Psychiatry and Psychology Commons^™

Specialized Late Cingulo-Opercular Network Activation Elucidates The Mechanisms Underlying Decisions About Ambiguity, Jordan E. Pierce, Nathan M. Petro, Elizabeth Clancy, Caterina Gratton, Steven E. Petersen, Maital Neta

Center for Brain, Biology, and Behavior: Faculty Publications

Cortical task control networks, including the cingulo-opercular (CO) network play a key role in decision-making across a variety of functional domains. In particular, the CO network functions in a performance reporting capacity that supports successful task performance, especially in response to errors and ambiguity. In two studies testing the contribution of the CO network to ambiguity processing, we presented a valence bias task in which masked clearly and ambiguously valenced emotional expressions were slowly revealed over several seconds. This slow reveal task design provides a window into the decision-making mechanisms as they unfold over the course of a trial. In …

Covid-19 And Friendships: Agreeableness And Neuroticism Are Associated With More Concern About Covid-19 And Friends' Risky Behaviors, Jessica D. Ayers, Diego Guevara Beltrán, Andrew Van Horn, Lee Cronk, Hector Hurmuz-Sklias, Peter M. Todd, Athena Aktipis

Psychological Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Given the importance of friendships during challenging times and the mixed associations between personality traits and disease-related behaviors, we investigated the correlations between personality traits and perceptions of friendships during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data were collected as part of a longitudinal investigation of the correlations between the pandemic and various cooperative relationships. In this investigation, we found that agreeableness and neuroticism predicted participants being more concerned about COVID-19 and bothered by friends' risky behavior, and extraversion predicted enjoying helping friends during the pandemic. Our results suggest that personality differences are associated with how individuals cope with friends' risky behaviors during …

An Occupational Therapy Assessment Guide For People With Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Cynthia Sakian, Steven M. Gerardi

Fall 2023 Virtual OTD Capstone Symposium

This poster presents development of an occupational therapy assessment guide tailored for individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder. Motivated by the lack of standardized assessment protocols in the field, the initiative seeks to mitigate inconsistencies among occupational therapy practitioners and propel advancements in treatment. Key objectives include a comprehensive review of pertinent literature on occupational therapy and posttraumatic stress disorder, identification of functional impairments associated with the disorder, and the formulation of an assessment framework. Rooted in the Model of Human Occupation, the guide underscores the significance of volition, habituation, performance capacity, and environmental influences, accommodating individual preferences and disruptions while …

Context At The Periphery: The Rise Of The Critical-Contextual Legal Education Reform Movement, Cara R. Shaffer

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

The article argues that legal education must reform by integrating critical-contextual approaches to address declining critical thinking skills and better prepare students for contemporary legal practice. It emphasizes the need to move beyond the traditional Langdell case method, which separates doctrinal learning from practical and contextual understanding, and highlights the importance of interdisciplinary perspectives in legal training.

Neural Complexity Eeg Biomarkers Of Rapid And Post-Rapid Ketamine Effects In Late-Life Treatment-Resistant Depression: A Randomized Control Trial, Nicholas Murphy, Amanda J F Tamman, Marijn Lijffijt, Dania Amarneh, Sidra Iqbal, Alan Swann, Lynnette A Averill, Brittany O'Brien, Sanjay J Mathew

Staff and Researcher Publications

Ketamine is an effective intervention for treatment-resistant depression (TRD), including late-in-life (LL-TRD). The proposed mechanism of antidepressant effects of ketamine is a glutamatergic surge, which can be measured by electroencephalogram (EEG) gamma oscillations. Yet, non-linear EEG biomarkers of ketamine effects such as neural complexity are needed to capture broader systemic effects, represent the level of organization of synaptic communication, and elucidate mechanisms of action for treatment responders. In a secondary analysis of a randomized control trial, we investigated two EEG neural complexity markers (Lempel-Ziv complexity [LZC] and multiscale entropy [MSE]) of rapid (baseline to 240 min) and post-rapid ketamine (24 …

Electrophysiological Responses To Emotional And Cocaine Cues Reveal Individual Neuroaffective Profiles In Cocaine Users, Charles E Green

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Smokers with stronger neuroaffective responses to drug-related cues compared to non-drug-related pleasant images (C>P) are more vulnerable to compulsive smoking than individuals with the opposite brain reactivity profile (P>C). However, it is unknown if these neurobehavioral profiles exist in individuals abusing other drugs. We tested whether individuals with cocaine use disorder (CUD) show similar neuroaffective profiles to smokers. We also monitored eye movements to assess attentional bias toward cues and we further performed exploratory analyses on demographics, personality, and drug use between profiles. Participants with CUD (n=43) viewed pleasant, unpleasant, cocaine, and neutral images while we recorded electroencephalogram. …

Mind, Body And Race: A Look Into How Implicit Biases Influence The Perception Of Emotion, Faiza Ahmad, Adam Anderson, James Dalton Rounds, Christina Chick, Alize Hill

Research Symposium

Background: Most research examining the effects of implicit race-based biases in emotion perception has focused on the perception of Black faces as being angry. Limited work has been done examining the perception of “approach” emotions such as fear. Furthermore, most studies have predominantly used White subjects. Our study examined the role of implicit racial biases in shaping the perception of both anger and fear in White, Black and Asian participants.

Methods: 78 participants completed a Go/NoGo task in which they were asked to categorize different race faces as portraying either anger or fear. Participants would be asked to press the …

Fornix Volumetric Increase During Aging Associates To Microglia Activation Leading To Defective Cognitive Performance, Marcela Cárdenas Tueme, Luis Ángel Trujillo-Villarreal, Victor Ramírez-Amaya, Eduardo Garza-Villarreal, Alberto Camacho-Morales, Diana Reséndez-Pérez

Research Symposium

Background: Ageing displays a low-grade pro-inflammatory profile in blood and brain. It has been documented proinflammatory cytokines accumulation leading to neuroinflammation during aging. Aged brains integrate pro inflammatory cytokines accumulation, active microglia and volumetric changes which correlates with defective cognitive performance and neurodegeneration.

Methods: Mice from 2-,12- and 20-months-old of age were submitted to different memory tests: Y-maze, Barnes maze, object location test and object location test. Afterwards, we performed structural MRI to evaluate macrostructural changes related to memory and learning regions. Following this, we also evaluated in peripheral blood and in brain tissue the presence of pro-inflammatory cytokines …

Representation Of Racial And Ethnic Minorities And Their Preferences For Mood Stabilizing Treatment Selection For Bipolar Disorder: A Systematic Review, Francisco J. Barrera, Manuel Gardea, Juan Garzon, Ryan Toledo, Ana Paula Bonner, Andrea Maraboto, Mark Frye, Ihsan Salloum

Research Symposium

Background: The use of second-generation antipsychotics for bipolar disorder (BD) has increased in the past years¹Concerns on potential serious medical side effects and need for blood level monitoring of some traditional mood stabilizers along with other factors have influenced this change. Shared decision-making (SDM) strategies have been implemented in clinical settings due to their ability to engage patients in the process of treatment selection.² Within minority groups with mental illnesses, socioeconomic factors, individual concerns, and cultural variations in clinical presentations, are often overlooked or misrepresented when assessing the patient’s treatment preferences. Although several studies evaluating the …

Bitten To The Bone: A Case Of Anxiety-Induced Osteomyelitis, Jose A. Rivera, Daniel Aragon, Daniela Hernandez

Research Symposium

Background: Onychophagia is a habitual nail-biting disorder, usually associated with mental or emotional diseases. It affects 20–30% of the population in all age groups. Human bites have the potential to become serious injuries due to high virulence in the human oral flora and may often require hospital admission, antibiotics and even debridement in the operating room. Thus, repetitive nail biting has the potential to be limb-threatening if not treated early and appropriately.

Case Presentation: Patient is a 49-year-old gentleman with a past medical history of severe refractory anxiety treated with hydroxyzine and scheduled alprazolam, after failing multiple other treatments, …

Adverse Childhood Experiences And Resilience In Medical School Students: A Scope Of Medical Literature, Andrea Soto Abarca, Yvette Cortino, Juan Carlos Lopez Alvarenga, Maya Guevara

Research Symposium

Background: Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) represent types of childhood trauma that are associated with long-term negative effects on health and wellbeing. An elevated number of ACEs can lead to depression, suicidality, alcoholism, and substance use. Factors that can protect a person from increased health risks include resilience, which is broadly defined as the ability to bounce back from adversity. Few studies have analyzed the exposure of ACEs in medical students, however, there is extensive literature on how low levels of resilience are linked to higher rates of depression, fatigue, and burnout among medical students. Little is known about the …

Community Mobility And Depressive Symptoms During The Covid-19 Pandemic In The United States, Roy H. Perlis, Kristin Lunz Trujillo, Alauna Safarpour, Alexi Quintana, Matthew D. Simonson, Jasper Perlis, Mauricio Santillana, Katherine Ognyanova, Matthew A. Baum, James N. Druckman, David Lazer

Political Science Faculty Publications

Importance Marked elevation in levels of depressive symptoms compared with historical norms have been described during the COVID-19 pandemic, and understanding the extent to which these are associated with diminished in-person social interaction could inform public health planning for future pandemics or other disasters.

Objective To describe the association between living in a US county with diminished mobility during the COVID-19 pandemic and self-reported depressive symptoms, while accounting for potential local and state-level confounding factors.

Design, Setting, and Participants This survey study used 18 waves of a nonprobability internet survey conducted in the United States between May 2020 and April …

Cognitive Neuropsychology Of Autism, Attention- Deficit Hyperactivity Disorders And The Role That Neurodivergence Plays On Social Skills, Cognition And Behavior., Madison Mckee

D.U.Quark

Many studies have investigated how structural abnormalities directly affect the brain, but few have sought to understand the experience of living with neurodivergence. Two common neurodivergent disorders, Autism and ADHD, result from an abnormal development in the frontal lobe, caudate and corpus callosum. Disruptions in these areas have inhibitory effects on behavior and nerve signaling which results in deficits in executive functioning and Theory of Mind (ToM). The presence of these disruptions provides evidence that neurodevelopmental conditions are as physical as they are enduring. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the cognitive and behavioral deficits of Autism and …

Acute Ethanol Modulates Synaptic Inhibition In The Basolateral Amygdala Via Rapid Nlrp3 Inflammasome Activation And Regulates Anxiety-Like Behavior In Rats, Soumyabrata Munshi, Lucas Albrechet-Souza, Raoni Conceição Dos-Santos, Claire E. Stelly, Maria E. Secci, Nicholas W. Gilpin, Jeffrey G. Tasker

School of Graduate Studies Faculty Publications

Chronic alcohol exposure leads to a neuroinflammatory response involving activation of the nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain-like receptor protein 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome and pro-inflammatory cytokine production. Acute ethanol (EtOH) exposure activates GABAergic synapses in the central and basolateral amygdala (BLA) ex vivo, but whether this rapid modulation of synaptic inhibition is due to an acute inflammatory response and alters anxiety-like behavior in male and female animals is not known. Here, we tested the hypotheses that acute EtOH facilitates inhibitory synaptic transmission in the BLA by activating the NLRP3 inflammasome-dependent acute inflammatory response, that the alcohol-induced increase in inhibition is cell type- and …

One Size Doesn’T Fit All: Attitudes Towards Work Modify The Relation Between Parental Leave Length And Postpartum Depression, Christine Y. Chang, Sabrina R. Liu, Laura M. Glynn

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between parental leave length and maternal depressive symptoms at six- and twelve-months postpartum and whether this relation was influenced by women’s attitudes towards leave, whether leave was paid or unpaid, and the reason they returned to work. The sample included 115 working women recruited during pregnancy as part of a larger longitudinal study. Analyses revealed that maternal attitudes toward leave influenced the association between leave length and depressive symptoms. Specifically, longer leaves were associated with increased depressive symptoms for women who missed their previous activities at work. Furthermore, women who missed work …

Cumulative Incidence Of Physical And Sexual Dating Violence: Insights From A Long-Term Longitudinal Study, Melissa Peskin

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Decades of inquiry on intimate partner violence show consistent results: violence is woefully common and psychologically and economically costly. Policy to prevent and effectively intervene upon such violence hinges upon comprehensive understanding of this phenomenon at a population level. The current study prospectively estimates the cumulative incidence of sexual and physical dating violence (DV) victimization/perpetration over a 12-year timeframe (2010–2021) using diverse participants assessed annually from age 15 to 26. Data are from Waves 1–13 of an ongoing longitudinal study. Since 2010 (except for 2018 and 2019), participants were assessed on past-year physical and sexual DV victimization and perpetration. Participants …

Expressive Arts Therapy To Support Positive Experiences Of Embodiment Among Rural Lgbtq+ Adults: A Literature Review, Ann Stromgren

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

This paper investigates the use of expressive arts therapy to support LGBTQ+ adult clients in rural communities. Caring professionals in rural areas often lack training on how to work with LGBTQ+ clients, and best practices for clinical mental health counseling with rural LGBTQ+ clients have yet to be defined. Some evidence suggests that using “metronormative” best practices with rural clients may be irrelevant or cause harm (Giano et al., 2020). Although some recommendations exist for using expressive therapies with LGBTQ+ clients, they are rarely evidence-based, as very few empirical studies exist evaluating the effectiveness of expressive therapy interventions with LGBTQ+ …

Overcoming The Inner Critic: The Therapeutic Use Of Self-Portraits With Older Adults, Brenda Echeverry

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

Older adults are a growing and vulnerable population who experience discriminatory practices that impact their access to equitable housing, employment, and healthcare which was made even more obvious during the Coronavirus pandemic in the United States. A community engagement project was developed and facilitated by the writer to support older adults with the psychological effects of surviving the pandemic. This project also helped to increase accessibility to expressive arts therapy in the writer’s local community. Expressive arts therapy is an effective and accessible method to support mental health and wellness for people of all ages. Engagement with the arts helps …

Making Mindfulness More Accessible: A Practical Guide To Trauma-Informed Mindfulness, Leslie Formby

Mindfulness Studies Theses

Mindfulness is currently embedded in a growing understanding of how trauma permeates and adversely impacts peoples’ physical and psychological well-being. Increased awareness of the prevalence of trauma and its harmful effects has led to renewed interest in mindfulness to help manage the challenges generated by the detrimental effects of trauma.

These effects may draw people to mindfulness and, in turn, may make the benefits of mindfulness out of reach. Mindfulness methods and practice adaptations have been found to help trauma survivors experience the benefits of what the Buddha taught. As a support for those engaging in mindfulness and meditation, this …

Tobacco, Alcohol And Diet As Mortality Risk Factors: The Secondary Analysis Of The 25-Year Cohort Study, Alina Egorova, Bulat Idrisov, Romany Redman, Stanislav Otstavnov, Sergey Soshnikov

Journal of Health Research

Background: Individual lifestyle risk factors have been linked to increased mortality globally; however, there is limited data on these associations in Russia. A secondary analysis of the Russia Longitudinal Monitoring Survey (RLMS) data was conducted to close this gap.

Methods: The secondary data have been obtained from a nationally-representative annual cohort survey conducted by the Higher School of Economics (HSE). In this original study, for the first time in Russia, we extracted RRs for researched risk factors. Of additional original value, we made a prospective-retrospective cohort based on a representative longitudinal survey and provided the deaths as outcomes for survival …