<p> Flexible control of behavior based on the relevant environmental context is a fundamental component of adaptive behavior. The capability to rapidly switch between different sensorimotor mappings to achieve the current goal is called executive control, and is predominantly studied in primates. To probe fast executive control using the tools available in rodents, we developed a novel rat behavior in which subjects are cued, on each trial, to apply a sensorimotor association to orient either toward a visual target (&ldquo;Pro&rdquo;) or away from it (&ldquo;Anti&rdquo;). Multiple behavioral asymmetries suggested that Anti behavior is cognitively demanding while Pro is easier to learn and perform. This is consistent with a prominent hypothesis in the primate literature that Anti required prefrontal cortex (PFC), whereas Pro could be mediated by the midbrain superior colliculus (SC). Pharmacological inactivation of rat medial PFC supported its expected role in Anti. Remarkably, bilateral SC inactivation substantially impaired Anti while leaving Pro essentially intact. Moreover, SC inactivation eliminated the performance cost of switching from Anti to Pro tasks. These results suggest a more diffuse network underlying response inhibition and task switching, including PFC and SC. Characterization of neural signatures underlying flexible sensorimotor transformation revealed dynamic task-relevant signals in the SC neurons during the delay period, similar to PFC neurons. We tested the causal requirement of this task set maintenance activity in the SC, and found a selective Anti impairment after optogenetic inactivation in bilateral SC during the delay. Together, our results establish a rodent model of rapid sensorimotor remapping and suggest a critical role for SC in maintaining a cognitively demanding task set to flexibly map sensory stimuli to correct motor outputs.</p>

<p> Working memory is a collection of cognitive resources that allow for the temporary maintenance and manipulation of information. This information can then be used to accomplish task goals in a variety of different contexts. To do this, the working memory system is able to process many different kinds of information using resources dedicated to the processing of those specific types of information. This processing is modulated by a control component which is responsible for guiding actions in the face of interference. Recently, the way in which working memory handles the processing of this information has been the subject of debate. Specifically, current models of working memory differ in their conceptualization of its functional architecture and the interaction between domain-specific storage structures and domain-general control processes. Here, domain-specific processing is when certain components of a model are dedicated to processing certain kinds of information, be it spatial or verbal. Domain-general processing is a when a component of a model can process multiple kinds of information. One approach conceptualizes working memory as consisting of various discrete components that are dedicated to processing specific kinds of information. These multiple component models attempt to explain how domain-specific storage structures are coordinated by a domain-general control mechanism. They also predict that capacity variations in those domain-specific storage structures can directly affect the performance of the domain-general control mechanism. Another approach focuses primarily on the contributions of a domain-general control mechanism to behavior. These controlled attention approaches collapse working memory and attention and propose that a domain-general control mechanism is the primary source of individual differences. This means that variations in domain-specific storage structures are not predicted to affect the functioning of the domain-general control mechanism. This dissertation will make the argument that conceptualizing working memory as either domain-specific or domain-general creates a false dichotomy. To do this, different ways of measuring working memory capacity will first be discussed. That discussion will serve as a basis for understanding the differences, and similarities between both models. A more detailed exposition of both the multiple component model and controlled attention account will follow. Behavioral and physiological evidence will accompany the descriptions of both models. The emphasis of the evidence presented here will be on load effects: observed changes in task performance when information is maintained in working memory. Load effects can be specific to the type of information being maintained (domain-specific), or occur regardless of information type (domain-general). This dissertation will demonstrate how the two models fail to address evidence for both domain-specific and domain-general load effects. Given these inadequacies, a new set of experiments will be proposed that will seek to demonstrate both domain-specific and domain-general effects within the same paradigm. Being able to demonstrate both these effects will go some way towards accounting for the differing evidence presented in the literature. A brief conceptualization of a possible account to explain these effects will then be discussed. Finally, future directions for research will be described.</p><p>

In three experiments, rats received a single simultaneous pairing of a 4-s conditioned stimulus (CS) and a 4-s grid shock unconditioned stimulus (US) in which the CS and US began together. The CS was either an element (tone, light, or noise) or a compound composed of two elements (tone + light or tone + noise). In a fourth experiment, rats received a single backward pairing of a 4-s CS and a 4-s grid shock US in which the CS began at US offset. The CS was either a tone or a tone + light compound. Freezing and the suppression of licking elicited by the CS provided evidence for excitatory 1-trial simultaneous and 1-trial backward conditioning to the element and to the compound CSs. There was no evidence of greater conditioning to the compound CSs as compared to either of their constituent elements. An analysis of a videotaped record of the behavior of the rats in Experiment 2 revealed somewhat less freezing to the light than to the tone, but no evidence of a defensive behavior unique to light. Thus the defensive behavior to CSs associated with aversive USs is freezing, regardless of CS modality.

<p> Alcoholism and alcohol use disorders are a major problem worldwide. Excessive alcohol consumption has been associated with cognitive impairment not only in drinkers but also in their offspring. Previous clinical reports have suggested that inherited drug use behavior in individuals, including the overall amount of alcohol consumed, originates from parents who engage in the consumption of alcohol both during and prior to conception. For example, mothers exposed to alcohol during pregnancy have been shown to produce offspring with neurodevelopmental, physiological, and behavioral deficits, in rodents. Additionally, several studies now support the idea that fathers exposed to alcohol prior to mating produce male offspring with developmental, physiological, and cognitive deficits as well. With this said, alcohol exposed fathers appear to pass different phenotypes to their sons than they do their daughters. To date, little research has been dedicated to examining cognitive deficits associated with paternal alcohol exposure or the volume of alcohol intake in daughters of male alcoholics. The purpose of this set of experiments is to explore possible changes in cognitive function and alcohol acceptance in both male and female offspring of alcohol-exposed fathers. Adult male rats were exposed to a repeated binge dose of alcohol and later mated with non-manipulated females. Offspring of exposed fathers were assessed for levels of alcohol consumption via Intraoral Cannulation, followed by a series of cognitive function tests via T-maze task performance. Accuracy percentage within the T- maze and volume of alcohol accepted were compared and analyzed using an ANOVA. Our findings suggest that paternal binge doses of ethanol exposure prior to breeding results in offspring that consume significantly more ethanol than controls, exhibit greater latency time to reach criterion in a T-maze, and having significantly fewer percent correct responses in T-maze task performance when including all trials. The results presented here add to the growing body of literature aimed at understanding the consequences of paternal pre-conception ethanol exposure and the effects on subsequent generations.</p><p>

Eight rats (Rattus norwegicus) were individually exposed to either closed or open economies in a multioperant experimental setting with a proportional ratio reinforcement contingency imposed. Completion of successive ring pull ratios accrued visually signaled opportunities for access to food and/or water via further ratio completions on distinct levers. Successive pellet or water presentations decreased the remaining available food and water opportunities and when the last opportunity was depleted, subjects were returned to the ring pull option only. Experiment 1 compared the effects of a simple and forced savings proportional schedule. Rats "saved" when required to by the forced trials condition but substantial savings occurred in the simple proportional schedule irrespective of forced trials training. Assessment of responses occurring in the presence of specific discriminative stimuli indicated that the relevant operants were under adequate stimulus control. No systematic differences were observed in savings responses within closed or open economies and subsequent work was conducted in an open economy. Three of the subjects exhibited low rates of extended ring pull runs while five of the subjects emitted moderate to high savings responses. Experiment 2 compared the conditional probabilities of feeding and drinking bouts under a proportional schedule and a "free-choice" condition. Distributions of feeding and drinking bout lengths were similar across all subjects under the free-choice baseline and were not seen to covary in any way with the differences in ring pull run lengths observed among subjects under the proportional schedule conditions. Experiment 3 shifted each subject's baseline distribution of save runs to a higher proportion of extended save runs by increasing the response cost on the terminal food and water ratios following short save runs. Overall, the proportional schedule generated rates of saving, hoarding and putative examples of "self-control" in rats that were substantially greater than those previously reported in operant hoarding or self-control literature. The implications of proportional schedule effects for human performance are discussed.

<p> The purpose of this dissertation is to develop a Trauma-Informed Music Therapy (TI-MT) program using a community-based approach to help with trauma recovery of children and their families. This program is designed in response to the 2016 San Joaquin County Needs Assessment, which identifies trauma recovery as a priority community health issue, especially in an area identified as the South Stockton Promise Zone. This part of Stockton, California, is highly culturally diverse, of low socioeconomic level, and with a high crime rate. Trauma impacts people on emotional, neurobiological, physiological, and cognitive levels. Due to cultural differences, traditional therapy may pose difficulties to break through diversity barriers to successfully treat trauma. Dependent upon the impact of the trauma, nonverbal expression can be more efficacious than direct, verbal processing, which tends to be the focus of traditional cognitive-behavioral therapies. Research shows that music therapy has psychotherapeutic and physiological benefits in mental health and treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Creation of a TI-MT program treatment protocol combines behavioral, cognitive, and biological theoretical foundations of trauma treatment into a clinical program that uses music therapy interventions as the treatment vehicle. These incorporate evidence-based cognitive-behavioral treatment with music therapy research and theory to create an innovative treatment method that treats psychological and neurobiological effects of trauma with children and their families. Research shows that treatment of trauma in childhood helps decrease risk of mental and physical health problems later in life. A community-based group approach to treatment over the course of 12 weeks addresses the needs of more people while being cost-effective with available resources. Community needs, program design and implementation, evaluation methodology, and implications for future research are discussed.</p><p>

Visual working memory (WM) is the ability to hold information in mind for a short time before acting on it. The capacity of WM is strikingly limited. To make the most of this precious resource, humans exhibit a high degree of cognitive flexibility: We can prioritize information that is relevant to behavior, and inhibit unnecessary distractions. This thesis examines some behavioral and neural correlates of flexibility in WM. When information is of particular importance, anticipatory attention can be directed to where it will likely appear. Oscillations in visual cortex, in the 10-Hz range, play an important role in regulating excitability of such prioritized locations. Chapter 4 describes how even spontaneous fluctuations in 10-Hz synchronization (measured by electroencephalography, EEG) before encoding influence WM. Chapters 2 and 3 describe how attention can be directed retrospectively to items even if they are already stored in WM. Chapter 3 discusses how retrospective cues change neural synchronization similarly to anticipatory cues. Behavioral and neural measures additionally indicate that the boosting of an item through retrospective cues does not require prolonged deployment of attention: rather, it may be a transient process. The second half of this thesis additionally examines how items are represented in visual WM. Chapter 5 summarizes a study using pattern analysis of magnetoencephalographic (MEG) and EEG data to decode features of visual templates stored in WM. Decoding appears transiently around the time when potential target stimuli are expected, in line with a flexible reactivation mechanism. Chapter 6 further examines separate cortical networks involved in protecting vs. updating items in WM, and tests whether task relevance changes how well WM contents can be decoded. Finally, Chapter 7 summarizes the thesis and discusses how attentional flexibility can merge WM with a wider range of sources of behavioral control.