Cognitive Neuroscience Commons^™

The Cognition Of Emotion: How Cognitive Control And Working Memory Underly Emotion Regulation Strategy Differences, Nathan Chabin

Pitzer Senior Theses

Working memory is crucial for comprehensively grasping the dynamics of emotion regulation (ER) and cognitive control, as it serves as a foundational cognitive resource that influences how individuals manage their thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. This research aimed to examine the role working memory capacity (WMC) has on Frontal Midline Theta (FMT), an EEG marker for cognitive control, during two common ER strategies: emotional suppression and cognitive reappraisal. Participants performed both an Operation Span working memory task and an ER task, where they viewed a series of negative and neutral images across three conditions. First, participants were instructed to passively view, …

Investigation Of Rna-Binding Protein Expression Changes In The Hippocampus Following Doxorubicin And Cyclophosphamide Treatment, Lijie Chen

Dissertations and Theses

This study investigated the molecular mechanisms underlying chemotherapy-induced cognitive impairment (CICI) following doxorubicin and cyclophosphamide treatment in a rat model, revealing three significant alterations in hippocampal tissue: selective downregulation of heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein A1 (hnRNPA1) (21% decrease, p=0.0298), compromised astrocytic network integrity evidenced by reduced GFAP-positive area in cornu ammonis 3 (CA3) (24%, pB=0.026) and dentate gyrus (DG) (19%, pB=0.027) regions, and elevated cellular senescence marker p19Arf specifically in DG (69%, pB=0.033) and CA3 (27%, pB=0.024). The inverse relationship between hnRNPA1 reduction and p19Arf elevation suggests a potential mechanistic link between RNA dysregulation and senescence induction, with pronounced vulnerability in …

Emotion Processing In Adolescents With Epilepsy And Healthy Controls Using Multi-Modal Neuroimaging, Frances Kathryn E. King

Bioengineering Dissertations - Archive

Epilepsy is increasingly recognized as a disorder not only of seizures but also of widespread network dysfunction, impacting cognitive and emotional processing. One critical cognitive process affected in epilepsy is emotional conflict processing, which relies on the interplay of multiple brain networks. However, the spatiotemporal dynamics of emotional conflict processing in epilepsy, particularly in adolescents, have remained poorly understood. This dissertation investigated the neural mechanisms underlying emotional conflict processing in typically developing adolescents and adolescents with epilepsy using magnetoencephalography (MEG). The first study elucidated the spatiotemporal profile of emotional conflict processing in 24 typically developing adolescents using magnetoencephalography (MEG). Cluster-based …

Weighted Family History Density Of Substance Use: Influence On Participant Substance Use Onset, Escalation, And Duration, Carleigh A. Litteral

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Substance use disorders impose a staggering toll on the United States (U.S.), straining healthcare systems, destabilizing communities, and profoundly impacting both individuals and families. Approximately one in six Americans aged 12 and older had a past-year substance use disorder in 2022 (Key Substance Use, 2022), and nearly one-third of adults experience a substance use disorder in their lifetime (Wu, 2010), contributing to an economic burden exceeding $400 billion annually (National Drug Threat Assessment, 2011). Family history of substance use disorders is a key predictor of vulnerability, with individuals who have affected relatives being 2–8 times more …

Exploring The Effects Of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Of The Right Inferior Frontal Gyrus On Inhibitory Control In Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Colton Rippey

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Background: The right inferior frontal gyrus (rIFG) is implicated in stop signal reaction time (SSRT) performance – a common measure of inhibitory control – and emotional expression and control. Individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) exhibit poorer stop SSRT performance, which is associated with rIFG hypoactivity. Neuromodulation of the rIFG with transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) can significantly improve inhibitory control and reduce fearful responding to threatening stimuli. Research has yet to test the effects of multifocal tDCS targeting the rIFG on inhibitory control or emotional reactivity in individuals with PTSD.

Methods: The current study aims to examine the impact …

Understanding How Hearing Works, Cecilia Zoutewelle

A. The Science of Sound

A 7-page introductory overview of the anatomical and neurological processes of hearing, with illustrations and bullet-point summaries. 

Investigating The Human Face Processing Network: Insights From Acquired Prosopagnosia And Hyperfamiliarity For Faces, Marie-Luise Kieseler

Dartmouth College Ph.D Dissertations

Human faces provide essential social cues that we interpret rapidly, allowing us to recognize identities, interpret emotions, and gauge familiarity. This thesis explores face processing disruptions in four case studies, each offering new insights into the brain’s face recognition mechanisms.

Chapter one presents Annie, a 28-year-old woman who acquired prosopagnosia (face blindness) following COVID-19. After recovering from the severe symptoms of the infection, Annie experienced significant difficulty in recognizing familiar faces and navigating familiar environments. Testing confirmed her impairment in face recognition but showed her preserved cognitive and basic visual processing abilities. Annie was still able to recognize objects and …

Eeg Spectral Analysis Of Nighttime Sleep And Daytime Mslts And Neurocognitive Evaluations In Subjects With Co-Morbid Insomnia And Osa, Yuan Shi, Yuru Nie, Fengyi Hao, Xujun Feng, Ye Zhang, Larry D. Sanford, Rong Ren, Xiangdong Tang

Department of Biomedical and Translational Sciences Faculty Publications

Background

Chronic insomnia and obstructive sleep apnea commonly co-occur. Few studies have explored the neurophysiological and neurocognitive characteristics of COMISA, which could help guide improving treatment diagnostic tools and determining novel therapeutic targets. This study aims to explore the neurophysiological and neurocognitive characteristics of COMISA using electroencephalographic (EEG) spectral analysis and subjective and objective neurocognitive measurements.

Methods

Participants were from our community recruited OSA-insomnia-COMISA cohort with 206 included for our current analysis including 74 chronic insomniacs (CIs), 55 OSA patients and 77 COMISA patients. Standard polysomnography (PSG) and multiple sleep latency tests (MSLTs) were recorded and used to obtain relative …

Die Wirkliche Gefahr Liegt In Der Erosion Der Autonomie: Ein E-Mail-Interview Über Kognitive Freiheit Und Die Problematische Nutzung Neuronaler Daten, Nita Farahany, James Kennaway, Bernd Bösel

Faculty Scholarship

In this interview, James Kennaway and Bernd Bösel talk to Nita Farahany about significant themes related to the idea of mind control, as discussed in her book "The Battle for Your Brain" (2023). The book outlines the risks that neurotechnology poses to "cognitive freedom". EEG and EMG data are increasingly used in consumer products, raising concerns about potential misuse. Companies and governments could exploit cognitive biometric data for manipulation or control. Farahany calls for clear legal protections and highlights differences between U.S. and European regulations. She warns of neurotechnological warfare and advocates for global bans. While full mind control remains …

Cardiac Timing Effects On Response Speed Are Modulated By Blood Pressure But Not Heart Rate Variability In Healthy Young Adults, Xiao Yang, Catalina Roldan, Michael Gazzanigo, Yasmine Nabulsi, Fang Fang

Research and Infrastructure Service Enterprise (RISE) Faculty Publications

Cardiac timing effects reflect the dynamic interplay between interoceptive and exteroceptive processes. Human information processing tends to be facilitated during cardiac diastole and inhibited during systole, reflecting autonomic regulation and the neuromodulation by baroreceptor afferents. Thus, blood pressure (BP) and vagally-mediated heart rate variability (vmHRV) are potential modulators of those effects. Additionally, cognitive control appears to play a critical role in the processes. However, whether cardiac timing effects are influenced by those factors remains unclear. The present study aimed to clarify these relationships. Fifty-one healthy young adults completed three experimental sessions to assess BP, short-term HRV, and cardiac timing effects. …

Précis Of The Edge Of Sentience: Risk And Precaution In Humans, Other Animals, And Ai, Jonathan Birch

Animal Sentience

We often face grave practical decisions that seem to hinge on whether a system is sentient. This family of cases includes invertebrate animals, people who are unresponsive after brain injury, fetuses, neural organoids, and now AI technologies. We must decide what to do despite ongoing disagreement about the nature of sentience. In our state of uncertainty, we should pragmatically transform the question from “Is it sentient?” to “Is it a sentience candidate, an investigation priority, or neither?”. When a system is a sentience candidate, it is negligent to fail to consider precautions. We should instead evaluate precautions for their proportionality …

Can Animal Consciousness Be Resolved Scientifically?, Yoram Gutfreund

Animal Sentience

Carolyn Ristau's biography of Donald Griffin is a comprehensive work that sheds light on a seminal chapter in the history of ethology—the ambitious attempt to establish a research field dedicated to animal consciousness. Although Donald Griffin's endeavor ultimately fell short of its revolutionary goals, it catalyzed significant progress in understanding evolution and mechanisms of animal cognition.

How Do Anxiety, Stress, Impulsiveness, And Sleep Quality Affect Memory, Hodavia Tshiya Kaseya

Online Theses and Dissertations

Memory is a critical cognitive function that enables individuals to retain, recall, and apply knowledge across various contexts. Different memory systems, including working memory and long-term memory, collaborate to process and store information. Factors such as stress, sleep disturbances, anxiety, and impulsiveness can impact memory encoding and retrieval, especially in college students, whose academic success depends heavily on memory performance. This study examined the relationship between these everyday factors and memory performance by analyzing brain activity during memory encoding using Electroencephalography (EEG) and the Difference due to memory (DM) event-related potential (ERP) effect, to understand how stress, sleep, anxiety, and …

Conceptual Curiosity: Sense(Un)Making, Rebekah L. Cowell

Proceedings from the Document Academy

Across disciplines, sensemaking is a theoretical and methodological research program, over forty years in development, that has been treated as a framework for understanding how humans behaviorally respond to external information sources and interpret to construct and actualize actionable outcomes; however, sensemaking is an interlinking process that does not operate in singularity–behaviorally or actionably–it is neurobiological (autonomous drive), cognitive (perceptual and predictive), and psychological (congruency in meaning).

This paper enlarges the conceptual framework for studying sensemaking and redefines it by addressing what sensemaking is, does, and needs. At the core of this conversation is addressing the absence of knowledge and …

Psychological Distress Among Family Caregivers Of Persons With Alzheimer’S Disease And Related Dementias In Uganda, Martha Sajatovic

Faculty Scholarship

Background: Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD) present growing global health challenges, especially in aging populations, such as Uganda. In Uganda, familial caregiving, predominantly undertaken by female relatives, is the primary form of support provided to patients with ADRD. Cultural stigma around dementia and limited access to support services amplify caregivers' challenges. This study examined psychological distress, depression, and quality of life (QoL) among family caregivers of patients with ADRD in Wakiso District, Uganda. Methods: This cross-sectional study involved 90 caregivers from three sub-counties in Wakiso, selected through purposive sampling to capture diverse experiences. Participants included caregivers aged 18 years …

Cognitive Differences In Parkinson’S Disease With Amyloid Positivity And Negativity, Kenya Luna

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

In Parkinson’s Disease (PD), research has shifted to investigate how biomarkers commonly seen in Alzheimer’s Disease (AD), such as amyloid beta (AB), may be associated with cognitive functioning in PD. AB is considered a reliable biomarker for AD pathology, however in PD there is a lacking biomarker that can accurately reflect severity of cognitive impairment. AD research has shown an association between low AB and cognitive decline, but the data in PD has mixed results. Most studies that analyze cognitive decline and biomarkers do not use a cutoff level and the few that do have a threshold vary greatly in …

Covid 19 Is A Hoax, Vidushi Sharma '28

Best First-Year Seminar Writing

When COVID-19 first swept across the globe, it brought more than just a viral contagion—it sparked an epidemic of misinformation. Among the various conspiracy theories, one stands out for its audacity: the claim that COVID-19 does not exist. This theory undermines public health efforts, sows mistrust, and complicates crisis management. But why do people believe it, and what makes such narratives so compelling? More importantly, how can we combat this damaging misinformation? This essay explores the origins of the "COVID-19 doesn't exist" conspiracy, examines its three main iterations—denial of the virus’s existence, claims of government overreach, and accusations of corporate …

Medial Prefrontal Cortex To Nucleus Reuniens Circuit Is Critical For Performance In An Operant Delayed Nonmatch To Position Task, Evan J Ciacciarelli, Scott D Dunn, Taqdees Gohar, T Joseph Sloand, Mark Niedringhaus, Elizabeth A West

Rowan-Virtua School of Osteopathic Medicine Departmental Research

Working memory refers to the temporary retention of a small amount of information used in the execution of a cognitive task. The prefrontal cortex and its connections with thalamic subregions are thought to mediate specific aspects of working memory, including engaging with the hippocampus to mediate memory retrieval. We used an operant delayed-non match to position task, which does not require the hippocampus, to determine roles of the rodent medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), the nucleus reuniens thalamic region (RE), and their connection. We found that transient inactivation of the mPFC and RE using the GABA-A agonist muscimol led to a …

Examining Emotion And Ease Of Recall For Life Story Memories In Young Adults, Roxanna E. Chavez, Erin L. Murphy, David E. Copeland

Undergraduate Research Symposium Posters

Life stories are narratives that use autobiographical memories to shape personal identity. This study investigated how emotional valence and ease of recall may change over time. Participants were asked to recall ten life story memories in two interviews held three weeks apart. Participants provided ratings of emotional valence and ease of recall for each memory. A significant difference was found in emotional valence between Session 1 (M = 3.159, SD = .772) and Session 2 (M = 2.905, SD = .788), t(68) = 2.734, p < .01, with Session 1 memories rated as significantly more negative (M = 1.812, SD = 1.427) than those in Session 2 (M = 1.275, SD = 1.316), t(68) = 3.232, p < .01. Furthermore, negative memories were more frequent in the last five Session 1 memories (M = 0.986, SD = 0.866) than in all of Session 2 memories (First Five: M = 0.652, SD = .783; Last Five: M = 0.623, SD = .892), F(3, 204) = 3.663, p < .05. For ease of recall, the first five memories in both sessions (Session 1: M = 5.684, SD = 0.806; Session 2: M = 5.612, SD = 0.963) were significantly easier to recall than the last five in both sessions (Session 1: M = .214, SD = 1.128; Session 2: M = 5.136, SD = 1.080), F(2.498, 169.864) = 7.369, p < .001. Overall, these findings suggest participants recalled more accessible memories first, with negative memories being harder to retrieve as sessions progressed.

Investigating The Impact Of Psychological Interventions On Autoimmune Disease Progression In Women, Nicole Datastanyan

Undergraduate Research Symposium Posters

Autoimmune disease arises when an individual's immune system mistakenly attacks and damages the body’s tissues. Autoimmune disease disproportionately affects women, with eighty percent of diagnosed patients being female. This research proposal aims to explore the relationship between psychological factors (e.g., stress, anxiety, depression) and the progression of autoimmune diseases. This poster will propose a detailed study to assess whether reducing psychological distress through cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) can slow disease progression. Cognitive behavioral therapy is a form of talk therapy to relieve symptoms of mental health conditions such as depression, anxiety, stress, or grief. Two hundred female patients diagnosed with …