Neuroscience and Neurobiology Commons^™

Genetic Taster Status As A Mediator Of Neural Activity And Swallowing Mechanics In Healthy Adults, Angela M. Dietsch, Ross M. Westemeyer, William G. Pearson Jr., Douglas H. Schultz

Center for Brain, Biology, and Behavior: Faculty and Staff Publications

As part of a larger study examining relationships between taste properties and swallowing, we assessed the influence of genetic taster status (GTS) on measures of brain activity and swallowing physiology during taste stimulation in healthy men and women. Twenty-one participants underwent videofluoroscopic swallowing study (VFSS) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during trials of high-intensity taste stimuli. The precisely formulated mixtures included sour, sweet-sour, lemon, and orange taste profiles and unflavored controls. Swallowing physiology was characterized via computational analysis of swallowing mechanics plus other kinematic and temporal measures, all extracted from VFSS recordings. Whole-brain analysis of fMRI data assessed blood …

The Role Of Gamma Oscillations And Cortical Inhibition In The Development Of Working Memory In Adolescence, Christopher P. Walker

Dissertations & Theses (Open Access)

Adolescence is a dynamic period of social, cognitive, and biological changes. In particular, working memory, the ability to actively encode and maintain information over a short period of time, develops early in childhood and gradually increases in capacity and stability during adolescence. The precise neurophysiological mechanism by which working memory capacity increases during adolescence is unclear. The objective of this investigation was to evaluate the role of cortical gamma-band (> 30 Hz) oscillations—which are associated with working memory in adults—for the development of working memory capacity in adolescents, and to identify the extent to which the temporal profile of gamma-aminobutyric …

In Search Of Psychiatric Kinds: Natural Kinds And Natural Classification In Psychiatry, Nicholas Slothouber

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

In recent years both philosophers and scientists have asked whether or not our current kinds of mental disorder—e.g., schizophrenia, depression, bipolar disorder—are natural kinds; and, moreover, whether or not the search for natural kinds of mental disorder is a realistic desideratum for psychiatry. In this dissertation I clarify the sense in which a kind can be said to be “natural” or “real” and argue that, despite a few notable exceptions, kinds of mental disorder cannot be considered natural kinds. Furthermore, I contend that psychopathological phenomena do not cluster together into kinds in the way that paradigmatic natural kinds (e.g., chemical …

The Relationship Between Socioeconomic Status And White Matter Microstructure In Pre-Reading Children: A Longitudinal Investigation, Ola Ozernov-Palchik, Elizabeth S. Norton, Yingying Wang, Sara D. Beach, Jennifer Zuk, Maryanne Wolf, John D.E. Gabrieli, Nadine Gaab

Center for Brain, Biology, and Behavior: Faculty and Staff Publications

Reading is a learned skill crucial for educational attainment. Children from families of lower socioeconomic status (SES) tend to have poorer reading performance and this gap widens across years of schooling. Reading relies on the orchestration of multiple neural systems integrated via specific white-matter pathways, but there is limited understanding about whether these pathways relate differentially to reading performance depending on SES background. Kindergarten white-matter FA and second-grade reading outcomes were investigated in an SES-diverse sample of 125 children. The three left-hemisphere white-matter tracts most associated with reading, and their right-hemisphere homologs, were examined: arcuate fasciculus (AF), superior longitudinal fasciculus …

Alterations In Cortical Activation Among Individuals With Chronic Ankle Instability During Single-Limb Postural Control, Adam B. Rosen, Jennifer M. Yentes, Melanie L. Mcgrath, Arthur C. Maerlender, Sara A. Myers, Mukul Mukherjee

Center for Brain, Biology, and Behavior: Faculty and Staff Publications

Context: Chronic ankle instability (CAI) is characterized by repetitive ankle sprains and perceived instability. Whereas the underlying cause of CAI is disputed, alterations in cortical motor functioning may contribute to the perceived dysfunction.

Objective: To assess differences in cortical activity during single-limb stance among control, coper, and CAI groups.

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Setting: Biomechanics laboratory.

Patients or Other Participants: A total of 31 individuals (10 men, 21 women; age = 22.3 ± 2.4 years, height = 169.6 ± 9.7 cm, mass = 70.6 ± 11.6 kg), who were classified into control (n = 13), coper (n = 7), and CAI …

The Relationship Between Biological And Psychosocial Risk Factors And Resting‐State Functional Connectivity In 2‐Monthold Bangladeshi Infants: A Feasibility And Pilot Study, Ted K. Turesky, Sarah K.G. Jensen, Xi Yu, Swapna Kumar, Yingying Wang, Danielle D. Sliva, Borjan Gagoski, Joseph Sanfilippo, Lilla Zöllei, Emma Boyd, Rashidul Haque, Shahria Hafiz Kakon, Nazrul Islam, William A. Petri Jr., Charles A. Nelson, Nadine Gaab

Center for Brain, Biology, and Behavior: Faculty and Staff Publications

Childhood poverty has been associated with structural and functional alterations in the developing brain. However, poverty does not alter brain development directly, but acts through associated biological or psychosocial risk factors (e.g. malnutrition, family conflict). Yet few studies have investigated risk factors in the context of infant neurodevelopment, and none have done so in low‐resource settings such as Bangladesh, where children are exposed to multiple, severe biological and psychosocial hazards. In this feasibility and pilot study, usable resting‐state fMRI data were acquired in infants from extremely poor (n = 16) and (relatively) more affluent (n = 16) families in Dhaka, …

Dynamic Effects Of Habituation And Novelty Detection On Newborn Event Related Potentials, Cathryn S. Cortesa, Caitlin M Hudac, Dennis Molfese

Center for Brain, Biology, and Behavior: Faculty and Staff Publications

Newborns habituate to repeated auditory stimuli, and discriminate syllables, generating opportunities for early language learning. This study investigated trial-by-trial changes in newborn electrophysiological responses to auditory speech syllables as an index of habituation and novelty detection. Auditory event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded from 16 term newborn infants, aged 1–3 days, in response to monosyllabic speech syllables presented during habituation and novelty detection tasks. Multilevel models demonstrated that newborns habituated to repeated auditory syllables, as ERP amplitude attenuated for a late-latency component over successive trials. Subsequently, during the novelty detection task, earlyand late-latency component amplitudes decreased over successive trials for novel …

Functional Source Separation For Eeg-Fmri Fusion: Application To Steady-State Visual Evoked Potentials, Hong Ji, Badong Chen, Nathan M. Petro, Zejian Yuan, Nanning Zheng, Andreas Keil

Center for Brain, Biology, and Behavior: Faculty and Staff Publications

Neurorobotics is one of the most ambitious fields in robotics, driving integration of interdisciplinary data and knowledge. One of the most productive areas of interdisciplinary research in this area has been the implementation of biologically-inspired mechanisms in the development of autonomous systems. Specifically, enabling such systems to display adaptive behavior such as learning from good and bad outcomes, has been achieved by quantifying and understanding the neural mechanisms of the brain networks mediating adaptive behaviors in humans and animals. For example, associative learning from aversive or dangerous outcomes is crucial for an autonomous system, to avoid dangerous situations in the …

Confirmatory Factor Analysis Of Two Computerized Neuropsychological Test Batteries: Immediate Post-Concussion Assessment And Cognitive Test (Impact) And C3 Logix, Caitlin Masterson, Julie Tuttle, Arthur C. Maerlender

Center for Brain, Biology, and Behavior: Faculty and Staff Publications

Introduction: Tests of memory and speed of cognitive and motor responses have been the primary foci in sports-related concussion assessment. This study sought to assess the construct validity of neuropsychological tests within C3 Logix.

Method: Results of both baseline C3 Logix and the Immediate Post-Concussion Assessment and Cognitive Test (ImPACT) computerized tests from 86 Division I collegiate athletes were submitted to a two-factor confirmatory analysis using structural equation modeling. The two factors of Speed and Memory have been confirmed in previous studies of ImPACT.

Results: Results confirmed the two-factor model of ImPACT, whereas C3 Logix did not …

Concussion Competencies: A Training Model For School-Based Concussion Management, Arthur C. Maerlender, Jonathan D. Lichtenstein, Jennifer Parent-Nichols, Kate Higgins, Peggy Reisher

Center for Brain, Biology, and Behavior: Faculty and Staff Publications

This study reports on the use of ten knowledge competencies related to the behavioral management of concussion in schools. Trainings using these competencies as learning objectives were delivered to school personnel. This aims of the use of competencies in this way are to streamline the education of key stakeholders, to establish clear roles and responsibilities for constituents and equip individuals working with students following a concussion with the relevant knowledge to optimize outcomes. The majority of participants, primarily speech language pathologists working as related service providers in the schoolswhere the trainings occurred, judged the use of the competencies to be …

Structure-Activity Relationship Studies Of Synthetic Cathinones And Related Agents, Rachel A. Davies

Theses and Dissertations

Synthetic cathinones and related agents represent an international drug abuse problem, and at the same time an important class of clinically useful compounds. Structure-activity relationship studies are needed to elucidate molecular features underlying the pharmacology of these agents. Illicit methcathinone (i.e., MCAT), the prototype of the synthetic cathinone class, exists as a racemic mixture. Though the differences in potency and target selectivity between the positional and optical isomers of synthetic cathinones and related agents have been demonstrated to have important implications for abuse and therapeutic potential, the two MCAT isomers have never been directly compared at their molecular targets: the …