Neuroscience and Neurobiology Commons^™

Subjective Feelings And Electrophysiological Responses To Love-Stimuli In Parasocial And Real-Life Romantic Love, Magda Martinez-Mata

Theses

People can have a crush on, fall in love with, or develop a romantic interest in media figures despite having no reciprocal interaction, which is known as parasocial love. The objective of this study was to evaluate subjective feelings for and event-related potential (ERP) responses reflecting attention to the parasocial beloved and to compare them to real-life love. Twenty-six participants who have a parasocial beloved were recruited. Sixteen of those had a real-life beloved as well. The participants answered questions about their love feelings and completed the Infatuation and Attachment Scales and the Parasocial Love Scale for both their parasocial …

Cognitive And Mental Health Challenges: Addressing The Impact Of Traumatic Brain Injuries In Adults, Hannah E. Smith, Lesley Khan-Farooqi, Phd, Otd, Otr, Anne Mcdonnell, Mpa, Otr/L, Cbist

Student Capstone Papers

This capstone examined the challenges adults face following traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) and explored interventions aimed at enhancing cognitive functioning and mental health. This capstone also aimed to reduce caregiver stress and burnout by expanding knowledge and resources focused on cognitive and mental health within the population. TBIs can result from a variety of causes, affecting cognitive abilities, mental health, and functional outcomes. This capstone shows evidence-based interventions designed to improve cognitive functioning, facilitate engagement in meaningful activities to improve mental health, and enhance overall quality of life for adults recovering from TBI. This also will demonstrate potential for occupational …

The Mental Advantage: The 10 Disciplines That Separate The Elite From The Average, Scott Williams

Doctor of Strategic Leadership (DSL) Capstone Abstracts

Title of Project

The Mental Advantage: The 10 Disciplines That Separate the Elite from the Average

Defense Date

April 1, 2026

Candidate Name

Scott Williams

Personal Email Address

[email protected]

First Advisor

Dr. Joshua Henson, PhD

Second Advisor

Dr. Michael Steiner, PhD

DSL Final Project Abstract

Project Type

This project was a book manuscript designed to develop and present a practical leadership framework for high-performance individuals and organizations.

Project Overview

This project explored the concept of Elite Mental Execution™ as a structured framework for understanding and developing high-performance leadership. Drawing from nearly three decades of professional experience in leadership, executive coaching, …

The Evolution Of Self-Awareness In Conscious Organisms, Robert A. Dielenberg

Journal of Conscious Evolution

Self-awareness in conscious organisms remains an enduring puzzle for philosophers and neuroscientists. This paper proposes a tripartite evolutionary model tracing its emergence through three sequential types: the sensory self (primitive egocentric, valence-tagged awareness of sensory states), the bodily self (external objectification of the body as a distinct entity, evidenced by mirror self-recognition in select species), and the cognitive self (internal objectification of the mind enabling recursive self-transformation). Adopting a monist framework, the model treats consciousness as the biological substrate of delayed neural apperception (the “Delayed Present”), within which selves emerge as increasingly sophisticated models. It distinguishes non-human metacognition—implicit, online regulation—from …

Hallucinogens For Mood And Anxiety Disorders: A Critical Review Of Psychedelic-Assisted Therapies, Georgia Chlebek

The Cardinal Edge

In quite a few people worldwide, there are several mental disorders that prevent the brain from operating in the “proper” way, depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) being among the most common. Luckily, there are several medications that are produced and used to treat these disorders, but some medications are hard to access, and others simply don’t help the patient. Firstly, these medications take time to study and prove safe for public use, though in some cases time is not readily available. In other cases, these medications are going through shortages and becoming increasingly difficult for patients to access …

Circuit And Synaptic Mechanisms Of Methamphetamine Induced Cognitive Deficits During Abstinence: Roles Of The Perirhinal-Prefrontal Pathway And The Nucleus Reuniens, Sarah Goldsmith

MUSC Theses and Dissertations

Cognitive deficits during abstinence are a hallmark of methamphetamine (meth) use and indicative of negative treatment outcomes. In rats, both long access meth self-administration and meth binge produce recognition memory deficits due to drug-induced plasticity within the perirhinal cortex (PRH). PRH projections are numerous and include the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and the Nucleus Reuniens (NRe). In the first study, the role of the PRH-mPFC reciprocal circuit in novel object recognition memory was investigated by infusing an rgAAV encoding GFP-tagged Cre recombinase into the PRH or the mPFC. Following surgery, rats explored objects. During exploration, PRH neurons receiving input from …

Somatosensory Cortex Responses To Illusory Touch In A Visual-Tactile Integration Task, Aditi Surendra Pawar

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Perceptual illusions arising from multisensory integration reveal how the brain constructs subjective experience from sensory input, and provide a powerful means of allowing the investigation of neural processes that track perceptual interpretation rather than physical stimulation alone. While visual illusions induced by auditory or tactile stimuli have been fairly well studied, the neural mechanisms underlying visually-induced illusory touch remain unclear. This study investigated whether illusory tactile perception engages the somatosensory cortex in a manner similar to veridical touch. Twenty healthy adults participated in an event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study while performing a tactile numerosity judgment task. Each trial …

Less Self, Less Fear: Manipulation Of The Self Using Virtual Out-Of-Body Experiences To Alter The Conscious And Unconscious Experience Of Emotion, Dillon Freed

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This study investigated whether adopting an out-of-body perspective in virtual reality (VR) reduces subjective and physiological emotional responses to vicarious pain stimuli compared to inhabiting a first-person embodied avatar. Twenty-four participants experienced two counterbalanced VR conditions: (1) Avatar Embodiment (AV), in which they inhabited a photorealistic avatar from a first-person perspective, and (2) a Virtual Out-of-Body Experience (vOBE), in which they observed their avatar from a displaced third-person perspective. In both conditions, participants viewed a standardized series of vicarious pain images while electrodermal activity was recorded and self-report measures of embodiment (AV) and disembodiment (the vOBE state), emotional intensity (a …

An Impact Assessment Of The Effectiveness Of Utilizing Informal Health Communication Interventions To Spread Health Recommendations And Change Public Perception, Lina Mohamed Ezzat Ahmed Abdel Mawgoud

Theses and Dissertations

Brain health is an increasingly urgent but critically under-addressed public health priority in Egypt and the wider MENA region. Despite its centrality to aging, productivity, and overall quality of life, public understanding of brain health remains limited, and stigma continues to shape responses to dementia and cognitive decline. This study evaluates the effectiveness of informal, culturally adapted health communication as a tool to shift perception, increase awareness, and promote behavior change among non-medically trained adults in Egypt.

Grounded in global evidence on cognitive reserve, neuroplasticity, and the life-course approach to brain health, the intervention translated expert-informed brain health recommendations into …

Brain Gains: A Review Of Remediation Treatment Strategies Using Exercise Following Traumatic Brain Injury, Jessica Smith, Kristin Biggins, Loriann Helgeson

The Open Journal of Occupational Therapy

In this Opinions in the Profession article, we explore remediation treatment strategies using exercise for recovery from post-traumatic brain injury and aim to justify the use of such treatment in the occupational therapy profession to increase skills for functional gain. Common treatment strategies used by occupational therapists after brain injury are compensatory strategies, indicating the client learns a new way to perform the task. Though effective, it is also necessary to consider how remediation and neuroplasticity are essential. Teaching new approaches to complete tasks results in functional gains; however, focusing on foundational skills using exercises to relearn motor patterns to …

From Fog To Function: An Occupational Therapist's Guide To Evaluating And Treating Cancer-Related Cognitive Impairments, Lauren E. Toner

Entry-Level Occupational Therapy Doctorate - Doctoral Capstone Symposium

Cancer – related cognitive impairment (CRCI) is a common side effect of cancer treatment that interferes with cancer survivors’ occupational performance, independence, and quality of life. Despite its high prevalence, CRCI remains under recognized and inconsistently addressed within oncology care. About 70% of individuals diagnosed with cancer report cognitive changes during or after treatment, yet many do not receive treatment. Occupational therapists are clinically trained to evaluate and treat functional cognition, activities of daily activities, instrumental activities of daily living, and client centered goals, positioning them as key providers in addressing CRCI. However, limited occupational therapy specific resources have hindered …

The Complexities Of The Bilingual Advantage, Melisa Sierra

Behavioral Neuroscience Honors Papers

The bilingual advantage hypothesis, which proposes an enhancement of executive functions in bilinguals, remains heavily debated with inconsistent findings across studies. This study investigated working memory performance in bilingual and monolingual young adults using a modified n-back task with an interruption while recording EEG activity. Participants completed 1-back, 2-back, and 3-back conditions across the pre-interruption phase and a post-break 2-back condition. Behavioral measures (accuracy and response times) were analyzed alongside ERP, focusing on P300 and sustained activity components, were analyzed. Results showed a decrease in accuracy as task difficulty increased from 1-back to 3-back, indicating the expected effects of higher …

Preserved Artificial Grammar Learning In Individuals With Parkinson’S Disease: A Systematic Review, Sarah I. Cranna

Honors Theses and Capstones

Abstract

            Implicit statistical learning is a crucial cognitive function that is highly involved in the learning and processing of language. Since both language and implicit statistical learning are supported by the basal ganglia through cortico-striatal networks, disruptions to this network could result in their impairment. Parkinson’s Disease (PD) can therefore be used to model disruptions to this system as it is primarily characterized by dysfunction in the basal ganglia. Thus, this review aims to examine the current literature studying the performance of individuals with PD on artificial grammar tasks in order to investigate the impact of impaired basal ganglia function …

Evaluation Of Tactile Cueing Embedded In An Aviation Headset On Pilot Altitude Control, Nicholas D. Wilson, Jessica Van Bree, Matthew Cleveland, Sunny Charakuru, Thomas Petros, Richard Ferraro, Kouhyar Tavakolian

Journal of Aviation/Aerospace Education & Research

This study evaluated the effectiveness of tactile cueing integrated into a pilot’s headset on pilot altitude control during simulated instrument conditions. Pilots typically rely on visual and auditory inputs to maintain situational awareness, but in high-workload or instrument meteorological conditions (IMC), these channels can become overloaded. One underutilized alternative for alerting is a tactile cueing apparatus. Using an X-Plane simulation of a Piper Archer equipped with a G-1000 avionics suite, 39 FAA-certified pilots flew two precision approaches. The experimental group (n = 20) received haptic cues via ear seal-embedded tactors when deviating from assigned altitude or glideslope. The control group …

A Cross-Species Meta-Analysis Of Environmental Enrichment Effects On Cognition, Greg S. Fitzgerald

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

Environmental enrichment --providing animals or people with stimulating, complex surroundings --consistently improves cognitive performance in laboratory rodents. But when similar interventions are tested in humans, the benefits are much smaller. Understanding why matters: if researchers overestimate how well rodent findings will translate, it can mislead expectations for human cognitive interventions.

This dissertation presents the first cross-species meta-analysis comparing environmental enrichment effects on cognition between rodent and human studies. Drawing on 121 studies (71 rodent, 50 human) contributing 478 effect sizes, the analysis used multilevel models with variance correction to account for the statistical dependence created when studies report multiple outcomes. …

Neuroimaging Correlates Of Differences In Learning From Repeated Probabilistic Outcomes, Allison E. Rudolph

CMC Senior Theses

Learning from experience requires integrating feedback over time, yet individuals vary widely in how effectively they extract structure from probabilistic environments. This study examined how such variability relates to neural responses in the ventral striatum (vStr), caudate nucleus, hippocampus, and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). Seventy-four participants across childhood, adolescence, and adulthood completed a modified Iowa Gambling Task during fMRI scanning, choosing whether to play or pass on four machines differing in expected value and variance. Behavioral learning slopes, calculated across six runs for each machine, were used to classify participants as learners or non-learners. Learners showed clearer improvement over time …

Menstrual Cycle Phase Effects On Alcohol-Impaired Driving Performance And Risk Awareness, Annie K. Griffith

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Growing evidence indicates that risky behavior among women is elevated during the late follicular phase of the menstrual cycle, likely due to increased estradiol levels. Furthermore, alcohol-induced impairment of women’s inhibitory control is significantly greater during the late versus early follicular phase. Consequently, cycle phase may influence outcomes of poor inhibitory control while intoxicated, such as alcohol-impaired driving. Alcohol-impaired driving risk manifests in two ways: risk-taking while driving, and risk awareness regarding the decision to drive. This dissertation tested the hypothesis that alcohol-induced increases in driver risk-taking and decreases in risk awareness would be exacerbated during the late versus early …

Daily Rhythms In Psychosocial Stress, Sleep, And Mood: A Multimethod Approach To Transdiagnostic Psychopathology Risk And Intervention, Gabriel Gilmore

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Rhythms are central to nearly every core physiological and psychological process and have profound influences on overall health and well-being, particularly in the context of mood disorders. This dissertation emphasizes a rhythm-centered framework for understanding transdiagnostic psychopathology, proposing that the temporal organization of psychosocial stress, sleep, and mood provides crucial information for the development and treatment of mood disorder symptomology. Current literature relies primarily on mean symptom levels, overlooking day-to-day patterns in psychosocial experiences. To address this key methodological gap, three studies are examined. Study 1 develops and validates the Psychosocial Stress Regularity Measure (PSRM), a brief single-item measure of …

From Meaning To Memory: Assessing The Capacity And Representational Structure Of Visual Working Memory With Meaningful Stimuli, Yong Hoon Chung

Dartmouth College Ph.D Dissertations

Visual working memory is thought to be strictly limited. Yet we remember meaningful, real-world objects better than abstract stimuli. Here I show that this advantage arises from the semantic structure of meaningful objects, not their perceptual features alone, and that it extends even to memory for associated features such as color. In the brain, meaningful objects elicit greater and more distributed delay activity, consistent with the recruitment of higher-level neural processes during maintenance. I propose that semantic knowledge adds representational dimensions that make items more distinctive, and that these dimensions are organized hierarchically with lower-level visual features. These findings recast …

The Influence Of Limb Dominance On Neural Activation Patterns While Performing Different Motor Control Tasks, Kevin A. Hooks

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Humans interact with our environment in many ways. One of the most outward-facing aspects of this is limb dominance. The neural underpinnings of limb dominance remain in question today. The objective of this research was to use different methods to analyze neural activation while subjects performed upper extremity motor tasks while recording electroencephalography (EEG). The first experiment used decoding methods to examine whether neural signals collected from the contralateral limb could be used to train a classifier to test on the ipsilateral limb during a reach-to-grasp or reach-to-touch task. It was determined above chance level that within-subject action and direction …

The Effects Of Environmental Complexity On Brain Development And Personality Expression In Western Hognose Snakes, Gokulan Nagabaskaran

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

There is growing interest in snake cognition, personality, and welfare as more snakes are kept as pets, yet little research has been conducted. The effects of enrichment and environmental factors have been well documented in other taxa, and recent evidence suggests that snakes may benefit in similar ways. This dissertation investigated the impact of environmental and social enrichment on personality expression, personality stability, and brain development. Western hognose snakes (Heterodon nasicus) were used as the model species, as they are a popular choice in the pet trade. This allows the research to be readily translatable to husbandry practices of many …

Eeg Correlates Of Tactile Synchrony, Devon K. R. Gallagher

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

New research on the tactile system has suggested that cortical representations of body parts are not fixed, as previously thought, and are instead dynamically maintained through constant sensorimotor information and feedback. Within the somatosensory cortex (S1), the capacity for both permanent and temporary changes have been the topic of ongoing research. The current study aimed to corroborate whether 24 hours of a finger adhesion manipulation is sufficient to elicit behavioural and electrophysiological correlates from cortical reorganization of digit representations in S1, using a behavioural paradigm outlined by Kolasinski et al. (2016). Through electroencephalography (EEG) recording during a tactile discrimination task, …

Assessing The Effects Of Theta Transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation During Working Memory Performance On Theta-Gamma Phase Amplitude Coupling In Healthy Adults, Samantha M. Zimmer

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) is an emerging form of noninvasive brain stimulation with substantial effects on behavior and brain function due to its ability to entrain endogenous neural oscillations. Working memory is a cognitive process that involves holding onto information that is no longer present in the environment and manipulating or reorganizing information for immediate use. Theta oscillations are critical for the functionality of the frontoparietal network and are involved in strengthening communication and coordination between frontal and parietal brain regions, especially during working memory processing. TACS applied at the theta frequency, targets theta oscillations, strengthens network communications, and …

Towards Computational Methods In Medical Data Analysis: From Speech And Text To Imaging, Kristin Qi

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

Early detection of cognitive decline and efficient medical image analysis remain critical challenges in healthcare. Traditional clinical assessments are infrequent and resource-intensive, while everyday speech data and unlabeled medical images remain largely unexploited. This dissertation develops computational methods integrating machine learning and artificial intelligence across speech, text, and imaging modalities to address challenges in medical data processing. For cognitive monitoring, this work first introduces methods using voice assistant systems to collect longitudinal speech data in home environments, demonstrating that incorporating historical session patterns significantly enhances detection of mild cognitive impairment. Building on this foundation, a framework combining large language model-driven …

Dual-Task Exercise Protects Healthy Older Adults Against In-Creased Risk For Dementia: A Controlled Trial, Helen Tatiane Santos Pontes, João Bento-Torres, Naina Yuki Vieira Jardim, Victor Oliveira Da Costa, Josilayne Patricia Ramos Carvalho, Cristovam Wanderley Picanço-Diniz, Natáli Valim Oliver Bento-Torres

Baltic Journal of Health and Physical Activity

Background: Functionality in aging is closely linked to the ability to divide attention during multitasking activities, which are essential for activities of daily life. However, coordination between motor and cognitive simultaneous tasks decreases with age, impairing functional ability and restricting older adults' participation and healthy aging. This study aimed to assess the effects of a multimodal dual-task exercise intervention on motor and cognitive dual-task costs and its potential to mitigate age-related declines in healthy older adults. Materials and Methods: A controlled trial was conducted with community-dwelling older adults assigned to either the Dual-Task Exercise group, which participated in a 24-session …

Neurobehavioral Mechanisms Of Psychotic-Like Experiences And Cannabis Use, Ethan Campbell

Psychology ETDs

As cannabis use has increased steadily over the past decade, there is critical need to evaluate early cannabis use as a potential risk factor for the development of psychosis. Neurobehavioral mechanisms underlying novelty salience could clarify how cannabis exposure may influence subclinical psychotic-like experiences (PLEs). The present study leveraged dynamic functional connectivity and task-fMRI to assess the role of novelty processing in cannabis use and PLEs. A group of brain regions dynamically tied to the salience network while viewing short films were found to increase their activation as a function of stimulus novelty during a novelty bandit task. PLEs were …

Mindreading And Embodiment: Beyond Mirror Neurons., Sanad Al Khatib

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Theses

This paper examines the question: how do we figure out what other people are thinking and why they act as they do, or put differently, how is it that we can read minds in daily life? For decades, the dominant view held that we explain and predict other people’s behavior by attributing to them mental states such as beliefs, desires, and intentions, represented symbolically in the brain. The embodied simulation model challenges this view, proposing that understanding others primarily relies on mirror neurons that activate both when we perform an action and when we observe someone else performing it. This …

Examing Fear Conditioning/Extinction And The Role Of The Amygdala In Human Neuroimaging., Olivia Cook

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Fear plays a crucial role in survival but can lead to psychological disorders when dysregulated. Fears can be innate due to evolutionary relevance or learned through associative processes, where predictive accuracy of threat is pivotal. Disruptions in fear neurocircuitry contribute to anxiety disorders, characterized by heightened activation and impaired learning. Fear conditioning and extinction paradigms based on classical Pavlovian conditioning have been used to study mechanisms underlying fear learning. Using this experimental model, fear networks in rodents have been described in detail with clear distinction between conditioning and extinction neural functioning. Yet, there is no consensus on the neurobiological processes …

Visualizing The Fretboard: Arpeggiated Patterns, Muscle Memory, And Neurocognitive Strategies For The 5-String Electric Bass, Matthew Alexander Woisin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Proficient navigation of the 5-string electric bass requires a comprehensive mastery of various techniques and a solid understanding of music theory. This includes a detailed grasp of arpeggios, chord extensions, and the development of deeply ingrained muscle memory for precise execution. This thesis introduces a structured methodology that refines existing fretboard visualization techniques and applies a unique manner of fretboard mapping, offering a more precise framework for comprehending and unlocking the full range of the instrument. By drawing insights from music theory, music education, cognitive science, neuroscience, and technology this approach is achieved by synthesizing research on visual pattern recognition, …

Neural Dynamics Supporting Flexible Cognition, Meredith J. Mccarty

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Flexible cognition enables humans to adapt their behavior to changing circumstances by prioritizing relevant information and filtering out distractions. This process is thought to be supported by the integration of ongoing behavioral goals with incoming sensory information, but how this integration is realized in the human brain remains unclear. It is unknown how high-order sensory cortices can balance specialized processing with flexible integration of changing behavioral goals. In the following investigations, we use intracranial EEG (iEEG) recordings in humans to study the neural dynamics of flexible cognition during high-order sensory processing. First, we validated assumptions about the locality of iEEG …