Major: Psychology/Neuroscience
Comp Advisor: Aimee Knupsky
The Impact of Communication Savoring on Emotions Dependent upon Closeness in a Relationship
Social emotion regulation is a useful tool when a situation becomes too emotionally taxing or stressful for a person to handle on their own. Communication savoring is a mechanism by which people can remember and appreciate an experience with another person, usually in the form of a memory. The other person in the memory is often a close family member, friend, or significant other. The present research examined the impact of communication savoring on emotions dependent upon closeness in a relationship. Participants completed emotion questionnaires and then were assigned to one of four conditions in which the relationship was either close or familiar and communication savoring was either present or absent. They were then given five minutes to perform a memory recall task given their assigned condition. Finally, participants completed the emotion questionnaires again after the memory recall. The hypotheses were that participants would have an increase in positive emotions when recalling a memory with someone they were close to and when recalling a memory using communication savoring. However, the results did not support these hypotheses such that there was little change in positive emotions from before and after the memory recall. In some instances, there was an increase in negative emotions after memory recall when communication savoring was used. Overall, more research is needed to determine the best modality for savoring to successfully regulate emotions, specifically increasing positive emotions.
Major: Neuroscience
Comp Advisor: Aimee Knupsky
Narrative Type Effect on Transportation and Empathy
Previous research on narrative type show that fiction is more efficient in transporting readers and impacting their empathy. Most of these studies examine the differences in narratives types between fiction and nonfiction, which does not include creative nonfiction. Creative nonfiction can be as imaginative and emotion-provoking as fiction and it is based on true events. This study hypothesized that there will be no difference in the level of transportation and empathy between fiction and creative nonfiction. To investigate the hypothesis, this study conducted a study of 33 participants. Each participant was randomly assigned to one of three narrative conditions: fiction, creative nonfiction, and standard nonfiction. This study found no significant results to support the hypothesis, but it did find a correlation between transportation and empathy. This study hopes to pave a pathway for future studies to consider other works of narrative and their effects on transportation and empathy.
Major: Psychology
Comp Advisor: Monali Chowdhury
Social Media and Mental Health
The usage of social media platforms such as Facebook, which has over 1.5 billion users, is now becoming an integral part of the social life for college students within the United States (Primack et al., 2017). About 90% of young adults in the U.S. who use social media visit these sites at least once a day, which means that this population of U.S. citizens is constantly taking in social media content for extended periods (Primack et al., 2017). While social media might bring some benefits to the individual using it, there are numerous findings which indicate that increased time spent on social media can be related to changes in mental health (Primack et al., 2017).
While Facebook still tends to be a very popular social media platform, another has risen and is taking its place among Facebook as one of the most used social media platforms; Instagram has become one of the most popular platforms that people frequent on a daily basis. Instagram was created in 2010 that primarily focuses either on photo or video posting, which is the uploading of image content to the site, to convey meaning. Whereas Facebook allows for text, photo, and video posting, Instagram differs by only allowing users to post a photo or video with a limited caption.
Studies concerning Instagram have found similar results as the studies of Facebook in terms of their relationship to the mental health of their users, which will be discussed further in this comprehensive senior project (Lup, Trub, & Rosenthal, 2015). Instagram usage has also been found to be correlated with an increase of depressive-like symptoms in young adults between the ages of 18 and 29. The correlation provides an interesting point; platforms that post only visual elements also indicate an increase in depression. This means there might be more to the link of depression than just the posted elements (Lup, Trub, & Rosenthal, 2015). Due to these findings, this in-depth research paper will focus on both Facebook and Instagram in unison to better understand the relationship between mental health and social media use.
Major: Neuroscience
Comp Advisor: Aimee Knupsky
Hiring Multilingual Workers : An approach to increasing team performance in businesses
Many studies have tried to look at the association between bilingualism and varying cognitive advantages. One such advantage is greater development in theory of mind. Theory of mind can best be summarized as the capacity of an individual to understand and attribute the emotions, beliefs, and ideas of others as discernable and seperate mental states from their own. While much research has gone into establishing this link between bilingualism and increased theory of mind, very few have tried to associate bilingualism with greater communication and teamwork skills. Relating the cognitive advantage of bilingualism to a real world competitive market place advantage is the goal of the study. To relate bilinguals as an asset to the workforce by way of concrete cognitive advantages has not been looked into. An analysis of several studies across cognitive psychology, organizational psychology, business, and economics are used to explain the associations between theory of mind, small group communication, team work, and team efficiency. Additionally an analysis of two Spanish films is used as literary evidence for displaying aspects of area of interest. Based on the research it seems that bilinguals have greater development of theory of mind which in turn could lead to greater communication skills which could then lead to greater performance in team related tasks, ultimately leading to greater group efficiency. Further research must be conducted to prove these possible associations; however, the groundwork has been set in place.
Major: Psychology/Neuroscience
Comp Advisor: Monali Chowdhury
How does childhood emotional trauma affect attachment formation in male and female
For better or worse, every adult lived through their childhood. More often than not, the quality of one’s childhood impacts one`s adult life in terms of relationships, mental health and how one sees the world (Bowlby,1973) . Each parent is responsible for doing right by their children by providing them with opportunities and otherwise helping them achieve success. While good parenting, stable environments, and positive exposure can help a child to be happy and lead a successful life, bad parenting, dangerous environments, and negative exposures can lead to childhood traumas which become the foundation of one`s adulthood life (Meaney, MS, 2001). Traumatic experiences leave a legacy of reminders that may go on for many years. These reminders may all be linked to aspects of the traumatic experience, its circumstances and its aftermath. Children may be reminded by the persons, places, things, situations, anniversaries, or by feelings such as renewed fear or sadness ( Bowlby, 1973). Children who go without treatment, and experience childhood exposure to traumatic events can have major effects of the brain and nervous system (Bowlby, 1973) . When those early experiences have been less than optimal, those unconscious patterns of attachment can continue to shape the perceptions and responses of the brain to new relational experiences in old ways that get stuck, that can`t take in new experience as new information, can’t learn or adapt or grow from those experiences (Courtois, C. A, 2018)
Major: Neuroscience
Comp Advisor: Jeff Hollerman
Effects of Central vs. Peripheral Estrogen Activity on Nicotine-Induced Conditioned Place Preference in Female Rats
Nicotine dependency is an ongoing problem in the United States, and with modern forms of nicotine intake, such as vaporizers, is affecting younger people every year. It is believed that females are especially susceptible to the adverse effects of nicotine including addiction onset, problems with cessation, withdrawal, and mortality. These effects are believed to be caused by estrogen; a hormone produced by the ovaries. Estrogen is believed to directly effect GABA function in the nucleus accumbens and striatum, resulting in enhanced dopamine activity. Using female rats in three conditioning groups, controls, ovariectomized (OVX), a group receiving a peripheral anti-estrogen called ICI 182,780 (ICI) (n=6 per group, n=18 total), the present study aimed to determine if estrogens effects on female addiction were due solely to central nervous system input or if the peripheral nervous system also plays a role. A biased conditioned place preference (CPP) paradigm was used with animals receiving s.c. injections of nicotine at a dose of 1.2mg/kg. Results indicated that controls and ICI’s displayed higher CPP scores than OVX animals. However, differences in CPP scores from controls and ICI’s to OVX’s did not differ greatly, explained possibly by small sample sizes.
Major: Psychology
Comp Advisor: Elizabeth Ozorak
How a Competitive Environment Affects Performance in Athletes and Nonathletes
A competitive attitude can be defined as “a mental standpoint toward settings of competition as motivation or a desire to win” (Allport 1967). There are different factors that go into how an athlete performs such as their attitudes and beliefs, social facilitation, incentives, and motivation.
This study looks at how a competitive attitude can be one of these factors. With an innate need to win, will athletes try harder if they know they are competing against others? The first hypothesis was that athletes would be more competitive than nonathletes. The second hypothesis was that a pressure situation will yield better results in performance due to a competitive attitude, but more so in athletes. In this study, 59 students participated in a shuttle run under a competitive and a casual setting. They then took a questionnaire to measure their innate competitiveness. The results showed a main effect of competitiveness and performance in athletes. Athletes scored higher on the competitiveness questionnaire, and both athletes and nonathletes ran faster in the pressure condition. However, there was not a significant interaction effect like the second hypotheses predicted.
Major: Psychology
Comp Advisor: Aimee Knupsky
The Impact of Dance and Movement on one’s ability to demonstrate Sentiments
Dance as a form of mindfulness exploration has the ability to make an individual consciously aware of what they are experiencing in the present moment. This practice has the ability to work one’s mind into exploring feelings in which people often neglect. Literature suggests that movement has therapeutic properties that expose an individual to various ways feelings can be explored and experienced in a way that feels good in the body. It allows the mover to have a “full” experience. In like manner, sensibility or the idea of being sentimental invites a sympathetic participant to explore themselves through social learning. Research suggests that sensibility is what makes an individual more receptive because its attention is directed both inward and outward. From this, we can assert that it gives its participants the ability to tune into the impulses of their emotional heart in which it communicates to the feeling body that is able to not only communicate, but resonate with others as well.
Major: Psychology
Comp Advisor: Lydia Eckstein
Effects of Positive Self-Talk on Attention in Physically and Cognitively Depleted Soccer Athletes in a Skilled Endurance Task
Often, athletes must perform at their highest level, even under states of depletion. When depleted, attention decreases leading to performance decreases. System 2 positive self-talk has been shown to improve performance in both skill and endurance tasks (Theodorakis, Chroni, Laparidis, Bebetsos, & Douma, 2001). It has also been shown to increase attention by way of increasing self control to improve performance (Baumeister, Muraven & Tice, 2000). However, there is a lack of research on how self-talk directs attention to affect performance when athletes are already depleted. The present study sought to address this in a sample of soccer athletes. 9 Division III college soccer athletes completed one study session a week for three weeks. The first week consisted of baseline assessments of skill and endurance, the second of assessments under conditions of depletion, and the third assessed skill and endurance under conditions of depletion and self-talk. It was hypothesized that, compared to baseline, both attention and skilled endurance performance would decrease in the second session. It was further hypothesized that both attention and skilled endurance performance would increase in the third session. However, results showed that there was significance in the number of attempts and hits made across time, suggesting an effect on performance, but not by way of increased attention. Implications and limitations are discussed.
Major: Psychology
Comp Advisor: Ryan Pickering
Exploring the impact and constraints of leisure air travel
The main motivation of this research was to analyze and contribute to the knowledge of the psychological effects, both positive and negative of solo leisure air travelling in the United States. Additionally, this research will provide brief statistics for the economic impacts of travelling in the United States as well as, a synopsis of why people travel. This research shows why the impacts of travelling for some individuals are different than others and the traveling restrictions they may face. Finally, this research includes a travel guide that is compiled to help achieve the optimal solo leisure travel experience for anyone.
Major: Psychology
Comp Advisor: Lydia Eckstein
Justifying Human Rights Violations by United States Allies in the Middle East
Despite the United States’ declared commitment to the protection of human rights, it rarely holds its allies accountable for their own human rights violations. While previous studies have shown that many factors are taken into consideration when condemnation occurs, such as the method of punishment, interests of condemning and violating states, and the public’s justification of supporting states with immoral practices, a state’s relationships via alliances has often been neglected as a factor. The current experiment tested the effects alliances had on justifying torture in the Middle East by the American public. Overall, it was found that both the United States government, through a case analysis, and the public justify human rights violations for its allies, but globally condemns its enemies for similar actions. Patriotism, conservatism, political engagement, and party identification also influenced how likely individuals are to condone human rights violations.
Major: Neuroscience
Comp Advisor: Jeff Hollerman
The Effects of Curcumin on Learning, Memory, and Neurogenesis in the Sprague Dawley Rat
Curcumin is a plant-based spice notorious for its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory behavior in the body. This study concentrations on how those properties effect learning, memory and neurogenesis in the brain of adult Sprague Dawley rats. Rats were fed curcumin in peanut butter orally and were tested in a T-maze to determine significant differences in learning and memory. BrdU, a molecule that incorporates itself into the DNA of newly born cells, was also given by injection to the rats to later perform histology where neurogenesis can be detected using a fluorescent microscope. The study resulted in no discrete conclusion but suggested that curcumin had no significant effect on learning, memory, or neurogenesis.
Major: Psychology
Comp Advisor: Lydia Eckstein
The Effects of Reality Television on the Viewers’ Self-Esteem
This study looked at the effect of reality television on viewers’ self-esteem. Previous research has shown that reality TV has had very specific body types represented in the shows. They have also found that what is being shown impacts the viewer and influences their opinions and attitudes in their life. An example of this is shown in the show The Biggest Loser. Domoff, Hinman, et. al., (2012) talk about how the show uses “scare tactics” to promote fear towards being obese and even change the attitudes viewers have towards those who are obese. Other research has shown that reality TV shows portray a specific body type and that portrays to viewers that the body type that is shown is the one that is desired (Flynn, 2015). Participants were randomly assigned to watch a roughly 10-min clip of either the Keeping Up with the Kardashians or Worst Cooks in America: Celebrity Edition group. The participants then took the state self-esteem scale, the self-objectification questionnaire and the PANAS scale. Results suggest that reality TV does not affect the viewers self-esteem which does not support the hypothesis. Limitations and future directions are discussed.
Keywords: Self-Objectification theory, Self-esteem, State self-esteem, body image, reality TV
Major: Psychology
Comp Advisor: Ryan Pickering
Contextualizing Impostor Phenomenon Through Cultural Factors and Self-Handicapping
Current research on Impostor Phenomenon focuses on intellectual fraudulence and its cause through an individualistic lens. This can be particularly problematic since the specific demographic that originally sparked the research has drastically changed, while its scale and characteristics has not changed accordingly. Furthermore, self-handicapping may help understand this well, given its reference in the Impostor Phenomenon cycle but its peculiar absence is noted everywhere else. Truly peculiar given the similarities the two do share on multiple factors. This project looked at various research articles about Impostor Phenomenon and other research that may be tangentially related to better understand Impostor Phenomenon. Research on self-handicapping and Impostor Phenomenon overlap in self-presentational concerns and feedback. Both had a surprising weak correlation with perfectionism, despite how intuitively fitting perfection related with both. Cultural mismatch theory and culturally relevant pedagogy suggest that there may be multiple reasons why those with experience do not feel like they belong, feel inadequate, may be concerned with how other view them and more. This suggests a very different cause of origin of Impostor Phenomenon – not one of intellectual fraudulence but of unclear feedback, cultural differences, and unstable self-image. This is important because the solution to both situations are completely different. Since this study aimed to bring together tangentially related fields to better understand Impostor Phenomenon, current research combining various factors have been sparse and further research for any conclusive findings.
Major: Psychology/Other
Comp Advisor: Ryan Pickering
An Analysis of Perceived Stress and Eating Attitudes Among Female Undergraduate Students
While the ideal female body in the United States has varied over time, our present society both glamorizes and promotes thinness through various media platforms (Johnson & Wardle, 2005; Hesse-Biber, 2007). In recent years, this ideal has shifted slightly to value a figure that is both thin and fit, though the pressure females may feel to conform to this body ideal is still quite prevalent (Boepple, Ata, Rum, & Thompson, 2016). Young females who are deeply immersed in the digital world and the body ideals promoted within it may feel a unique pressure to modify their own physical appearance in order to be accepted by society at large (Tao, 2013; Derbyshire, Lust, Schreiber, Odlaug, Christenson, Golden, & Grant, 2013). The pressure to conform to societal body ideals can produce stress in one’s daily life and also has the potential to negatively impact one’s physical health as a result of an eating disorder (Mehler, Cleary, & Gaudiani, 2011). This study aimed to delve further into the experience of females during their first and fourth years of an undergraduate education in order to explore the potential impact of perceived stress on eating attitudes at each of these stages. Analyses compared the responses of first-year (n = 30) and fourth-year (n = 20) female undergraduate respondents on measures of perceived stress and eating attitudes. Eating attitudes were assessed via a modified version of the Eating Attitudes Test- 26 (Garner et al., 1982). Perceived stress was measured via the administration of the Perceived Stress Scale- 14 (Cohen, Kamarck, & Mermelstein, 1983). Though the total PSS-14 scores did not differ between the first-year (M = 44.33, SD = 8.93) and fourth-year samples (M = 44.40, SD = 8.34), the data displayed a trend in total EAT-26 scores which indicated that fourth-year students (M = 14.65, SD = 13.19) possess eating attitudes that are more indicative of disordered eating than those of first-year students (M = 9.80, SD = 9.65). Additionally, there was a statistically significant positive correlation between perceived stress and eating attitudes (r = 0.41, p = 0.003). Further research is needed in regard to this relationship in order to help combat the impact the stressful college environment may have on the eating attitudes of female students over time.
Keywords: eating attitudes, perceived stress, females, college students
Major: Neuroscience
Comp Advisor: Jeff Hollerman
A Prenatal Immune Activation and Adolescent Stress Model of Schizophrenia: Effects on Cognitive Performance, Addiction Susceptibility, and GABA Signaling
Schizophrenia is a severe psychiatric disorder, the causes of which remain largely unknown. There is substantial evidence for a 2-hit hypothesis of schizophrenia, in which a genetic predisposition and an environmental impact during development can increase susceptibility and severity of the disease. Animal models are essential for studying cognitive deficits which can be measured using behavioral testing, and neurological deficits which can be analyzed with postmortem analysis. Polyriboinosinic-Polyribocytidilic acid (poly I:C) delivered to pregnant animals has been reported to produce detectable deficits in offspring analogous to those of schizophrenia. Chronic stress during adolescence has also been shown to produce schizophrenia-like symptoms in animals. It was hypothesized that both impaired behavioral flexibility and heightened susceptibility to nicotine would result from the combination of prenatal poly I:C and adolescent stress. Sprague Dawley rats were administered both prenatal poly I:C and ten days of stress during adolescence (n=6), in order to create a new rat model based on the 2-hit hypothesis. These were compared with poly I:C alone (n=6) and controls (n=6). The combination of poly I:C and stress resulted in impared initial spacial learning on a T-maze behavioral test compared with controls, but no conclusive effects were found in reversal learning. Nicotine addiction susceptibility was tested using CPP, but produced no significant differences between groups. Reported neurological findings are discussed in the context of poly I:C and stress, with particular focus on GABAergic abnormalities and their similarities to the human disease. Results, when considered with other reports, do suggest potential for this model, while indicating a great deal of complexity in its mechanisms. There is much need for additional research to establish a better understanding of both the range deficits caused, and their neurological roots, before the combination of poly I:C and stress as an animal model can be used as a more powerful tool in studying schizophrenia.
Major: Psychology/Other
Comp Advisor: Lydia Eckstein
The Effects of Participation in Theatre Activities on Social Confidence in Children in Grades Two and Three
(No abstract – submitted under com. arts guidelines) I led a theatre workshop with elementary school students and measured changes in social confidence.
Major: Neuroscience
Comp Advisor: Jeff Hollerman
Effects of Prophylactic Ketamine on Immunostressor-Induced Depression-Like Behaviors in Rodents
While serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are an effective treatment for some patients with major depressive disorder (MDD), approximately half of patients do not respond to treatment and relapse is a common occurrence. Many compounds are now under investigation for their potential to treat patients who do not respond to SSRIs. Among these is ketamine, a dissociative anesthetic. Administration of subanesthetic dosages of ketamine has recently been shown to be an effective intervention for treatment resistant depression (TRD). While ketamine has recently received FDA approval as an intervention for TRD, its mechanism of action remains largely unknown. Additionally, it is not known whether ketamine may have prophylactic (illness-preventing) properties. One mechanism that has been proposed is that ketamine may protect against the depressive effects of chronically elevated levels of inflammatory cytokines. A study was therefore conducted that examined whether ketamine pretreatment was able to prevent depression-like behaviors in rodents induced by the immunostressor compound lipopolysachharide (LPS), which raises levels of inflammatory cytokines. Ketamine was administered to a test group one week prior to administration of LPS and the sucrose preference test (SPT) and forced swim test (FST) administered 22 hours after LPS injection. Additionally, locomotion testing was conducted 4 hours after LPS administration to gain a fuller picture of LPS’s behavioral effects. Control groups receiving no treatment and only LPS but not ketamine were used in order to directly observe the effects of LPS on behavior. Unexpectedly, LPS did not increase depression-like behavior. This finding may reveal an inability to replicate prior findings using rat models. LPS reduced locomotion, but this effect was not attenuated by ketamine pretreatment. This finding may indicate no prophylactic effect of ketamine for some symptoms of autoimmune diseases but further research is required to establish this.
Major: Neuroscience
Comp Advisor: Jeff Hollerman
Effects of Omega-3 Fatty Acids on Prenatally Stressed Sprague-Dawley Rats: Anxiety and Depressive-Like Behaviors
Prenatal stress is a widely researched health issue that has been linked to many harmful effects on the fetus both in utero and later in life. These effects can include an early release of corticotropin-releasing hormones that triggers a heightened stress response, which alters the mental health trajectory of the offspring. It is hypothesized that mothers who subject their offspring to prenatal stress while on a diet supplemented with omega-3 fatty acids have less behavioral deficits compared to offspring whose mothers did not consume omega-3s during gestation. Omega-3 fatty acids positively alter gene expression, improves brain membrane integrity, and aids in proliferation of neurons. The goal of this study was to investigate the effects of omega-3s on prenatal stressed Sprague-Dawley rats through water deprivation during the first week of gestation. Effects of omega-3s were assessed using three behavioral tests: the forced swim test, open field test and sweet test. Results from behavioral testing show prenatally animals without omega-3s had significantly more activity in the open field test compared to only stressed animals thus, indicating anxiety-like behaviors in the novel environment. Additionally, the immobility score of the forced swim tests showed a trend, although statistically insignificant. Animals that were stressed without omega-3s had a higher immobility score than animals that did receive omega-3 supplementation – indicating depression-like behaviors when testing their drive to continue swimming. These findings suggest the omega-3 fatty acid supplementation had an effect on an animals’ mental health that had the supplements during gestation when compared to animals without prenatal supplementation. Further investigation is warranted and there is a need to shed light on the mechanisms that take place in both the mother and offspring when stressed and supplemented with omega-3s through rigorous histological experimentation.
Major: Psychology
Comp Advisor: Lydia Eckstein
Boys Don’t Cry; They Man Up: Studying the Effects of Expressions of Vulnerability on Compensatory (Hyper)Masculine Behaviors
Masculinity is something that men can make happen by passing certain “social” acceptance norms (Bosson, Cohen,Vandello, Burnaford & Weaver, 2008). Because of its tenuous nature, masculinity can be taken away, or threatened. Men’s response to having their masculinity threatened has been operationalized in different ways (Berke, Reidy, Miller & Zeichner, 2017; Bosson, Vandello, Buranford, Weaver & Watsi, 2009; Cheryan, Cameron, Katagiri, & Monin, 2015). Research has shown that men have been socialized to restrict vulnerability and emotional intimacy (Lewis, 1978). This study assessed if vulnerability was an effective threat to masculinity and measured the hypermasculine compensatory response through pain tolerance. It was hypothesized that participants placed in a self-disclosure condition express more pain tolerance with a cold pressor task than those in a small-talk condition. Participants were randomly assigned two either a self-disclosure condition (high-vulnerability) or a small talk condition (low-vulnerability), where Arthur Arons closeness generating model was used as the manipulation (Aron, A., Melinat, Aron, E., Callone, & Bator, 1997). Participants were also asked to complete the cold pressor task to assess the compensatory behavior. The results showed a significant difference between the two conditions of time spent with their hand in the water. More research is needed to explore some of the contradictory findings in the surveys and the role that experimenter gender plays in expressions of vulnerability and masculinity.
Keywords: masculinity, pain tolerance, vulnerability
Major: Psychology
Comp Advisor: Other
Impact of Imaginative Play on Empathy in Adults
Through creating elaborate worlds and making up pretend characters children are participating in imaginative play, which has shown to help increase a child’s development of executive functions. A cognitive function related to executive functioning is empathy. Previous researchers have found play, especially with imaginative play to increase empathy in children . However, human cognitive development continues throughout the lifespan, but most research on play impacting empathy stops with children. In the present study I will be looking at the impact of imaginative play on empathy in adults. To do this we will define imaginative play and the four criteria it has. Then we will define empathy and its importance to the study. Afterwards we will look at previous research done on imaginative play in children and play in adults. Lastly we will go over the present study and results from that study leading us to talk about future research.
Major: Neuroscience
Comp Advisor: Aimee Knupsky
Investigation of Protocols for Students with Dyslexia Learning a Foreign Language
It has long been believed that students with dyslexia should not be given the opportunity to learn a foreign language. It is feared that students with dyslexia will struggle through the second language to the same extent or even greater than with their primary language. Recent research demonstrates that students with dyslexia do not have an inability to learn a foreign language but do require a longer processing time to do so. Professionals often mistake this longer processing time as an inability which justifies their reasoning to not have students with dyslexia learn a foreign language. The purpose of this study was to investigate the protocols in place for students with dyslexia learning a foreign language. Sixteen interviews took place at the Provident Charter School of Pittsburgh, a school designed for students with dyslexia. Teachers and an administrator were interviewed to investigate the advice and protocols in place for students with dyslexia learning a foreign language. The results demonstrated that at the Provident School students are always positively encouraged to achieve as much as academically possible, this includes learning a foreign language. It was also found that the teachers bear the responsibility to facilitate the success of their students and to provide the appropriate accommodations in order to help their students reach their fullest potentials. The findings from the interviews did not provide a solid understanding of what current research about the success of students with dyslexia and learning a foreign language are. Overall, students with dyslexia are encouraged to learn a foreign language at the Provident Charter School.
Major: Psychology
Comp Advisor: Other
Athletes Confidence Difference in Individual Sports Within Collegiate Athletics
Sport confidence in athletes is defined by the ability to execute a specific skill successfully within the athlete’s sport. When an athlete knows how to maintain and control the ownership of their confidence, the athlete will be in better control and excel. In this specific study, there were 36 participants from the Allegheny College Varsity Swimming and Diving team during the 2019-2020 winter season. This study was aimed at the athletes’ confidence regarding their current performance on the swimming and diving team. Digging further into confidence, this study examined if males or females had more confidence within swimming and diving. In order to find the results of this study, the athletes completed a 19-question survey. “Descriptive statistics”, an “independent t-test”, and “ANOVA” were performed to determine if there was a statistically significant effect on males’ and females’ confidence within their sport of swimming or diving. A small sample size of 36 participants was the largest limitation of this study. Further research is needed to determine if males or females have higher confidence within the swimming and diving team and potentially other athletic teams.
Major: Psychology
Comp Advisor: Other
Performing Gender, Performing Arts: An Analysis of Homophobic and Traditional Gender Ideologies Surrounding Men in Dance
In Western society, traditional masculine ideologies instruct men to avoid the appearance of femininity and homosexuality typically associated with dancing. Thus, men make up the minority of participants in the recreational and professional world of dance, and men who take part are often harassed and assumed to be gay, regardless of sexual orientation. This study investigated the relationship between homophobic/traditional gender ideologies and perception of men in ballet and hip hop dance. I hypothesized that individuals with stronger homophobic/traditional gender ideologies would respond less positively to images of male dancers versus female dancers. I also hypothesized that overall, participants would react more positively toward male hip hop dancers than male ballet dancers, as the former is considered a less feminine genre of dance than the latter. Participants compared five image pairs of males and females participating in activities, two of which were hip hop and ballet dance, and answered questions indicating their preferences. Participants then completed a questionnaire intended to measure homophobic and traditional gender beliefs. Fisher’s exact tests were completed to measure relationships between variables. One of twelve analyses measuring the relationship between homophobic ideologies and perception of men in dance found significance (p = .05), while none of the twelve analyses measuring the relationship between traditional gender ideologies and perception of men in dance found significance (p = > .05). As expected, participants reacted more favorably toward the image of the male hip hop dancer than male ballet dancer relative to their female counterparts.
Major: Psychology
Comp Advisor: Sarah Conlkin
The Bidirectional Relationship Between Perceived Stress, Mood, and Gastrointestinal Health
This study aimed to reveal the prevalence of gastrointestinal dysfunction among undergraduate students and examine whether participants with gastrointestinal dysfunction would report higher levels of anxiety, depression, and perceived stress. For this study, 105 Allegheny College students completed a series of questionnaires online to assess their recent perceived stress levels, symptoms of anxiety and depression, and experiences with irregular bowel habits and visceral sensitivity. In addition to high rates of anxiety and depression, self-reported data revealed that 98% of participants experienced some
form of bowel health dissatisfaction in the past 30 days. Correlational analyses and between-group t-tests revealed that participants with a medical diagnosis associated with gastrointestinal dysfunction and those who reported greater gastrointestinal irregularities had higher levels of perceived stress, anxiety, and depression. Given the high comorbidity of anxiety and depression and GI symptoms, analyzing the nature of typical activities of the gut in relation to perceived stress among undergraduate students can unravel the complexities of brain-gut communication and point toward new, more effective treatments.
Major: Psychology
Comp Advisor: Elizabeth Ozorak
Fairytale Warnings to Real World Disasters: Effects of “WALL-E” on Environmental Attitudes and Recycling Behavior
To avoid surpassing a global temperature increase of 2.5 degrees Celsius, the future preservation and rehabilitation of the environment relies on not only humanities adaptation towards pro-environmental attitudes, but a shift in behavior as well. While many film studios have created environmentally themed children’s films, no studies have yet used self-perception theory (SPT) to assess whether the emotional aspect of these films effectively alters environmental attitudes or behaviors. This study assessed two outcomes from viewing “Wall-E”: (1) viewing an emotionally charged scene with an environmentally positive outcome will improve recycling behavior, (2) feeling strong emotions while watching an environmental film will increase pro-environmental attitudes. This study compared the effects of a neutral scene to an emotionally charged scene. Environmental attitudes were assessed using the New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) Scale, and feelings on the film scene were measured before and after the film using the Brief Mood Introspection Scale (BMIS). Change in recycling behavior was measured by finding the percentage of recyclable items in waste bins one week before and after the film showing. Using a two by two mixed model design, the results showed a significant increase in sad, angry, fearful, and guilty emotions for both the neutral and emotional group. No significant data was found in either attitude or behavioral change for either group. This study shows that “Wall-E” does effectively increase negative emotions in young adult viewers, but showed no changes in improving recycling behavior.
Major: Neuroscience
Comp Advisor: Rodney Clark
Some Behavioral Consequences of Lead Exposure to Rats Performing Under an IRT>t Schedule of Food Presentation
Chronic lead poisoning can be linked to behavioral changes, such as learning and memory. This has occurred in regions all across the globe including Ancient Rome, China, and Flint, Michigan. This study sought to determine the effects of lead acetate on Sprague-Dawley rats, under scheduled reinforcement. The rats were conditioned under an Interresponse Time Greater than t schedule (IRT>t) over a three week period. The schedules of reinforcement increased in wait-time at the end of each week. Four rat groups were exposed to two different lead acetate concentrations of 30 and 300 ppm. The results of the present study show a significant difference between the schedules of reinforcements and responses per reinforcement (Rsp/Rft) for each group. These findings show that lead affects the behaviors associated with learning and memory.
Major: Psychology
Comp Advisor: Ryan Pickering
Shoes That Can No Longer Be Filled: Parentification as a Mediator Between First-Generation College Student Status and Family Achievement Guilt
One difficulty that first-generation college students experience is family achievement guilt—the guilt over leaving family members behind (Covarrubias & Fryberg, 2015). The cultural mismatch theory posits that this stems from a mismatch in which first-generation college students come from backgrounds that value interdependence, while universities value independence (Stephens, Townsend, Markus, & Phillips, 2012). However, the role of another construct, known as parentification, in explaining family achievement guilt is less clear. Parentification is a role reversal in which children take on parent-like responsibilities, which has an underlying theme of interdependence. Thus, it could be that first-generation college students from interdependent backgrounds experience higher levels of parentification, and when they go to college they may be unable to fulfill the family roles they were once able to, leading to family achievement guilt. The current study tested this hypothesis by assessing if parentification mediated the relationship between first-generation status and the experience of family achievement guilt. A sample of N=155 (68 first-generation, 87 continuing-generation) students from a small, liberal arts college in Northwest Pennsylvania were recruited. Participants completed a number of online measures, including measures of family achievement guilt and parentification. To test the hypothesized model, a mediation analysis was run using the PROCESS model tool (Hayes, 2012). Overall, the proposed model was supportive of the hypothesis: parentification mediated the relationship between first-generation status and family achievement guilt. Limitations and future directions are discussed.
Major: Psychology
Comp Advisor: Aimee Knupsky
The Effect of Empathy on One’s Ability to Detect Deception
There are many variables involved in detecting deception, namely empathy and the nature of the interaction. One variable that has little to no mention in scientific research is suspicion. The present study aims to find a relation between these variables: Does empathy influence one’s ability to make judgements of suspicion towards characters in short stories with varying magnitudes of deception (ranging from subtle to blatant deception)? A sample of 24 participants were given the Toronto Empathy Questionnaire at least 24 hours before reading two short stories and taking a measure of suspicion, likeability, and trustworthiness of characters, with Green and Brock’s Transportation Scale as a reading check. The character in the subtle condition was significantly less likeable than the blatant. The study concluded that there were no other significant results among the variables. Future work should be directed at measuring the variables in a more comprehensive manner, periodically throughout the study to give more insight as to when and how judgements of suspicion are made to inform research of deception detection abilities.
Major: Psychology/Neuroscience
Comp Advisor: Allison Connell
Not so out of touch: A behavioral report on the cross-modal interaction between auditory and tactile perception
Recent research has found that inattentional numbness, or the inability to detect an unexpected tactile stimulus, has been induced by high-load attention tasks in cross-modal studies (Murphy & Dalton, 2016) involving vision, and unimodal studies (Murphy & Dalton, 2018) involving just tactile sensations. In the present study, I examined whether an auditory attention task, containing two perceptual load conditions, would induce inattentional numbness. More precisely, I investigated the following broad questions within specific hypotheses: 1) Are there interactions that occur with auditory tones and tactile stimuli such as a vibration? 2) Can auditory stimuli influence the ability to detect a vibration? 3) Are there instances whereby it is easier to detect the vibration compared to others?
Each participant’s performance between both conditions (high-perceptual load, and low-perceptual load) was assessed through a discriminability index value (d’), response bias value (β) , and overall detection accuracy percentage using the hit rate and correct rejection rate of the tactile event. There was no significant difference found between the two conditions regarding discriminability index values, response bias values, and overall detection accuracy percentage. Such results suggest that individuals had equal, and high success in distinguishing the vibrotactile event, even when perceptual demands were effectively manipulated. Furthermore, these outcomes suggest that there was no interference of processing stimuli that activated two independent modalities. As such, the pairing of auditory and haptic stimuli/feedback may prove to be more beneficial in instances where a driver needs to be alerted (as compared to visual and tactile), or a visually-impaired individual needs navigational guidance in various environments.
Major: Psychology/Neuroscience
Comp Advisor: Sarah Conlkin
How Much “Weight” Can A Blanket Have on Sleep?
Sleeping habits among a college aged population are poor due to stress, social atmospheres, roommates, amongst other things. The effects of weighted blankets on the sleep behavior of college student participants was investigated through actigraphy bracelets. Participants were randomly assigned to sleep with a blanket, or to remain sleeping as they normally do. The participants completed the Richards Campbell Sleep Questionnaire (RCSQ), the State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), and the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) prior to the study in the lab. Actigraphy bracelets were worn to measure the sleep efficiency, sleep latency, and the wake after sleep onset. After one night of sleep, the participants were asked to complete the STAI, PSS, RCSQ, and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). It was hypothesized that participants in the weighted blanket group would have lower scores on the STAI, PSS, and PSQI, with higher scores on the RCSQ. There were significant differences found in a controlled group paired samples t test between time one and time two of the STAI. There were also significant differences found in the controlled group paired samples t test between time one and time two of the RCSQ. A future study could include using the same parameters, however, using the blankets for more than one night.
Major: Psychology
Comp Advisor: Other
The Effect of Light Therapy on Depressive Symptoms and Academic Performance in College Students
Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is defined by recurring depressive episodes that begin at the onset of the winter season. Geographic location and sleep are among some of the factors that contribute to symptoms of this disorder while a decline in academic achievement can be a byproduct. This study aimed at using light therapy, an effective treatment for SAD, to improve academic performance and analyze depressive symptoms across the spring and fall seasons. A two-way ANCOVA was performed to determine that light therapy decreased depressive scores, but failed to increase academic scores. Small sample size was a limitation of the study, therefore more research is needed to examine the effect of a light therapy lamp on academic performance.
Major: Psychology
Comp Advisor: Elizabeth Ozorak
The Effect of Pressure on Find and Gross Motor Task Performance Pressure/stress can be detrimental to task performance, or it could be helpful. Finding an
equilibrium for this relationship is nearly impossible. Depending on the situation, person, and task the results may very. But how does pressure effect fine and gross motor tasks differently? The current field of research is focused on professional athletes/musicians and surgeons, lacking insight on common professions and tasks. The goal of the present study is to add research to the field by running an experiment focused on more common tasks and people. The participants were students from a liberal arts college in Northwest Pennsylvania. The IV’s for the present study is type of pressure (pressure or non-pressure), and the DV’s are type of task (fine motor and gross motor). The study found that pressure played a significant role in the quality of performance in the gross motor task, but little to no role in the fine motor task.
Major: Psychology
Comp Advisor: Lydia Eckstein
The Effect of Biological Explanations of Mental Illness on Professional Help-Seeking
There is a pressing need for practical and cost-effective mental health literacy interventions that can increase professional help-seeking among those with mental illness (Kazdin & Blase, 2011). Previous research has demonstrated that biological explanations of depression can increase professional help-seeking attitudes (Gangi, Yuen, Levine, & McNally, 2016; Han, Chen, Hwang, & Wei, 2006; Howard, Griffiths, McKetin, & Ma, 2018). Inspired by these findings, the present study used an experimental design to investigate the effects of a brief, biologically-based educational intervention on causal attributions for depression and anxiety, professional help-seeking attitudes, and prognostic pessimism. To do so, 299 U.S. adults were recruited online via Amazon.com’s Mechanical Turk service (mTurk). As expected, the biological explanation of depression and its treatments increased biological attributions for both depression and anxiety. Similarly, the biological explanation of anxiety disorders and their treatments was found to increase biological attributions for anxiety; however, this explanation unexpectedly had no effect on attributions for depression. Contrary to predictions, neither the biological explanation of depression or the biological explanation of anxiety affected attitudes towards seeking medication from a psychiatrist or other medical doctor, or towards seeking psychotherapy from a mental health professional. Finally, as predicted, the explanations had no effect on prognostic pessimism for depression or anxiety. Implications and limitations are discussed.
Major: Psychology
Comp Advisor: Lydia Eckstein
Public Perceptions of Child Sexual Abuse Perpetrated by Males Versus Females
Public perceptions of female-perpetrated sexual abuse are often overlooked or misconceived due to benevolently sexist ideals that women are unable to be malevolent sexual criminals because they are innately nurturing. Previous studies that have looked at the rates of female sex offending have found that while exact numbers for female sex offending are hard to pinpoint due to an epidemic of underreporting, females do indeed commit sexual crimes and the effects on the victims are just as severe as if perpetrated by a male. The present study sought to explore if the public’s perception of childhood sexual abuse varied by sex of the offender, and if the participants’ level of benevolent sexist beliefs predicted how they viewed the crimes. It was hypothesized that those who have higher scores in benevolent sexism would rate females less harshly, the neutral and shocking vignettes would be perceived as equally dangerous regardless of gender and women would be judged less harshly in ambiguous situations. Results indicated that female perpetrators were indeed perceived less harshly in ambiguous situations than males, but that females and males were perceived equally when the child sexual abuse scenarios were unambiguously incriminating or benign. A slight association was found between levels of benevolent sexism and judgements of crimes; however, this was opposite of the predicted direction. Implications and limitations are discussed.
Major: Psychology/Neuroscience
Comp Advisor: Jeff Hollerman
Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a disorder that has multiple symptoms that can be categorized as positive symptoms, negative symptoms, and cognitive and disorganization symptoms. This disorder often starts in early adulthood and causes lifelong disability for patients. There is a two hit hypothesis for the illness that consists of a predisposition for the illness, and onset occurs after an environmental stressor later in life. Current medications for the disorder include antipsychotics that not only have aversive side effects, but also only attenuate to positive symptoms of the disorder. Negative and cognitive symptoms can cause a patient to struggle in everyday life and lead to negative life outcomes as well. Cannabidol is a nonintoxicating component of the cannabis plant that is thought to act on the mesolimbic dopaminergic system to increase the amount of dopamine. This suggests that it may provide relief to areas of the brain in schizophrenia that have an abnormally low amount of dopamine, and can be used as a treatment for negative and cognitive symptoms. While there is some evidence for this treatment to help, it is vastly understudied. The current study uses a prenatal immune activation model of schizophrenia using intraperitoneal injection of polyriboinosinic-polyribcytidilic acid (poly I:C) on gestational day 14 rat dams. Pups were then put through a 5-day stress paradigm in adolescence (PD 35-39) to stimulate the environmental stressor. Experimental rats were given a treatment of CBD oil diluted in sesame oil to ingest (20 mg/kg) every 12 hours for 5 days. The attentional set shifting task in which the animal must learn to associate a scent with a food reward was used to assess reversal learning, a cognitive symptom, a social interaction task was done to assess sociability, which can be impaired in a patient with schizophrenia, as well as a sucrose preference task to assess anhedonia. Results indicated that there are no significant differences between CBD treatment and a Poly I:C model.
Major: Psychology
Comp Advisor: Sarah Conlkin
The Acute Effects of Kratom (Mitragyna Speciosa) on Mood and Anxiety in College Students
More than 40 million Americans have been diagnosed with a form of anxiety disorder (Robert, 2018) and one in five Americans will be diagnosed with an anxiety disorder in their lifetime (McLean et al., 2011). Many of these individuals go untreated and estimate that their symptoms stem from extremely taxing workloads (Mughal et al., 1996). Over 80% of those diagnosed with an anxiety disorder will not receive any treatment, with the average age of those seeking first treatment being 27 years of age (Grant et al., 2005). The highly comorbid nature of anxiety with other mood disorders, such as depression, is speculated to be a major contributing factor to the low treatment success rates (McLean et al., 2011). Many treatments for anxiety are centered around both therapy and the use of prescription medications, and are most successful when paired together (National Institute of Mental Health, 2016). The common negative side effects of these treatments are not limited to distress and fear, but also non-adherence to the medication and fewer follow-up clinical visits (Barsky et al., 2002). Thus, it may be important to find alternatives to traditional treatments of anxiety.
Mitragyna speciosa, commonly known as Kratom, is a tropical plant in the coffee family native to southeast Asia whose leaves possess potential therapeutic qualities. Kratom has been consumed medicinally and recreationally for centuries due to its stimulating, anxiolytic, and psychoactive properties (Hassan et al., 2013). An estimated 4 – 40 million Americans have used Kratom as a remedy to treat chronic pain, opioid withdrawal symptoms, and mood disorders (Boyer et al., 2008). Despite the long history of human consumption, Kratom has only recently gained popularity in the United States. Consequently, research on Kratom is relatively new with most studies being conducted within the last decade (Hassan et al., 2013). Due to this, understanding of Kratom’s pharmacological and behavioral effects on consumers of the botanical compound are limited. However, some research suggests that regular or routine consumption of moderate to high doses of Kratom may lead to users experiencing tolerance, dependence, (Boyer et al., 2008) addiction, withdrawal, and cravings (Corkey et al., 2019). Because of these findings, and the surprising lack of well designed and carefully controlled studies on Kratom research is needed to better understand the acute and longterm effects of low doses. The purpose of this study was to assess (via the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory) whether there was any truth to the anecdotal claims that Kratom can lower an individual’s self-perceived anxiety. Survey research on the matter seems to confirm these reports, however, a non-correlational laboratory experiment had not been conducted up until this point.
The current study aimed to examine the acute effects of a one-gram dose of Kratom, compared to a matched placebo (oregano), one hour after ingestion among a sample of college students currently reporting mild to moderate symptoms of depression and anxiety. This would be measured via the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI). Other general negative symptoms were assessed via the Symptom Checklist-90-Revised (SCL-90-R).
It was predicted that Kratom would reduce state-anxiety but not trait-anxiety, and the Kratom group would not experience any more negative symptoms than the oregano group. The data seemed to suggest that the alternative hypotheses was correct, since there was an interaction effect between condition group and time of taking STAI, and there were no significant differences in SCL-90-R scores and condition group. If these results are interpreted correctly, it can be said that a single one-gram dose of Kratom reduced anxiety in individuals at least one hour after consumption with no significant amount of negative symptoms or side effects.
Major: Neuroscience
Comp Advisor: Sarah Conlkin
Does 300mg of Cannabidiol (CBD) Impact Actigraphic Sleep Measurements or Sleep Self-Appraisal in Young Adults?
Sleep dysfunction is common and is highly comorbid with obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and depression. Many sleep disorders go undiagnosed, especially in young adults. Cannabidiol (CBD), the non-psychoactive component of Cannabis sativa, is relatively understudied but has been shown to have anxiolytic effects in human models. CBD acts on the endocannabinoid system which is also neurologically linked to the sleep-wake cycle. It was hypothesized that a single dose of 300mg CBD would have no effects on actigraphy measurements of sleep onset latency, distinct wake episodes, or sleep efficiency in young adults, but it would have a positive effect on sleep self-appraisal measurements. The present study has shown that a single dose of 300mg CBD had no significant effects on actigraphy measurements or sleep-self appraisal in young adults. More research needs to be conducted to understand CBD and the endocannabinoid system to limit spreading false information and sensationalizing these products.
Major: Psychology/Neuroscience
Comp Advisor: Monali Chowdhury
The Relationship between Problematic Smartphone Use, Life Satisfaction, and Empathy
Due to modern technological advancements, smartphone ownership has rapidly increased
in recent years. Researchers are beginning to wonder about the possible correlates of smartphone use. Many researchers in different countries, such as China and Germany, have been investigating the possible correlates (Lachmann et al., 2018). Life satisfaction and empathy have been investigated as two of those possible correlates. In this study, the relationship between problematic smartphone use, life satisfaction, and empathy were investigated with 57 students at a small liberal arts college in the eastern U.S. Problematic smartphone use was measured using the Smartphone Addiction Scale, and life satisfaction was measured using the Satisfaction with Life Scale for college students. Empathy was measured using four subscales of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index: Perspective Taking, Empathic Concern, Fantasy, and Personal Distress. It was hypothesized that problematic smartphone use would be negatively correlated with life satisfaction and empathy. Data for each variable was collected through three reliable and valid self-report questionnaires. It was found that problematic smartphone use was negatively correlated with the empathy subscale of Perspective Taking (r=-0.286), and it was positively correlated with the empathy subscale of Personal Distress (r=0.274). These results are pointing to the conclusion of higher smartphone use making a person more egocentric, looking less outwardly at others and looking more inwardly at themselves. Life satisfaction was not found to be correlated with problematic smartphone use or empathy. These results could be the start of research on the true impact that overusing smartphones might be having on people in society.
Major: Neuroscience
Comp Advisor: Jeff Hollerman
The Effects of Environmental Enrichment and Oxytocin on Autism Using a Valproic Acid Model
Enriched environments (EE) and oxytocin administered intranasally have been investigated as potential treatments to alleviate the social deficits and anxiety-like symptoms associated with the valproic acid (VPA) rat model of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). However, there is little scientific literature that has compared these treatments to determine which option most effectively reduces the severity of these symptoms. This study attempted to determine which treatment would most effectively diminish these symptoms exhibited by offspring whose mothers were exposed to VPA on day 12 of their gestion period. Four groups including both sexes were devised to compare environmental and drug effects through behavioral testing. These groups consisted of VPA rats raised in a standard environment (SE), VPA rats raised in a SE given oxytocin before testing, VPA EE rats, and Control SE rats. Rats were taken from their mothers at three weeks old and were randomly divided into their respective environments to live for two weeks. This study found that female VPA SE rats given oxytocin intranasally before testing spent significantly more time with a familiar rat of the same sex as compared to female VPA SE rats on a sociability test. Furthermore, female VPA SE rats given oxytocin intranasally entered the end compartment containing fresh bedding significantly more than female VPA SE rats on a social cue test. These results suggest that pharmaceutical interventions based on sex should be used first and foremost to treat the symptoms of ASD, where an EE can be used as a supplemental treatment.
Major: Psychology
Comp Advisor: Monali Chowdhury
The Black Experience In Contemporary America
The main question presented in this senior project was whether black Americans would or would not benefit from a closer proximity to whiteness in contemporary America. This topic was divided into three chapters: the social stratification of black Americans/the portrayal of black Americans in Western media, the compare and contrast of education quality of schools in predominantly black neighborhoods/white neighborhoods, and the acculturative stress that could possibly be felt by black Americans who have acclimated into white communities. The research on these topics was found in journal articles, documentaries, books, and blogs. As demonstrated by my foundings, the research question had plenty of information regarding the topic on black Americans and their stratification in the US.
Major: Psychology/Neuroscience
Comp Advisor: Rodney Clark
Sub-Chronic Ketamine Rodent Model of Schizophrenia: Examination under the Attentional Set-Shifting and Negative Geotaxis Tests
Impairment of executive function, such as set-shifting and flexibility, is one of the most commonly observed deficits in schizophrenia through the various symptom stages. More recent evidences indicated that the severity of cognitive deficits of patients with schizophrenia was related to age of onset. Ketamine in rodent model is a widely used model for studying schizophrenia. It induces psychotic states and cognitive deficits that closely resemble schizophrenic symptoms. The present study was designed to better understand the relationship of schizophrenia, cognitive deficits and age of onset. A sub-chronic ketamine model of schizophrenia was used at two different onset stages; pubertal rats (N=10, PND 42–48) were used as the early-onset schizophrenia while adult rats (N=10, PND 76–81) were used as late-onset schizophrenia. Rats were administered ketamine (20 mg/ml) intraperitoneally (i.p.) once a day for 7 days and tested on day 8. In attentional set-shifting test, all rats were trained to dig in two bowls for the reward (Cheerio ®). Once they learned how to dig into bowls, discrimination tests began. All rats were required to make 5 consecutive correct choices to move on to the next stage. The second behavioral test was negative geotaxis, which investigated their motor coordination and vestibular sensitivity. Animals were placed on an inclined grid (45°) in the head downwards position. On each trial, the subject was given a maximum of 30 seconds on the apparatus to complete turn-around to orient so that its head was above its tail on the incline and time to completion was recorded in seconds. The result suggested that ketamine affected both early and late onset on attentional set-shifting test and negative geotaxis. Animal with ketamine administration in early-onset group showed a greater impairment in executive function. They made more errors in the attentional set-shifting test and took more time to turn upward in the negative geotaxis, as compared with the control and late- onset group.