Cognitive Neuroscience Commons^™

Enhancing The Quality Of Life For Senior Citizens: A Facilitator’S Guidebook For Mindful Music And Movement, Shannon Sexton

Mindfulness Studies Theses

Music appreciation and enjoyment enhance well-being throughout the lifespan. The challenges and constraints that people experience as they age can lead to lack of access to music, decreased physical activity, and fewer avenues for creative expression. Group music and movement interventions created for older populations offer opportunities for social connection and improved quality of life. Mindful practices add further benefit when combined with these interventions. Current available programs are scarce and most often do not encompass mixed modalities. In addition, the benefits of these programs do not show long-term sustainability. The purpose of this thesis is to explore the effects …

Nonobvious Design, Mark Bartholomew

Journal Articles

To earn patent protection, a claimed product design must be “nonobvious.” Yet while nonobviousness has been described as “the heart” and “cornerstone” of the utility patent system, in the design patent context, the term has become next to useless. Instead of actually policing nonobviousness in design, modern courts grant patent rights to any work that is not an exact replica of another. The problem, judges maintain, is that comparing one visual design against another demands the use of aesthetic judgment and aesthetic judgment is an instinctual, subjective process incapable of legal definition. Recent neuroscientific studies of aesthetic judgment dispel some …

High Volume Multiplex Staining Of Mouse Model In Alzheimer’S Associated Disease Pathology, Chloe Embry

Lewis Honors College Thesis Collection

Although neurodegenerative diseases are often clinically distinct, they typically share common pathological markers. One of the most common causes of clinical dementia is Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Pathologically, AD is defined by the presence of intercellular tangles composed of hyperphosphorylated tau proteins and extracellular plaques made of abnormally cleaved amyloid-beta proteins. However recent genome-wide association studies have also found that many of the predispositions for AD are located on or near genes highly expressed in microglia. In the healthy CNS, microglia act as the brain’s immune system and are chiefly involved in neuronal support and maintaining homeostasis throughout the CNS. Typically, …

Assessment Of The Triple Reuptake Inhibitor Diclofensine: Effort-Based Decision-Making In A Rodent Model Of Motivational Dysfunction, Sofia Papanikolaou

Holster Scholar Projects

Serotonin-selective reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are the most commonly prescribed antidepressant medications. Despite their popularity, they remain relatively ineffective at treating effort-related motivational symptoms of depression such as fatigue and anergia. Increasing research on triple reuptake inhibitors (TRIs) that target three neurotransmitters—dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine—has suggested that TRIs could have efficacy in targeting motivational dysfunction due to their dopaminergic effects. Previous research has shown that the dopamine depleting agent tetrabenazine can reliably induce motivational deficits in rats, as evidenced by a shift towards low-effort behavior in effort-based choice tasks, and provide a validated approach to creating a model of motivational dysfunction. …

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder And Identity: The Role Of Ego-Dystonicity, Andrea B. Mullin

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) has been linked to a dysmorphic construction of self that is closely tied to mental illness (Bhar & Kyrios, 2007). Although associations have been found, no study has determined the impact of OCD on one's self-perception, to better understand how to resolve patients' dysmorphic construction and fear of oneself. College students (N = 410; M = 20.60, SD = 4.27) completed an anonymous online survey for course credit. The survey consisted of a demographic questionnaire, the Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory-Revised (Foa et al., 2002), theEgo-Dystonicity Questionnaire (Purdon et al., 2007), and the Self-concept Identity Measure (Kaufman et …

Minding Rights: Mapping Ethical And Legal Foundations Of ‘Neurorights’, Sjors Ligthart, Marcello Ienca, Gerben Meynen, Fruzsina Molnar-Gabor, Roberto Andorno, Christoph Bublitz, Paul Catley, Lisa Claydon, Thomas Douglas, Nita A. Farahany, Joseph J. Fins, Sara Goering, Pim Haselager, Fabrice Jotterand, Andrea Lavazza, Allan Mccay, Abel Wajnerman Paz, Stephen Rainey, Jesper Ryberg, Philipp Kellmeyer

Faculty Scholarship

The rise of neurotechnologies, especially in combination with artificial intelligence (AI)-based methods for brain data analytics, has given rise to concerns around the protection of mental privacy, mental integrity and cognitive liberty – often framed as “neurorights” in ethical, legal, and policy discussions. Several states are now looking at including neurorights into their constitutional legal frameworks, and international institutions and organizations, such as UNESCO and the Council of Europe, are taking an active interest in developing international policy and governance guidelines on this issue. However, in many discussions of neurorights the philosophical assumptions, ethical frames of reference and legal interpretation …

Functional Organization Of Auditory And Reward Systems In Aging, Alexander Belden, Milena Aiello Quinci, Maiya Geddes, Nancy J. Donovan, Suzanne B. Hanser, Psyche Loui

Faculty Works

The intrinsic organization of functional brain networks is known to change with age, and is affected by perceptual input and task conditions. Here, we compare functional activity and connectivity during music listening and rest between younger (n = 24) and older (n = 24) adults, using whole-brain regression, seed-based connectivity, and ROI–ROI connectivity analyses. As expected, activity and connectivity of auditory and reward networks scaled with liking during music listening in both groups. Younger adults show higher within-network connectivity of auditory and reward regions as compared with older adults, both at rest and during music listening, but this agerelated difference …

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 …

Mapping The Malleable Self: How Self-Views Are Represented And Learned Within The Social Brain, Sasha Carmela Brietzke

Dartmouth College Ph.D Dissertations

Humans possess a unique and wide-ranging ability to self-reflect that takes center stage in our everyday cognition. While many people believe their own self to be immutable, different contexts may warp how we perceive the self. The goal of this dissertation is to investigate two lenses through which we may view the self: (1) across time in the past and future, and (2) through the eyes of others via evaluative feedback. In Studies 1-3, I demonstrate that people’s ratings of their own personality become increasingly less differentiated as they consider more distant past and future selves. This effect was preferential …

American Sign Language (Asl): Linguistically And Cognitively - Why Deaf People Should Learn Asl & Learn It Early, Helena Isabel Berczes

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis presents data supporting the value of including American Sign Language (ASL) in the education of Deaf people. Historically, Deaf education has not fully included or has excluded ASL in an effort to focus on English due to a belief that ASL hinders learning English. ASL must fit within the definition of language with unique linguistic features for its inclusion in language education. Plasticity of the brain lends itself to the ability for language processing networks to form based on language experience. Deaf people can fully access visual language versus auditory language. Therefore, acquiring ASL early in life, during …

Accelerated Forgetting In People With Epilepsy: Pathologic Memory Loss, Its Neural Basis, And Potential Therapies, Sarah Ashley Steimel Phd

Dartmouth College Ph.D Dissertations

While forgetting is vital to human functioning, delineating between normative and disordered forgetting can become incredibly complex. This thesis characterizes a pathologic form of forgetting in epilepsy, identifies a neural basis, and investigates the potential of stimulation as a therapeutic tool. Chapter 2 presents a behavioral characterization of the time course of Accelerated Long-Term Forgetting (ALF) in people with epilepsy (PWE). This chapter shows evidence of ALF on a shorter time scale than previous studies, with a differential impact on recall and recognition. Chapter 3 builds upon the work in Chapter 2 by extending ALF time points and investigating the …

To Laugh Or Not To Laugh: That Is The Question Of Humor Techniques And Sex Differences, Yu-Chen Chan

Journal of Educational Technology Development and Exchange (JETDE)

A humor structure comprises two essential stages: the setup and the punch line. The punch line stage is to provide the incongruity resolution that creates amusement in humor. The current article aimed to look into how humor is amusing and how it differs between the sexes. Functional and effective connectivity analyses in cognitive and affective neuroscience have facilitated the implications of humor comprehension, appreciation, and laughter responses. The processing of incongruity-resolution humor revealed effective connectivity from the amygdala to the precuneus (amygdala → precuneus). Conversely, the processing of nonsense humor demonstrated effective connectivity from the amygdala to the inferior frontal …

The Effects Of Age On Working Memory Capacity And Neural Function, Jasmin P. Joshi

CMC Senior Theses

Do age-related differences in working memory capacities predict specific neural responses? Theories of working memory (WM) suggest that there are different types of WM processes that are associated with specific neural networks and WM declines with age. Event-related potentials (ERPs) evoked by certain tasks are also associated with specific cognitive functions. This study investigates whether specific types of working memory capacities are related to corresponding neural indices of attention and context updating (P3; visual oddball task) or semantic (N400; word-pair paradigm task) processes. In addition, it examines whether age affects this relationship. Younger adults (n=30; ages 18-23) and older adults …

Eeg-Based Spanish Language Proficiency Classification: An Eeg Power Spectrum And Cross-Spectrum Analysis, Blaise Xavier O'Mara, Skyler Baumer

Honors Theses and Capstones

Second language proficiency may be predicted with electrophysiological techniques. In a machine learning application, this electrophysiological data may be used for language instructors and language students to assess their language learning. This study identifies how electroencephalogram (EEG) power spectrum and cross spectrum data of the brain cortex relates to Spanish second language (L2) proficiency of 20 Spanish language students of varying proficiency levels at the University of New Hampshire. The two metrics for assessing cortical power and processing were event-related desynchronization (ERD)—a measure of relative change in power—of the alpha (8-12 Hz) brain frequency band, and alpha and beta (13-30Hz) …

Plant Sentience Revisited: Sifting Through The Thicket Of Perspectives, Paco Calvo, Miguel Segundo-Ortin

Animal Sentience

In our target article (Segundo-Ortin & Calvo 2023), we proposed the intriguing possibility of plant sentience, drawing parallels with non-human animal studies. This response aims to sift through the rich thicket of perspectives offered by our commentators. To do so, we assess the risks of employing double standards, as well as the tendencies of anthropomorphizing and zoomorphizing in plant studies. We also emphasize the need for clarity in linguistic and conceptual terms, examine the neurophysiological evidence for plant sentience, and discuss the ethical implications of such recognition.

Polyrhythmic Pathways: Using Bimanual Coordination Research To Develop A New Framework For Practice, Performance, And Pedagogy, Christian Swafford

Theses and Dissertations--Music

This study reviews and compares percussion literature pertaining to polyrhythms and scientific literature pertaining to bimanual coordination. There exists a gap in the pedagogical approach to polyrhythms, and there is much disagreement between common instructional methods, especially when considered against the findings of several bimanual coordination studies. The purpose of this study is to reveal insight to the percussion community that the learning of polyrhythms is facilitated by the brain in novel ways, and the uniqueness of this learning process requires a rethinking of the current pedagogical approach. Percussion articles, method books, popular literature, and music scores are surveyed alongside …

Plant Sentience? Between Romanticism And Denial: Science, Miguel Segundo-Ortin, Paco Calvo

Animal Sentience

A growing number of non-human animal species are being seriously considered as candidates for sentience, but plants are either forgotten or explicitly excluded from these debates. In our view, this is based on the belief that plant behavior is hardwired and inflexible and on an underestimation of the role of plant electrophysiology. We weigh such assumptions against the evidence to suggest that it is time to take seriously the hypothesis that plants, too, might be sentient. We hope this target article will serve as an invitation to investigate sentience in plants with the same rigor as in non-human animals.

Defining And Exploring Animal Sentience, Andrew N. Rowan, Joyce M. D'Silva Mrs, Ian J.H. Duncan, Nicholas Palmer

Animal Sentience

One of the commentaries on the target article notes that "animal sentience" is difficult to define operationally. This response to the commentaries develops a working, usable definition of animal sentience and examines the relationships between animal emotions and sentience.

Sex Differences In Endothelial Function, Metabolism, And Sleep: Responses To Disrupted Circadian Rhythms, Olga Hecmarie Meléndez-Fernández

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Circadian rhythms are endogenous cycles that recur approximately every 24 h, and manifest in virtually every physiological and behavioral process among the vast majority of organisms. These rhythms, sustained by the central circadian clock, the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) of the hypothalamus, allow for optimal timing of biological processes that ensure organisms’ homeostasis, and are entrained to precisely 24 h by daily exposure to light. Disruption of the molecular mechanisms that drive these rhythms have negative consequences on physiology and behavior that may impair survival. The molecular mechanisms that underlie these effects are widely studied and linked to multiple diseases and …

Cue Reactivity In Electronic Cigarette Users With Sign-Tracking Or Goal-Tracking Behaviors, Polina Krom

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Polina Krom

Cue reactivity is an important predictor of addiction course and relapse. However, cue reactivity is only observed after an addiction develops. As such, it is unclear to what degree cue reactivity represents a state stemming from the addiction process versus a trait-like propensity towards developing cue-reward associations. Work in animal models has pointed to important individual differences in trait-like inclination to attribute incentive salience to reward-predictive cues that is associated with addiction-relevant behavioral and neurobiological features. These individual differences manifest as sign-tracking (ST) and goal-tracking (GT) behaviors during Pavlovian conditioning. Little research has attempted to translate ST and …