Neuroscience and Neurobiology Commons^™

The Relationship Between Time Of Day, Mood, And Electroencephalography (Eeg) Asymmetry, Morgan Tantillo

Honors Projects

Previous researchers have had success in finding a correlation between exercise and an increase in positive mood. Researchers have also found a correlation between time of day and mood. The current study will explore the relationship between time of day, mood, and electroencephalography (EEG) asymmetry. The study utilized a convenient sample of ten undergraduate students at Bowling Green State University. Participants had baseline EEG recordings taken, and then participated in moderate exercise, followed by another EEG recording. Participants’ mood was assessed through a self-reported mood questionnaire before the condition as well as immediately after. Due to multiple statistical tests, the …

Clinical And Physiological Measures Of The Efficacy Of Prospective Memory Treatment, Tessa Bloomquist

Senior Theses and Projects

Prospective memory (PM) involves the ability to form and realize intentions after a time delay (Einstein & McDaniel, 1990). This study examines the relationship between clinical measures of PM and an event-related potential paradigm (West & Ross-Munroe, 2002) before and after Cognitive Rehabilitation Therapy (CRT). Participants with traumatic brain injury (TBI) were assigned to one of two groups, CRT and an active control condition. Electrophysiological and behavioral data were collected while subjects performed a computerized PM measure and the Memory for Intentions Screening Test (MIST) (Raskin, Buckheit, & Sherrod, 2011), a clinical measure. The results from the two groups were …

Behavioral And Neural Indices Of Metacognitive Sensitivity In Preverbal Infants, Louise Goupil, Sid Kouider

Biology Faculty Publications

Humans adapt their behavior not only by observing the consequences of their actions but also by internally monitoring their performance. This capacity, termed metacognitive sensitivity [1 ; 2], has traditionally been denied to young children because they have poor capacities in verbally reporting their own mental states [3; 4 ; 5]. Yet, these observations might reflect children’s limited capacities for explicit self-reports, rather than limitations in metacognition per se. Indeed, metacognitive sensitivity has been shown to reflect simple computational mechanisms [1; 6; 7 ; 8], and can be found in various …

Effect Of Prior Trauma Exposure On Alpha Amplitude, Heart Rate, And Self-Reported Negative Affect, Gina L. Denoble

All Master's Theses

This study was conducted to investigate whether the number of traumatic events an individual has previously experienced influences that individual’s physiological and psychological reactions when exposed to a negative affective stimulus followed by a mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) intervention. Twenty-eight participants were placed into intact quasi-experimental groups based on their scores on the Traumatic Life Events Questionnaire (TLEQ). The negative affective stimulus consisted of a series of photos bearing negative affective valence. The photos were selected from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS), and paralleled the areas of trauma exposure evaluated by the TLEQ. All participants were exposed to the …

Histological Characterization Of Inter Ictal Epileptiform Discharges Generating Brain Regions Using A Preclinical Model Of Focal Cortical Dysplasia, Abhay S. Deshmukh

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Current clinical practice of resective surgery in focal epilepsy involves electroencephalogram (EEG) brain source imaging to localize irritative brain areas from where Inter-ictal epileptiform discharges (IEDs) emerge, useful to localize the seizures-onset zones. Unfortunately, there are no previous systematic studies to characterize the pathophysiological mechanisms and abnormal cellular substrates in these irritative areas since histological data are available only from the final resective zones. To address this issue we applied a combination of EEG brain imaging described by Bae et al. (2015) using cutting-edge technology for high-density scalp EEG in rodents and histological analysis on a chronic rat model of …

Electrophysiological Changes Of N100 Latency And Amplitude In Healthy Participants Performing The Jitter Orientated Visual Integration Task: A Multi-Block Design Study, Fariya Naz

University Scholar Projects

The present study investigated the differences in processing during visual integration in healthy adults. The visual N100 indexes early visual discrimination and in this case, was hypothesized to show differences in both latency and amplitude depending on the level of difficulty which corresponds to orientational jitter in a visual integration task. Four blocks with pseudo-random levels of jitter were presented to participants in the Jitter Oriented Visual Integration (JOVI) task. Results looking at the Oz channel showed significant reduction in amplitude in the visual N100 during the more difficult levels condition of the task. The multi-block design, originally expected to …

Relationship Between Physiological And Clinical Measures Of Prospective Memory In Individuals With Mild Acquired Brain Injury, Severe Acquired Brain Injury And Healthy Adults, Consuelo M.A Pedro

Senior Theses and Projects

Prospective memory (PM) involves the ability to form and realize intentions after a time delay (Einstein & McDaniel, 1990). This study examines the relationship between clinical measures of PM and an event-related potential paradigm (West & Ross-Munroe, 2002). Electrophysiological and behavioral data were collected while subjects performed a computerized laboratory PM measure and was compared to a clinical measure, the Memory for Intentions Screening Test (MIST) (Raskin, Buckheit, & Sherrod, 2011) in healthy adults (HA), individuals with severe acquired brain injury (sABI) and mild acquired brain injury (mABI). Individuals with sABI performed significantly worse than individuals with mABI and HA …

Multichannel Characterization Of Brain Activity In Neurological Impairments, Yalda Shahriari

Biomedical Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Hundreds of millions of people worldwide suffer from various neurological and psychiatric disorders. A better understanding of the underlying neurophysiology and mechanisms for these disorders can lead to improved diagnostic techniques and treatments. The objective of this dissertation is to create a novel characterization of multichannel EEG activity for selected neurological and psychiatric disorders based on available datasets. Specifically, this work provides spatial, spectral, and temporal characterizations of brain activity differences between patients/animal models and healthy controls, with focus on modern techniques that quantify cortical connectivity, which is widely believed to be abnormal in such disorders. Exploring the functional brain …

Development Of A Practical Visual-Evoked Potential-Based Brain-Computer Interface, Nicholas R. Waytowich

Biomedical Engineering Theses & Dissertations

There are many different neuromuscular disorders that disrupt the normal communication pathways between the brain and the rest of the body. These diseases often leave patients in a `locked-in" state, rendering them unable to communicate with their environment despite having cognitively normal brain function. Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) are augmentative communication devices that establish a direct link between the brain and a computer. Visual evoked potential (VEP)- based BCIs, which are dependent upon the use of salient visual stimuli, are amongst the fastest BCIs available and provide the highest communication rates compared to other BCI modalities. However. the majority of research …

The Neurophysiology Of Intersensory Selective Attention And Task Switching, Jeremy W. Murphy

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Our ability to selectively attend to certain aspects of the world and ignore others is fundamental to our day-to-day lives. The need for selective attention stems from capacity limitations inherent in our perceptual and cognitive processing architecture. Because not every elemental piece of our environment can be fully processed in parallel, the nervous system must prioritize processing. This prioritization is generally referred to as selective attention. Meanwhile, we are faced with a world that is constantly in flux, such that we have to frequently shift our attention from one piece of the environment to another and from one task to …

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 …

Experimental-Computational Analysis Of Vigilance Dynamics For Applications In Sleep And Epilepsy, Farid Yaghouby

Theses and Dissertations--Biomedical Engineering

Epilepsy is a neurological disorder characterized by recurrent seizures. Sleep problems can cooccur with epilepsy, and adversely affect seizure diagnosis and treatment. In fact, the relationship between sleep and seizures in individuals with epilepsy is a complex one. Seizures disturb sleep and sleep deprivation aggravates seizures. Antiepileptic drugs may also impair sleep quality at the cost of controlling seizures. In general, particular vigilance states may inhibit or facilitate seizure generation, and changes in vigilance state can affect the predictability of seizures. A clear understanding of sleep-seizure interactions will therefore benefit epilepsy care providers and improve quality of life in patients. …

Time Frequency Analysis Of Neural Oscillations In Multi-Attribute Decision-Making, Iris Lieuw

Scripps Senior Theses

In our daily lives, we often make decisions that require the use of self-control, weighing trade-offs between various attributes: for example, selecting a food based on its health rather than its taste. Previous research suggests that re-weighting attributes may rely on selective attention, associated with decreased neural oscillations over posterior brain regions in the alpha (8-12 Hz) frequency range. Here, we utilized the high temporal resolution and whole-brain coverage of electroencephalography (EEG) to test this hypothesis in data collected from hungry human subjects exercising dietary self-control. Prior analysis of this data has found time-locked neural activity associated with each food’s …

Electrophysiological And Behavioral Working Memory Differences Between Musicians And Non-Musicians, Benjamin P. Richardson

All Master's Theses

The current study examines the P300 brainwave and working memory differences between musicians and non-musicians. Differences in aspects of recorded electrical brain activity have been used to quantify differences in updating processes of working memory possibly related to differences in amount of music experience. The current study is designed to partially replicate and enhance a method previously implemented in research describing how music experience may be associated with differences in visual processing as well auditory working memory and executive function. Behavioral data were collected using six standardized subtest measures of the TOMAL – II, followed by ERP recordings during a …

Biological Motion Processing In Typical Development And In The Autism Spectrum, Aaron Krakowski

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Biological motion (BM) analysis and interpretation is a fundamental process of human neurocognition that has been only minimally explored neurophysiologically. In addition to its importance in understanding the underlying roots and development of social cognition, BM processing is a prime candidate domain for exploring the underlying etiology of social cognitive disorders such as the autism spectrum.

In an initial experiment, typical adults observed BM point-light displays of a human actor (UM) as well as their spatially scrambled counterparts (SM), in both an unattended distractor task as well as an explicit attention task. Results showed a neurophysiological response manifested as three …

Optimizing The Analysis Of Electroencephalographic Data By Dynamic Graphs, Mehrsasadat Golestaneh

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The brain’s underlying functional connectivity has been recently studied using tools offered by graph theory and network theory. Although the primary research focus in this area has so far been mostly on static graphs, the complex and dynamic nature of the brain’s underlying mechanism has initiated the usage of dynamic graphs, providing groundwork for time sensi- tive and finer investigations. Studying the topological reconfiguration of these dynamic graphs is done by exploiting a pool of graph metrics, which describe the network’s characteristics at different scales. However, considering the vast amount of data generated by neuroimaging tools, heavy computation load and …

Mao-A And The Eeg Recognition Memory Signal In Left Parietal Cortex, Claire M. Fisher, Robert Ross, Erika Nyhus, Tim Curran

Student Research Projects

A key part of episodic memory, or memory for the events of our lives, is recognition memory. Recognition memory is the ability to remember previously encountered stimuli. Studies have linked recognition memory to the old/new effect, an EEG indicator of stimulus familiarity. Monoamine oxidase A (MAO-A) is an enzyme that catalyzes monoamines, leading to the depletion of norepinephrine, epinephrine, serotonin, and dopamine. MAO-A is more efficiently transcribed in individuals with a 4 repeating sequence variation (4R) of the MAO-A gene leading to less monoamine availability. As many of these monoamines have been linked to episodic memory, we hypothesized that individuals …

Time, Perspectives, Verbs, And Imagining Events, Jeffrey P. Hong

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

During the processing of verbs, readers form internal representations of the events described by those verbs. Two key elements in the construction of event representations are temporal information, given by the verbs that describe the represented events, and the visual perspective from which the events are represented. The current study is composed of two experiments aimed at examining the roles these two factors play in event representation. Specifically, the study aimed to determine how temporal information and visual perspective are represented during event imagination.

Experiment 1 investigated the role of temporal information associated with verbs, given by grammatical aspect (GA) …

Moral Dilemma Judgment Revisited: A Loreta Analysis, Armando F. Rocha, Fábiot T. Rocha, Eduardo Massad

Armando F Rocha

Recent neuroscience investigations on moral judgment have provided useful information about how brain processes such complex decision making. All these studies so were fMRI investigations and therefore constrained by the poor resolution of this technique. Recent advances in electroencephalography (EEG) analysis provided by Low Resolution Tomogray (Loreta), Principal Component (PCA), Correlation and Regression Analysis improved EEG spatial resolution and make EEG a very useful technique in decision-making studies. Here, we reinvestigate previously fMRI study of personal (PD) and impersonal (ID) moral dilemma judgment, taking profit of these new EEG analysis improvements. Compared to the previous fMRI results, Loreta and PCA …

The Svip Study: An Interdisciplinary Approach To Autism Spectrum Disorder, Owen Adams

Sound Neuroscience: An Undergraduate Neuroscience Journal

The influential power of personal experience in fostering interest of a topic is often usual when determining areas of research. Through time spent at the University of Washington Center on Human Development & Disability, the author found an increased interest in both the fields of psychology and neuroscience. More importantly, however, the author realized the value of interdisciplinary, cross lab, and community communication when addressing certain disorders, such as autism.

Brain Activity And Medical Diagnosis: An Eeg Study, Laila M. Ribas, Fábio T. Rocha, Neli R. Ortega, Armando F. Rocha, Eduardo Massad

Armando F Rocha

Despite new brain imaging techniques that have improved the study of the underlying processes of human decision-making, to the best of our knowledge, there have been very few studies that have attempted to investigate brain activity during medical diagnostic processing.The main purpose of this paper was to investigate brain electroencephalography (EEG) activity associated with diagnostic decision-making in the realm of veterinary medicine using X-rays as a fundamental auxiliary test. The principal component analysis revealed four patterns that accounted for 85% of the total variance in the EEG activity recorded while veterinary doctors read a clinical history, examined an X-ray image …

A P300 Based Cognitive Assessment Battery For Severely Motor-Impaired And Overtly Non-Responsive Patients, Aaron M. Kirschner

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Diagnosing disorders of consciousness (DOC) is notoriously difficult, with estimates of misdiagnosis rates as high as 40%. Moreover, recent studies have demonstrated that patients who do not show signs of volitional motor responses can exhibit preserved command following detected by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and electroencephalography (EEG). Although these patients clearly retain some cognitive abilities, lack of consistent motor responses makes administration of standard neuropsychological tests impossible. Consequently, the extent of their cognitive function is unknown. In the current study, we developed and validated a P300b event related potential (ERP) neuropsychological battery in healthy participants to assess components of …

A Neuromarketing Study Of Consumer Satisfaction, Armando F. Rocha, Fábio T. Rocha, Lucia H. Arruda

Armando F Rocha

The interest of marketing science in using neuroscience techniques to understand the consumer’s thought processes, dates back to the 1970s, when EEG data were recorded while subjects were watching TV commercials. Recently, fMRI was used to study the neural correlates of culturally based brands and neural predictors of purchases. These studies have discovered important properties of the neural circuits that are associated with consumer decision-making process and satisfaction. Here, EEG brain mapping was used to study the dynamics of the brain activity associated with these processes. The present study validated the EEG technology as an adequate neuromarketing tool and shows …

Gun Control: What Goes On In Your Brain, Armando F. Rocha, Fabio T. Rocha, Eduardo Massad

Armando F Rocha

Arguments for and against gun control are polarized at two opposite ends of a broad spectrum: personal liberties and social benefits. Brazil has introduced a referendum regarding the prohibition of firearm commerce and propaganda arguments, similar to the present ongoing discussion in the U.S. It has invoked socially and personally driven issues in the promotion of voting in favor of and against firearm control, respectively. Here, we used electroencephalography (EEG) technology to study the brain activity associated with a voter’s perception one week prior to Election Day, of the truthfulness of these arguments and their influence on voting decisions. The …

Brain Activity Follow Up Of Stock Market Financial Variables, Armando F. Rocha, João Vieito, Fábio T. Rocha

Armando F Rocha

Efficiency Market hypothesis assume that all investors reason in the same way to make their financial decisions. In contrast, Neurosciences have provided strong evidences that cognitive diversity is the hallmark of human intelligence. Neurofinances has shown that volunteers learned different profitable financial decision-making strategies depending on the kind of market they begun to trade. Here, we decide to further explore this hypothesis by studying a possible correlation between brain activity and the financial variables in a stock market game and to test if this correlation differ between experimental groups that trade in different market conditions. Present results show that volunteers …

Brain Activity Of Normal And Low Iq Children: The Neural Efficiency Hypothesi, Fabio T. Rocha, Armando F. Rocha, Sueli Angeloti

Armando F Rocha

The neural efficiency hypothesis (NEH) of intelligence claims that subjects performing a complex task may well use a limited number of brain circuits and/or fewer neurons while poor performers use more circuits and/or neurons, some of which are inessential or detrimental to task performance. The present paper studies the EEG activity associated with reading and arithmetic calculation by normal and mental retarded children. Correlation analysis of the electrical activity recorded by 10/20 electrode system was used to calculate the amount of information allocated by individuals to solve these tasks. Multiple regression analyses showed that IQ linearly correlates with the amount …

Low Cost Neurochairs, Frankie Pike

Master's Theses

Electroencephalography (EEG) was formerly confined to clinical and research settings with the necessary hardware costing thousands of dollars. In the last five years a number of companies have produced simple electroencephalograms, priced below $300 and available direct to consumers. These have stirred the imaginations of enthusiasts and brought the prospects of "thought-controlled" devices ever closer to reality. While these new devices were largely targeted at video games and toys, active research on enabling people suffering from debilitating diseases to control wheelchairs was being pursued. A number of neurochairs have come to fruition offering a truly hands-free mobility solution, but whether …

Effect Of Out-Group Exposure On The Mirror Neuron System, Mackenzie Hepker

Summer Research

Mirror neurons appear to play an important role in the experience of empathy, and may be critical for understanding the social signals of others in an interactive context between distinctly identified groups. Research has shown that mirror neuron activation is greater when observing in-group members (others that one most identifies with based on a certain factor or number of factors) as opposed to out-group members, which may implicate the mirror neuron system (MNS) in the neural aspect of social bias. However, no research had been conducted on the effect on the MNS of practice in interpreting and internalizing social signals …

The Brain As A Distributed Intelligent Processing System: An Eeg Study., Armando F. Rocha, Fábio T. Rocha, Eduardo Massad

Armando F Rocha

arious neuroimaging studies, both structural and functional, have provided support for the proposal that a distributed brain network is likely to be the neural basis of intelligence. The theory of Distributed Intelligent Processing Systems (DIPS), first developed in the field of Artificial Intelligence, was proposed to adequately model distributed neural intelligent processing. In addition, the neural efficiency hypothesis suggests that individuals with higher intelligence display more focused cortical activation during cognitive performance, resulting in lower total brain activation when compared with individuals who have lower intelligence. This may be understood as a property of the DIPS. In our study, a …

Gender And Color Specific Differences In Event Related Potentials, Abhishek Trikha

Theses and Dissertations

This project analyzed gender and color-specific differences in event-related potentials (ERPs). Previous studies have shown that males process color differently than females. In a recent study, sex differences were found in ERPs during a visual object recognition task. There were higher EEG amplitudes in females (especially P300) than males. Significant sex and color-specific differences have been found in diseases involving altered dopamine (DA) machinery. Thus, we analyzed differences between ERPs in males vs females during a color task. We also compared the color-specific differences in ERPs between males and females. Males and females participated in EEG recording sessions for 2 …