Neuroscience and Neurobiology Commons^™

The Action-Perception Of Musical Rhythm: A Review Of Eeg Findings, Jordan Anderson

Summer Research

Electroencephalography (EEG) research has the potential to illuminate questions of connectivity and temporal dynamics during musical rhythm perception. The phenomenon of sensorimotor synchronization observed when humans time their movements to rhythmic auditory stimuli reveals that these actions predict, rather than respond, to the beat. The phase entrainment of oscillatory activity measured by EEG and predictive modulation of beta band power offer cognitive insights to the auditory-motor relationship. Two main approaches exist to understand beat perception: motor simulation theories and dynamical systems theories. The study of mu wave suppression, considered a marker for mirror activity, has the potential to elucidate the …

Illustrating Neuroaesthetics, Madeleine Golitz

Summer Research

This body of art attempts to bridge two subjects, visual art and neuroscience. It does so by illustrating five topics in neuroaesthetics, the study of how we see and perceive art. I believe beautiful things can happen at the intersections of interdisciplinary subjects and wanted to explore this one further.

The first piece begins with a straightforward introduction to the structure of the human eye. The drawings following increase in complexity, working further up the visual process. For instance, the second depicts intermediate pathways in the brain using Op art techniques. The third illustrates how memory influences how we see …

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 …

Ethical Analysis Of Brain Augmentation Through Nanotechnology, Austin Caras, James Dejesus

Sound Decisions: An Undergraduate Bioethics Journal

The use of nanoparticles for drug delivery and neural cell manipulation may soon allow for organic and electronic brain augmentations. Medical technology being used for cognitive enhancement brings a host of ethical questions related to safety, justice, privacy, and individuality. Issues concerning medical consent and intellectual property will be skewed as neuroscience expands our understanding of the brain, growing our capacity to read and modify it. Socioeconomic strata may realign based on augmentations and employment opportunities may become dependent on specific cognitive enhancements. Long-term effects of unregulated nanoparticle usage could elicit an environmental or human health disaster. The potential …

Metaphors And Mind: An Erp Study Of How The Brain Processes Metaphors, Crystal Poole

Summer Research

Even though metaphors are frequently used in everyday language, how metaphors are created and comprehended in the brain is not well understood. Metaphors can differ in whether they are conventional (such as “love is war”) or novel (such as “love is a tidal wave”), and an unresolved question is if, and how, novel metaphors might become conventional as they are used. In order to test this question, we will ask participants to respond to literal phrases, conventional metaphors, novel metaphors created by the experimenters, and novel metaphors created by the participants themselves while measuring their brain …

Eeg Experiment Scripting Tool For Novice Programmers, Sarah Walling-Bell

Summer Research

Accessible, portable, and affordable technology has made computing one of the main methodologies in brain and behavioral research. This development presents university neuroscience and psychology departments with a major problem: most of their students have no computer programming experience, and the time intensity of learning a computer programming language is a barrier that prevents them from practicing the computational concepts and algorithmic thinking increasingly at the core of research in these fields. This is the case in the University of Puget Sound (UPS) Electroencephalography (EEG) lab, where students researching how electrical activity in the brain responds to stimuli (e.g. …

A Sociocognitive Perspective Of The Uncanny Valley, Andre Zamani

Summer Research

The “uncanny valley” is the effect of being ‘creeped out’ by things that are very close, but not quite, human (e.g., a ventriloquist dummy). Over the past two summers, I found that intranasal administrations of oxytocin, a hormone which affects attention to external social information, decreased participants’ reaction times when assessing uncanny valley stimuli, but did not affect their ratings of eeriness. Furthermore, oxytocin affected participants’ reaction times the most for stimuli rated to be intermediately eerie but altered their visual attention the most during the perception of stimuli rated to be either not eerie or very eerie. From these …

Eeg Study Of The Featural And Configural Components Of Face Perception, Heather Rose Stegman

Summer Research

Prior research using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) suggests that facial features (i.e. eyes, nose, and mouth) and their configuration (i.e. T-shaped arrangement of features) are processed in different face-specific brain regions. However, precise response time of featural and configural face processing is unknown. Featural processing may occur before configural processing, or configural processing may occur before featural processing; conversely, they may occur simultaneously. Here, using the electroencephalography (EEG), we will examine the face-specific event related potential (ERP), the N170, to analyze temporal differences between featural and configural face processing.

Rebecca Saxe: Investigating Theory Of Mind Using Multi-Voxel Pattern Analysis In Autistic Adults, Olivia G. Cadwell

Sound Neuroscience: An Undergraduate Neuroscience Journal

Rebecca Saxe is a neuroscientist in the field of cognitive science and research. Saxe uses multi-voxel pattern analysis (MVPA) in her research to study spatial neural responses in the right temporo-parietal junction (RTPJ) of the human brain and studies neural differences in the brain that allow non-autism spectrum disorder (neurotypical) adults to ascribe intentionality behind the actions of other individuals. While taking in consideration many prior studies, the current results from her research advocates that ASD effects the organization and voxel pattern of information in the ToM brain areas. Thus, the result of Saxe's research suggests that individuals with ASD …

Linda Buck And The Science Of Scent, Rosie Irwin

Sound Neuroscience: An Undergraduate Neuroscience Journal

Linda Buck has greatly influenced the field of neuroscience. She forged the foundation for olfactory research and understanding and is now working to defy time and reduce the effects of aging. As a woman in a predominantly male profession, Buck faced seemingly few obstacles. That said, she still had to work hard to prove herself, just as anyone does in a cutthroat profession. She was fortunate to have parents who shaped her childhood so that as an adult, she would work hard to reach higher goals and obtain many amazing opportunities to work with excellent scientists, which allowed her to …

Altering Physical Behavior Through Pheromones, Robin Vieira

Sound Neuroscience: An Undergraduate Neuroscience Journal

Throughout her scientific career, Martha McClintock has advanced current understanding of pheromone-induced behavior by generating theories and evidence through numerous reputable experiments. Discovering the biological foundation of menstrual synchrony and other pheromone induced physiological responses has opened doors for further research examining the effects of specific pheromones. While McClintock and her colleagues discovered that both rats and humans communicate through pheromones, studying pheromonal responses within other species may broaden current understanding of how various pheromonal responses are triggered and received. Doing so may enable humans to modulate various components of their endogenous neuroendocrine conditions based on that of another’s endogenous …

Innovation From The Powerful And Underestimated: Helen Mayberg And The Revolutionary Breakthrough Of Deep Brain Stimulation, Zander Biro

Sound Neuroscience: An Undergraduate Neuroscience Journal

This paper will provide a short biography of Martha Farah and her contributions to the field of cognitive science and neuroethics. It will also include a short discussion of the field of neuroethics, its emergence in the beginning of the twenty-first century, and some of the topics currently under discussion, such as enhancement of normal function and monitoring of brain functions.

Brenda Milner Leaves A Legacy In The Field Of Neuroscience, Kailee Weiler

Sound Neuroscience: An Undergraduate Neuroscience Journal

Dr. Brenda Milner is a neuropsychologist who works for the Montreal Neurological Institute and has made incredible discoveries within the field of neuropsychology. Most notably was her work with H.M. Studies on H.M. have lead to vast advances into understanding memory and disorders.

Anne Buckingham Young’S Role In Movement Disorder Research, Skyler Tetreau

Sound Neuroscience: An Undergraduate Neuroscience Journal

Dr. Anne Buckingham Young’s research on a variety of movement disorders, including Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease, and tremors, has been critical in advancing the understanding of these disorders and in furthering the emphasis on research in these fields. Her extensive and dedicated research background provided her with several unique leadership opportunities in the neuroscience community.

Martha Farah And Neuroethics, Yiqing Dong

Sound Neuroscience: An Undergraduate Neuroscience Journal

This paper will provide a short biography of Martha Farah and her contributions to the field of cognitive science and neuroethics. It will also include a short discussion of the field of neuroethics, its emergence in the beginning of the twenty-first century, and some of the topics currently under discussion, such as enhancement of normal function and monitoring of brain functions.

Human Pheromones In Female Social Groups, Natalie Smith

Sound Neuroscience: An Undergraduate Neuroscience Journal

Martha McClintock is a biopsychologist who specializes in social behavior and the regulation of fertility. It is through her pioneering work that menstrual synchrony amongst social groups of females was discovered to be a result of human pheromonal interactions. During McClintock’s undergraduate work at Wellesley College, she observed that menstrual synchrony was a common phenomenon between her dorm mates and herself (1). Through greater experimentation, she associated this trend was due to pheromonal output of women during social interactions. This work became her senior thesis at Wellesley and was published in Nature in 1971 (2). The discovery of ovarian pheromones …

Progress In Gender Equality Within The Realm Of Scientific Academia Illustrated By The Career And Life Of Neuroscientist Patricia Goldman-Rakic, Faith Copenhaver

Sound Neuroscience: An Undergraduate Neuroscience Journal

Gender inequality has been a constant struggle for women throughout history with victories few and far between. The movement for women’s rights emerged with the anti-slavery movement in the mid-1800s; however, it wasn’t until the late 1800s that women were allowed to grace the distinguished and revered lecture halls of higher education, and not until 1920 that women gained the right to formally matriculate and attain degrees. Upon commencement of women into the ranks of academia, the necessity to secure women’s rights for higher education appeared to be satiated. However, gender discrimination continued to plague particular fields of study, specifically …

Ursula Bellugi: A Career Of Language Research, Allegra Campbell

Sound Neuroscience: An Undergraduate Neuroscience Journal

Ursula Bellugi is one of the prominent researchers in the psychology of language. She currently serves as the director of cognitive neuroscience at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. This paper will examine three areas of Bellugi’s work from the last five decades. In the 1960s and 70s she compared the sign language acquired by Washoe the chimpanzee to human language. In the 80s and 90s her studies of deaf and non-deaf users of American Sign Language led to the conclusion that the left hemisphere is the center of all language processing. And in the last twenty years, Bellugi has …

Carol Barnes: A Prominent Voice In The Neuroscience Of Aging, And A Proponent Of Women In Neuroscience, Kara Sherva

Sound Neuroscience: An Undergraduate Neuroscience Journal

Dr. Barnes, as a professor and a graduate mentor, is constantly in contact with the new generation of women neuroscientists, helping shape their future career paths and providing them with an uncountable number of resources. Barnes’ research is centered on the changes that happen in learning, memory and behavior in normal aging, rather than in neurological diseases.

Martha Farah: Integration Of Psychology, Neurology, And Neuroethics, Kerri M. Smith

Sound Neuroscience: An Undergraduate Neuroscience Journal

Martha Farah, a pioneer neuroscientist born in 1955 has taken a special interest in the ethical concerns related to neuroscience (1). Her post-graduate work prompted her to excel throughout various topics in neuroscience and thoroughly incorporate high ethical regards into her own research. This essay examines Farah’s research on visual perception and socioeconomic status, as well as her contributions towards neuroethics.

Deborah Cabin And Her Role In The Research Of Parkinson’S Disease, Emily Convery

Sound Neuroscience: An Undergraduate Neuroscience Journal

Deborah Cabin received her PhD in physiology from Johns Hopkins University in 1996. She has worked in research labs across America investigating genetic diseases and now is a professor in structural and functional neuroscience at the University of Montana. Her interest in Parkinson’s disease is a result of the complexity and mystery presents to researchers. Since 2006 Deborah has made truly remarkable discoveries regarding the causes of the disease, focusing in particular on a protein which is suspected to contribute significantly to the development of Parkinson’s disease (PD). Her research aims to identify the normal role of this protein, the …

Focus On Cecelia Moens; A Woman In Neuroscience, Rosa Dale-Moore

Sound Neuroscience: An Undergraduate Neuroscience Journal

Women in the field of neuroscience are hugely underrepresented and marginalized simply as a residual inequality of the gender gap in STEM fields. However, there are prominent women in this quickly expanding field. Cecilia Moens is a researcher at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, Washington. Her lab works extensively with zebra fish researching early neural development. Zebrafish are very useful for projects like this because their eggs are completely transparent to hide the embryos from predators in the water, but it also allows for researchers to easily visualize inside the embryo to observe different stages of development. …

Untitled, Kristina M. Lewin

Sound Neuroscience: An Undergraduate Neuroscience Journal

Patricia Churchland is a remarkable woman, an inspirational figure for other women, as well as scientists and scholars alike. She works and writes as a philosopher, but does not shy away from pointing out some of the problems inherent in the discipline. While readers can anticipate that her assertions will generally side with the explanations of neuroscience, she poses intriguing questions that deal with our notions of the philosophical self.

Athena’S Axon: Female Neuroscientists And The Question Of Gender Equality, Kyle J. Kolisch

Sound Neuroscience: An Undergraduate Neuroscience Journal

For decades, Shatz has been at the forefront of neuroscientific research by exploring the processes of the brains’ visual centers and its early development. Her advances in both these realms not only show the amazing capacity of science to comprehend the incomprehensible, but also the infinite potential of women neuroscientists. It is the role of scientists like Shatz to support the involvement of women in the neuroscience community, and to endure as a role model for female scientists of the future.

Women In Neuroscience: The Sex-Specific Work Of Jill M. Goldstein, Erin Anthony-Fick

Sound Neuroscience: An Undergraduate Neuroscience Journal

Jill M. Goldstein takes a new approach on differences in men and women. Where some see these differences in sex as inequality, she sees these differences in an anatomical cause-effect manner. More specifically, Goldstein is interested in the psychological disorder Schizophrenia. She analyzes this disorder in a male versus female fashion, exploring how the disorder impacts both of the sexes and what morphological differences can account for variances in overall effects or predisposition for development (3). Goldstein has also worked on issues pertinent to women’s health like anorexia nervosa and hormonal changes that occur with stressful events (4, 5). This …

“Above All, Don't Fear Difficult Moments. The Best Comes From Them” (1): The Life And Work Of Dr. Rita Levi-Montalcini, Elana Hirsch

Sound Neuroscience: An Undergraduate Neuroscience Journal

In the field of neuroscience, as in many other scientific disciplines, early research was dominated by men and their discoveries. However, many women have greatly impacted neuroscience from the beginning, yet, again and again, their stories go unheard—Dr. Rita Levi-Montalcini is one such woman. Levi-Montalcini is most famous for her work as a neuroembryologist and for her discovery of nerve growth factor with Stanley Cohen. This discovery has proven to be incredibly important to the field of neuroscience; in fact, Levi-Montalcini and Cohen won the Noble Prize in Medicine and Physiology in 1986 for their work. Nerve growth factors were …

Entraining Brain Oscillations To Influence Facial Perception, Rosie Irwin

Summer Research

Relatively little is known about the role of brain oscillations in relation to cognitive function. While oscillations of all frequencies have be associated with most any neural process, no conclusive data has been found to support if oscillations are simply emergent or if they play a causal role in cognitive functions. To make headway on this problem, we employed entrainment, a technique used to synchronize brain oscillations. Entrainment was achieved by presenting subjects with alternating images of a neutral face and a scrambled face at 4 Hz such that the faces were presented at 2 Hz. After a few seconds …

Eeg Investigation Of Mirror-Neuron Activity Before And After Conscious Perception Of Emotion In Faces, Katie Singsank

Summer Research

While it is theorized that the human Mirror Neuron System (MNS) is used in action understanding and interpretation, how mu-wave suppression varies throughout the process of becoming conscious of a human facial expression and perceiving it has not been investigated. In the current study, EEG mu-wave suppression was used as an index of MNS activity. Data were collected while subjects viewed a 6 second clip in which static visual noise lifted over a period of 3 seconds revealing either a sad or angry face below which participants were asked to indicate the emotion with a keyboard button press. The image …

Hippotherapy As A Tool For Improving Motor Skills, Postural Stability, And Self Confidence In Cerebral Palsy And Multiple Sclerosis, Sarah A. Long

Sound Neuroscience: An Undergraduate Neuroscience Journal

Hippotherapy utilizes the three dimensional movement of the horse to improve balance, strength, coordination, and postural symmetry in those with cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis, or related neuromuscular disorders. The forward, side-to-side, and rotational movement of the horse provides the rider with different sensory cues to help improve gait. While this therapy is a passive exercise for the patient, the individual must engage the core muscles to sit upright along with making small corrections due to the constant movement of the horse to help with postural stability and strengthening. Ultimately, understanding how affected brain areas lead to symptoms in those with …

Cultural Perceptions Of Traumatic Brain Injury And Rehabilitation In Minorities, Lyanna Díaz

Sound Neuroscience: An Undergraduate Neuroscience Journal

A person's culture can greatly affect the way they perceive illnesses, doctor-patient interactions, and rehabilitation. Factors include family, religion, and values. A lack of cultural competency training in the health professions may be detrimental to the recovery process of minorities. This phenomenon is examined in depth as it relates to Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI).