women’s verbal memory advantage across the lifespan reflects better premorbid skills, which then require more neurodegeneration to manifest early clinical impairment. To date, measurement of sex differences in verbal memory have used total list scores. We proposed that a granular examination of serial position effects (SPE) in list-learning can refine the source of sex/gender differences.

Methods: A cross-sectional analysis of participants with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) and Healthy Controls (HC) was examined from the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging …

Clusters Of Individuals Experiences Form A Continuum Of Persistent Non-Symbolic Experiences In Adults, Jeffery A. Martin

CONSCIOUSNESS: Ideas and Research for the Twenty-First Century

Persistent forms of nondual awareness, enlightenment, mystical experience, and so forth (Persistent Non-Symbolic Experience) have been reported since antiquity. Though sporadic research has been performed on these experiences, the scientific literature has yet to report a large-scale cognitive psychology study of this population. Method: Assessment of the subjective experience of 319 adult participants reporting persistent non-symbolic experience was undertaken using 6-12 hour semi-structured interviews and evaluated using grounded theory and thematic analysis. Results: Five core, consistent categories of change were uncovered: sense-of-self, cognition, affect, perception, and memory. Participants’ reports formed phenomenological groups in which the types of change …

The Association Of Aerobic Fitness With Resting State Functional Connectivity And Verbal Learning And Memory In Healthy Young Adults, Kyle Joseph Jennette

Theses and Dissertations

The beneficial effects of exercise and cardiopulmonary fitness on general health, quality of life, and reduction of mortality are well known in older adults. There is evidence to support the positive effects of exercise and aerobic fitness on psychiatric and neurocognitive function in children, adults, and older adults. Indeed, many studies have explored the positive effects of aerobic fitness on slowing cognitive decline associated with normal and pathological aging. However, comparatively fewer empirical studies in the literature exist to support and understand the effects of aerobic fitness on the developing brain, particularly during adolescence and young adulthood, especially as it …

Shaped By The Environment: The Influence Of Childhood Trauma Exposure, Individual Socioeconomic Position, And Neighborhood Disadvantage On Brain Morphology, Elisabeth Kathleen Webb

Theses and Dissertations

The relationship between an individual’s socioeconomic position (SEP) and their overall physical and mental health has been well demonstrated. Far less is known about how area-level factors, such as neighborhood disadvantage, “get under the skin”. Previous research indicates lower SEP and childhood trauma negatively effects brain structure and function. The hippocampus, amygdala, and ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) are particularly vulnerable to adversity. The current study investigated how individual SEP, childhood trauma, and neighborhood disadvantage impact these structures. Two-hundred and fifteen individuals were recruited from an Emergency Department in southeastern Wisconsin. Two-weeks post-traumatic injury, participants completed a structural magnetic resonance imaging …

Neural Substrates Of Active Avoidance And Its Impact On Fear Extinction, Elizabeth Parisi

Theses and Dissertations

Models of anxiety suggest that avoidance of a conditioned fear stimulus prevents new safety learning, thereby serving to maintain fear. However, there is little empirical data in humans on the impact of avoidance of conditioned fear stimuli on subsequent fear extinction. In the present study I investigated the effect of avoidance of threat on neural activity during avoidance/control and a subsequent extinction phase using ultra high-resolution (7T) fMRI. Results indicated that active avoidance was associated with increased activity in regions involved in reward prediction, but this did not differentiate active avoidance from an active control condition. Neural activation during the …

Mechanisms Of Value-Biased Prioritization In Fast Sensorimotor Decision Making, Kivilcim Afacan-Seref

Dissertations and Theses

In dynamic environments, split-second sensorimotor decisions must be prioritized according to potential payoffs to maximize overall rewards. The impact of relative value on deliberative perceptual judgments has been examined extensively, but relatively little is known about value-biasing mechanisms in the common situation where physical evidence is strong but the time to act is severely limited. This research examines the behavioral and electrophysiological indices of how value biases split-second perceptual decisions and the possible mechanisms underlying the process. In prominent decision models, a noisy but statistically stationary representation of sensory evidence is integrated over time to an action-triggering bound, and value-biases …

The Influence Of Neural Reward Processing On Memory In Depression, Nathan M. Hager

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Theories and research suggest that depression involves impaired reward sensitivity and a deficit in memory for rewarding stimuli. Some researchers propose that this memory deficit may result from reduced neural reward sensitivity, which impairs the encoding of reward-related memories, but few studies have directly probed this connection. Such research may benefit from examining the reward positivity (RewP), an event-related potential (ERP) previously linked to reduced reward sensitivity in depression. Undergraduates with high or low self-reported depression completed a task in which they chose one of three doors, revealing a neutral word written in a color which indicated an outcome of …