Advisor(s)
Jane Allendorfer
David Knight
Committee Member(s)
Christianne Strang
Edwin Cook Iii
Victor Del Bene
School
College of Arts and Sciences
Document Type
Dissertation
Department (new version)
Psychology
Date of Award
9-11-2025
Abstract
The visual memory encoding (VME) of indoor and outdoor scenes is a complex cognitive process that primarily utilizes the bilateral hippocampi and medial temporal lobe (MTL) structures along the parahippocampal gyrus. Alpha and theta frequency band oscillations are important in the processing of visual information and memory formation, respectively. We completed hree studies investigating the cognitive process of VME in healthy adults and people with temporal lobe epilepsy (pwTLE). The first study was cross-sectional and utilized a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)-constrained magnetoencephalography (MEG) analysis in healthy adults to explore VME. The fMRI results were used as spatial priors to constrain the MEG source localization. The results provided an overview of how localized cortical power estimates change across time and frequency bins. The second study was a pilot non-randomized controlled trial that explored how a six-week endurance exercise intervention affected VME in healthy adults using fMRI and exercise testing. There were no significant differences between the endurance exercise training condition and the non-interventional control condition after the six-week study period on the cardiorespiratory fitness or the fMRI VME task activation. Additionally, there were no significant brain-behavior correlations between the fMRI BOLD signal regions of interest and accuracy metrics on a post-fMRI VME recognition task at Visit 1 or Visit 2 across both groups. The results led to a discussion of future considerations, including extending the duration of the intervention, examining the effects of exercise intensity, and altering the VME task design to be more specific to the encoding phase of long-term memory processing. The third study was a pilot nonrandomized case series that explored how a six-week endurance exercise intervention affected VME in pwTLE using fMRI and exercise assessments. The results support a positive trend for exercise training to improve cardiorespiratory health and some cognitive and behavioral assessments after the endurance exercise intervention. The case series provides information about the feasibility of future exercise intervention trials in pwTLE. The three studies provide important foundational research in a new direction of inquiry at the intersection of cognitive neuroscience, exercise, and interventional approaches for pwTLE.
ProQuest ID
Recommended Citation
Mitchell, Brandon Steve, "Understanding Visual Memory Encoding And The Effects Of Endurance Exercise In Healthy Adults And People With Temporal Lobe Epilepsy" (2025). All ETDs from UAB. 7411.
https://digitalcommons.library.uab.edu/etd-collection/7411
