Effect of Chemotherapy on Visuospatial N-back Task Performance: an fMRI Study in Breast Cancer Patients

Chemotherapy-related cognitive impairments (CRCIs) are commonly self-reported among cancer patients, including breast cancer (BC) patients, after chemotherapy treatments. Reported deficits include challenges in working memory and visuospatial abilities (Deprez, 2011). While the exact mechanisms are not fully understood, CRCIs may be a consequence of increased neurotoxicity, blood brain barrier disruption, white matter abnormalities, and decreased hippocampal neurogenesis (Mounier, 2020). The current study recruited twenty-three BC female patients through the Ottawa Hospital Regional Cancer Centre, and individually matched each to healthy non-cancer controls on sex, age, education and menopausal status. Participants completed a series of structural and functional MRI assessments, including a high anatomical T1 scan and a T2* scan while completing a visuospatial n-back task. These assessments were completed at baseline (t1) and immediately after completion of chemotherapy treatment (t2; or matched in time for controls). In addition to imaging outcomes, behavioral markers of n-back task performance were also extracted, including error rates and reaction times. We hypothesize that there will be no functional and behavioral differences between groups at t1. However, we expect patients to show higher activity in the inferior frontal gyrus, insula, thalamus, and midbrain during the functional task compared to controls at t2. Meanwhile we expect similar accuracy on the task, but slower reaction times in the post-chemotherapy BC patients compared to controls. Last, we hypothesize that only BC patients (not controls) will show changes in neural activation and behavioral patterns from t1 to t2 on the visuospatial n-back task. While the data is currently being processed, we expect our results to clarify the impact of chemotherapy treatments on visuospatial ability and associated brain activation patterns in breast cancer patients

Performance Under Pressure: Does Stress Impact Emotional Recognition?

Emotional recognition is a crucial component of social interaction and human communication. Sensing and interpreting body language, verbal intonations, facial expressions, and social cues are all part of recognizing emotional states (Ekman, 1999). Stress is a physiological and emotional state that can alter emotional recognition. This randomized experimental study aimed to observe the relationship between stress and the ability to discern emotional states behind facial expressions. Introductory psychology students were divided into a control group and a stress group in which participants had their non-dominant hand submerged in ice water. Participants completed a facial emotion recognition task, and their rankings of the valence of the displayed facial expressions were evaluated for group differences. It was hypothesized that participants in the stress group would score all facial stimuli with a negative bias compared to the control participants\u27 scores. The one-sided t tests conducted showed no significant group differences in either happy or neutral faces, however there was a trend in rankings of sad faces indicating a possible group difference. While our findings were not conclusive, these results can be used to inform future investigations within the realm of stress and facial emotional recognition

Effect of Acute Restraint Stress on Cognitive Flexibility in Rodent Models

Cognitive flexibility is an executive function that comprises the ability to mentally shift and adapt behavioral and cognitive strategies in response to changing environments. Among the many factors that can impact this function is stress, which has been shown to reduce cognitive flexibility in humans. The impact of stress on cognitive flexibility is a relatively new area of investigation that has yielded conflicting results; therefore, there is a critical need to further study if and how these factors are related. This study aimed to investigate the impact of acute restraint stress on cognitive flexibility using a rodent model. Eight Long Evans rats ran 4 trials on each of 5 unique mazes. For every maze, half of the rats were exposed to acute restraint stress for 30 minutes prior to running the maze, while the other half did not have acute stress exposure. The stressed and non-stressed groups alternated every time the maze changed. The time taken for each rat to complete each maze was recorded and will be analyzed for statistically significant differences between stressed and non-stressed times. It is predicted that acute restraint stress will negatively impact the cognitive flexibility of the rats: compared to a baseline measure of time to complete a maze, the rats will take significantly longer to learn to complete new mazes following 30-minute periods of acute restraint stress