Keynote speakers
Functional Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy: What is it?
Dr Paul Mullins – University of Bangor
With the increasing availability of medium field strength MRI systems (2-4T) increasing numbers of researchers are starting to use proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy to measure neurotransmitter levels in the brain at rest. Improvements in signal to noise afforded by new multichannel coils, improved shimming and specially tailored spectroscopy techniques have led to a concomitantimprovement in detection of the neurotransmitters Glutamate, Glutamine, and aminobutyric acid (GABA). Likewise, improvement in detection of these neurotransmitters has led to a few research groups engaging in “functional” spectroscopy studies aimed at detecting changes in neurotransmitter concentrations in response to stimuli or activity. At the same time recent work has focused on correlation of resting neurotransmitter levels with other measures of brain activity, most notably Blood Oxygenation Level Dependent (BOLD) fMRI and frequencies of brain activity as measured using either electroencephalography (EEG) or magnetoencephalography (MEG) collected in separate sessions. This talk will provide a brief outline of proton MRS, what neurotransmitters we can measure with the technique, what some of the recent functional spectroscopy findings have been, finishing with an example of where we may take functional MRS in the future.
When all the songs sound the same: Insights from Congenital Amusia
Dr. Lauren Stewart – Goldsmith’s College
The ability to make sense of musical sound has been observed in every culture since the beginning of recorded history. In early infancy, it allows us to respond to the sing-song interactions from a primary caregiver and to engage in musical play. In later life it shapes our social and cultural identities and modulates our affective and emotional states. In this talk I will show that the ability toperceive and make sense of musical sound is remarkably sophisticated, and can be acquired simply by being exposed to the music of one’s own culture. But some individuals fail to acquire these skills that the rest of us take for granted. By studying a process when it goes awry, we gain insight into how music is processed in the typical brain. Individuals with congenital amusia cannot recognize familiar tunes, cannot tell one tune from another, frequently complain that music sounds like a “din” and avoid the many social situations in which music plays a role. In this talk I will present data from perceptual experiments suggesting that individuals with amusia are insensitive to pitch direction and are unable to retain pitch information in memory. In addition, I will discuss ongoing genetic and neuroimaging approaches that we are using to characterize this disorder. The study of disordered musical development sets in sharp relief the perceptual and cognitive abilities which most of us take for granted and give us a unique chance to investigate how musical perceptual ability develops, from the level of the gene to the brain development and the emergence of a complex and fundamental human behaviour.
Go with the flow: how motivational stimuli influence our goals and behaviour
Dr. John Parkinson – University of Bangor
We might believe that our daily behaviour is driven primarily by a conscious awareness of the goals that we are trying to achieve. However, research suggests that this isn’t the case. Instead, a great deal of our behaviour is driven by habitual routines which are triggered by incidental environmental stimuli. In other words, our behaviour can be seen as a dynamic flow guided by successive stimuli drawing us closer to associated goals. We become sensitive to the influence of such motive-salient stimuli through experience – for example craving is elicited in addicts by drug-related paraphernalia because in the past such stimuli have been associated with the effects of the drug itself. Motivational stimuli can influence both the direction of behaviour, by changing an individual’s goals, and the vigour with which a behaviour is carried out. Research is beginning to identify the brain network and processes that are responsible for the influence of motivation on goal-directed behaviour. Behavioural studies are also identifying the psychological mechanisms that contribute to this interaction between motivation and cognition. There are important implications of these interactions for our understanding of everyday behaviour such as why people overeat, why we experience failures of will-power and why packaging and branding can be so powerful in driving choice. We may also gain insight into how to improve the pursuit of our long-term noble goals.
PsyPAG Conference Award Winners
First Prize – Presentation
Time & Force… what’s the connection?
Shanti Shanker – University of Bangor
The bottle slips off your table and you catch it just in time. The brain coordinates the timing and also accounts how much force is needed to catch a bottle of water. The cerebellum has been implicated in timing while basal ganglia are involved when one has to manipulate force. Impairment of this system has been seen in neurological conditions (e.g. Parkinson’s disease) and focal lesions in the brain. Tasks where timing and force are manipulated activate some neural networks in the brain between the areas that play an important role. However, there are no studies that look at the aspects of time and force with the emphasis on underlying networks. This study uses diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) to understand the white matter tracts connecting these areas. DTI is a special magnetic resonance imaging sequence used to capture water diffusivity in the brain. DTI is the best method to study the connections and quality of the white matter tracts in the brain. Better diffusivity values in a particular white matter tract mean more myelination. I will be correlating the individual diffusivity values (called fractional anisotropy) with performance on the behavioural task. The behaviour task measures the individual’s ability to manipulate time and force across conditions. The study cohort consists of 15 participants between 20 – 40 years. The study will help understanding the networks and thereby aid modelling the connections involved in timing and force. Further the results could have implications for therapy in patients of Parkinson’s disease or cerebellar stroke.
Key words: Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI), Timing
Runners-up
Young peoples’ experience of NF1, an exploration of psychosocial issues
Jenny Barke
This research explores the psychosocial impact of Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) on adolescents’ lived experience in order to identify any support needs and factors that support positive adjustment. Background: NF1 is a genetic condition of the nervous system; the symptoms are progressive, unpredictable and variable. NF1 has been found to have a significant impact on quality of life and psychological adjustment for some individuals, however it is impossible to predict what kinds of challenges a person with NF1 may face. An altered appearance caused by the condition and the unpredictability of the
condition may be psychological stressors. Adolescence is generally recognised as a time during which appearance becomes more significant for young people, it is during this time that tumours associated with the condition often first appear and visible or perceived differences become particularly noticeable.
Method: The first exploratory stage of this research is a series of semi structured interviews with 1-Health Professionals, 2-Young people and 3-parents
Findings: Preliminary analysis suggests that appearance and the changes to appearance that may arise from NF1 are important to young people and that this is recognised by health professionals. Young people report being uncertain about medical care and who they should be seeing, whilst health professionals report that young people are a group that they do not always have contact with. These findings are discussed in terms of their exploratory nature and the design of surveys to further investigate themes that have arisen.
Key words: appearance, genetics
Quiet eye training promotes challenge appraisals and aids performance under pressure
Lee John More
Previous research has demonstrated that Quiet Eye (QE; Vickers, 1996) training regimes facilitate anxiety-resistant performance (Vine & Wilson, 2010). However, the potential mechanisms through which QE training operates are not fully known. The present study examined the influence of QE training on the cognitive appraisal, visuomotor control, and performance of novices in a golf putting task. Thirty participants (mean age= 19.73, s= 1.82) were randomly assigned to a QE trained or Control group following 40 pre-test putts. Participants performed 320 training putts and 60 putts in a retentionpressure-retention design. Gaze was measured using an ASL Mobile Eye Tracker. Cognitive anxiety and appraisal were assessed via the MRF-3 (Krane, 1994) and cognitive appraisal ratio (Tomaka et al., 1993), respectively. Results revealed that both groups experienced greater anxiety during the pressure test than retention tests 1 and 2 (both p<.001). The QE trained group displayed longer QE durations (m= 3710.93, s= 1136.98 vs. m= 1625.43, s= 354.85) and performed better (m= 21.58, s= 5.42 vs. m= 34.12, s= 8.71) than the Control group during the pressure test (both p<.001). Furthermore, the QE trained group (m= 0.77, s= 0.37) reported lower ratio scores than the Control group (m= 1.11, s= 0.49), indicating that the QE trained group appraised the pressure test as a challenge whilst the Control group appraised it as a threat (p<.05). These results suggest that QE training might aid performance under pressure by permitting performers to appraise stressful situations as a challenge rather than a threat.
Poster – First Prize
A Diary Study of the Cognitive Side Effects of Chemotherapy for Breast Cancer: Safety Implications during Daily Tasks
Catherine Lawrence
Research suggests that a subgroup of breast cancer patients experience subtle cognitive changes following chemotherapy.
The common cause hypothesis proposes an association between cognitive failures, near-misses and injuries in certain contexts and has been considered within other health research. However, this theory has not yet been applied to psychooncology research. As breast cancer prevalence and survivorship are increasing in the UK, more individuals are able to resume typical activities while living with treatment side effects. Therefore, it is important to understand any effects of chemotherapy on the ability to manage daily tasks. A sub-sample of participants from a larger study kept a 4-month diary to provide a detailed account of the context surrounding incidences of cognitive failures, near-misses and injuries during and following cancer treatment. Breast cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy (n=8, mean age=50.9 years) or radiotherapy (n=9, mean age=58.3 years) kept a diary between the intervals pre-treatment and 4, 8 and 12 months followup.
Healthy controls (n=16, mean age=50.6 years) were assessed at matched intervals. Diaries were available as a paper booklet or a digital recorder. Qualitative analysis of the diary entries will be presented, including discussion of emerging themes and identification of potential temporal fluctuations surrounding incidences of cognitive failures, near-misses and injuries. Although further research is required to fully map out the causal factors involved in chemotherapy-related cognitive change, research also needs to address the potential safety implications of these changes in patients’ daily lives.
This study provides the initial step in exploring this novel area of research.
Key words: Cognitive ability, Cancer treatment
Division of Neuropsychology Award Winner
Examining SMA activation in motor rehabilitation for Parkinson’s Disease
Claire Brady-Martin
Research has established a link connecting the pre-supplementary motor area (pre-SMA) with abstract mental computations which enable visuo-spatial transformation, such as mental rotation. Interestingly, Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients have been shown to exhibit impairment in visuo-spatial processing, with tasks such as mental rotation, and pre-supplementary motor areas of PD patients are consistently found to be underactive. There is a lack of rehabilitation with proven efficacy for PD and there is much evidence implicating impaired pre-SMA activity in PD patients. Thus, the present study proposes that by doing a cognitive task that activates the pre-SMA alone, motor performance will be improved. 15 patients with Parkinson’s disease were recruited through the North Wales Parkinson Disease clinic. 30 controls were randomly selected from a Bangor University database of volunteers. Participants were measured on two separate conditions; a control task which did not activate the pre-SMA, as it did not require the calculation of a vector transformation, and an auditory movement task which did require spatial vector transformation, hence activating the pre-SMA. Motor performance was measured using a light-cue box, before and after both auditory tasks to determine an effect. The hypothesised outcome is an improvement in motor performance after completing the pre-SMA activating cognitive task, while there will be no improvement in motor
performance after the control task. If this exploratory piece of research finds significant results, it will provide evidence for a new effective form of rehabilitation, while also confirming the role of the pre-SMA in vector transformation.
Key words: Parkinson’s, Rehabilitation