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Effects Of Social Isolation On Heart Rate Variabilty, Hailey Tanner, Jason Omann, Nathaniel T. Lutmer, John Beckius 2018 College of Saint Benedict/Saint John's University

Effects Of Social Isolation On Heart Rate Variabilty, Hailey Tanner, Jason Omann, Nathaniel T. Lutmer, John Beckius

Celebrating Scholarship and Creativity Day (2018-)

The present study looked at the interaction and effects of social isolation on
heart rate variability (HRV). Participants in this study included
undergraduate (N=20) students from St. Johns University and the College
of Saint Benedict. This study included an online survey that measured
neuroticism as well as an online program participants played called
CyberBall. After participants took the neuroticism survey they were
attached to a BioPac machine using electrodes that monitored their heart
rate variability while they played two rounds CyberBall. Heart rate
variability was collected for a total of twenty minutes. We hypothesized that
social isolation would decrease heart …


Aging And The Perception Of Coherent Motion, Lindsey Marie Shain 2018 Western Kentucky University

Aging And The Perception Of Coherent Motion, Lindsey Marie Shain

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The aperture problem describes an effect by which a contoured stimulus, moving behind an aperture with both ends occluded, appears to move in a direction perpendicular to its own orientation. Mechanisms within the human visual system allow us to overcome this problem and integrate many of these locally ambiguous signals into the perception of globally coherent motion. In the current experiment, younger and older observers viewed displays composed of either 64 or 9 straight contours, arranged in varying orientations and moving behind circular apertures. Because these lines moved behind apertures, their individual local motions were ambiguous with respect to direction …


The Convergence Of Psychology And Neurobiology In Flavor-Nutrient Learning, Kevin P. Myers 2018 Bucknell University

The Convergence Of Psychology And Neurobiology In Flavor-Nutrient Learning, Kevin P. Myers

Faculty Journal Articles

Flavor evaluation is influenced by learning from experience with foods. One main influence is flavor-nutrient learning (FNL), a Pavlovian process whereby a flavor acts as a conditioned stimulus (CS) that becomes associated with the postingestive effects of ingested nutrients (the US). As a result that flavor becomes preferred and intake typically increases. This learning powerfully influences food choice and meal patterning. This paper summarizes how research elucidating the physiological and neural substrates of FNL has progressed in parallel with work characterizing how FNL affects perception, motivation, and behavior. The picture that emerges from this work is of a robust system …


Vmpfc Activation During A Stressor Predicts Positive Emotions During Stress Recovery, Xi Yang, Katelyn M. Garcia, Youngkyoo Jung, Christopher T. Whitlow, Kateri McRae, Christian E. Waugh 2018 Wake Forest University Winston-Salem

Vmpfc Activation During A Stressor Predicts Positive Emotions During Stress Recovery, Xi Yang, Katelyn M. Garcia, Youngkyoo Jung, Christopher T. Whitlow, Kateri Mcrae, Christian E. Waugh

Psychology: Faculty Scholarship

Despite accruing evidence showing that positive emotions facilitate stress recovery, the neural basis for this effect remains unclear. To identify the underlying mechanism, we compared stress recovery for people reflecting on a stressor while in a positive emotional context with that for people in a neutral context. While blood–oxygen-level dependent data were being collected, participants (N = 43) performed a stressful anagram task, which was followed by a recovery period during which they reflected on the stressor while watching a positive or neutral video. Participants also reported positive and negative emotions throughout the task as well as retrospective thoughts …


Findings Of An Effect Of Gender, But Not Handedness, On Self-Reported Motion Sickness Propensity, Ruth E. Propper, Frederick Bonato, Leanna Ward, Kenneth Sumner 2018 Montclair State University

Findings Of An Effect Of Gender, But Not Handedness, On Self-Reported Motion Sickness Propensity, Ruth E. Propper, Frederick Bonato, Leanna Ward, Kenneth Sumner

Department of Psychology Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Discrepant input from vestibular and visual systems may be involved in motion sickness; individual differences in the organization of these systems may, therefore, give rise to individual differences in propensity to motion sickness. Non-right-handedness has been associated with altered cortical lateralization of vestibular function, such that non-right-handedness is associated with left hemisphere, and right-handedness with right hemisphere, lateralized, vestibular system. Interestingly, magnocellular visual processing, responsible for motion detection and ostensibly involved in motion sickness, has been shown to be decreased in non-right-handers. It is not known if the anomalous organization of the vestibular or magnocellular systems in non-right-handers might alter …


Neural Hypervigilance In Trauma-Exposed Women, Seungyeon A. Yoon 2018 CUNY Graduate Center

Neural Hypervigilance In Trauma-Exposed Women, Seungyeon A. Yoon

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Trauma-exposed people often experience hypervigilance, which is a tonic condition of elevated alertness and excessive scanning for potential threat. A cardinal feature of hypervigilance is that no actual threat is needed to evoke or maintain the over-alertness and heightened affective response. However, most neuroimaging research in trauma to date has only focused on reactivity to an actual threat. Thus, the overarching aim of this dissertation was to investigate neural signatures and salivary markers of post-trauma hypervigilance in the absence of threat that can cause impairment in daily functioning and contribute to developing other trauma-related symptoms such as heightened threat reactivity. …


Biological Signatures Of Emotion Regulation In Children, Sarah Myruski 2018 CUNY Graduate Center

Biological Signatures Of Emotion Regulation In Children, Sarah Myruski

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Emotion regulation (ER) is a key predictor of positive adjustment throughout the lifespan. Despite decades of research on discrete ER strategy use, ER may be more appropriately measured in terms of the breadth of emotional range, or the degree to which one can flexibly modulate emotional responses. Yet little is known about ER flexibility in childhood. Also, given the crucial role of caregiver support in children’s emotional lives, ER may be most accurately measured in developmentally appropriate and ecologically valid social contexts. Further, few developmental studies have capitalized on the growing evidence base surrounding biological signatures of ER. This study …


Analysis Of Endocrine Response To Perceived Difference In Cross-Cultural Interactions, Carole Woolford-Hunt, Marlene Murray, Tevni Grajales Guerra, Kristina Beenken-Johnson 2018 Andrews University

Analysis Of Endocrine Response To Perceived Difference In Cross-Cultural Interactions, Carole Woolford-Hunt, Marlene Murray, Tevni Grajales Guerra, Kristina Beenken-Johnson

Faculty Publications

We live in a world where awareness of ethnic and cultural diversity is an ever increasing reality. Business and education turn to the social sciences to inform them about how to manage and optimize cross-cultural interactions. Although much research has been done on the impact of cross-cultural interactions on a wide range of variables, one less researched area is the endocrine response to cross-cultural interactions. In this study we set out to investigate the endocrine response to cross cultural interactions and the impact of these interactions on perceived differences. To do so we measured the pre and post levels of …


The Influence Of A Positive Or Negative Mindset On Affect And Heart Rate Variability, Alexa Ronayne 2018 College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University

The Influence Of A Positive Or Negative Mindset On Affect And Heart Rate Variability, Alexa Ronayne

All College Thesis Program, 2016-2019

The purpose of this study was to see whether the induction of a positive or negative mindset could influence measures of health and happiness, specifically heart rate variability and affect. 43 participants completed two short writing exercises intended to place them in either a positive or a negative mindset. During the entirety of the study, I measured their heart rate and calculated the variability between beats. Participants reported their affect before and after the manipulation. The results showed a clear relationship between mindset condition and heart rate variability and a possible link between mindset and affect. The positive mindset condition …


Arousal Reappraisal And Interoceptive Awareness: How Awareness Of Bodily Changes Facilitates Heightened Performance And Ability To Reappraise, Wyndham Chalmers 2018 College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University

Arousal Reappraisal And Interoceptive Awareness: How Awareness Of Bodily Changes Facilitates Heightened Performance And Ability To Reappraise, Wyndham Chalmers

All College Thesis Program, 2016-2019

The physiological arousal induced by a stressful situation has historically been viewed as bad; however, recent research has challenged this perspective, arguing that stress-related arousal can be beneficial. Arousal reappraisal is a coping technique that encourages individuals to reinterpret their physiological stress response as a means to help improve performance. Conversely, suppression, a common, yet ineffective coping technique, involves the active effort to stop oneself from expressing an emotional behavior. The current research examined the relationship between coping techniques and interoceptive awareness (IA), the degree to which individuals are aware of their own physiological changes. Comparing arousal reappraisal to both …


Chickens Play To The Crowd, Cinzia Chiandetti 2018 University of Trieste, Department of Life Sciences

Chickens Play To The Crowd, Cinzia Chiandetti

Animal Sentience

The time was ripe for Marino’s review of chickens’ cognitive capacities. The research community, apart from expressing gratitude for Marino’s work, should now use it to increase public awareness of chickens’ abilities. People’s views on many animals are ill-informed. Scientists need to communicate and engage with the public about the relevance and societal implications of their findings.


Early Contributions To Infants’ Mental Rotation Abilities, Mihaela Constantinescu, David S. Moore, Scott P. Johnson, Melissa Hines 2018 University of East London

Early Contributions To Infants’ Mental Rotation Abilities, Mihaela Constantinescu, David S. Moore, Scott P. Johnson, Melissa Hines

Pitzer Faculty Publications and Research

Some cognitive abilities exhibit reliable gender differences, with females outperforming males in specific aspects of verbal ability, and males showing an advantage on certain spatial tasks. Among these cognitive gender differences, differences in mental rotation are the most robust, and appear to be present even in infants. A large body of animal research suggests that gonadal hormones, particularly testosterone, during early development could contribute to this gender difference in mental rotation. Also, substantial evidence supports an influence of socialization on mental rotation performance. The present study investigated the relationship of two types of factors, early postnatal testosterone exposure and parental …


The Signature Of Undetected Change: An Exploratory Electrotomographic Investigation Of Gradual Change Blindness, John E. Kiat, Michael D. Dodd, Robert F. Belli, Jacob E. Cheadle 2018 University of Nebraska-Lincoln

The Signature Of Undetected Change: An Exploratory Electrotomographic Investigation Of Gradual Change Blindness, John E. Kiat, Michael D. Dodd, Robert F. Belli, Jacob E. Cheadle

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Neuroimaging-based investigations of change blindness, a phenomenon in which seemingly obvious changes in visual scenes fail to be detected, have significantly advanced our understanding of visual awareness. The vast majority of prior investigations, however, utilize paradigms involving visual disruptions (e.g., intervening blank screens, saccadic movements, “mudsplashes”), making it difficult to isolate neural responses toward visual changes cleanly. To address this issue in this present study, high-density EEG data (256 channel) were collected from 25 participants using a paradigm in which visual changes were progressively introduced into detailed real-world scenes without the use of visual disruption. Oscillatory activity associated with undetected …


Overt And Covert Attention In Infants Revealed Using Steady-State Visually Evoked Potentials, Joan Christodoulou, David S. Leland, David S. Moore 2018 University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire

Overt And Covert Attention In Infants Revealed Using Steady-State Visually Evoked Potentials, Joan Christodoulou, David S. Leland, David S. Moore

Pitzer Faculty Publications and Research

Although looking-time methods have long been used to measure infant attention and investigate aspects of cognitive development, steady-state visually evoked potential (SSVEP) measures may be more sensitive or practical in some contexts. Here, we demonstrate habituation of infants’ SSVEP amplitudes to a flickering checkerboard stimulus, and recovery of attention upon presentation of a novel checkerboard stimulus. This modulation of SSVEP amplitude was more robust than the modulation of looking time. In addition, we provide evidence of enhanced SSVEPs in response to covertly attended checkerboards flickering in peripheral visual fields, even while infants are fixating a central stimulus. These experiments provide …


The Impact Of Neonatal Pain And Reduced Maternal Care On Brain And Behavioral Development, Sean Michael Mooney-Leber 2018 Wayne State University

The Impact Of Neonatal Pain And Reduced Maternal Care On Brain And Behavioral Development, Sean Michael Mooney-Leber

Wayne State University Dissertations

In the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) preterm infants are exposed to a multitude of stressors, which include both neonatal pain and reduced maternal care. Clinical and preclinical research has demonstrated that exposure to neonatal pain and reduced maternal care has a profound negative impact on brain and behavioral development. Currently, the biological mechanism by which both of these stressors impacts brain and behavioral outcomes remains widely unknown. To uncover a potential biological mechanism, the current dissertation project utilized a preclinical model of repetitive needle pokes and developed a novel model of reduced maternal care through tea-ball encapsulation. Briefly, rat …


Social Contact Patterns Can Buffer Costs Of Forgetting In The Evolution Of Cooperation, Jeffrey R. Stevens, Jan K. Woike, Lael J. Schooler, Stefan Lindner, Thorsten Pachur 2018 University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Social Contact Patterns Can Buffer Costs Of Forgetting In The Evolution Of Cooperation, Jeffrey R. Stevens, Jan K. Woike, Lael J. Schooler, Stefan Lindner, Thorsten Pachur

Jeffrey Stevens Publications

Analyses of the evolution of cooperation often rely on two simplifying assumptions: (i) individuals interact equally frequently with all social network members and (ii) they accurately remember each partner's past cooperation or defection. Here, we examine how more realistic, skewed patterns of contact—in which individuals interact primarily with only a subset of their network's members—influence cooperation. In addition, we test whether skewed contact patterns can counteract the decrease in cooperation caused by memory errors (i.e. forgetting). Finally, we compare two types of memory error that vary in whether forgotten interactions are replaced with random actions or with actions from previous …


Do Different Music Genres Differentially Affect Autonomic Activity? How Music And Sound Affect Autonomic Activity Aroused By Visual Stimuli, Andrew Manson 2018 Eastern Kentucky University

Do Different Music Genres Differentially Affect Autonomic Activity? How Music And Sound Affect Autonomic Activity Aroused By Visual Stimuli, Andrew Manson

Online Theses and Dissertations

The primary researcher sought to determine whether different genres of music would differentially influence measures of autonomic nervous system activity (heart rate, galvanic skin response) while viewing visual stimuli in a sample of college students. All participants listened to the same songs and music genres and viewed the same International Affective Picture System (IAPS) images. Autonomic nervous system activity was recorded by attaching electrodes to participants' non-dominant hand and torso. Music order presentation and picture order presentation were randomly determined by E-Prime. Heart rate and skin conductance responses were both significant, with melodic metal music inducing greater intensity of responses …


Assessment Of Peripheral Bdnf Levels Over 30 Days, Sally Hang 2018 Humboldt State University

Assessment Of Peripheral Bdnf Levels Over 30 Days, Sally Hang

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Brain health, and the benefits of exercise have been linked to the biological signaling molecule called brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). Animal and human studies have provided some support for physical exercise as a mechanism for increasing BDNF levels. However, results have been inconsistent, which may be attributed in part to incomplete information about normal variation in circulating peripheral BDNF levels. This investigation examined capillary-drawn whole blood samples from nine healthy adult participants over 30 days with the goal of documenting variability in resting BDNF levels and changes that may be attributed to physical exercise. It was hypothesized that BDNF concentrations …


Using Functional Infrared Thermal Imaging To Measure Stress Responses, Julia Tenaya Kandus 2018 Humboldt State University

Using Functional Infrared Thermal Imaging To Measure Stress Responses, Julia Tenaya Kandus

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

The stress response reflects a coordinated pattern of physiological changes that serves the adaptive function of increasing an organism’s ability to cope with situations that require action or defense. The changes in blood flow associated with the stress response may be detectable using the relatively new research technique of functional infrared thermal imaging (fITI). The present study was designed to determine the time-course and topography of temperature changes in human faces during the experience of a stressor. Infrared images were taken from 29 female participants while they completed the mental arithmetic component of the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST). Continuously …


Test Of Bpa's Estrogenic Effects On Brain Aromatase Expression, Neural Activity, And Locomotive Behavior In Zebrafish Larvae, Ryan J. McAuley 2018 Humboldt State University

Test Of Bpa's Estrogenic Effects On Brain Aromatase Expression, Neural Activity, And Locomotive Behavior In Zebrafish Larvae, Ryan J. Mcauley

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Bisphenol A (BPA) is a well-known endocrine disrupting chemical that mimics the effects of estrogens. Aromatase B (Cyp19a1b) is a brain-specific enzyme that converts testosterone to estrogen and is highly upregulated in response to estrogen receptor activation localized to radial glial cells. During embryonic zebrafish development, there is a small window of time denoted by an increase in neurogenesis and estrogen receptor activity. Previous studies have demonstrated that a low dose BPA exposure (0.1µM) during this window causes hyperlocomotion in larval zebrafish, yet no further explanation for this behavior change has been described. The purpose of this study was to …


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