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Celebration of Scholars

Instructions

Student presentations must have a faculty sponsor.

Abstracts must include a title and a description of the research, scholarship, or creative work. The description should be 150-225 words in length and constructed in a format or style appropriate for the presenter’s discipline.

The following points should be addressed within the selected format or style for the abstract:

  • A clear statement of the problem or question you pursued, or the scholarly goal or creative theme achieved in your work.
  • A brief comment about the significance or uniqueness of the work.
  • A clear description of the methods used to achieve the purpose or goals for the work.
  • A statement of the conclusions, results, outcomes, or recommendations, or if the work is still in progress, the results you expect to report at the event.

Presenter photographs should be head and shoulder shots comparable to passport photos.

Additional Information

More information is available at carthage.edu/celebration-scholars/. The following are members of the Research, Scholarship, and Creativity Committee who are eager to listen to ideas and answer questions:

  • Jun Wang
  • Kim Instenes
  • John Kirk
  • Nora Nickels
  • Andrew Pustina
  • James Ripley

PARTIALLY REINFORCED WISTAR-KYOTO FEMALE RATS SHOW AN INCREASE IN AVOIDANCE ACQUISITION COMPARED TO FULLY REINFORCED SPRAGUE DAWLEY RATS DURING A LEVER-PRESS AVOIDANCE TASK

Name: Kelsy Nilles
Major: Neuroscience and Psychology
Hometown: Lisle, IL
Faculty Sponsor: Daniel Miller
Other Sponsors: Cook-Snyder, Denise
Type of research: Independent research
Funding: Veterans Affairs New Jersey

Name: Indi Conover
Major: Neuroscience
Hometown: Oakdale, MN
Faculty Sponsor: Daniel Miller
Other Sponsors: Cook-Snyder, Denise
Type of research: Independent research
Funding: Veterans Affairs New Jersey

Name: Breanna Glaeser
Major: Neuroscience and Psychology
Hometown: Valders
Faculty Sponsor: Daniel Miller
Other Sponsors: Cook-Snyder, Denise
Type of research: Independent research
Funding: Veterans Affairs New Jersey

Name: Luci Krenzke
Major: Neuroscience
Hometown: Racine, WI
Faculty Sponsor: Daniel Miller
Other Sponsors: Cook-Snyder, Denise
Type of research: Independent research
Funding: Veterans Affairs New Jersey

Name: Tanisha Perlmutter
Major: Biology and Neuroscience
Hometown: Detroit Lakes, MN
Faculty Sponsor: Daniel Miller
Other Sponsors: Cook-Snyder, Denise
Type of research: Independent research
Funding: Veterans Affairs New Jersey

Name: Anna Thomsen
Major: Neuroscience
Hometown: Shawnee, Kansas
Faculty Sponsor: Daniel Miller
Other Sponsors: Cook-Snyder, Denise
Type of research: Independent research
Funding: Veterans Affairs New Jersey

Abstract

The behaviorally inhibited Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) strain has been studied extensively as a model for anxiety vulnerability. WKY rats acquire signaled lever-press avoidance more rapidly and they are resistant to extinguishing the avoidance response when compared to Sprague Dawley (SD) rats (e.g., Servatius et al, 2008). Recently it was demonstrated that learning in behaviorally inhibited humans was less affected by partial reinforcement during Pavlovian eye blink conditioning (Allen et al., 2014). In the present study, we questioned how behaviorally inhibited WKY rats will react to complete or partial reinforcement in a lever-press avoidance paradigm. We compared avoidance acquisition in female WKY versus female SD rats receiving either 100% reinforcement of paired tone-shock trials or 50% partial reinforcement with inconsistent tone only trials. WKY rats receiving 100% reinforcement showed the highest levels of acquisition followed by WKY rats receiving 50% reinforcement. SD rats receiving 100% reinforcement showed lower rates of acquisition than either of the WKY rat contingencies, and WKY rats receiving 50% reinforcement had very little avoidance acquisition. Our results suggest that female WKY rats are extremely influenced by the tone-shock reinforcement even when it is inconsistent. Such enhanced associative learning in vulnerable populations could be a major factor in the development of anxiety and stress disorders. To further study this relationship, we are performing immunohistochemical screens to identify differentially activated circuits underlying avoidance learning in WKY and SD rats.

Poster file

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