Senior Studies Projects - 2006 listed below
Lindsey Davis (Neuroscience) The involvement of anterior cingulate cortex dopamine in effort-based decisions with varying reward probabilities Effort-based decision making studies, a subdivision of neuroeconomics, focus on whether an animal is willing to exert the effort needed to reach a reward. Quinolinic acid lesions to the anterior cingulate cortex will be performed in order to damage the dopaminergic system, which is crucial to decision making. It has been observed that this damage causes deviation from normal effort-based decision making when related to reward quantity. The current study examines if a similar deviation is present when related to reward probabilities. It is predicted that rats that receive quinolinic acid lesions will not exert the effort needed to reach an area with a high probability of reward when an area of low probability of reward requires much less effort.
Erin Griner (Psychology) Choice behavior in rats as a function of neuroeconomic decision making as opposed to a function of spatial strategy The most common theory of choice behavior in rats is that rats make choices in mazes based on spatial cues and the amount of time that has past since the rat last visited a particular arm of the maze, because that arm is more likely to yield a reward. But what if the arms of the maze each have a different probability of the rat receiving food? In this study I will look at how rats will respond when they are given a choice between two arms in a maze, each with a different probability of the rat receiving a food pellet. In this case I believe that the rat will make its decision based on a combination of probability and time. Kelly Spisak (Neuroscience) Is self awareness in humans lateralized to the right hemisphere of the brain? The field of cognitive neuroscience has implied a relationship between the right and the left hemispheres of the brain, and of the sense of self. However, these studies have failed to identify which hemisphere is directly correlated with self-awareness. Based upon the screening of thirty participants, this study will attempt to use the reaction time measurements of Shepard’s rotation task, as a method to determine if the sense of self is correlated with only the right hemisphere of the brain. If recognition time for mental rotation is maximally increased while viewing self-faces in the right hemisphere and simultaneously performing the rotation of the object mentally, this may be an indication that the right hemisphere is connected with self-recognition. Sara Sullivan (Psychology – OT Major) Social Attitudes and Stigma Associated with Acquired Brain Injury: Differences in Severity and Method of Acquisition Social perceptions of stigma have a variety of influences. Two of these influences are how the stigma was acquired and the cultural attitude toward the particular stigma. Little research has been conducted to determine public attitudes toward a traumatic brain injury. This study examines the roles the presence of physical deficit and method of acquisition play in stigma of brain injury. 100 college students will watch two video clips of injured individuals and read a vignette that explains how the injury was acquired. They will be given a condensed version of the Social Interaction and Prejudicial Evaluation Scales to measure stigma. It is predicted that both physical deficit and socially unfavorable method of acquisition will enhance negative attitudes
Kelly Spisak (Neuroscience)
Is self awareness in humans lateralized to the right hemisphere of the brain?
The field of cognitive neuroscience has implied a relationship between the right and the left hemispheres of the brain, and of the sense of self. However, these studies have failed to identify which hemisphere is directly correlated with self-awareness. Based upon the screening of thirty participants, this study will attempt to use the reaction time measurements of Shepard’s rotation task, as a method to determine if the sense of self is correlated with only the right hemisphere of the brain. If recognition time for mental rotation is maximally increased while viewing self-faces in the right hemisphere and simultaneously performing the rotation of the object mentally, this may be an indication that the right hemisphere is connected with self-recognition.
Kristin Tarzia (Neuroscience) A Behavioral Model of Depression: The Acute and Chronic Stress of Rat pups observed in a Morris Water Maze
Stressful early experiences in rat pups can alter their life and over time lead to depression. Rats handled vs. non-handled in different environmental conditions can cause severe deficits in the Periaqueductual Gray and dopamine d2 receptors in 5-HT regions (Heidbreder, Weiss, Domeney, Pryce, Homberg, Hedou, Feldon, Moran, and Nelson, 2000). The stress levels of human handled and non-handled of rats in group stressed, individually isolated, and maternal housing environments will be measured by a water maze and explored in this study. It is predicted that rats handled in an individually isolated environment will exhibit the highest stress levels and that the rats in the maternal housed and group stress non-handled conditions will exhibit the least amount of stress in the water maze.
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