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ItemOvergeneral autobiographical memory in depression: a three-level meta-analysis(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2021-12) Weiss-Cowie, Samuel AaronOvergeneral Autobiographical Memory (OGM) is a frequently studied phenomenon in major depressive disorder (MDD). Although there exist several meta-analyses on OGM and MDD, their emphasis on clinically diagnosed current depression leaves open question about the severity of OGM in subthreshold and remitted depression. In addition, numerous studies of OGM have remained unconsidered due to a focus on one testing paradigm, the Autobiographical Memory Test (AMT). To address these gaps, we conducted a meta-analysis on OGM in MDD that included remitted, subthreshold, and currently depressed samples and incorporated non-AMT studies. In addition, we used three level models for the first time, which enabled robust variance analyses including multiple effect sizes from each study while controlling for dependencies across those effect sizes. With results from a total of 67 published and unpublished works, ours is the largest meta-analysis to date on OGM in depression. We simultaneously identified decreased autobiographical memory specificity (g = -0.73) and increased categoricity (g = 0.77) for depressed individuals compared to controls. Moderator analyses suggested that OGM is more severe in current, clinical MDD than subthreshold and remitted depression, while OGM is similarly severe for positive, neutral, and negative memories. Our results resolve longstanding debate surrounding the relationship between valence and OGM while emphasizing the importance of utilizing a broader range of testing paradigms and considering non-clinical depression in future work.
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ItemSex-related differences in resolving proactive interference during associative memory tasks(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2021-05) Quadri, AyeshaPrior studies have shown that males and females perform differently on a variety of memory tasks. It is suggested that certain biological factors can lead to sex-related differences in cognitive decline, memory, and learning. The present study explores this further by examining the performance of males and females on associative memory tasks when exposed to proactive interference (PI). The findings of this study may aid in understanding the underlying mechanisms involved in overcoming interference and improving memory. This study utilized 49 individuals (F = 26, M = 23) between the ages of 18 and 77. The participants were asked to complete associative memory tasks while exposed to varying levels of interference (high interference, low interference, or no interference). During the encoding portion of the memory task, participants were asked to determine the ease in which two images presented together could be imagined. During the retrieval portion of the memory task, participants were asked to recall which associate category (face or scene) the presented object was most recently paired with in the encoding phase. Electroencephalography (EEG) data was also collected while the participants completed the memory tasks, but due to time-constraints and limitations introduced by the COVID-19 pandemic, this data was not analyzed. A 3x2 repeated measures ANOVA conducted found a significant main effect of interference on memory accuracy, but no significant difference in the effects of interference on the memory accuracy of both sexes. Additionally, no interaction between interference conditions and sex was found. However, a paired samples t-test found significant differences in memory accuracy between the three interference conditions used in this study. Given this, future studies may modify components of this study to observe sex-related differences, such as changes to the associative memory task or an increase in the sample size. In the future, the potential analysis of EEG data may shed light onto differences in neural activity between the two sexes when exposed to PI.
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ItemEncoding Differences in Aging Adults can Explain Associative Memory Deficits(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2020-05) McClelland, LaurenThe relationship between aging and associative memory decline has been well-established in literature, however there is no clear reasoning for this decline. Recent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have shown that aging adults show decreased neural specificity across the cortex, now commonly termed dedifferentiation. The current research attempts to find a relationship between increased dedifferentiation with age and their resulting decreases in associative memory performance. By utilizing multi-voxel pattern analysis (MVPA) classifiers, the level of neural distinctiveness of the variably aged adults can be quantified and compared to associative memory performance. We found that neural distinctiveness was decreased with age as well as retrieval of increasing levels of specificity of associate items. This suggests that the associative memory decline in older adults can be explained by a decrease in neural specificity for the specifics of associate items during encoding.
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ItemInvestigation of the relationship between the negative affect in young adults and depression(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2020-05) Kamat, AnchalYoung adults display the negative affect where they pay attention to and remember negative information better than positive information. A similar affect is in observed in individuals with depression. Since depression is prevalent in young adults, this bring into question whether there is a connection between the negative affect in young adults and depression. This study explores this phenomenon by using fMRI imaging to identify any patterns of activation involved in the relationship between depression and the negative affect in young adults. To achieve this, 13 young adults between the ages of 18 and 34 years old were recruited. After confirming that they are fMRI safe, a set of neuropsychological assessments and depression questionnaires were carried out, followed by an fMRI Encoding Task. During the Encoding Task participants are presented with a positive, negative, or neutral auditory cue and an imaging matching its emotional valence. They were then asked to evaluate the emotional intensity of the picture. After the fMRI a Retrieval Task where individuals asked if the image is new or old and then how confident they are in their decision. Behavioral analysis of memory accuracy with a repeated measures ANOVA resulted in no significant differences in the memory for any of the conditions. ANOVA analysis of the fMRI images with an uncorrected voxel threshold of .001 also showed no significant activation patterns. Overall, this study was not able to achieve its goal due to time restrains. As this is an ongoing project, greater analysis will be utilized to identify a relationship between the experimental conditions and brain activity.
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ItemWhole-Brain Gray Matter Volume as an Anatomical Predisposition for Cognitive Ability(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2019-05) Sheikh, AsifThe human brain is the topic of much interest in recent years, and due to the advent and rising popularity of imaging techniques such as functional MRI, we are able to understand the brain with greater detail than ever before. Cognitive ability has always been known to be heavily tied to neuroanatomy, and existing research has shown that although cognitive skill is heavily dependent on specific brain regions such as the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex or hippocampus it is a highly delocalized function that involves the use of numerous brain regions. Larger volumes of whole-brain gray matter has also been shown to be tied to greater success on cognitive assessments implying that volumetric estimations of gray matter can serve as an indication of cognitive ability. Brain volume varies between individuals for a variety of reasons such as sex, age, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. The former three of these are well understood biological principles or processes, but the last of these is a societal effect on physiology and may include diet and nutrition, education and social development, or occupation and family life. This paper will also examine whole-brain gray matter volumes in respect to education. Subjects (n = 60) were imaged to collect T1-weighted fMRI structural scans and were given Memory Assessment Scales examinations afterwards. We performed voxel-based morphometry using DARTEL in Statistical Parametric Mapping on the fMRI structural scans to acquire the volumes of gray matter, white matter, and cerebrospinal fluid of each individual. These gray matter volumes were then related to the individual’s performance in a variety of cognitive domains tested for by the Memory Assessment Scales to examine if increasing gray matter volume has an effect on the individual’s performance. Years of education was also related to gray matter volume to observe if higher volumes correlated with higher education. Our findings suggest that gray matter does indeed demonstrate a small increase performance in some but not all cognitive domains tested for. The correlation with years of education pursued obtained was minimal, however it became slightly more pronounced in older individuals when the subjects were divided by age group. The brain volumes of the younger age group were determined to be statistically different from the older age group, but when these age groups were divided into high and low education classifications, the brain volumes from the two groups were not shown to be statistically different from each other. This indicates to us, that gray matter volume has a negligible effect on level of education pursued despite its seemingly positive effect on cognitive performance. It is important to understand that the mechanisms behind cognition are incredibly complex involving innumerable factors and that further exploration must begin at the biological level to expand our understanding of this phenomenon.