蜜桃视频

鈥淲orking memory is a personal research interest of mine and numerous clinical populations suffer from working memory impairments,鈥� Tart-Zelvin said. 鈥淵ou see impairment in working memory across different diagnosis. For example epilepsy patients, Parkinson鈥檚 patients, MS (multiple sclerosis), OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder) and ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) patients all have trouble with their working memory.鈥�

Working memory refers to the ability to process and store information, which requires a noticeable amount of focus and attention.

The goal of her project was to better understand how working memory strategy training improves working memory performance on a neural level to provide information that could aid in working memory performance among different clinical populations.

 鈥淭his cognitive strategy has not been studied before in a healthy population from a neuroimaging perspective,鈥� Tart-Zelvin said. The study could improve doctors and clinicians鈥� ability to detect cognitive decline, recommend strategy training, and tailor early cognitive interventions such cognitive retraining or cognitive rehabilitation among clinical populations.

鈥淚n order to target specific mechanisms of working memory for treatment purposes, one needs to understand how and why certain strategies work in the brain and improve performance,鈥� Tart-Zelvin said. 鈥淲e decided to take a strategy that鈥檚 been highly supported by existing cognitive studies to improve people鈥檚 working memory performance; then extend that literature using neuroimaging to better understand how that strategy works in the brain. We鈥檝e begun to answer the 鈥榟ow,鈥� but not the 鈥榳hy,鈥� yet.鈥�

蜜桃视频 did not have the imaging equipment needed to conduct the study so Tart-Zelvin traveled to the Utah Center for Advanced Imaging Research to complete MRI scans and to obtain the neuroimaging data. She then analyzed the data at Drexel University in Philadelphia where she could make use of the software needed to analyze the images.

鈥淲hen I came to ISU I knew that I wanted to conduct a neuroimaging study, I had been doing that work before I got here and it fascinated me鈥� Tart-Zelvin said. 鈥淭his study represents a huge team effort. When I talk about the study, I always say 鈥渨e鈥� as this study would not have been possible without the support of several individuals and generous financial support from 蜜桃视频 College of Arts and Letters and the Office of Research.鈥�

She worked closely with ISU College of Arts and Letters Dean Kandi Turley-Ames, who serves as one of her mentors; ISU psychology Assistant Professor Mona Xu, another mentor; J. Michael Williams and Karol Osipowicz, professors from Drexel University; and the Utah Center for Advanced Imaging Research. Tart-Zelvin also had assistance from dedicated graduate and undergraduate students who helped with data collection in Salt Lake City. These students were Reinalyn Echon, Alyssa Korell, Danielle Correll and Ashley Miller.

Tart-Zelvin gave a presentation on the study at the ISU Department of Psychology鈥檚 19^th Annual Research Forum on Feb. 26, where attendees can learn about the department鈥檚 Ph.D. program.  She discussed the main findings of the neuroimaging results and the initial behavioral analyses. Tart-Zelvin included pictures of the brain and a video that combined all of the fMRI scans.

鈥淚t鈥檚 very exciting because we have been talking about this study for almost three years now and this is the first year where we have actual results to present,鈥� Tart-Zelvin said.

 鈥淚t was important to me to further examine an aspect of executive function that could potentially improve the lives of countless people,鈥� Tart-Zelvin said. 鈥淎ny sort of advancement in the area of working memory could potentially help a lot of people. I wanted to make the biggest impact I could with one study.鈥�

She will send the results to journals and conferences both nationally and internationally in the hope of disseminating the results among the field. Among other conferences, Tart-Zelvin will submit an abstract with the results to the next International Neuropsychological Society Conference, which is currently the largest neuropsychological conference that exists.

鈥淢y goal is to defend my dissertation this summer and submit the results to different journals over the next few months,鈥� Tart-Zelvin said. 鈥淢y long-term goal is to become a clinical neuropsychologist and ideally be able to work with adults from different clinical populations who have impairments in their working memory. That said, this study is directly related to my future clinical work.鈥�