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| author | Taylor Kathryn Redmond |
| title | The role of state-dependent oscillators within the olfactory tubercle during olfactory discrimination |
| abstract | The olfactory tubercle (OT) remains an understudied olfactory region which is vastly different from olfactory regions such as the
main olfactory bulb (MOB) and the piriform cortex (PC). Regions such as the OT can be investigated by analyzing populations of neurons using local field potentials
(LFPs). Two state-dependent oscillators, beta (15-35 Hz) and gamma (40-120 Hz) have been associated with roles in olfactory discrimination and can be used to study
how the OT processes olfactory information. While gamma is well-understood, beta oscillations are not, although it is predicted that beta assists in processing tasks
associated with higher cognitive difficult. LFPs were recorded from rats (n = 2) to investigate the role beta and gamma oscillations have in olfactory discrimination
within the OT. It is found that beta oscillations occur later in the OT than the MOB, beta oscillations may be associated with odor valence/odor identity, and that
beta increases in power within a more difficult cognitive task than an easy cognitive task. Due to noise, results for gamma oscillations were more inconclusive, but
odor valence did not seem to have an effect on gamma power, while an easier cognitive task was associated with an increase in gamma power. Beta and gamma oscillators
may therefore perform different roles in encoding the difficulty of the task performed. Limitations within the experiment may be affected the results; noise present
within the recordings, possible errors in noise removal, and the absence of histology suggest that these relationships should be further investigated. |
| school | The College of Liberal Arts, Drew University |
| degree | B.A. (2017) |
| advisor | Graham Cousens |
| committee | Minjoon Kouh
Sandra Keyser |
| full text | TKRedmond.pdf |
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