Tag: Cognitive Psychology

The Effect of Sleep on False Memories

Presenter(s): Madison Morocco − Psychology

Faculty Mentor(s): Nash Unsworth, Melynda Casement

Poster 102

Research Area: Social Science, Cognitive/Clinical Psychology

A false memory is recalling incorrect information, or recalling an event that did not happen. Everyone is susceptible to false memories. There is no known cure or defense, and relatively little is known about how they occur. Though there is relatively little known, much research shows sleep, consolidation specifically, is crucial to solidifying memories (Payne, Chambers, and Kensinger, 2012). Consolidation is a process where new, labile memories are integrated into the vast network of pre- existing long-term memories. A key component of this process is the active re-processing of these memories, because this is the version of the memory that will be recalled (Diekelmann and Born, 2010). Memory is malleable, so it is important to understand how it is affected. This study seeks to find a connection between the number of hours of sleep a subject gets and how many times they experience a false memory. Using the Deese-Roediger-McDermott paradigm, subjects were asked to memorize four lists of 10 words all related to a single theme word. Then, subjects were asked to recall words from each list. A false memory was counted each time a subject mistakenly reported the theme word. We hypothesized that subjects sleeping a “normal” eight hours per night would experience fewer false memories compared to subjects who slept greater than 10 or less than five hours per night. As data collection is still ongoing, we seek to answer the question: is someone more or less susceptible to false memories based on the number of hours they sleep?

Enhancing Low Frequency Rhythms in the Motor Cortex of Humans

Presenter(s): Ashley Dresen − Psychology

Faculty Mentor(s): Michael Posner, Pascale Voelker

Oral Session 2SW

Research Area: Cognitive Psychology

Funding: ONR Grant N00014-15-1-2148 to the University of Oregon

Theta frequencies are associated with internalized attention and positive emotional states. In our laboratory, mice receiving theta frequency stimulation of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) showed increased myelin and improved connectivity as measured by g-ratio (axon diameter/axon diamenter + myelin). To extend these results to humans, we stimulated the
ACC by applying electrical stimulation at a theta frequency (6Hz) to a set of scalp electrodes overlying that area. Following stimulation, we found enhanced low frequency power in ACC sites compared to baseline, and this power increased when a task known to stimulate the ACC was performed. To test whether this method could be applied to other brain areas, we chose a task activating the hand region of the primary motor cortex and electrodes stimulating the motor area. We are testing 12 undergraduates using a generic set of electrodes known to stimulate the motor area, and comparing this with electrodes selected for each person based on structural brain images. We plan to determine if stimulation increases low frequency theta rhythms during non-stimulated periods, and whether the electrodes chosen individually produce superior effects to the generic ones. We are currently summarizing the results from 12 subjects. We expect that intrinsic theta will be increased in the motor area in the minute following electrical stimulation and this will be greater when performing the task. We expect these effects to be larger for individually selected electrodes. If results are as expected, it will suggest that many cortical and subcortical areas show increased theta following stimulation and allow us to test whether long term use of such stimulation can alter white matter connectivity as found in our mouse model.