Date on Senior Honors Thesis

12-2018

Document Type

Senior Honors Thesis

Degree Name

B.S.

Department

Psychological and Brain Sciences

Author's Keywords

Anxiety; intelligence; executive function; behavioral relationship; morphometric structures

Abstract

The human brain is a complex organ responsible for not only perceiving and sensing information in one’s environment, but also integrating and analyzing these details in a way that will allow an individual to comprehend the material. Scientists for centuries have been curious as to why people process their emotions and thoughts differently, resulting in unique and varied behavior. The manner in which a person comprehends information and whether or not they feel anxious as a result, may be connected to their intellectual and functional capacity. Human intelligence and the ability to function at a high level may be related to the presence or absence of feelings of anxiety. The current study aims to determine the behavioral relationship between intelligence, executive function and anxiety while also interrogating their relationship to common morphometric features of the brain, such as surface area, grey matter volume and cortical thickness. Structural neuroimaging data for eighty-two subjects was obtained from the Nathan Kline Institute, in connection with the 1000 Functional Connectomes neuroimaging database and correlated with scores on the Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence (WASI), Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System (DKEFS) and The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), using a neuroimaging structure analysis tool. Behavioral results indicate a positive relationship between intelligence and executive function as well as a negative relationship between intelligence and anxiety. Brain morphometric results indicate a positive correlation between WASI and the surface area, cortical thickness and grey matter volume of the lateral prefrontal cortex. Likewise, there was a negative correlation between DKEFS and volume of the parietal lobe. Lastly, the STAI was negatively correlated with the surface area and grey matter volume of the temporal lobe.

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