Two Westminster College neuroscience majors presented their honors thesis defenses to peers and faculty during the College’s capstone presentations in early December, concluding their undergraduate work before graduating later that month. Abigail Guiste and Allison Cline conducted their projects with support from grants awarded by Westminster’s Drinko Center for Undergraduate Research.

Guiste of Pittsburgh, Pa., presented her project, “Interactions of Nicotine and Ethanol: Effects on Working and Long-Term Memory Driven by Appetitive and Aversive Stimuli in Male and Female Rats.”

“Two of the most commonly used drugs in our society are nicotine and alcohol, yet there is very little research investigating their combined effects on memory,” said Guiste.

Her study examined the combined effects of nicotine and alcohol on two different types of memory that are essential to daily functioning and how different stimuli can affect those memories.

Guiste’s findings showed that alcohol alone did not appear to impair memory. “For the combination of nicotine and alcohol, I expected that pre-administration of nicotine would reduce memory impairment caused by alcohol,” she said. “Alcohol did not seem to cause memory impairments alone; therefore, nicotine was not shown to improve memory because there were no impairments to improve.”

Notably, the research revealed that female rats were more affected by nicotine treatment in the presence of negative stimuli, highlighting sex differences as an important consideration for future studies.

Dr. Deanne Buffalari, associate professor of neuroscience, served as Guiste’s faculty adviser, providing guidance and research support throughout the project. Guiste plans to attend medical school.

Cline, a neuroscience major on the pre-med track from Niles, Ohio, presented her research titled “An Electroencephalogram (EEG) Examination of the Timing of Neural Recapitulation during the Retrieval of Emotional Stimuli.” The study served as a follow-up to her previous functional MRI (fMRI) research examining neural recapitulation in emotional stimuli.

Neural recapitulation refers to the neural activity associated with past experiences that reemerges during rest and sleep, facilitating memory consolidation. During this process, the brain “replays” experiences using the same sequential activation patterns present during the original event.

Using electroencephalography (EEG), Cline investigated the timing of neural recapitulation during memory retrieval to better understand its potential role in memory processing. She studied the recapitulation between positive, negative and neutral stimuli. 

Her results indicated that, in the negative condition, neural recapitulation occurred very early during retrieval or memory processing. These findings were accompanied by decreased memory performance for negative stimuli. Together, the results suggest that neural recapitulation may play a more complex role in memory processing than simply enhancing memory performance.

Because her findings differ from previous studies, Cline is eager to pursue follow-up research.

Cline reflected positively on the experience of conducting independent research. “The personal growth and independence I’ve earned from this research is something I’m very grateful for,” she said. Dr. Eric Fields, former assistant professor of psychology, served as her faculty adviser.

Cline plans to apply to medical schools this year.

Both projects were funded by Westminster’s Drinko Center for Undergraduate Research. The Drinko Center supports undergraduate research through various grants that fund research and creative projects conducted at Westminster College, as well as the presentation and dissemination of research at professional conferences.

For more information about the neuroscience program at Westminster, visit www.westminster.edu/neuroscience.

Abigail Guiste, top; Allison Cline, bottom

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By Kristen Aleprete
Kristen Aleprete is a staff writer in Westminster College's Office of Marketing and Communication.

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