Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Identifier

1049

Date

2014

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science

Major

Psychology

Concentration

General Psychology

Committee Chair

Melloni Cook

Committee Member

Helen Sable

Committee Member

James Murphy

Abstract

Alcohol use during pregnancy results in a range of harmful physical and cognitive effects for offspring. Animal models provide a useful tool to examine this complex occurence, but most models utilize very high and aversive levels of alcohol. The goal of this study was to use the drinking in the dark model to examine the possible effects of lower levels of alcohol exposure during pregnancy on adult offspring. Anxiety, learning and memory-influenced behaviors in adult offspring were measured. Generally, males demonstrated increased impairments compared to females. Males in the exposure group also demonstrated increased impairments on a measure of learning and memory-influenced behavior. Depsite this finding, offspring in the ethanol exposure group did not demonstrate many of the hypothesized effects. The concentration of alcohol and length of exposure may be some of the factors that impacted the null findings.

Comments

Data is provided by the student.

Library Comment

Dissertation or thesis originally submitted to the local University of Memphis Electronic Theses & dissertation (ETD) Repository.

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