Neuroscience and Neurobiology Commons^™

Regulation Of Jak1 And Jak2 Synthesis Through Non-Classical Progestin Receptors, Hillary Adams

Masters Theses

The anteroventral periventricular (AVPV) nucleus of the hypothalamus integrates estradiol (E₂) and progesterone (P₄) feedback signals from the ovaries to stimulate gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH) neurons and trigger an ovulatory surge in luteinizing hormone (LH). E₂ maintains the daily cyclic LH surge and P₄ quickly amplifies the surge and limits it to one day. P₄ amplification of the surge and rapid signaling in the AVPV may occur through its non-classical progestin receptors. Previous in vitro studies using a microarray analysis with N42 mouse embryonic hypothalamic neurons suggest that progesterone membrane component 1 (Pgrmc1) …

A Global Perspective On The Influence Of Environmental Exposures On The Nervous System, Desire Tshala-Katumbay, Jean-Claude Mwanza, Diane S. Rohlman, Gladys E. Maestre, Reinaldo B. Oria

School of Medicine Publications and Presentations

Economic transitions in the era of globalization warrant a fresh look at the neurological risks associated with environmental change. These are driven by industrial expansion, transfer and mobility of goods, climate change and population growth. In these contexts, risk of infectious and non-infectious diseases are shared across geographical boundaries. In low- and middle-income countries, the risk of environmentally mediated brain disease is augmented several fold by lack of infrastructure, poor health and safety regulations, and limited measures for environmental protection. Neurological disorders may occur as a result of direct exposure to chemical and/or non-chemical stressors, including but not limited to, …

Relationships Between Age And White Matter Integrity In Children With Phenylketonuria, Erika M. Wesonga

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Objective: Phenylketonuria (PKU) is a hereditary metabolic disorder associated with cognitive compromise. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) has allowed detection of poorer microstructural white matter integrity in children with PKU, with decreased mean diffusivity (MD) in comparison with healthy children. However, very little research has been conducted to examine the trajectory of white matter development in this population. The present study investigated potential differences in the developmental trajectory of MD between children with early- and continuously-treated PKU and healthy children across a range of brain regions.

Methods: Children with PKU (n = 31, mean age = 12.2 years) were …

The Concept Of Qailulah (Midday Napping) From Neuroscientific And Islamic Perspectives, Mohd Amzari Tumiran

Mohd Amzari Tumiran

Napping/siesta during the day is a phenomenon which is widely practised in the world. However, the timing, frequency and duration may vary. The basis of napping is also diverse, but it is mainly done for improvement of alertness and general well-being. Neuroscience reveals that midday napping improves memory, enhances alertness, boosts wakefulness and performance, and recovers certain qualities of lost night sleep. Interestingly, Islam, the religion of the Muslims, advocates midday napping primarily because it was a practice preferred by Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). The objectives of this review are to investigate and compare identical key points on focused topic from …

Senile Dementia From Neuroscientific And Islamic Perspectives, Mohd Amzari Tumiran

Mohd Amzari Tumiran

Diseases involving the nervous system drastically change lives of victims and commonly increase dependency on others. This paper focuses on Senile Dementia (SD) from both the neuroscientific and Islamic perspectives, with special emphasis on the integration of ideas between the two different disciplines. This would enable effective implementation of strategies to address issues involving this disease across different cultures, especially among the world-wide Muslim communities. In addition, certain incongruence ideas on similar issues can be understood better. The former perspective is molded according to conventional modern science while the latter on the analysis of various texts including the holy Qur’an, …

Prenatal Predictors Of Infant Self-Regulation: The Contributions Of Placental Dna Methylation Of Nr3c1 And Neuroendocrine Activity, Elisabeth Conradt, Mary Fei, Linda Lagasse, Edward Tronick, Dylan Guerin, Daniel Gorman, Carmen J. Marsit, Barry M. Lester

Dartmouth Scholarship

We examined whether placental DNA methylation of the glucocorticoid receptor gene, NR3C1 was associated with self-regulation and neuroendocrine responses to a social stressor in infancy. Placenta samples were obtained at birth and mothers and their infants (n = 128) participated in the still-face paradigm when infants were 5 months old. Infant self-regulation following the still-face episode was coded and pre-stress cortisol and cortisol reactivity was assessed in response to the still-face paradigm. A factor analysis of NR3C1 CpG sites revealed two factors: one for CpG sites 1-4 and the other for sites 5-13. DNA methylation of the factor comprising NR3C1 …

An Exploratory High-Density Eeg Investigation Of The Misinformation Effect: Attentional And Recollective Differences Between True And False Perceptual Memories, John E. Kiat, Robert F. Belli

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

The misinformation effect, a phenomenon in which eyewitness memories are altered via exposure to post-event misinformation, is one of the most important paradigms used to investigate the reconstructive nature of human memory. The aim of this study was to use the misinformation effect paradigm to investigate differences in attentional and recollective processing between true and false event memories. Nineteen participants completed a variant of the misinformation paradigm in which recognition responses to true and misinformation based event details embedded within a narrative context, were investigated using high-density (256-channel) EEG with a 1-day delay between event exposure and test. Source monitoring …

Design, Programming, And User-Experience, Kaila G. Manca

Honors Scholar Theses

This thesis is a culmination of my individualized major in Human-Computer Interaction. As such, it showcases my knowledge of design, computer engineering, user-experience research, and puts into practice my background in psychology, com- munications, and neuroscience.

I provided full-service design and development for a web application to be used by the Digital Media and Design Department and their students.This process involved several iterations of user-experience research, testing, concepting, branding and strategy, ideation, and design. It lead to two products.

The first product is full-scale development and optimization of the web appli- cation.The web application adheres to best practices. It was …

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 …

Characterization Of Calbindin Positive Interneurons Within The Ventral Horn Of The Mouse Spinal Cord, Taylor L. Floyd, David R. Ladle

Symposium of Student Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activities Materials

Sensory-motor circuits in the spinal cord integrate sensory feedback from muscles and modulate locomotor behavior. Although we know how the sensory-motor system generally works, the main issue lies in identifying all neurons involved and understanding their interrelationships. Many interneurons contribute to sensory-motor circuits and have been well studied. For example, Renshaw cells (RC) are inhibitory interneurons that prevent motor neurons from over-activity. A distinguishing feature of RCs is that they are the only interneurons within the ventral-most region of the spinal cord expressing the calcium binding protein calbindin (CB). Recent studies have found other subpopulations of ventral horn interneurons outside …

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 …

Reducing Subjectivity: Meditation And Implicit Bias, Diana M. Ciuca

CMC Senior Theses

Implicit association of racial stereotypes is brought about by social conditioning (Greenwald & Krieger, 2006). This conditioning can be explained by attractor networks (Sharp, 2011). Reducing implicit bias through meditation can show the effectiveness of reducing the rigidity of attractor networks, thereby reducing subjectivity. Mindfulness meditation has shown to reduce bias from the use of one single guided session conducted before performing an Implicit Association Test (Lueke & Gibson, 2015). Attachment to socially conditioned racial bias should become less prevalent through practicing meditation over time. An experimental model is proposed to test this claim along with a reconceptualization of consciousness …

Familiarity Differentially Affects Right Hemisphere Contributions To Processing Metaphors And Literals, V. T. Lai, Wessel Van Dam, L. L. Conant, J. R. Binder, Rutvik Desai

Faculty Publications

The role of the two hemispheres in processing metaphoric language is controversial. While some studies have reported a special role of the right hemisphere (RH) in processing metaphors, others indicate no difference in laterality relative to literal language. Some studies have found a role of the RH for novel/unfamiliar metaphors, but not conventional/familiar metaphors. It is not clear, however, whether the role of the RH is specific to metaphor novelty, or whether it reflects processing, reinterpretation or reanalysis of novel/unfamiliar language in general. Here we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine the effects of familiarity in both metaphoric …