Cognitive Neuroscience Commons^™

Prospective Associations Of Fish Consumption In Cognitive Function And Depressive Symptoms Among Puerto Rican Adults, Johanna Grace Koroma

Honors Theses and Capstones

Johanna Koroma, Anne Bodenrader, and Sherman Bigornia

Objectives

Fish intake has been linked to certain neural benefits, specifically in slowing cognitive decline and attenuating depressive symptoms. However, existing evidence is conflicting and insufficient. The present study aimed to investigate the association of fish consumption with depressive symptoms and cognitive function among Puerto Rican adults.

Methods

Data is acquired from the Boston Puerto Rican Health Study, comprised of 1517 adults residing in the Boston Metro Area. Dietary patterns were evaluated using a validated food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) with follow-up surveys conducted 2 years from baseline. Consumption was organized into quartiles based …

The Biobehavioral Effects Of Embryonic Exposure To Neural Inflammation And Oxidative Stress In Zebrafish, Dalton J. Anderson

Honors College Theses

The purpose of this research is to improve understanding of the neurodevelopmental effects of embryonic exposure to elevated inflammation and oxidative stress induced by the antipyretic drug acetaminophen (APAP). Our study was the first to examine the interactive effects of APAP and inflammation in zebrafish embryos and how the treatments affect brain development and larval behavior. Experimental groups of zebrafish larvae were exposed to lipopolysaccharide (LPS) to induce inflammation, APAP, or LPS + APAP and larval behavior was analyzed using Ethovision automated behavioral tracking software. We also measured changes in whole-brain Glycogen Synthase Kinase 3 Beta (GSK3B) and GSK3B phosphorylation, …

Target Selection And Enhancement During Attentional Tracking, Marvin R. Maechler

Dartmouth College Ph.D Dissertations

At any waking moment, we are bombarded with more sensory information than we can fully process. Attention is necessary to deal with the dynamic world we live in. One fundamental function of vision and attention is to keep track of moving objects, but what are the targets of attention during tracking?

One of the first theories of attentional tracking predicted that targets would be selected at early processing stages. By employing the double-drift illusion, which dissociates physical and perceived positions of moving objects, we investigated which of these positions is selected for tracking. Contrary to earlier theories and in line …

Utilizing Ai Integrated Neuroimaging Technology To Expand Upon Machine Learning In Positron Emission Tomography Technology With The Aim Of Detecting Amyloid Beta Biomarkers Early In The Onset Of Alzheimer's., Ethan S. Terman

Undergraduate Research Posters

Early intervention in Alzheimer's is vital for treatment. The earlier a professional can detect symptoms and make a diagnosis the earlier a prognosis can be implemented. With the prevalence of data in our day-to-day world combined with Artificial intelligence (AI), utilizing both for machine learning can pave the way for more accurate and efficient detection of Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases. AI combined with Machine learning (ML) increases diagnostic efficiency and reduces human errors, making it a valuable resource for physicians and clinicians alike. With the increasing amount of data processing and image interpretation required, the ability to use AI …

Developmental Stress Signaling And Substance Use: Cortisol Reactivity Moderates The Effect Of Early Life Adversity On Alcohol Misuse Behaviors Among College Students, Keeley Lariviere

CMC Senior Theses

Stress-motivated drinking is common among college students facing increased independence and novel stressors. Early life adversity (ELA) as well as individual variation in neuroendocrine stress signaling significantly increase risk for alcohol misuse. Research on the relationships between ELA and the physiological stress response system, suggest that a dampened stress response may mediate the relations between ELA and alcohol misuse. However, other research has suggested that rather than acting as mediator, stress reactivity may interact (moderate) the relations between ELA and alcohol misuse. This study examined the associations between ELA, cortisol reactivity to an acute stressor, and self-reported alcohol misuse in …

Changes In Flanker Task Performance Following High-Intensity Exercise In Endurance Athletes, Felix E. Cottet-Puinel

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Executive function performance following acute aerobic exercise can be influenced by multiple variables. However, little is known about the lasting effects of these exercise-induced changes. This study aimed to determine the extent to which exercise intensity impacts executive function. 14 young endurance-trained adults (5 female, 9 male) performed an Eriksen flanker task before and immediately after running high-intensity until failure and isochronal moderate-intensity (~12 min). Pre- to post-exercise-induced changes in reaction time (ms), accuracy (%), and self-reported mental effort (1-9 rating) were analyzed by overall tasks and through tasks subsections. Results showed improvement in reaction time following high- and moderate-intensity …

Impact Of Amyloid And Cardiometabolic Risk Factors On Prognostic Capacity Of Plasma Neurofilament Light Chain For Neurodegeneration, Keun You Kim, Eosu Kim, Jun-Young Lee, Alzheimer’S Disease Neuroimaging Initiative

Neurology Faculty Publications

Background Plasma neurofilament light chain (NfL) is a blood biomarker of neurodegeneration, including Alzheimer’s disease. However, its usefulness may be influenced by common conditions in older adults, including amyloid‑β (Aβ) deposition and cardiometabolic risk factors like hypertension, diabetes mellitus (DM), impaired kidney function, and obesity. This longitudinal observational study using the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative cohort investigated how these conditions influence the prognostic capacity of plasma NfL. Methods Non‑demented participants (cognitively unimpaired or mild cognitive impairment) underwent repeated assessments including the Alzheimer’s Disease Assessment Scale‑Cognitive subscale (ADAS‑Cog) scores, hippocampal volumes, and white matter hyperintensity (WMH) volumes at 6‑ or 12‑month …

Evaluating The Potential Of Using Eeg To Monitor Cognitive Workload In Simulated Suborbital Flight, Erik Seedhouse

Journal of Aviation/Aerospace Education & Research

Mental workload can be assessed using electrophysiological measures of brain activity, such as electroencephalography (EEG). EEG signals reveal cortical electrical activity. This cortical activity was recorded using specialized headsets. The focus of this research was to study cognitive performance (CP) in four pilots during simulated suborbital flights under nominal day and night profiles and under contingency day and night profiles. A 14-channel EMOTIV EEG headset measured the participants' brain activity while they flew simulated flights in a Suborbital Spaceflight Simulator (SSFS). Several sessions of EEG data were recorded from each subject, and feature extraction was applied. Data revealed that real-time …

Characterizing Resting Cerebral Blood Flow In Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder With Arterial Spin Labeling, Hannah R. Wild

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a condition characterized by intrusive thoughts (obsessions) and ritualistic behaviors (compulsions) profoundly impacting daily functioning and quality of life. Neuroimaging studies using various techniques have revealed inconsistent resting cerebral blood flow (rCBF) patterns in OCD patients, particularly within the cortico-striatal-thalamo-cortical (CSTC) circuit and sensorimotor network. Arterial Spin Labeling (ASL) MRI offers a promising, noninvasive method for directly measuring rCBF. This study, using data from the Yale HCP Trio study, analyzed unmedicated OCD patients and healthy controls, who underwent two consecutive resting pulsed-ASL scans. OCD patients with lower obsessional severity exhibited higher perfusion in the pre- and …

Mental Imagery Contributes To Loss Aversion By Amplifying Negative Emotions, Daniel Kroshchuk

CMC Senior Theses

Defined as the experience of sensory information without the presence of external stimuli, mental imagery is thought to play a role in memory, emotional regulation, and decision-making. Recent studies suggest that mental imagery varies widely across the general population, with approximately 2-4% of individuals having a reduction or complete absence of visual imagination, a phenomenon known as aphantasia. Individuals with aphantasia show reduced emotional arousal to fear-inducing imagery, raising the question of how variation in imagery affects cognitive processes that are influenced by emotion. Specifically, in economic decision-making it has been shown that the prospect of loss triggers negative emotions, …

Understanding The Significance Of Object Recognition In Cowbirds: Exploring The Interplay Of Cognition, Social Behaviour And Reproductive Success, Eric Rushton

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Every day, animals use cognitive processes to make decisions in their environment such as those regarding food sources, threats and mates. One such important process provides the ability to recognize objects and individuals in order to guide future actions. Since object recognition and individual recognition are related processes, they may be linked to social cognition and to fitness; links not commonly explored in the literature. In this thesis I seek to examine (1) how brown-headed cowbirds (Molothrus ater) attend to and react to novel objects in their environment and (2) how this ability to recognize objects is related …

Beyond Neural Data: Cognitive Biometrics And Mental Privacy, Patrick Magee, Marcello Ienca, Nita Farahany

Faculty Scholarship

Innovations in wearable technology and artificial intelligence have enabled consumer devices to process and transmit data about human mental states (cognitive, affective, and conative) through what this paper refers to as ‘‘cognitive biometrics.’’ Devices such as brain-computer interfaces, extended reality headsets, and fitness wearables offer significant benefits in health, wellness, and entertainment through the collection and processing and cognitive biometric data. However, they also pose unique risks to mental privacy due to their ability to infer sensitive information about individuals. This paper challenges the current approach to protecting individuals through legal protections for ‘‘neural data’’ and advocates for a more …

Visual Imagery Subcategories And Their Neural Associations, Miguel Ibarguren

Undergraduate Scholarship and Creative Works

This literature review compiles research findings related to the brain areas associated with various visual imagery subcategories and explores their contributions to them. Through a search procedure, four research projects were used to identify ten distinct brain areas that demonstrated greater involvement in visual imagery. The visual imagery subcategories discussed in these research projects, and investigated in this review, include scene construction, episodic memory, imagery vividness, and visuospatial imagery. Scene construction was found to utilize the parahippocampal gyrus, hippocampus, retrosplenial cortex, and posterior parietal cortex. Episodic memory involves the same areas as scene construction, but also includes the precuneus and …

Cerebrospinal Fluid Biomarkers Not Associated With Neurologic Compromise Among Mild Cognitively Impaired Reverters With Parkinson's Disease, Cameron Ryczek

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Parkinson's Disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disease characterized by motor (e.g. tremors) and non-motor symptoms (e.g. cognitive impairment). PD patients' change in cognitive functioning can be observed using the following classifications: cognitively intact, mild cognitive impairment (MCI), or dementia (PDD). MCI has many subtypes, one of which is MCI reversion which is defined as those with MCI at one time point reverting to cognitively intact later. While there is limited research into the utility of MCI reversion and its relationship with cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers in PD, this study will begin to elucidate this relationship. To this end, data from …

Affective Liking Influences Reward Processing In Depression: A Computational Eeg Approach, Garima Singh

Psychology ETDs

Reinforcement learning (RL) enables agents to learn through interaction with their environment. This empowers individuals to optimize actions in complex and dynamic settings. The component of event related potential (ERP) termed as the Reward Positivity (RewP) evidently signifies a fundamental reward prediction error (RPE) associated with rewards. This characteristic implies that it represents a fundamental computational process in the assessment of RL. When a reward is particularly pleasurable or liked by an individual, it tends to elicit an amplified RewP signal, reflecting the heightened positive affect. RPE arises from disparities between anticipated and actual rewarding outcomes and is known to …

Sex Differences In Stress Reactivity, Brain Morphology, And Oxytocin In The Hypothalamus Of The Gray Short-Tailed Opossum (Monodelphis Domestica), Esperanza I. Zacarias, Daniela Rodriguez, Alexandra Chalons, Sasawan Heingraj, Nicole Altamirano, Joseph Rafac, John L. Vandeberg, Mario Gil

Research Colloquium

Understanding the effects of stress on behavior and cognition is important due to its impact on mental health and wellbeing (Schneiderman et al. 2005). Translational animal research can contribute to the development of new treatments that can improve therapeutic outcomes and our understanding of the neurobiology of stress. In the present study, we complement behavioral stress reactivity with immunohistochemical localization of oxytocin in the hypothalamus, a neuropeptide that regulates stress (Neumann & Slattery, 2016). Oxytocin has potential therapeutic use for mental health disorders (Neumann & Slattery, 2016), and the effects of oxytocin seem to be sexually dimorphic (Love, 2018). Using …

Understanding The Resources, Barriers, Facilitators And Interests About Aging And Dementia Research Of Community Members From The Rio Grande Valley, Karla Daniela Lopez Lorenzo, Rosa V. Pirela Mavarez, Gabriela Osuna, Kendra Stine, Nathalie Chacon, Noe Garza, Gladys E. Maestre

Research Symposium

Background: One of ten people aged 65 develops Alzheimer’s Disease and it is one of the sixth-leading cause of death in the United States. The Rio Grande Valley (RGV) is mostly constituted by Hispanic/Latinos (93%), a population that has a 1.5X increased risk of AD onset. Nevertheless, there are not enough resources to support people living with dementia and their care partners. This study will leverage research efforts deployed by the RGV Alzheimer’s Disease Resource Center for Minority Aging Research to understand the social representations about the resources, barriers, facilitators, and interests of the RGV community about dementia and Alzheimer’s …

The Neural Sequalae Of Subjectively Experiencing Autobiographical Memories From The Remote Past And Recent Present Using Fmri, Ava G. Peruski, Nim Singh, Brendan E. Depue

The Cardinal Edge

Autobiographical memory is central to one's sense of self and continuity from past to present. Despite this, there is little research on the neural correlates underlying individual subjective experience of autobiographical memory and how that is related to brain phenomena (i.e., activity, communication). The purpose of this study was to help minimize this gap. We recruited twenty healthy adult participants, who were asked to generate memory cues (1-3 word descriptions) for locations and objects from their early and recent life. After 24 hours, participants were shown these cues then asked to recall the appropriate memory while in an fMRI scanner. …

Examining Metacognitive Access To Low-Level Ensemble Representations, Vladimir Mudragel

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Ensemble perception is a process that allows our sensory systems to rapidly extract summary information about the stimuli in the environment. For example, we are able to get a sense of the average number of items in a group of similar items (Burr & Ross, 2008; Halberda, Sires, & Feigenson, 2006) or the average size of a group of similar shapes of different sizes (Ariely, 2001). It is theorized that the qualitative result of ensemble perception is that it provides a gist impression of the current environment, which then enables attentional processes in the brain to determine which parts of …

Brainwaves, Memory, And Reward, Rebecca Mccune

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The development of effective educational curricula for enhancing learning involves the crucial consideration of effort and rewards. In the realm of education, teachers commonly employ rewards as motivational tools. Traditionally, these rewards are given to students as a recognition of their successful performance. However, a thought-provoking idea emerges: What if we were to extend rewards to students not solely based on accurate answers, but also on the effort they invest, even in cases where their actual response might be incorrect? Our study explores the potential impact of this approach on the way information is absorbed and subsequently retained, specifically focusing …