Department of Psychology

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https://hdl.handle.net/10919/24212

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Browsing Department of Psychology by Department "Human Development and Family Science"

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    The Decline in Intrinsic Connectivity Between the Salience Network and Locus Coeruleus in Older Adults: Implications for Distractibility
    Lee, Tae-Ho; Kim, Sun Hyung; Katz, Benjamin; Mather, Mara (2020-01-31)
    We examined functional connectivity between the locus coeruleus (LC) and the salience network in healthy young and older adults to investigate why people become more prone to distraction with age. Recent findings suggest that the LC plays an important role in focusing processing on salient or goal-relevant information from multiple incoming sensory inputs (Mather et al., 2016). We hypothesized that the connection between LC and the salience network declines in older adults, and therefore the salience network fails to appropriately filter out irrelevant sensory signals. To examine this possibility, we used resting-state-like fMRI data, in which all task-related activities were regressed out (Fair et al., 2007; Elliott et al., 2019) and performed a functional connectivity analysis based on the time-course of LC activity. Older adults showed reduced functional connectivity between the LC and salience network compared with younger adults. Additionally, the salience network was relatively more coupled with the frontoparietal network than the default-mode network in older adults compared with younger adults, even though all task-related activities were regressed out. Together, these findings suggest that reduced interactions between LC and the salience network impairs the ability to prioritize the importance of incoming events, and in turn, the salience network fails to initiate network switching (e.g., Menon and Uddin, 2010; Uddin, 2015) that would promote further attentional processing. A chronic lack of functional connection between LC and salience network may limit older adults' attentional and executive control resources.
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    Mental Health and Social Development Effects of the Abecedarian Approach
    Sparling, Joseph; Ramey, Sharon L.; Ramey, Craig T. (MDPI, 2021-06-30)
    The Abecedarian Approach is an early intervention and contains a broad-spectrum adult/child curriculum. The Approach has been studied in three longitudinal randomized controlled trials in the USA, starting in 1972 and continuing today. Recent research studies in multiple countries have examined the Abecedarian Approach during the first three years of life. The collective findings from these studies lead to the conclusion that human development is malleable, especially in the years before school entry, and that high-quality early intervention exerts positive, early, and long-lasting influences on human development, including social development and mental health.
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    Reduction of Risk Factors for ACL Re-injuries using an Innovative Biofeedback Approach: Rationale and Design
    Queen, Robin M.; Peebles, Alexander T.; Miller, Thomas K.; Savla, Jyoti S.; Ollendick, Thomas H.; Messier, Stephen P.; Williams, DS Blaise III (Elsevier, 2021-06)
    Nearly 1 in 60 adolescent athletes will suffer anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries with 90% of these athletes electing to undergo an ACL reconstruction (ACLR) at an estimated annual cost of $3 billion. While ACLR and subsequent rehabilitation allow these athletes to return to sports, they have a 15-fold increased risk of second ACL injuries. The modification of post-operative rehabilitation to improve movement and loading symmetry using visual and tactile biofeedback could decrease the risk factors for sustaining a second ACL injury. Participants included 40 adolescent ACLR patients who were intending to return to full sport participation. This preliminary randomized controlled trial (RCT) examined the changes in knee extension moment symmetry, a known risk factor for second ACL injuries, during landing from a stop-jump task between the following time-points: pre-intervention, immediate post-intervention, and subsequent follow-up 6-weeks post-intervention. Participants met twice per week for six-weeks (12-session). The intervention included bilateral squat biofeedback (visual and tactile); the attention control group attended weekly educational sessions. This RCT enrolled and randomize 40 participants over a two-and-a-half-year period. All participants were greater than 4.5 months post-op from a primary, unilateral ACLR and were released to participate by their treating physician. The findings from this pilot biofeedback RCT will provide critical effect size estimates for use in subsequent larger clinical trials.