Behavioral Neurobiology Commons^™

Adolescent Binge-Like Feeding And Neuroinflammation: Effects Of Intermittent Palatable Diet Access On Microglial Activation In The Brain In Adolescents, Jaimie T. Yu

CMC Senior Theses

Binge eating disorder (BED), one of the most common eating disorders in the United States (Definition & Facts for Binge Eating Disorder - NIDDK, n.d.), is characterized by recurrent episodes of consuming large quantities of food in a short period of time accompanied by a sense of loss of control. The intermittent access (INT) model reliably produces binge-like eating in adult rodents, with animals showing episodic hyperphagia upon time-limited access to a high-fat, high-sugar (HFHS) diet. In adult female rats, INT access produces elevated meal size and reduced satiety ratio relative to controls (Maske et al., 2020), and promotes microglial …

The Standing Of Anger: Insights From The Debate(S) On Constructed Emotion, Andrew Holzer

CMC Senior Theses

In her book, Anger and Forgiveness: Resentment, Generosity, Justice, Martha Nussbaum argues that anger is inherently flawed because it fundamentally contains the desire for payback. To support her argument, she posits specific metaphysical claims about the nature of emotions like anger. This thesis is an extended critique of her metaphysical foundation from the perspective of empirical research in the neuroscience of emotion. The first reason to dispute this picture is descriptive; this view of anger is based on an outdated version of cognitive appraisal theory, which sees emotions as triggered directly by static moments of cognitive appraisal. The second …

What Are We Most Curious About? Understanding The Relationship Between Curiosity And Marginal Knowledge, Alexis Lee

CMC Senior Theses

There are several competing theories about the relationship between curiosity and metacognitive judgment, or one’s assessment of their own knowledge. Novelty theories say that curiosity is highest for wholly unknown information; complexity theories say that curiosity is highest for moderately unknown information; and the Region of Proximal Learning (RPL) theory says that curiosity is highest for almost-known information. The present study aimed to address how curiosity differs within marginal knowledge (MK), memory content that is available but not accessible, across two experiments. In both experiments, participants responded to 100 short-answer general knowledge questions, selecting a phenomenological category to represent their …

The Influence Of Aging And Cognitive Load On Neural Oscillations: An Analysis Of Resting-State And Task-Related Alpha Waves, Heather Shipley

CMC Senior Theses

Neurodegenerative disease associated with aging can have devastating effects on cognitive function, but of interest is how healthy aging affects cognitive and neural function. One measure of neural function associated with aging and cognitive decline is alpha-band oscillations (8-13 Hz) in electroencephalography data (EEG). Alpha-band oscillations are thought to play a role in complex cognitive function and network coordination through inhibitory processes indexed via alpha suppression. We examined whether the aperiodic component of neural activity, a marker of neural noise, influences findings of age-related differences in alpha-band oscillatory activity. In this study, we examined how aging and increased cognitive load …

Treatment Of Anxiety By Transcutaneous Vagus Nerve Stimulation: A Retrospective Chart Review, Rhea Gandhi

CMC Senior Theses

Surgical vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) was FDA cleared for depression (2005) and epilepsy. (1997). In the surgical procedure, a pacemaker is implanted below the collarbone (clavicle) and connected to the vagus nerve in the neck. Transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation (tVNS) is a non-surgical alternative to VNS and there is evidence supporting its effectiveness for several conditions. Advantages include lower cost and fewer adverse side effects.

Anxiety is tied to excess or unopposed sympathetic nervous system activity, while the parasympathetic nervous system, especially the vagus nerve, is relatively underactive. This study aimed to investigate a potential impact of regular tVNS stimulation …

A Study Of Limited Bedding And Nesting On Maternal Behavior For Postpartum Depression, Emma Brezoczky

CMC Senior Theses

Postpartum depression (PPD) affects up to 20% of mothers in the US and can detrimentally affect both the mother and psychosocial development of the child (Pearlstein et al, 2009). So far, research on PPD is limited and the underlying neuropathology remains unclear. Low socioeconomic status is one risk factor that increases the risk of PPD tenfold (Goyal et al, 2010). The low resource limited bedding and nesting (LBN) paradigm used for rodents has the potential to model this risk factor. LBN has not previously been studied with PPD, but observations of disrupted maternal behaviors and depressive phenotypes makes it a …