Adithya
Srinivasan
Sponsor: Brian Trainor, Ph.D. Psychology Cognitive flexibility deficits are prevalent in many psychiatric disorders, including depression. Social stress has been cited as the primary risk factor for depression, and sex differences are present in stress responses and depression rates. While social stress can be difficult to study in many animal models, California mice (Peromyscus californicus) are ideal for such research as both females and males display aggression. The present study examines the effect of social stress on learning and cognitive flexibility in male and female California mice. Social stress was induced by briefly placing mice in an aggressor's cage for three consecutive days. A week later, mice were tested using the "puzzle box," a three-day paradigm that consists of timed memory and problem-solving phases. Preliminary results found that stressed mice had increased latency in solving both initial learning and problem-solving phases, with possible sex differences. These results suggest that experiencing social stress may negatively impact learning and problem-solving abilities. Future studies will examine how stress influences the function of the frontal cortex as a potential mechanism underlying these behavioral effects. Does Socioeconomic Status Predict Cognitive Exhaustion? Examining Effort Depletion Under Sustained Task Demands Using Pupillometric Measures
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Adithya Srinivasan
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Sustaining cognitive control, the ability to flexibly coordinate behavior based on environmental demands, during a task requires continuous mental effort, which declines over time as cognitive fatigue accumulates. Pupil dilation is an established psychophysiological measure of cognitive effort. In these analyses we utilize pupilometry to observe whether the rate of cognitive effort depletion can be predicted by perceived socioeconomic status (SES). To test this, 111 6-8-year-old children across two study sites in California completed a computerized cued task-switching paradigm, in which children make responses to sort stimuli by color or shape. We analyze the trial-by-trial pupil dilation across the task, where the timing of presentation of a sorting cue varies to manipulate control demand strategies. Using linear mixed-effects models, we test the links between SES and time interactions on change in pupil dilation size. Our findings may identify cognitive effort depletion as a real time psychophysiological marker of mental wear and tear in childhood and this may vary depending on SES. Identifying real-time physiological markers of cognitive effort depletion may help guide early prevention strategies to reduce cognitive fatigue and advise methods to maintain engagement in educational settings. The Future of TB Diagnosis: Emerging Point-of- care Technologies in Limited-resource Settings Veda Srinivasan
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UC Davis / Psychology / 2026
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Adithya Srinivasan