Egizio, Victoria Bruno
(2009)
THE EFFECTS OF BARORECEPTOR STIMULATION ON SHORT-TERM VERBAL MEMORY.
Master's Thesis, University of Pittsburgh.
(Unpublished)
Abstract
Individuals remember arousing, emotional stimuli better than neutral. Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) has been associated with changes in such 'affective memory' in clinical samples. The current study utilized carotid baroreceptor stimulation (CBS), an indirect method of vagus nerve stimulation, to investigate this association further in normal, college-aged participants. Results showed that CBS marginally enhanced verbal memory for negative words and slowed heart rate, but these effects were not robust. Our findings indicate that physiological manipulations may contribute to differential rates of memory for arousing, emotional stimuli, suggesting that preferential memory for such stimuli might be attributed, in part, to individual differences in physiology. These findings are discussed within both the context of the Laceys' (1974) hypothesis that baro-afferent signaling may be associated with concomitant changes in heart rate and cognitive function and from the perspective that stimulation may affect brain regions involved in emotion and memory processing.
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Details
| Item Type: |
University of Pittsburgh ETD
|
| Status: |
Unpublished |
| Creators/Authors: |
| Creators | Email | Pitt Username | ORCID  |
|---|
| Egizio, Victoria Bruno | vbe1@pitt.edu | VBE1 | |
|
| ETD Committee: |
| Title | Member | Email Address | Pitt Username | ORCID |
|---|
| Committee Chair | Jennings, J. Richard | | | | | Committee Member | Gianaros, Peter J | | | | | Committee Member | Manuck, Stephen B | | | |
|
| Date: |
15 January 2009 |
| Date Type: |
Completion |
| Defense Date: |
9 September 2008 |
| Approval Date: |
15 January 2009 |
| Submission Date: |
27 October 2008 |
| Access Restriction: |
No restriction; Release the ETD for access worldwide immediately. |
| Institution: |
University of Pittsburgh |
| Schools and Programs: |
Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences > Psychology |
| Degree: |
MS - Master of Science |
| Thesis Type: |
Master's Thesis |
| Refereed: |
Yes |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: |
baroreceptors; cardiovascular; verbal memory |
| Other ID: |
http://etd.library.pitt.edu/ETD/available/etd-10272008-151144/, etd-10272008-151144 |
| Date Deposited: |
10 Nov 2011 20:03 |
| Last Modified: |
15 Nov 2016 13:50 |
| URI: |
http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/id/eprint/9522 |
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