University of New Hampshire
McNair Scholar, 2021
Major: Neuroscience & Behavior
Mentor: Dr. Caitlin Mills
Research Title: Cognitive Psychology, Computational Approaches in Psychology
Abstract:
Attentional disorders are commonly diagnosed during adolescence and these disorders are exacerbated by stress. A critical step to developing efficient treatments for these disorders is understanding the differences in attentional networks between adolescents and adults after stress. Rat models are used to explore these differences due to their high predictive validity. Prefrontal subregions and monoaminergic systems in adolescent rats are underdeveloped causing them to be vulnerable to stress exposure and to experience deficits in tests of attentional set-shifting. The attentional set-shifting task is a behavioral paradigm used to assess executive function, including selective attention. Using immunohistochemical analyses, the effects of acute stress exposure and attentional testing in the prelimbic, infralimbic, and anterior cingulate cortices of the rodent brain will be observed. The immunohistochemical method of interest will be c-Fos staining. This method is used to identify brain regions by highlighting c-Fos positive cells that are activated in response to certain stimuli, in this case, acute stress exposure and attentional testing. Knowing which specific brain regions are involved in stress and attention and how those brain regions differ between adolescent and adult rats will provide key insights that will move us closer to the development of more effective treatments for adolescent neuropsychiatric disorders.
