Examining Behavioral Reactivity And Cognitive Differences Within The Chc Theory Of Intelligence Among Children., Steven Matthew Jozwiak

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Linking cognition and behavior has long been an area of interest to the field of psychology in its endeavors to understand what innate factors influence human behavior. To date, the majority of research linking emotional reactivity to cognition has focused on single areas of intellectual functioning on specific diagnostic profiles or learning disorders rather than a comprehensive comparison to cognitive profile typology. Nearly all the research conducted to date continues to define cognition and emotion as disparate entities, rather than exploring a more integrated view of emotion and cognition. The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine cognitive profile …

Acute Cocaine Differentially Induces Pka Phosphorylation Substrates In Male And Female Rats, Wei-Lun Sun, Luyi Zhou, Arbi Nazarian, Vanya Quinones-Jenab, Shirzad Jenab

Publications and Research

Background: Sex differences in intracellular dopamine pathways may contribute to the known sex differences in psychomotor responses to cocaine and differential development of dependence. This study aimed to determine whether there are sex differences in the activation of the extracellular signal-regulated kinases (ERK1/2, or p44/p42 MAPK) and PKA phosphorylation-dependent substrates in the nucleus accumbens (NAcc) of male and female rats at baseline or after acute cocaine administration.

Methods: 60-day-old male and female Fischer rats were injected with saline or cocaine (30 mg/kg) and sacrificed 5, 15, 30, 45 or 90 minutes later. Total locomotor activity, Stereotypic, rearing, and ambulatory behaviors …

A Principle Of Economy Predicts The Functional Architecture Of Grid Cells, Xue-Xin Wei, Jason Prentice, Vijay Balasubramanian

Publications and Research

Grid cells in the brain respond when an animal occupies a periodic lattice of ‘grid fields’ during navigation. Grids are organized in modules with different periodicity. We propose that the grid system implements a hierarchical code for space that economizes the number of neurons required to encode location with a given resolution across a range equal to the largest period. This theory predicts that (i) grid fields should lie on a triangular lattice, (ii) grid scales should follow a geometric progression, (iii) the ratio between adjacent grid scales should be √e for idealized neurons, and lie between 1.4 and 1.7 …

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 …

Gene Expression And Alzheimer's Disease: Evaluation Of Gene Expression Patterns In Brain And Blood For An Alzheimer's Disease Mouse Model, Amanda Hazy

Senior Honors Theses

Previous studies have established a causative role for altered gene expression in development of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). These changes can be affected by methylation and miRNA regulation. In this study, expression of miRNA known to change methylation status in AD was assessed by qPCR. Genome-wide expression changes were determined by RNA-sequencing of mRNA from hippocampus and blood of control and AD mice. The qPCR data showed significantly increased expression of Mir 17 in AD, and sequencing data revealed 230 genes in hippocampus, 58 genes in blood, and 8 overlapping genes showing significant differential expression (p value ≤ 0.05). Expression data …

The Brain Geography Mini-Course: A Neuroscience Outreach Effort, Mark Albert

Computer Science: Faculty Publications and Other Works

The way we experience the world - how we go between sensing, thinking, and acting - is in some ways no more of a mystery than understanding how a computer works. Brains are quite complicated and we may never understand the details, but what we know in general can be very interesting. In this mini-course, we will learn how we think. When we see, hear, smell, touch, taste, remember, rehearse, fear something, understand or produce language, move our bodies...specific parts of the brain are used. Students will get a rough introduction to each part and how they interact. This will …

Learning Emotions: A Software Engine For Simulating Realistic Emotion In Artificial Agents, Douglas Code

Senior Independent Study Theses

This paper outlines a software framework for the simulation of dynamic emotions in simulated agents. This framework acts as a domain-independent, black-box solution for giving actors in games or simulations realistic emotional reactions to events. The emotion management engine provided by the framework uses a modified Fuzzy Logic Adaptive Model of Emotions (FLAME) model, which lets it manage both appraisal of events in relation to an individual’s emotional state, and learning mechanisms through which an individual’s emotional responses to a particular event or object can change over time. In addition to the FLAME model, the engine draws on the design …

Evaluation Of The Developmental Toxicity Of Lead In The Danio Rerio Body, Nicole M. Roy, Sarah Dewolf, Bruno Carneiro

Biology Faculty Publications

Lead has been utilized throughout history and is widely distributed and mobilized globally. Although lead in the environment has been somewhat mitigated, the nature of lead and its extensive uses in the past prohibit it from being completely absent from our environment and exposure to lead is still a public health concern. Most studies regarding lead toxicity have focused on the brain. However, little is found in the literature on the effects of lead in other tissues. Here, we utilize the zebrafish model system to investigate effects of lead exposure during early developmental time windows at 24, 48 and 72 …

Cyclic Gmp: A Satiety Signal In C. Elegans, Ji S. Park

Theses and Dissertations

Appetite control and satiety mechanisms help animals maintain energy homeostasis; however, these mechanisms can be misregulated, leading to overweight and obesity. Caenorhabditis elegans is an excellent model system to study appetite and satiety because of its conserved behavioral aspects of satiety and conserved molecular mechanisms. ASI senses nutrition and its activity is required for the behavioral state of satiety quiescence. The purpose of this thesis project was to elucidate the function of cGMP signaling in ASI by looking at behavioral effects from the pharmacological use of sildenafil (Viagra), a PDE inhibitor, and the effects on ASI activation from mutating guanylyl …

An Exploration Of The Wheel-Induced Feeding-Suppression, Stephen Benjamin Peckham

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Anorexia nervosa is an enigmatic human condition typified by food-restriction that is often accompanied by extensive exercise. This has been modeled in rats in the wheel-induced feeding-suppression (WIFS) model. In this model, animals are given access to a running-wheel, which induces a volitional drop in food-consumption. Short periods of wheel access have induced a feeding-suppression which is effectively reversed by chlorpromazine administration (Adams et al., 2009). Recent attempts at replicating Adams et al.’s (2009) feeding-suppression have, however, been unsuccessful (Peckham et al., 2013). These attempts raised questions as to whether or not the existing methodology is most effective at suppressing …

Dementia And Primary-Care Health Measures:Hearing, Gait, And Markers Of Inflammation, Elsa Lindgren

Honors Theses and Capstones

Dementia is a syndrome associated with declining cognitive function that has a variety of types and causes, and is encountered frequently in general medical practice. Researchers are actively exploring possible risk factors for dementia. The St. Louis University Mental Status (SLUMS) exam is a dementia-screening exam used in primary care visits to detect cognitive impairment that may be a sign of dementia. This study compared scores on the SLUMS exam to other measures recorded in a typical primary care visit in 86 patients of age 65 and older to look for correlations between indicators of health, such as physical examination …

Preparing The Periphery For A Subsequent Behavior: Motor Neuronal Activity During Biting Generates Little Force But Prepares A Retractor Muscle To Generate Larger Forces During Swallowing In Aplysia, Hui Lu, Jeffrey M. Mcmanus, Miranda J. Cullins, Hillel J. Chiel

Faculty Scholarship

Some behaviors occur in obligatory sequence, such as reaching before grasping an object. Can the earlier behavior serve to prepare the musculature for the later behavior? If it does, what is the underlying neural mechanism of the preparation? To address this question, we examined two feeding behaviors in the marine mollusk Aplysia californica, one of which must precede the second: biting and swallowing. Biting is an attempt to grasp food. When that attempt is successful, the animal immediately switches to swallowing to ingest food. The main muscle responsible for pulling food into the buccal cavity during swallowing is the I3 …

Functional And Developmental Identification Of A Molecular Subtype Of Brain Serotonergic Neuron Specialized To Regulate Breathing Dynamics, Rachael D. Brust, Andrea E. Corcoran, George B. Richerson, Eugene Nattie, Susan M. Dymecki

Dartmouth Scholarship

Serotonergic neurons modulate behavioral and physiological responses from aggression and anxiety to breathing and thermoregulation. Disorders involving serotonin (5HT) dysregulation are commensurately heterogeneous and numerous. We hypothesized that this breadth in functionality derives in part from a developmentally determined substructure of distinct subtypes of 5HT neurons each specialized to modulate specific behaviors. By manipulating developmentally defined subgroups one by one chemogenetically, we find that the Egr2-Pet1 subgroup is specialized to drive increased ventilation in response to carbon dioxide elevation and acidosis. Furthermore, this subtype exhibits intrinsic chemosensitivity and modality-specific projections-increasing firing during hypercapnic acidosis and selectively projecting to respiratory chemosensory …

Attentional Blink: An Antecedent To Binge Eating Behavior, Gregory Denke

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This study examined how attentional sub-processes contribute to binge-eating. Dense-array EEG and a version of the canonical attentional blink task were used to ascertain the neural correlates underlying the attentional sub-processes that comprise the Posner model of attention (alerting, orienting, and executive control) and how attentional activation differs for binge-eaters vs. non-binge eaters. Furthermore, we examined a number of the event-related potentials (ERP), including P2 activation, which has been linked with orientating of attention, and N2 activation which has been linked with attentional conflict. We found decreased P2 activation for binge-eaters, in the negative condition, for incorrect target 2 (T2) …

Cognitive Neurosciene And Its Applications To Contemporary Acting Theory, Ryan Stiffelman

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

I personally believe that anyone can be a performer so long as they have the determination, dedication, and refuse to take no for an answer. There are all kinds of training out there designed to help turn hopeful wannabes into the “stars” that we know them as, however, not every “star” we see has had this kind of training. We often hear of young actors like Jennifer Lawrence hailed for their “natural talent”. Does this mean there’s some kind of birth-right, a specific natural inclination or ability that makes someone a potentially great actor from the start? I will refer …

Sensory Abnormalities In Focal Hand Dystonia And Non-Invasive Brain Stimulation, Angelo Quartarone, Vincenzo Rizzo, Carmen Terranova, Demetrio Milardi, Daniele Bruschetta, Maria Felice Ghilardi, Paolo Girlanda

Publications and Research

It has been proposed that synchronous and convergent afferent input arising from repetitive motor tasks may play an important role in driving the maladaptive cortical plasticity seen in focal hand dystonia (FHD).This hypothesis receives support from several sources. First, it has been reported that in subjects with FHD, paired associative stimulation produces an abnormal increase in corticospinal excitability, which was not confined to stimulated muscles. These findings provide support for the role of excessive plasticity in FHD. Second, the genetic contribution to the dystonias is increasingly recognized indicating that repetitive, stereotyped afferent inputs may lead to late-onset dystonia, such as …

A Quantitative Analysis Of The Value-Enhancing Effects Of Nicotine, Bupropion, And Varenicline In Male And Female Rats, Scott Barrett

Department of Psychology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Smoking and tobacco dependence are serious health concerns in the United States and globally. Reward via the pharmacological effects of nicotine are believed to be the principal motivating factor that drive tobacco dependence. Research reveals differences in sensitivity between males and females to the motivational effects of nicotine in tobacco use. Enhancement of reinforcement value of non-nicotine rewards contributes to overall nicotine reward. Similar value-enhancing effects have been observed by the two most commonly prescribed smoking cessation aids, bupropion and varenicline. The present dissertation investigated the value-enhancing effects of nicotine, bupropion and varenicline in both male and female rats using …

Longitudinal Quantitative Analysis Of Gait And Balance In Friedreich's Ataxia, Jeannie B. Stephenson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Friedreich's Ataxia (FA) is an autosomal-recessive, neurodegenerative disease characterized by progressive lower extremity muscle weakness and sensory loss, balance deficits, limb and gait ataxia, and dysarthria. FA is considered a sensory ataxia because the dorsal root ganglia and spinal cord dorsal columns are involved early in the disease, whereas the cerebellum is affected later. Balance deficits and gait ataxia are often evaluated clinically and in research using clinical rating scales. Recently, quantitative tools such as the Biodex Balance System SD and the GAITRite Walkway System have become available to objectively assess balance and gait, respectively. However, there are limited studies …

Perceived Depth In Non-Transitive Stereo Displays, Bart Farell, Cherlyn J. Ng

Biomedical and Chemical Engineering - All Scholarship

The separation between the eyes shapes the distribution of binocular disparities and gives a special role to horizontal disparities. However, for one-dimensional stimuli, disparity direction, like motion direction, is linked to stimulus orientation. This makes the perceived depth of one-dimensional stimuli orientation dependent and generally non-veridical. It also allows perceived depth to violate transitivity. Three stimuli, A, B, and C, can be arranged such that A > B (stimulus A is seen as farther than stimulus B when they are presented together) and B > C, yet A ≤ C. This study examines how the visual system handles the depth of A, …

A Movement Tool Kit For The Divergent And Convergent Cps Guidelines: Instruction Cards And Activity Floor Mats, Adela Vangelisti

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

A Movement Tool Kit for the Divergent and Convergent CPS Guidelines:

Instruction Cards and Activity Floor Mats

Movement is as natural to humans as breathing is, and, yet, passivity starts early in schools. We are taught to sit still and in silence for long periods of time. By the time we reach adulthood and enter the workforce, we have almost forgotten our sense of embodiment. This lack of movement is counter-productive, not only to learning but to the development of creativity as well. For this project, I designed a tool to recapture the joy and playfulness of movement. Furthermore, the …

Boundary Contour Based Surface Representation., Yong Su

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

We receive most information about our surrounding space and objects through the eyes. To reconstruct the 3D space and objects in the visual system from the 2D retinal images, surface representation must be a critical intermediate stage in the visual processing stream. It is hypothesized in the dissertation that the visual system represents textured surface by a border-to-interior strategy: boundary contours would be encoded first and then border-ownership assignments would be resolved. This process would solve the related problems such as figure-ground segregation, surface depth relationship, occlusion, transparency, etc. As a result, the boundary contours of the surfaces would be …

Suppression Of Neurodegenerative Symptoms Via Suppressor Of Levy Mutation In Drosophila Melanogaster, William Kaputa

Forensic Science Theses

Mutation of the levy gene on chromosome 2 of Drosophila melanogaster has previously been shown to cause temperature-induced paralysis and neurodegeneration. The Suppressor of levy mutation, Su(levy), also on chromosome 2, modulates the effects of the levy mutation and partly rescues the wild-type phenotype. The goal of this research was to determine if Su(levy) mutation alleviates the effects of neurodegeneration caused by mutations associated with Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases in humans. The mutant genes used were hLRRK2, α-Synuclein, DJ1-α, Pink, Parkin, and Aβ-42. To determine this, flies carrying the above-mentioned mutant genes were …

Postural Sway And Brain Hemispheric Power Spectral Density Under Different Attentional Focus Conditions, Sharon Jalene

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The purpose of this study was to determine the differences, if any, in the root mean square error (RMSE) of postural sway and hemispheric power spectral density (PSD) in the alpha and beta bands (8-12Hz and 12-25Hz) during different conditions of attentional focus (i.e., internal focus (IF), and external focus (EF) and a control condition (C)). Previous studies have shown that the adoption of IF and EF significantly alter motor performance and that EF promotes automaticity (Wulf, 2013). Sports performance and balance studies utilizing EEG spectral analyses report increased alpha oscillations during expert performance and stable balance and increased beta …

The Phenomenon Of Abstract Cognition Among Scholastic Chess Participants: A Case Study, Brent C. Laws

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A qualitative investigation was conducted to explore the phenomenon of abstract cognition among a purposive sample of 5 secondary scholastic chess club participants. The case study enabled the researcher to explore the faculties of abstract cognition among students of contrasting skills and abilities in playing chess. The study also allowed for the consideration of potential visual-spatial, logical, academic, social competency and life benefits of chess play. Through analysis of interviews, chess simulations, blindfold chess play, and narration of chess lines and sequences, the investigator was able to extract meaning and code schemata into a holistic understanding of the phenomenon of …

Sustained Adrenergic Signaling Promotes Cervical Cancer Progression, Nouara C. Sadaoui

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Background: Chronic stress and sustained adrenergic signaling are known to promote tumor progression. The underlying mechanisms behind this process are not well understood. We examined the effects of sustained adrenergic signaling on cervical cancer progression through increased expression of HPV oncogenes, E6 and E7.

Materials and Methods: ADRβ expression levels were examined in patient-derived cervical cancer samples. We used an orthotopic model of cervical cancer to investigate the effects of restraint stress on tumor growth and metastasis. We evaluated the in vivo effects of a β-blocker, propranolol, and HPV E6/E7 siRNA. In vitro, ADRβ positive cervical cancer cells were …

Effects Of Oxytocin On Human Aggression, Joseph L. Alcorn Iii

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

EFFECTS OF OXYTOCIN ON HUMAN AGGRESSION

Joseph Louis Alcorn III, B.S.

Advisory Professor: Scott D. Lane, Ph.D.

Human interaction is comprised of common, yet complex, behaviors and the outcomes of these social behaviors can beneficially or detrimentally impact individual and public health. One social behavior that can have profound detrimental outcomes is aggression. Aggression is a class of social behavior that is particularly prevalent in individuals with antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) and comorbid substance use disorder (SUD). Aggression in these individuals can manifest at maladaptive levels that place considerable burdens on public health and communities. Therefore, understanding the neurobehavioral underpinnings …

Change Detection In Rhesus Monkeys And Humans, Deepna T. Devkar, Deepna T. Devkar

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Visual working memory (VWM) is the temporary retention of visual information and a key component of cognitive processing. The classical paradigm for studying VWM and its encoding limitations has been change detection. Early work focused on how many items could be stored in VWM, leading to the popular theory that humans could remember no more than 4±1 items. More recently, proposals have suggested that VWM is a noisy, continuous resource distributed across virtually all items in the visual field, resulting in diminished memory quality rather than limited quantity. This debate about the nature of VWM has predominantly been studied with …

Cellular-Based Brain Pathology In The Anterior Cingulate Cortex Of Males With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Jessica D. Crawford

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) now affects 1 in 68 children in the United States. Disorders within this spectrum share hallmark deficits in verbal and nonverbal communication, repetitive behavior, and social interaction. The cause of ASD is still unknown. Even though hundreds of genetic abnormalities have been identified in ASD, these markers account for less than 1% of all ASD cases. Researchers continue to search for pathological markers common to all or most cases of ASD. The research presented in this dissertation used a novel combination of state-of-the-art methods to investigate brain pathology in ASD. Postmortem anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) from …

A Comprehensive Study Of The Effects Of Neurotoxins On Noradrenergic Phenotypes, Neuronal Responses And Potential Intervention By Antidepressants In Noradrenergic Cells, Yan Wang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

It has been reported that locus coeruleus (LC) degeneration precedes the degeneration of other neurons in the brain in some neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and Parkinson’s disease (PD). However, the precise mechanisms of neurodegeneration remain to be elucidated. N-(2-chloroethyl)-N-ethyl-2-bromobenzylamine (DSP4) has been widely used as a noradrenergic neurotoxin in the development of AD and PD animal models for specific LC degeneration. However, the precise mechanism of action of DSP4 remains unclear. An increased systemic DNA damage caused by neurotoxin or oxidative stress has been found to be related to the pathogenic development of neurodegeneration. The process of neurodegeneration …

Functional Characterization Of The Arginine Vasotocin 4 Receptor (Vt4r) In Sensory Circumventricular Organs Of The Chicken Gallus Gallus, Nguiessan Alphonse Aman

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Past studies have shown that the avian vasotocin 4 receptor (VT4R), homologous to the mammalian arginine vasopressin receptor 1a (V1aR/AVPR1A) is involved in immobilization stress. It was not known, however, whether the receptor is also associated with osmotic stress, and if so, what brain regions may be involved. Four treatment groups of chicks were used for the study. One group was subjected to 1h immobilization stress and two groups were administered intraperitoneal injection of 3 M NaCl or 0.15 M NaCl. One additional group served as controls. After 1 h, blood samples were taken for the determination of plasma levels …