Jeffrey Crawford, Psychological Sciences

Current Research: I'm interested in understanding the neural underpinnings of deficits in different domains of cognition in clinical disorders. Specifically, I want to research how sensory perception is integrated by our mind and how that perception can be altered by interference from external and internal stimuli. I am hopeful that this research can lead to the identification of biomarkers that can help better identify disorders such as schizophrenia and autism.

Ashley Parker, Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences

Current Research: Ashley is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences working with Dr. Erika Skoe. Her research examines biological indices of auditory function, primarily using electrophysiological and blood-based measures. Her current research project examines an inner-ear protein, prestin, as a biomarker of cochlear function across the lifespan.

Delaina Pedrick, Biomedical Engineering

Current Research: I recently presented an auditory model I designed of sound mixtures containing speech plus a variety of competing background sounds at the 2019 Advances and Perspectives in Auditory Neuroscience meeting and the 2019 Society for Neuroscience international meeting. The model quantifies the amount of distortion in sound mixtures created by the background noise and can thus be used as a metric of the amount of masking for each background. The contributions from the sounds’ spectrum and amplitude modulation have been considered separately to show that different backgrounds have highly varied masking potential trends despite having identical input SNRs. It also demonstrates that the amount and type of masking depends strongly on the model responses or sound feature being measured (e.g., spectrum vs. modulation). Additionally, I was able to present preliminary electrophysiology data from the Inferior Colliculus (IC) in response to signal in noise sound mixtures motivated by my model. These conferences allowed me to showcase my research and challenged me to present and interpret the results for audiences that ranged from experts in the field to those from entirely unrelated disciplines. With the support of the IBACS I intend to continue to research how the brain encodes sound in the IC as well as the Auditory Cortex and to model the signal transformations that occur naturally in noisy environments in these areas of the brain.

Madeline Quam, Psychological Sciences

Current Research:

As part of Dr. Coppola’s Study of Language and Math, I am investigating the impact of language exposure on non-linguistic representations of exact quantities. In the “Mr. E” task, X balls are dropped into a large elephant toy; either X or X-1 balls exit via his trunk. The child must answer if any balls remain inside. The task is non-verbal since children do not need to count, but instructions and responses require language. The literature holds that performance on non-verbal tasks, in this case, tracking quantities up to 3, does not depend on language. Language exposure for many deaf children begins later, regardless if spoken or signed. Thus, we should not expect differences between deaf and hearing children whose language input begins at birth (Early Language) and for deaf children whose input begins later in development (Later Language). However, preliminary data show that Later Language groups performed worse, even on small quantities. Early Language groups performed similarly independent of language modality.

I will first look at practice trials to ensure that only those who understood the task are included in the analyses. Then I will analyze performance on small quantity trials (2 and 3) to see if success is associated with timing of language exposure.

This research links the fields of language development, cognitive development, and education. These findings are important to scholars as well as the Deaf community with regard to education and language deprivation.

Gianna Raimondi, Physiology and Neurobiology

Current Research: As we have established foundational methodology for tracking the estrous cycle and optimized conditions for inclusion of female subjects, we will explore sexual dimorphisms of fear memory with circuit and synaptic focuses, and add a layer of complexity by understanding shifts in female circuitry over the reproductive cycle. Human imaging studies show differences in amygdala activation between men and women when exposed to emotional stimuli. We will investigate how sex differences may contribute to variations in fear and anxiety circuitry and bridge the interdisciplinary gap between behavioral neuroscience and molecular studies. An interesting hypothesis in sex differences literature claims that the function of sexual dimorphisms on a circuit level exist to converge behavior of males and females into similar outputs. These similarities initially led researchers to believe that behavioral similarities indicate no differences in circuitry, yet we may expect sex differences in the susceptibility to cellular and molecular perturbation as a compensation mechanism. We will study sexual dimorphisms in fear behavior and circuitry, and engage in a robust analysis of these changes, including but not limited to: changes in spine density, diversity of synapse morphology, and changes in gene and protein expression in the amygdala. This will establish a solid foundation of preliminary data to support our applications for external funding.

Skyler Sklenarik, Psychological Sciences

Current Research: My current research aims to explore physiological correlates of approach tendencies and their associations with approach bias scores on an AAT. Currently, we are collecting galvanic skin response measures from male pornography users as they view erotic and neutral images that automatically move toward (approach) or away from (avoid) the participant based on image orientation (i.e., no joystick is used). We also ask participants to complete the erotic-AAT and to respond to pornography use measures. Previously, we demonstrated that erotic approach bias is significantly positively associated with pornography use severity (Sklenarik et al., 2019). Our current research aims to determine whether physiological responses can predict approach biases for erotic stimuli and pornography use severity. Examining these physiological indices provides a unique convergence of the cognitive and physiological components of addiction, which are typically studied separately. We also plan to examine approach biases for addictive substances, including opiates and caffeine, in order to compare the roles that cognitive biases play in behavioral and substance addictions. Importantly, my current research has provided the groundwork for future studies targeting the manipulation of approach biases in order to reduce problematic behaviors. Interventions that aim to reverse approach biases for addictive stimuli could inform treatments based on the modification of maladaptive cognitive processes.

Amanda Wadams, Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences

Current Research: During the Spring 2020 semester, I will complete the analysis of the pilot data. I aim to identify what constitutes a metacognitive impairment based on the results of typical functioning of the control population. I will then determine 1) The degree to which metacognitive impairments are present in PWA 2) Whether metacognitive impairments are related to aphasia severity, aphasia type or the lesion location. We intend to publish these findings in early 2020. In addition, I will be completing a systematic review of metacognitive treatment in people with acquired brain injury, also to be submitted for publication in 2020. The goal of the review is to identify which metacognitive treatments have been found to be effective in the treatment of cognitive and language impairments thus far. We will use this review as a foundation upon which to base planned work on the application of metacognitive treatment for PWA. I am a SLAC trainee and in order to expand my technical skill set and to fulfill the SLAC and IBACS mission of of interdisciplinary collaboration, I have begun a new study in collaboration with Jon Sprouse in the Department of Linguistics. We will be using EEG to determine the relationship of working memory to language in PWA. In my dissertation I intend to bring together the elements learned from the systematic review, the study of metacognition in PWA and NBI, and the EEG study with a goal of making a comprehensive case for the use of metacognitive training for PWA.