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Systems Neuroscience

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Articles 1 - 19 of 19

Full-Text Articles in Biological Psychology

Towards A New Role Of Mitochondrial Hydrogen Peroxide In Synaptic Function, Cliyahnelle Z. Alexander May 2024

Towards A New Role Of Mitochondrial Hydrogen Peroxide In Synaptic Function, Cliyahnelle Z. Alexander

Student Theses and Dissertations

Aerobic metabolism is known to generate damaging ROS, particularly hydrogen peroxide. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are highly reactive molecules containing oxygen that have the potential to cause damage to cells and tissues in the body. ROS are highly reactive atoms or molecules that rapidly interact with other molecules within a cell. Intracellular accumulation can result in oxidative damage, dysfunction, and cell death. Due to the limitations of H2O2 (hydrogen peroxide) detectors, other impacts of ROS exposure may have been missed. HyPer7, a genetically encoded sensor, measures hydrogen peroxide emissions precisely and sensitively, even at sublethal levels, during …


The Effects Of False Heartbeat Feedback On Moral Judgment, Scott Koenig Sep 2022

The Effects Of False Heartbeat Feedback On Moral Judgment, Scott Koenig

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Research on human morality is at a crossroads, with one side claiming that moral judgment is the result of rational inference and the other side claiming that it is the result of emotion-laden intuition. This study investigated whether emotion drives moral judgment by manipulating a core component of the experience of emotion: physiological arousal. The sample consisted of 77 undergraduate students at Brooklyn College (57% women, 43% men; mean age = 20.1). One group of participants was led to believe their heart was beating quickly, and another group slowly, while they read and evaluated a series of text vignettes depicting …


Experience-Dependent Changes In Nucleus Accumbens Activity Predict Cued Approach Learning: Contribution Of Nmda Receptors, Mercedes Vega Villar Feb 2020

Experience-Dependent Changes In Nucleus Accumbens Activity Predict Cued Approach Learning: Contribution Of Nmda Receptors, Mercedes Vega Villar

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Animals learn associations between environmental cues and the natural rewards they predict (e.g., food, water, sex). As a result, reward-predictive cues come to trigger vigorous reward-seeking responses. Many neurons in the nucleus accumbens (NAc) become excited upon presentation of an already-learned reward-predictive cue. These NAc responses encode the motivational value of the cue and are necessary for the expression of the subsequent approach behavior. However, the precise temporal relationship between the emergence of cue-evoked excitations in the NAc and the acquisition of cued approach behavior remains unknown. In Experiment 1, NAc activity was recorded as rats learned to approach a …


Mechanisms Of Value-Biased Prioritization In Fast Sensorimotor Decision Making, Kivilcim Afacan-Seref Jan 2020

Mechanisms Of Value-Biased Prioritization In Fast Sensorimotor Decision Making, Kivilcim Afacan-Seref

Dissertations and Theses

In dynamic environments, split-second sensorimotor decisions must be prioritized according to potential payoffs to maximize overall rewards. The impact of relative value on deliberative perceptual judgments has been examined extensively, but relatively little is known about value-biasing mechanisms in the common situation where physical evidence is strong but the time to act is severely limited. This research examines the behavioral and electrophysiological indices of how value biases split-second perceptual decisions and the possible mechanisms underlying the process. In prominent decision models, a noisy but statistically stationary representation of sensory evidence is integrated over time to an action-triggering bound, and value-biases …


Structure And Function Of Dopamine In The Inner Ear And Auditory Efferent System Of A Vocal Fish, Jonathan T. Perelmuter Sep 2019

Structure And Function Of Dopamine In The Inner Ear And Auditory Efferent System Of A Vocal Fish, Jonathan T. Perelmuter

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The neuromodulator dopamine is considered essential for coordinating the internal motivational state of an organism with appropriate behavioral responses to stimuli in the external environment. This could be accomplished by modifying the function of neural circuits involved in sensory processing such that they are “tuned in” and optimally sensitive to important stimuli during critical time windows. While dopamine modulation of auditory processing has been studied in the central nervous system, neuromodulation can also occur outside the brain, in the inner ear. The majority of investigations of dopamine in the ear are conducted using rodents and focus on its role in …


Acute Social Defeat-Induced Neuroinflammation In The Vmpfc Of Syrian Hamsters Via Microglial Activation, Thomas Clarity Apr 2019

Acute Social Defeat-Induced Neuroinflammation In The Vmpfc Of Syrian Hamsters Via Microglial Activation, Thomas Clarity

EURēCA: Exhibition of Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement

Research suggests causal relationships between neuroinflammation and stress-related psychopathologies. Exposure to moderate or chronic psychological stress in rodents leads to increased activation of microglia, the brain’s resident immune cells. The ventral medial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) is a key limbic region involved in top-down regulation of psychological stress and mediates the deleterious effects of microglial activity following prolonged restraint stress. While there is a growing body of literature indicating that chronic social defeat increases microglial activity in the vmPFC, there has been little research investigating the effects of acute social defeat stress. Here, we used an acute social defeat paradigm in …


Contextually Modulated Avoidance Behavior In Rats Post-Pavlovian Extinction, Lauren Branigan Feb 2019

Contextually Modulated Avoidance Behavior In Rats Post-Pavlovian Extinction, Lauren Branigan

Theses and Dissertations

The following study sought to examine the psychological substrates of renewal (e.g.., context dependent extinction processes) for conditioned avoidance behaviors in rats. Using signaled active avoidance conditioning, rats acquired two-way shuttle responding, to two different auditory stimuli. These behaviors were then extinguished through exposure to the auditory stimuli where shuttling behavior was now without consequence. Subjects were then tested for renewal of avoidance in three distinct renewal sequences (e.g., ABA vs ABB, AAB vs AAA, and ABC vs ABB) in three separate groups of rats. It was found that subjects showed more responding to a stimulus presented outside of its …


Timing Is Everything: Temporal Dynamics Of Brain Activity Using The Human Connectome Project, Francesca Lofaro Jan 2019

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 …


Effort-Related Motivational Dysfunctions: Behavioral And Neurochemical Studies Of The Wistar-Kyoto Rat Model Of Depression, Brendan Abbott Jul 2018

Effort-Related Motivational Dysfunctions: Behavioral And Neurochemical Studies Of The Wistar-Kyoto Rat Model Of Depression, Brendan Abbott

Masters Theses

Depression and related disorders are characterized by motivational dysfunctions, including deficits in behavioral activation and exertion of effort. Animal models of relevance to depression represent a critical starting point in elucidating the neurobiological mechanisms underlying motivational dysfunctions. The present study explored the use of the Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) animal model of depression to examine effort-related functions as measured by voluntary wheel running and performance on a mixed fixed ratio 5/progressive ratio (FR5/PR) operant task. Given the known link between activational aspects of motivation and the mesocorticolimbic dopamine (DA) system, the behavioral effects of d-amphetamine (0.5 and 1.0 mg/kg, IP), a psychostimulant …


Possible Breakdown Of Dopamine Receptor Synergism In A Mouse Model Of Huntington's Disease, Samantha F. Kennedy Dec 2017

Possible Breakdown Of Dopamine Receptor Synergism In A Mouse Model Of Huntington's Disease, Samantha F. Kennedy

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

The model of basal ganglia function proposed by Albin, Young and Penney (1989) describes two anatomically independent motor pathways, the direct and indirect. However, under normal conditions striatal dopamine (DA) is required for the expression of motor behavior, and DAergic control of the two pathways (via D1 and D2 receptors, respectively) is dependent on co-activation. We tested for a possible breakdown of D1/D2 synergism using transgenic R6/1 mice bearing the human huntingtin allele (Htt). Motor stereotypy, observed prior to the onset of HD-related symptoms, was rated on a 5-point scale following activation of: A) D1 receptors alone, B) D2 receptors …


The Role Of Glutamate Neurotransmission In The Ventral Tegmental Area In The Expression Of Conditioned Approach Learning, Priscila Hachimine-Merli Sep 2017

The Role Of Glutamate Neurotransmission In The Ventral Tegmental Area In The Expression Of Conditioned Approach Learning, Priscila Hachimine-Merli

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Conditioned stimuli (CSs) come to function as CSs by acquiring the capacity to activate the same mesocorticolimbic dopamine (DA) neurons activated by primary rewards, producing conditioned activation of these neurons and their associated motivational states. This model stipulates that CSs activate mesocorticolimbic DA systems through the activation of glutamate receptors on DA neurons in the ventral tegmental area (VTA). We tested the hypothesis that glutamate receptor stimulation in the VTA is necessary for the expression of conditioned approach. Rats were tested in a conditioned approach protocol that consisted of 7 consecutive conditioning sessions (light presentations and food were paired), one …


Neurotensin Nts1 And Nts2 Receptor Agonists Produce Anxiolytic-Like Effects In The 22-Khz Ultrasonic Vocalization Model In Rats, Floyd F. Steele Iii, Shannon C. Whitehouse, Jacob S. Aday, Adam J. Prus Mar 2017

Neurotensin Nts1 And Nts2 Receptor Agonists Produce Anxiolytic-Like Effects In The 22-Khz Ultrasonic Vocalization Model In Rats, Floyd F. Steele Iii, Shannon C. Whitehouse, Jacob S. Aday, Adam J. Prus

Journal Articles

Neurotensin is a neuropeptide neurotransmitter that interacts with multiple neurotransmitter systems, including those regulating amygdalar function, via NTS1 and NTS2 receptors. Both receptors are expressed in the amygdala and agonists for NTS1 or NTS2 receptors have exhibited anxiolytic effects in animal models. Systemic adminstration of NTS1 receptor agonist PD149163 was recently shown to reduce footshock conditioned 22-kHz ultrasonic vocalizations in rats, suggesting that PD149163 produced an anxiolytic effect. The effects that neurotensin may have or a selective NTS2receptor agonist may have on 22-kHz vocalizations has yet to be examined. The current study evaluated …


“My Logic Is Undeniable”: Replicating The Brain For Ideal Artificial Intelligence, Samuel C. Adams Apr 2016

“My Logic Is Undeniable”: Replicating The Brain For Ideal Artificial Intelligence, Samuel C. Adams

Senior Honors Theses

Alan Turing asked if machines can think, but intelligence is more than logic and reason. I ask if a machine can feel pain or joy, have visions and dreams, or paint a masterpiece. The human brain sets the bar high, and despite our progress, artificial intelligence has a long way to go. Studying neurology from a software engineer’s perspective reveals numerous uncanny similarities between the functionality of the brain and that of a computer. If the brain is a biological computer, then it is the embodiment of artificial intelligence beyond anything we have yet achieved, and its architecture is advanced …


Polychlorinated Biphenyl Exposure Alters Oxytocin Receptor Gene Expression And Maternal Behavior In Rat, Howard Cromwell Dec 2014

Polychlorinated Biphenyl Exposure Alters Oxytocin Receptor Gene Expression And Maternal Behavior In Rat, Howard Cromwell

Howard Casey Cromwell

Polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) is a persistent organic pollutant known to induce diverse molecular and behavioral alterations. Effects of PCB exposure could be transmitted to future generations via changes in behavior and gene expression. Previous work has shown that PCB-exposure can alter social behavior. The present study extends this work by examining a possible molecular mechanism for these changes. Pregnant rats (Sprague-Dawley) were exposed through diet to a combination of non-coplanar (PCB 47 - 2,20,4,40-tetrachlorobiphenyl) and coplanar (PCB 77 - 3,30,4,40- tetrachlorobiphenyl) congeners. Maternal care behaviors were examined by evaluating the rate and quality of nest building on the last 4 …


Fiber Pathways For Language In The Developing Brain: A Diffusion Tensor Imaging (Dti) Study, Iris J. Broce Mar 2014

Fiber Pathways For Language In The Developing Brain: A Diffusion Tensor Imaging (Dti) Study, Iris J. Broce

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The present study characterized two fiber pathways important for language, the superior longitudinal fasciculus/arcuate fasciculus (SLF/AF) and the frontal aslant tract (FAT), and related these tracts to speech, language, and literacy skill in children five to eight years old. We used Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) to characterize the fiber pathways and administered several language assessments. The FAT was identified for the first time in children. Results showed no age-related change in integrity of the FAT, but did show age-related change in the left (but not right) SLF/AF. Moreover, only the integrity of the right FAT was related to phonology but …


An Introduction To Drugs And The Neuroscience Of Behavior, Adam J. Prus Jan 2014

An Introduction To Drugs And The Neuroscience Of Behavior, Adam J. Prus

Books

This up-to-date text provides an introductory overview of the nervous system actions and behavioral effects of the major classes of psychoactive drugs, using pedagogy unique among pharmacology texts to make the topic approachable.


Reportinfluence Of Emotional States On Inhibitory Gating: Animal Models To Clinical Neurophysiology, Howard Cromwell Dec 2013

Reportinfluence Of Emotional States On Inhibitory Gating: Animal Models To Clinical Neurophysiology, Howard Cromwell

Howard Casey Cromwell

tIntegrating research efforts using a cross-domain approach could redefine traditional constructs used inbehavioral and clinical neuroscience by demonstrating that behavior and mental processes arise not fromfunctional isolation but from integration. Our research group has been examining the interface betweencognitive and emotional processes by studying inhibitory gating. Inhibitory gating can be measured viachanges in behavior or neural signal processing. Sensorimotor gating of the startle response is a well-usedmeasure. To study how emotion and cognition interact during startle modulation in the animal model,we examined ultrasonic vocalization (USV) emissions during acoustic startle and prepulse inhibition. Wefound high rates of USV emission during the …


The Effect Of Visual Wulst Lesions And Trigeminal Nerve Sectioning On The Discrimination Of Magnetic Inclination In The Homing Pigeon (Columba Livia), Merissa Acerbi Jan 2013

The Effect Of Visual Wulst Lesions And Trigeminal Nerve Sectioning On The Discrimination Of Magnetic Inclination In The Homing Pigeon (Columba Livia), Merissa Acerbi

Honors Projects

The ability of homing pigeons to return to their loft from unknown places has fascinated scientists for centuries. It is well established that homing pigeons, like migratory birds, posses an innate magnetic inclination compass to determine direction by measuring the angle between the magnetic field vector and the Earth's surface. Recent work has indicated that the avian magnetic compass is light mediated and appears to mediate magnetic information to the brain. This occurs via a visual pathway with processing in the visual Wulst area of the forebrain. There is, however, also evidence from other avian species that magnetic direction may …


Serotonin Transporter (5-Httlpr) Genotype And Childhood Trauma Are Associated With Individual Differences In Decision Making, Scott Stoltenberg Dec 2010

Serotonin Transporter (5-Httlpr) Genotype And Childhood Trauma Are Associated With Individual Differences In Decision Making, Scott Stoltenberg

Scott F. Stoltenberg

The factors that influence individual differences in decision making are not yet fully characterized, but convergent evidence is accumulating that implicates serotonin (5-HT) system function. Therefore, both genes and environments that influence serotonin function are good candidates for association with risky decision making. In the present study we examined associations between common polymorphisms in the serotonin transporter gene (SLC6A4; 5-HTTLPR and rs25531), the experience of childhood trauma and decision making on the Iowa gambling task (IGT) in 391 (64.5% female) healthy Caucasian adults. Homozygosity for the 5-HTTLPR L allele was associated with riskier decision making in the first block of …