Month: April 2022

Seed Grant Recipients 2021-2022

IBACS Seed Grants provide funding for collaborative research projects across the brain and cognitive sciences. Seed Grants also support applications for equipment, research workshops, events, and other activities compatible with the mission of the Institute.

2021-2022 Recipients

Learn about the PIs and projects that received IBACS Seed Grants this year.

Michael O'Neill, Molecular and Cell Biology

Title of Project: Transgenerational Epigenetic Effects on Neurodevelopment and Behavior

In collaboration with Dr. Holly Fitch and the Murine Behavioral Neurogenetics Facility we are investigating the transgenerational epigenetic effects on mouse behavior brought on by mutations in the Xlr family of genes on the X chromosome. Abnormal expression of these genes during spermatogenesis alters epigenetic signatures on DNA in sperm that appear to affect neurodevelopment of offspring. This research is relevant to our understanding the male bias in the prevalence of autism spectrum disorder.

James Dixon, Psychological Sciences 

Title of Project: Semantic of Collective Behavior

Humans are very good at perceiving the meaning of a group's behavior (e.g., an interested class, a volatile crowd). In team sports, such as soccer, the meaning of group behavior is clear to experienced observers and changes dynamically with the game. This project investigates how social information is carried in human collective behavior by combining state-of-the-art learning algorithms with physical models that rule the dynamics and kinematics of bodies in the domain of soccer.

Caroline Larson, Psychological Sciences 

Title of Project: Language-related brain activity project

The goal of this project is to better understand brain activity during language processing in individuals with language impairment. We will examine brain activity via functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in young adults with language impairment who have versus do not have co-occurring Autism Spectrum Disorder. This work will identify patterns of language-related brain activity associated with language impairment that may be present regardless of co-occurring conditions. 

Whit Tabor, Psychological Sciences 

Title of Project: Transformative Compromise: How Social Groups Transcend Limiting Frames

When a community finds itself in conflict about an important choice, compromise may be needed.  Despite its necessity, compromise has a bad name---people generally prefer not to compromise if they can avoid it.  Nevertheless, sometimes the right amount of compromise can lead to transformation---the group may reach a new dynamic that is universally preferred.  We are exploring the conditions under which this does and does not happen via coordination-game experiments and computational modeling.

Haim Bar, Statistics

Title of Project: Modeling and visualizing the formation of brain cavities covering from stem cells

We will develop and analyze statistical models for brain cavities (ventricles) covering formation, a process occurring during infancy, in which stem-cells divide and form lining cells. Abnormal ventricle enlargement may be harmful to normal development of the infant’s brain. We will develop software which will show 3D animations of the ventricle’s evolution over time and will be used by neuroscientists and pediatric neurosurgeons to detect abnormal expansion of the forebrain ventricles in a non-invasive manner.

Reminder: Register for the IBACS Meet & Speak on 4/29

A reminder that registration is open for the IBACS Meet & Speak on 4/29! Details can be found below, including the talk title and abstract for our keynote talk by Dr. Takao Hensch at Harvard University. We hope you can join us!

Dear IBACS community,

We are excited to officially invite you to attend the IBACS 2022 Meet and Speak event on Friday, April 29th from 2-6pm.This event will be in-person in Bousfield A106.

Affiliated faculty will give 10-minute talks, most of which are on the research they have carried out, or propose carrying out, with seed funding previously awarded by IBACS. Affiliated graduate students who have received IBACS funding will be presenting 5-minute “datablitz” style talks.

The IBACS Meet & Speak will provide an opportunity to learn more about the diverse research that IBACS affiliates are engaged in, and will provide a forum for cross-disciplinary networking. We hope you can join us, please register here for all or part of the event.

Schedule

2:00PM – Introduction

2:10PM – Faculty Talks (10 minutes each)

3:00PM – Graduate Student Data Blitz (5 minutes each)

3:30PM – Keynote Speaker: Dr. Takao Hensch, Harvard University

Talk Title: Balancing Brain Plasticity/Stability

Abstract: Brain function is largely shaped by experience in early life, creating windows of both great opportunity and vulnerability. Our work has focused on the biological basis for such critical periods, identifying both “triggers” and “brakes” on plasticity. Strikingly, the maturation of particular inhibitory circuits is pivotal for the onset timing of these windows. Manipulations of their emergence can either accelerate or delay developmental trajectories regardless of chronological age. Notably, many neurodevelopmental disorders are linked to alterations in excitatory-inhibitory balance, suggesting shifted critical period timing as part of their etiology. Closure of critical periods in turn reflects an active process, rather than a purely passive loss of plasticity factors. Lifting these brakes allows the reopening of plastic windows later in life, but may also underlie instability in disease states. Thus, understanding how brain plasticity and stability are balanced throughout life offers new insight into mental illness and novel therapeutic strategies for recovery of function in adulthood.

4:30PM – Panel Discussion: Featuring Takao Hensch, Erika Skoe, and Natale Sciolino

Innovations and the intersections of technology in Neuro/Cognitive Science

5:00PM – Wine and Cheese Social in Atrium

A more detailed program including speaker names and talk titles will be shared soon.

Best,

Holly Fitch, IBACS Director

Crystal Mills, IBACS Coordinator

Join us for COGS Colloquium: Dr. Hady Ba

Please join the Cognitive Science Program on 4/22 for our next Colloquium!
 
Image of Hady Ba

Speaker: Dr. Hady Ba, Associate-Professor of Philosophy at Cheikh Anta Diop University, Visiting Fullbright Scholar  

Time & Location: 4pm, Friday, April 22, 2022 in Oak 117. Light refreshments will be provided. 

Talk TitleApe Linguistics and the Chomsky/Norvig debate 

AbstractAccording to Chomsky, statistical models of language, even though pragmatically successful can’t teach us anything about the nature of language which is rule based. Norvig disagree. According to him science goes from accumulation of data to explanation and back. In this talk, I’ll first show that despite advances in the statistical treatment of language, what happens is that the most successful algorithms for translation, completion and dialogue seem to mimic our brains treatment of language but have some limitations that we don’t know yet how to get rid of. Does this mean that we need better linguistic theories to get to the next step? To respond to this question, I will use data from animal linguistic cognition. I’ll argue that our experiments in teaching language to monkeys and the use by some researchers of tools from linguistics to analyze natural communicative production of apes show that there is a very specific, probably innate, component in humans’ ability to not only produce but also understand language. I will argue that contrary to what Chomsky think, this component goes beyond universal grammar and is probably due to the very peculiar nature of human sociability.  

Bio: An Associate-Professor of Philosophy at Cheikh Anta Diop University, Hady BA is a Fulbright Scholar from Senegal. He holds a PhD in Cognitive Science from The Jean Nicod Institute in Paris. Before coming back to Dakar, Hady Ba has worked on the development of Natural Language Processing tools that uses open-source resources like the web to detect and anticipate security threats. He’s currently writing a book on the epistemology of the Global South and has an ongoing project on animal cognition comparing human and non-human cognition.  

Meeting opportunities: Dr. Ba will be available during the day of his talk for individual or small-group meetings on Zoom or in-person. Please contact Crystal at crystal.mills@uconn.edu if you are interested.

Two Postdoctoral Research Positions

The Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in
Leipzig is an internationally recognized research institute of the Max
Planck Society and is dedicated to the study of human cognitive
abilities and brain processes. The Department of Neurology offers PhD
positions for

Deadline: 1 May 2022
**Two Doctoral Candidates (TVöD E13, 65%, 3 years)** in cognitive
neuroscience and neurophysiology.

The general topic of the position is the physiology of perception,
cognition, and emotion. The positions involve the acquisition and
particularly the analysis of behavioural (e.g., movement parameters,
task performance), subjective (e.g., questionnaires, ratings), and
neuroimaging / electrophysiological (e.g., EEG, ECG) data. The positions
are part of a collaboration between neuroscience and computer graphics.
We will investigate the neurocognition of perceiving (virtual) humans by
acquiring multimodal (mind-brain-body) data using immersive technologies
(e.g., immersive VR). The precise research topic will be adapted to the
interests and specific qualifications of the candidate.

Prerequisites are an outstanding record in a relevant area of
neurocognitive research. Educational background could be from cognitive
(neuro-) science, psychology, medicine, neuroscience, computer science,
engineering, data science, physics, or mathematics. Excellent
programming and statistical skills (Python, Matlab, R) are required. One
position requires excellent prior experience with EEG/MEG signal
processing relating to neural oscillations and evoked responses. We are
looking for scientifically ambitious people willing to work in a highly
cooperative team.

You will have an opportunity to join the Institute’s International Max
Planck Research School (IMPRS CoNI) and to participate in graduate
training programs. You will receive continuous supervision.

The candidates will be part of an enthusiastic team embedded in a
world-leading research environment with outstanding facilities and
research infrastructure (four 3T MR scanners, one of them in a clinical
setting, a Siemens Connectom MR scanner, a 7T MR scanner, MEG, EEG,
fNIRS, TMS, TDCS, focused ultrasound, VR labs, eye tracking and
psychophysics labs). All facilities are supported by experienced IT and
physics staff. In addition to strong co-operations within the Department
of Neurology and with the Clinic of Cognitive Neurology at the
University Hospital Leipzig, there are also strong interactions among
all departments and research groups at the MPI-CBS.

We look forward to receiving your complete online application (reference
number “PhD 09/22”) at:https://www.cbs.mpg.de/vacancies/open-positions.
The application should include a cover letter, personal statement, CV,
list of publications (if available), and two letters of recommendations.
The closing date for applications is **May 1, 2022**. The starting date
is June 1, 2022, or later, and the duration is three years. Salary is
based on regulations of the Max Planck Society (typically 65% TVöD level
13). The Max Planck Society is committed to increasing the number of
individuals with disabilities in its workforce and therefore encourages
applications from such individuals. Furthermore, the Max Planck Society
strives for gender equity and welcomes applications from all backgrounds.

Further information with regard to the research can be found on the
website of the Department of Neurology (particularly the groups “Neural
interactions and Dynamics” and “Mind-Body-Emotion”):
https://www.cbs.mpg.de/departments/neurology. For questions, please
contact Dr. Vadim Nikulin (nikulin@cbs.mpg.de) or Dr. Michael Gaebler
(gaebler@cbs.mpg.de).

Join the Cognitive Sci Program on 4/22 for our next Colloquium!

Image of Hady Ba

Speaker: Dr. Hady Ba, Associate-Professor of Philosophy at Cheikh Anta Diop University, Visiting Fullbright Scholar  

Time & Location: 4pm, Friday, April 22, 2022 in Oak 117. Light refreshments will be provided. 

Talk TitleApe Linguistics and the Chomsky/Norvig debate 

AbstractAccording to Chomsky, statistical models of language, even though pragmatically successful can’t teach us anything about the nature of language which is rule based. Norvig disagree. According to him science goes from accumulation of data to explanation and back. In this talk, I’ll first show that despite advances in the statistical treatment of language, what happens is that the most successful algorithms for translation, completion and dialogue seem to mimic our brains treatment of language but have some limitations that we don’t know yet how to get rid of. Does this mean that we need better linguistic theories to get to the next step? To respond to this question, I will use data from animal linguistic cognition. I’ll argue that our experiments in teaching language to monkeys and the use by some researchers of tools from linguistics to analyze natural communicative production of apes show that there is a very specific, probably innate, component in humans’ ability to not only produce but also understand language. I will argue that contrary to what Chomsky think, this component goes beyond universal grammar and is probably due to the very peculiar nature of human sociability.  

Bio: An Associate-Professor of Philosophy at Cheikh Anta Diop University, Hady BA is a Fulbright Scholar from Senegal. He holds a PhD in Cognitive Science from The Jean Nicod Institute in Paris. Before coming back to Dakar, Hady Ba has worked on the development of Natural Language Processing tools that uses open-source resources like the web to detect and anticipate security threats. He’s currently writing a book on the epistemology of the Global South and has an ongoing project on animal cognition comparing human and non-human cognition.  

Meeting opportunities: Dr. Ba will be available during the day of his talk for individual or small-group meetings on Zoom or in-person. Please contact Crystal at crystal.mills@uconn.edu if you are interested.

Join us at the IBACS Meet & Speak on 4/29

Dear IBACS community, 
We are excited to officially invite you to attend the IBACS 2022 Meet and Speak event on Friday, April 29th from 2-6pm. This event will be in-person in Bousfield A106. 
 
Affiliated faculty will give 10-minute talks, most of which are on the research they have carried out, or propose carrying out, with seed funding previously awarded by IBACS. Affiliated graduate students who have received IBACS funding will be presenting 5-minute “datablitz” style talks. 
 
The IBACS Meet & Speak will provide an opportunity to learn more about the diverse research that IBACS affiliates are engaged in, and will provide a forum for cross-disciplinary networking. We hope you can join us, please register here for all or part of the event

Schedule 

2:00PM – Introduction
2:10PM – Faculty Talks (10 minutes each)
3:00PM – Graduate Student Data Blitz (5 minutes each)
3:30PM – Keynote Speaker: Dr. Takao Hensch, Harvard University
4:30PM – Panel Discussion: Featuring Takao Hensch, Erika Skoe, and Natale Sciolino
5:00PM – Wine and Cheese Social in Atrium
A more detailed program including speaker names, talk titles, and the panel discussion topic will be shared soon.

Summer Graduate Fellows 2022

IBACS Summer Graduate Fellowships provide three months of research funding to graduate students working on topics with relevance to the brain and cognitive sciences.

2022 Fellowship Recipients

Christopher Babigian, Pharmaceutical Science

Current Research: Studies strongly support the involvement of BET proteins in drug-seeking behaviors but fail to address functional roles of individual BET proteins and BD-selective BET mechanisms (BD1 vs. BD2) involved in drug-seeking behaviors. Given the potential side effects linked to pan-BET inhibitors, (i.e., cognitive effects such as memory impairment) new approaches with a high degree of selectively and mechanistic insight are needed to advance BET therapeutics as a viable treatment option for SUD. My current studies build on promising data from our lab (mentioned in the previous section) by using selective, clinically relevant tools to interrogate domain-selective mechanisms of BET proteins in advanced animal models of cocaine use disorder (CUD). My hypothesis is that domain-selective BET inhibition will attenuate drug-seeking behaviors in advanced models of CUD without causing side effects commonly seen with non-selective approaches. Results from these experiments will uncover safer more selective therapeutic options for the treatment of CUD. Data collected from these experiments will be used as preliminary data for my NIH F31 application.

Specifically, I am investigating the impact of domain-selective BET inhibition on cocaine-seeking behaviors. For translational purposes I am testing RVX-208 in more advanced and clinically relevant animal models of CUD disorder (economic demand and extinction/reinstatement following short- and intermittent-access cocaine self-administration).

Cynthia Boo, Psychological Sciences

Current Research: As a part of Dr. Letitia Naigles and Dr. Deborah Fein’s Longitudinal Study of Early Language (Naigles & Fein, 2017), my current research has continued to compare language sampling contexts in children with ASD’s language abilities. I am investigating the production of stative language in teenagers with ASD across two different narrative contexts (storybook versus personal narratives). Studies have found that children with ASD are less likely to produce stative language (e.g., happy, think, confused) compared to their TD peers (Tager-Flusberg, 1992; Siller et al., 2014). However, most of these studies have been conducted solely in the context of storybook narratives, which may not be appropriate for adolescents with ASD. Additionally, Losh & Capps (2003) found differences in volume and complexity between storybook and personal narratives, suggesting that different prompts may afford different language use.

Preliminary findings from these analyses support the idea that language production varies by context. Overall, children from both groups produced fewer stative language terms in the context of storybook narratives than personal narratives. In other words, tapping into personal experiences, especially those with emotional associations, elicited more stative language regardless of diagnostic status. Thus, when assessing stative language production, researchers should consider the ability of the narrative prompt to elicit these terms.

Hayes Brenner, Psychological Sciences

Current Research: I am currently working with Dr. Edward Large in his music dynamics lab. I am contributing to the development, coding, and implementation of nonlinear oscillation networks within MATLAB. These networks seek to model the neurobiological process of rhythmic entrainment (i.e. syncing up to an external oscillating pattern) by mimicking the synchronous neuronal activity within the auditory and motor networks that occurs when one is listening to, and then entrains to, a rhythmic pulse. We hope to expand the scope of this model to encompass entertainment for both Western rhythms (i.e. 4/4 standard time signature) and non-Western rhythms (specifically, nonisochronus Balkan rhythms, typically in 7/4 time signature).

Next semester, I am planning on developing a MATLAB model to represent the dynamic turn-taking process of conversation in neurotypical populations, applying what I have learned with the aforementioned rhythmic networks. This will involve reading up on the literature surrounding the topic and expanding my knowledge of nonlinear dynamics and MATLAB.

Collectively, all of this research rests at the intersection of psychology, neuroscience, physics, mathematics, computer science, linguistics, social psychology, and music cognition.

Shawn Cummings, Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences

Current Research: My current research at UConn reconsiders classic ideas in speech communication, specifically through the lens of the lexically guided perceptual recalibration paradigm. ~200 published manuscripts have used this paradigm or a variation since its conception by Norris et al. in 2003, and conventions have naturally developed in theoretical assumptions as well as experimental design. These have allowed for ease of access to important questions, but after two decades of research it is now worth specifically (1) re-examining the role of specific acoustic stimulus properties, especially tied to their method of creation, (2) questioning paradigmatic assumptions such as measuring learning as a between-subject effect, and (3) re- evaluating theoretical characterizations such as perceptual learning being ‘talker specific’.

This line of research is itself interdisciplinary: the paradigm of interest (how cognitive mechanisms deal with variation in sound to meaning mapping in speech) is relevant to and used by linguists, psychologists, speech scientists, cognitive scientists, and others. Understanding, describing, and evaluating the effects as we do –through marrying human behavioral data with an ‘ideal observer’ distributional learning model of incremental adaptation (Kleinschmidt & Jaeger 2015)—additionally connects artificial and biological systems.

Lee Drown, Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences

Current Research: Our work will continue to examine the interplay between voice and phonetic processing by investigating the clinical implications of the individual differences associated with talker adaptation, especially in individuals with lower reading ability. Examining the interaction between voice and phonetic processing will (1) contribute to a theoretical understanding of talker adaptation in speech perception and (2) pave the way for identifying evidence-based practices that may play a role in remediating dyslexia. It is established that individuals with lower reading ability, such as individuals with dyslexia, show impairment in voice identification (Perrachione, Del Tufo & Gabrielli, 2011). It is also known that poor readers, while showing a typical sensitivity to transitional probabilities inherent in language structure, demonstrate deficits in procedural learning (Gabay, Thiessen & Holt, 2015). It remains unknown if impaired voice identification in individuals with poorer reading ability reflects poor associative learning, or merely points towards a reduced sensitivity to the statistical probabilities in the speech signal as prior findings suggest (Perrachione, Del Tufo & Gabrielli, 2011). If poor readers do indeed have augmented difficulty identifying voices compared to typical readers, a subsequent benefit to talker adaptation is also present.

Wesley Leong, Psychological Sciences

Current Research: I am continuing to analyze the Alice EEG datasets to better explain our results, and to rule out potential confounds. The next step is to see if these effects generalize to other linguistic stimuli. To do this, I will use existing EEG data collected by two students in the L&C division – Yanina Prystauka and Zac Ekves – that was recorded while participants read multiple two- sentence pairs. Each pair involved some agent interacting with an object, and so we can build a similarity profile of the agent across both sentences and see if the effect persists after averaging across trials. I will also analyze other publicly-available EEG data, such as the upcoming Le Petit Prince corpus (Stehwien et al 2020), which will feature data from 26 different languages. In the spirit of my previous research, this upcoming work will involve some combination of engineering, neuroscience, psychology, and linguistics.

Prianka Murthy, Psychological Sciences

Current Research:

Up to this point, we have collected some pilot EEG data examining magnocellular (M) pathway functioning in both healthy controls and schizophrenia patients. The EEG data was collected to study visual integration deficits using the Jitter Orientation Visual Integration Task. This task was designed to measure M pathway functioning, which has been indicated to be the primary pathway connected to visual integration deficits (Keane et. al, 2016). We collected data from about 35 healthy participants and 35 schizophrenia patients and will be analyzing the collected EEG data to gain a better understanding M pathway functioning in these populations. Among the healthy populations, we had each participant take the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire in order to organize the healthy participants into a spectrum of low to high schizotypal traits. This was to understand whether there is a relationship between schizotypal traits and visual integration deficits, and whether this relationship could serve as an indicator of larger functioning issues. Being able to compare the healthy and patient population data will enable us to gain a better understanding of differential M pathway functioning, as well as how schizotypal traits may create certain deficit patterns similar to schizophrenia patients. This research is interdisciplinary in its comparison of neural pathway data and behavioral data, and our next step is to understand how this affects functional outcomes in patient populations.

Aliyar Ozercan, Philosophy

Current Research:

The problem I want to tackle can be found in many psychology papers and presentations: ‘can X be a predictor of Theory of Mind,’ or ‘do X have false belief understanding?’ I believe that the majority of these questions are raised due to the fact that psychology defines Theory of Mind coarsely. I plan to approach it as a philosopher and develop a more total model. Thus, in my dissertation, I would like to first argue against the generally accepted idea that Theory of Mind is the ability to understand that others can have false beliefs. Instead of associating ToM only with false-belief tasks, I propose a fine grained account with some essential ‘Sub-Theories of Mind.’ These Sub-Theories include, in the order of their emergence: Theory of Vita, Theory of Emotion, Theory of Intention/Desire, Theory of Knowledge, and finally Theory of Belief.

Additionally, I was an IBRAIN student for the last two years. Currently, I am designing an experiment to offer a solution to a century old question in philosophy of language: what is the semantic contribution of proper names to a sentence?

Moreover, I have just submitted a paper on a linguistic concept, evidentiality, and how it challenges the traditional propositional theories that we have in philosophy of language. It seems that while traditional propositional theories can predict how the nature of languages with lexical evidentiality behave, they fail to explain the weak assertion concept in languages with grammatical evidentiality.

Kristin Simmers, Educational Psychology

Current Research: I plan to study how and to what extent knowledge of the interdisciplinary field of Mind, Brain & Education (MBE) research impacts novice and/or pre-service teachers beliefs, attitudes and practices in the classroom. My hope is that these foundational studies can inform future studies exploring effective MBE teacher education programs as well as the impact these may have on teacher efficacy and student outcomes. The first stage of this proposed work would be to create a measure of MBE knowledge and application, which could be administered to UCONN students in the Neag Teacher Education program and/or to early career educators who are recent graduates from UCONN. This measure would also gauge existing beliefs, attitudes and practices and determine correlation between variables. Once we have established a baseline in all measures, we can use the data to design targeted MBE research integration into existing teacher education or professional development to directly address demonstrated areas of need. This could initially take the form of creating modules and may eventually lead to a graduate certificate program, and would involve the collaboration of faculty across neuroscience, psychology and education departments.

Gray Freeman Thomas, Psychological Sciences

Current Research: Current research plans include collecting survey data about perspectives on contentious topics. The purpose of this research is twofold: (1) it will provide us with rich survey data about the perspectives that University of Connecticut students have on contentious topics, and (2) it will serve as a pre-screening opportunity for future studies conducted in the lab.

This is motivated by recent research on polarization and discussion that serves to persuade others of a particular viewpoint. America has seen an increase in ideological polarization over recent years (i.e., Pew Research Center, 2014), which naturally motivates researchers to investigate how these ideals are communicated with others. It is also important to examine how one communicates and persuades others about these ideas both within and across group ideologies.

This survey will serve as a gauge of general opinion of students at the university on controversial topics, and it will also serve as the foundation for future work inviting participants to come into the lab and discuss these contentious topics with others. This survey may also run for an extended period of time, which will allow rich patterns in the longevity of the data collected.

Emma Wing, Psychological Sciences

Current Research:

I am currently working on a project which asks whether humans’ representations of characters in a story become more integrated when these characters interact. Recent computational modeling shows that an RNN analyzes two characters who interacted in a story as more similar to each other than e.g., two characters who did not interact. We will determine if this is the case in humans by manipulating which character interacts with a key object that recurs throughout a complex, 5-clause story – e.g., 'The aunt told her nephew she/he had punctured the ball. Suddenly, a dog nudged the ball and rolled it under the couch. The ball deflated’. Using the Visual World Paradigm, we will monitor eye movements to appropriate scenes while participants listen to these stories. We predict that at the final “ball” in the example, there will be more looks back to whichever protagonist (referenced with the “she” or the “he” in the first sentence) interacted with the ball. We will also correlate the probability of fixating the protagonist, throughout the sequence, with the equivalent similarity profile generated by the RNNs (described recently in Davis & Altmann, Cognition, 2021).

Like my work earlier this year, and the work proposed, this project explores how object reference is processed during real-time language comprehension. It will provide evidence of specific conceptual representational components of events and will add to our knowledge of human sentence processing.

Tingting Zhao, Nursing

Current Research:

I am going to conduct a secondary analysis using infant data and samples during NICU stay and at 8-12 months corrected age (CA) from a large prospective longitudinal study (NR016928, PI: Cong). I will examine the relationships between levels of pain/stress and expression levels of PGC-1 family, AMPK, SIRT-1 and GCN5 genes/protein related to mitochondrial function/dysfunction during NICU stay and 8-12 months CA in preterm infants. The applicant will randomly select 25 preterm infants from each sex subgroup from the parents R01 study (total n=50). Primary measures include: daily pain/stress; Bayley Scale of Infant Development III test at 8-12 months CA; gene expression of PGC-1 family (PGC-1α, PGC-1β and PGC-1- related coactivator [PRC]), AMPK, SIRT-1 and GCN5 and PGC-1 family phosphorylation, acetylation and O-GlcNAcylation at 36-38 weeks CA and 8 -12 months CA. This is a multi-disciplinary research which require the cooperation and expertise from UConn Proteomics & Metabolomics Facility (PMF), Center for Genome Innovation (CGI), Biochemistry and Biophysics lab, School of Nursing, and Connecticut Children's Medical Center.

Like my work earlier this year, and the work proposed, this project explores how object reference is processed during real-time language comprehension. It will provide evidence of specific conceptual representational components of events and will add to our knowledge of human sentence processing.