Biological Psychology Commons^™

A Preliminary Timeline Of The Midbrain Development In The Monodelphis Domestica Animal Model, Ismael Perez, John L. Vandeberg, Mario Gil

Research Colloquium

Introduction: The Brazilian short-tailed opossum (Monodelphis Domestica) is an understudied animal model compared to the Mus musculus that has been identified as a perfect candidate to study neurodevelopment (Baggott, L. & Moore, H., 1990). What makes the Monodelphis Domestica a perfect specimen for neurodevelopment is that the embryo develops outside the pouch of the mother providing easy noninvasive access to track changes across different developmental stages (Mate et al., 1994).

Objective: The objective of the study is to compare the area and volume in the development of the Monodelphis’s midbrain across three different developmental stages. Our research is beneficial because …

Sex Differences In Stress Reactivity And Responses To Novelty In The Gray Short-Tailed Opossum (Monodelphis Domestica), Esperanza I. Alaniz, Nicole Altamirano, Joseph Rafac, Katelynn Renteria, John L. Vandeberg, Mario Gil

Research Colloquium

Introduction: Investigating how exposures to stress and novel environments influence behavior is important for translational research that aims to improve mental health. Previous studies have focused on reactions to novelty and revealed changes in defense reactions and exploratory behavior. (Pisula et al., 2012).

Objective: The focus of the present study is to investigate sex differences in behavioral responses to novel environments and restraint stress in the gray short-tailed opossums (Monodelphis domestica). Using the Monodelphis is innovative because it is a non-traditional animal model that is ideal for developmental research.

Methods: Using AnyMaze video tracking software, animals’ behaviors (6 males, 6 …

The Impact Of Biological Sex On Motor Function And Responses To Novel Environments In The Gray Short-Tailed Opossum (Monodelphis Domestica), Esperanza I. Alaniz, Ismael Perez, Sasawan Heingraj, Katelynn Renteria, Cristian M. Botello, Joseph C. Cantu, John L. Vandeberg, Mario Gil

Research Symposium

Background: Understanding the different stress reactions in different environments can help us understand stress factors. Studying animal behavior is important for translational research for mental health improvement.

Previous literature has shown that stress is a risk factor for higher cancer incidence and poorer cancer survival. (Klejbor & Turlejski., 2012), as well as mental health outcomes. Understanding of how stress is related to cancer can help improve therapeutic outcomes as preventive measures (Glaser et al., 1987).

Methods: Using the Rota Rod apparatus, 12 animals (3 males, 9 females) were tested at 36 rpm for a maximum of 400 seconds (Madroñal et …

A Neurodevelopmental Perspective To Improve Innovation In Preventive Treatment Of Substance Use Disorders, Ismael Perez, John Vandeberg, Mario Gil

Research Symposium

Background: Midbrain dopaminergic neurons have been associated with substance use disorders (Blaess & Ang, 2015). Understanding their neurodevelopment during early stages of life is fundamental for innovating preventive care treatments. The animal model Monodelphis domestica has been proposed as an excellent candidate to study neurodevelopmental changes due to the ease of access to see changes in their embryonic development (Mate et al., 1994). The purpose of our study is to inform how brain cells, including and especially dopaminergic neurons, mature by quantifying their number during early development. Additionally, the study aims to compare different midbrain areas and track neurodevelopmental changes …

The Science Of Learning: Understanding The Learning Process And Its Implementation Into The Classroom, Robert Hawkins

The Cardinal Edge

College and higher education is often seen as the next step for many students pursuing a particular career or field. These institutions strive to facilitate learning and maintain a rewarding academic environment. However, students often face various challenges when first attending college which is reflected by high levels of dropout and withdrawal from general education courses, especially for first-time students. In fact, according to the education data initiation, “at 4-year institutions, 18.4% of first-time, full-time college freshmen dropped out between 2019 and 2020” (Hansen & Checked, 2022). One of these challenges is understanding the process of learning on a fundamental …

You Hurt My Feelings: Autonomic And Behavioral Responses To Social Exclusion And The Moderating Effect Of Psychopathic Traits, Liat Kofler

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Humans have a fundamental need to form and maintain social connections, and thus experiencing social exclusion is extremely distressing as it threatens this basic human need. Individuals who are socially excluded often respond aggressively, not only towards their ostracizers but also towards innocent bystanders, with ostracism being implicated in extreme acts of violence such as school shootings. However, individual differences in behavior exist within the context of social exclusion as not everyone responds aggressively after being ostracized. Identifying risk factors for retaliatory aggressive behavior following experiences of social exclusion may facilitate the development of targeted interventions aimed at mitigating such …

The Effects Of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (Tdcs) On Facial Expression Approach/Avoidance In College Students And Faculty With Broad Autism Phenotype, Nicole R. Baker

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) has been proposed as an alternative noninvasive therapy for individuals with autism. This study trained brain activity in college students and / or faculty with Broad Autism Phenotype (BAP) while eye tracking data was collected. The purpose of this study was to determine if tDCS training to the frontal lobes could increase approach toward social interactions in adults classified as BAP as demonstrated by eye-tracking measures in response to faces and gaze fixation. The study included 21 total participants recruited from the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) courses / professions at a Regional East …

Examination Of Performance Validity And The Relationship To Cognition And Symptoms In Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders, Erick A. Rogers

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Approximately one-in-five individuals with psychotic disorders (i.e., schizophrenia spectrum disorders [SSD]) fail performance validity indicators (PVIs) during neurocognitive testing. Ensuring the validity of neurocognitive test results is necessary if the test scores are to be of use for diagnostic consideration, intervention selection and planning, predicting outcomes, and following changes in cognition over time in response to intervention, spontaneous recovery, or disease progression. PVIs are designed to require only a minimum level of engagement with the evaluation, which means nearly everyone is expected to “pass,” even those with moderate to severe brain damage. Traditional interpretations of PVI failure suggest a noncredible …

Analysis Of The Paraventricular Nucleus Of The Hypothalamus After Exposure To Decabromodiphenyl Ether In Mice, Tia Blossomgame, Hermei Herman, Sharlenn La, Jocelyn Saquisili, Annabella Vargas, Grace Martinichio, Vincent P. Markowski

McNair Scholars Program

No abstract provided.

Comparison Between The Effects Of Acute Physical And Psychosocial Stress On Feedback-Based Learning, Xiao Yang, Brittany Nackley, Bruce H. Friedman

Psychology Faculty Publications

Stress modulates feedback-based learning, a process that has been implicated in declining mental function in aging and mental disorders. While acute physical and psychosocial stressors have been used interchangeably in studies on feedback-based learning, the two types of stressors involve distinct physiological and psychological processes. Whether the two types of stressors differentially influence feedback processing remains unclear. The present study compared the effects of physical and psychosocial stressors on feedback-based learning. Ninety-six subjects (Mage = 19.11 years; 50 female) completed either a cold pressor task (CPT) or mental arithmetic task (MAT), as the physical or psychosocial stressor, while electrocardiography and …

An Erp Measure Of Non-Conscious Memory Reveals Dissociable Implicit Processes In Human Recognition Using An Open-Source Automated Analytic Pipeline, Richard J. Addante, Javier Lopez-Calderon, Nathan Allen, Carter Luck, Alana Muller, Lindsey Sirianni, Cory S. Inman, Daniel L. Drake

Psychology Student Publications

Non-conscious processing of human memory has traditionally been difficult to objectively measure and thus understand. A prior study on a group of hippocampal amnesia (N = 3) patients and healthy controls (N = 6) used a novel procedure for capturing neural correlates of implicit memory using event-related potentials (ERPs): old and new items were equated for varying levels of memory awareness, with ERP differences observed from 400 to 800 ms in bilateral parietal regions that were hippocampal-dependent. The current investigation sought to address the limitations of that study by increasing the sample of healthy subjects (N = …

Community Awareness Of Youth Sport Related Concussion: A Neuropsychological Perspective, Ryan D. Bennett, Claire Stafford, Shanna K. Williams, Vijay Bajnath, Chris Burley, Alison Datoc, Alexis Hartman

Journal for Sports Neuroscience

There continues to be growing public awareness regarding concussions and the detrimental effects sustaining such an injury can have on one’s life. Of increased importance is the understanding of how concussions impact children and adolescents, particularly as a result of sport engagements. Contact sports involving youth account for 41% of the concussions seen in emergency departments (Waltzman et al., 2020). Of note, hospital estimates tend to underrepresent the total number of sport-related concussions as they do not factor patients treated in a community setting (Bazarian et al., 2020). In consideration of this public health epidemic, there is a current projection …

Adverse Childhood Experiences(Aces) And Nonverbal Reasoning Skills, Monika Malinowska

Dissertations

Severe stress and interpersonal traumatic experience in childhood have a cascade effect on an individual's physical and mental health. There is evidence that people with complex adverse childhood experiences have diminished cognitive abilities. However, there are few studies on the effects of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) on non-verbal reasoning skills. This study aimed to assess the relationships between ACEs, non-verbal reasoning skills, and academic achievement.

Local Field Potentials In The Male Rat Nucleus Accumbens During Effort-Based Behavior, Celine Aliko, John Salamone, Alev Ecevitoglu

Honors Scholar Theses

Major depression is a devastating disorder that consists of multiple symptoms such as low mood and motivational dysfunction. It has been shown that motivational dysfunction can be studied in animal models by using effort-based choice paradigms, which vary in their response requirements. It has been reported that dopamine depletion in the nucleus accumbens decreases ratio-scheduled lever-pressing in a manner related to the size of the ratio requirement. One dopamine depleting agent is tetrabenazine (TBZ), which has been shown to decrease lever-pressing and induce low-effort bias. The current study aims to investigate behavioral and electrophysiological changes that occur with animals performing …

A Deeper Understanding Of Noise Effects On Cetaceans, Jason N. Bruck

Faculty Publications

Recent research with cetaceans under human care is illuminating just how dolphins are affected by human-made noise both in terms of their ability to cooperate as well as their ability to habituate to such noise. This research is providing granular detail to regulators assessing the problems associated with anthropogenic effects and is highlighting a role for behavior/cognition research in conservation.

Sucrose Demand And Essential Value In Mice With Early-Life Exposure To Risperidone, Megan Federoff

LSU Master's Theses

Second-generation antipsychotics (SGAs), such as risperidone, are widely prescribed to children, but the long-term effects of SGA treatment are not well understood. This study investigated the impact of early-life risperidone treatment on sucrose demand in mice in adulthood. Mice were administered risperidone or vehicle from postnatal day (PND) 33 to 60 and trained in adulthood (>PND 120) to nose poke for a sucrose solution reinforcer. The fixed ratio (FR) value (the number of responses required to produce sucrose delivery; the “price” of sucrose) was varied from 1 to 45, and the resulting consumption versus FR value data were analyzed …

Exploring The Intersectionality Between Homelessness And Addiction: A Review, Antonia Miranda

Honors Projects

The homelessness crisis and drug epidemic have been, and continue to, ravage the nation in a manner that is both detrimental to society and humanity. The correlation between substance abuse and homelessness is enormous, though not necessarily causal. The conditions of being homeless coupled with the prevalence of mental illness drastically increases the susceptibility to substance abuse and addiction. On the other hand, addiction and substance abuse can contribute to someone entering homelessness. The intersectionality between the two is frequently ignored, yet critical to address. Informed by research regarding both conditions, the implications for public policy and reform are huge. …

Does A Single Night Of Mindfulness Meditation Improve Sleep And Stress In Female College Students?, Koushik Thudi

Psychological Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

Several recent studies have shown that mindfulness-based practices have been effective in treating sleep problems. However, these studies have primarily looked at multi-component interventions that take place over several weeks or months. No studies have evaluated the efficacy of short-term mindfulness-based practices on sleep the same night. This study aims to do just that. The sample consisted of 10 students attending the University of Arkansas. All participants slept in a sleep laboratory on two consecutive weekday nights. During one night, they completed a mindfulness-based exercise. The other night, they completed a similar control task (counterbalanced). Polysomnography-based sleep data were collected …

Self-Confidence And Hormonal Contraceptive Use, Abigail Doran

Biological Sciences Undergraduate Honors Theses

Hormonal contraceptives are widely used to regulate menstrual cycles, alleviate certain symptoms linked to reproductive hormones, and prevent pregnancy. However, women who take hormonal contraceptives may experience significant physical and psychological side effects such as increased rates of depression and changes in self-image. The current study examined self-confidence in women before beginning hormonal contraceptives and two months after using them. These participants were compared to a control group of naturally cycling women who were also assessed twice. I hypothesized that women would experience decreased feelings of self-confidence in several domains of their lives, compared to the naturally cycling women. Results …

Working Memory And Language Associations In Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Megan A. Goldfarb

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by impairments in social communication and interaction, with repetitive behaviors or specialized interests. A range of language abilities is seen in ASD, with some having typical abilities and others severe impairments. Working memory (WM) deficits have also been found in some children with ASD. In typically developing, as well as non-ASD children with language deficits a strong relationship has been found between WM and language abilities. Although both language and WM deficits are often seen in ASD, the relationship between these deficits has been underexplored. The objective of this study is …