Biological Psychology Commons^™

The Effect Of Increased Sleep On The Circadian Rhythm Of Salivary Cortisol Concentrations, Mariah Jacqueline Scott

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

Cortisol is a salivary marker for the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA) component of the stress response. The activity of the HPA demonstrates a circadian rhythm. It is well known that sleep deprivation increases cortisol concentrations. In this study, we looked at the effect of an increase of one-hour sleep for one month on the circadian rhythm of the HPA.

Eight college subjects (n=8) collected saliva during their normal sleep wake cycle every 4 hours for 24 hours. Saliva collections were repeated after a month of increase of sleep by 1-hour. The subjects also completed demographic forms that asked for age, sex, …

The Effects Of Lipopolysaccharide-Induced Neuroinflammation On Learning And Forgetting In Juvenile Rats, Michele Barry

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

The inability to remember events experienced very early in life is referred to as Infantile Amnesia (IA) and has been observed in both humans and animals. Over the years interest in the phenomenon waned, but has recently increased with the discovery of new neurobiological methods to study brain function (e.g., Callaghan, Li & Richardson, 2014). The neurobiological mechanism behind IA has yet to be determined, but several innovative theories have been developed with these new research methods. The neurogenesis hypothesis theorizes that increased neurogenesis during early development disrupts previously established memories. The hippocampus, an area that mediates both the memory …

Do Rats Consume Ethanol To Regulate A Negative Emotion Induced By A Successive Negative Contrast Procedure?, Andrew Dieterich

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

According to the self-medication hypothesis, individuals may consume drugs or alcohol, or engage in other behaviors in order to reduce a negative emotional state (Khantzian, 1985; Gross, 2013; Crum et al., 2013). Rats experiencing a negative state induced by various stressors (Bertholomey et al., 2010), or a decrease or loss in reward value of a sucrose solution (Manzo et al., 2015; Manzo et al., 2014) demonstrate increased consumption of alcohol. I used successive (SNC) and anticipatory negative contrast (ANC) procedures to further examine this hypothesis and the previous findings (Manzo et al., 2015), that rats increase consumption and preference for …