Vacation Scholarships 2017 - Bournemouth University

There is confusion whether N2 reflects response inhibition or response conflict: a larger N2 has been found during response inhibition tasks (e.g., go/no-go tasks), but an increased N2 has also been reported when response conflict is present (e.g., flanker tasks). These inconsistent results may result from the frequency of presented stimuli and the nature of the tasks. The relationship between ADHD symptomatology and N2 also needs to be investigated as abnormal N2 has been found in ADHD during response inhibition and conflict tasks. However, the work on ADHD has been limited to one subtype of the disorder. The key goals of this study are to identify whether N2 reflects response conflict or response inhibition and how they relate to different presentations of ADHD symptomatology. Thirty adult participants will undergo an EEG study while performing a modified go/no-go task and a flanker task. We will manipulate the proportions of different classes of stimuli and the number of potential responses. We will measure the magnitude of N2 during response conflict (when there are multiple responses) and response inhibition (when there are fewer of one type of response). In addition, participants will complete the Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale. The first goal of this study is to identify whether a specific signal generated by the brain (called N2), reflects response conflict or response inhibition. Response conflict is when someone must choose between multiple responses. Response inhibition is when someone must stop a particular behaviour. Both of these processes seem to cause the N2 signal and both seem to be related to ADHD symptomatology, however research has only focused on one type of ADHD. Our second aim is to explore the relationship between different types of ADHD and N2. Thirty adult participants will undergo an EEG study in which electrodes are placed onto the head to detect electrical signals elicited by the brain. We will run two tasks: a modified go/no-go, where participants must respond to a particular stimulus with either a go or no-go action; and the flanker task, in which participants must respond to the direction of a central arrow surrounded by arrows in the same direction or a different direction. We will alter the number of different types of stimuli to measure response inhibition and the number of responses to measure response conflict. Participants will also complete the Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale.

This project engages with the role of alcohol in colonial British India c. 1800-1947. It analyses the extent to which alcohol was embedded in medical, social and cultural discourses of colonial society, producing a range of conflicted and contradictory practices. Using archives such as the British Library and the National Library of Scotland, the project will focus on how alcohol remained a mainstay of colonial medicine, military routine, and Anglo-Indian culture throughout the British presence in South Asia, despite concerns over health. The project has three key goals. Firstly, to focus on the inconsistency with which drinking and intoxication were either criminalised or mitigated by medical expertise; by contrasting records relating to India and Britain, I will argue that colonial space itself was a dominant determining factor in decisions made by military and civil authorities whether to treat or punish excessive drinking. Secondly, to accumulate data that will enable academic and public-facing outputs related to the drinking cultures of colonial British society and British military forces during the C. 19th. Finally, this project will act as preparation for a Wellcome Seed Award application designed to compare and contrast attitudes to alcohol across the wider British Empire during the same period.