PhD Thesis

Pollock, M. (2010). Meta-analysis of the antidepressant response to sleep deprivation and its correlates: Towards a better antidepressant therapy. (Doctoral dissertation). Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, Canada.

  • Abstract: Unlike antidepressant drugs, which typically require several weeks to produce an antidepressant response, sleep deprivation produces a response literally overnight. Quantification (meta-analysis) of 166 articles, including data from a total of 3951 depressed patients, reveals that consistently half of all depressed patients are responders to a night of sleep deprivation, with the degree of response shown by these responders being on average a 55% decrease in depression levels. While the level of this response depends upon both when the sleep deprivation occurs in the night and when response measurements are taken, no experimental treatment has yet been found to further enhance its response. The practicality of sleep deprivation as an antidepressant treatment has so far been limited by the fact that the majority of responders to sleep deprivation normally relapse by the day following a night of recovery sleep. However, there is some evidence that this relapse can be prevented or delayed, especially by depletion of the serotonergic system. The strength of reported correlates of response to sleep deprivation and of its relapse were examined and the nature of the most powerful correlates of response was found to depend upon their timing: correlates measured before sleep deprivation (thus related to the susceptibility to response) show between-subjects differences while correlates dependent upon measurements taken after a night of sleep deprivation (thus related to the response itself) show only within-subject changes from before to after sleep deprivation. Since whether a patient is a responder to one night of sleep deprivation is unrelated to whether the same patient will be a responder to any other night of sleep deprivation, it is hypothesized that the activity levels of some of these predictor variables may also change across time in relation to the susceptibility to response. The discovery of such susceptibility-state markers and their temporal order could help shed light on the mechanism of susceptibility to response and thus offer new ways of improving current antidepressant treatments.

 

Peer-reviewed journal articles

Mueller, A. D., Pollock, M. S., Lieblich, S. E., Epp, J. R., Galea, L. A., & Mistlberger, R. E. (2008). Sleep deprivation can inhibit adult hippocampal neurogenesis independent of adrenal stress hormones. American Journal of Physiology-Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology, 294(5), R1693-R1703.

Hannesson, D. K., Pollock, M. S., Howland, J. G., Mohapel, P., Wallace, A. E., & Corcoran, M. E. (2008). Amygdaloid kindling is anxiogenic but fails to alter object recognition or spatial working memory in rats. Epilepsy & Behavior, 13(1), 52-61.

Webb, I. C., Pollock, M. S., & Mistlberger, R. E. (2006). Modafinil [2-[(diphenylmethyl) sulfinyl] acetamide] and circadian rhythms in syrian hamsters: Assessment of the chronobiotic potential of a novel alerting compound. Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, 317(2), 882-889.

Hannesson DK, Howland JG, Pollock M, Mohapel P, Wallace AE, & Corcoran ME. (2005). Anterior perirhinal cortex kindling produces long-lasting effects on anxiety and object recognition memory. European Journal of Neuroscience, 21(4),1081-90.

Pollock, M. S., & Mistlberger, R. E. (2005). Microinjection of neostigmine into the pontine reticular formation of the mouse: Further evaluation of a proposed REM sleep enhancement technique. Brain Research, 1031(2), 253-267.

Hannesson DK, Wallace AE, Pollock M, Corley S, Mohapel P, & Corcoran ME. (2004). The relation between extent of dorsal hippocampal kindling and delayed-match-to-place performance in the Morris water maze. Epilepsy Research, 58(2-3),145-54.

Mistlberger, R. E., Antle, M. C., Webb, I. C., Jones, M., Weinberg, J., & Pollock, M. S. (2003). Circadian clock resetting by arousal in Syrian hamsters: The role of stress and activity. American Journal Of Physiology. Regulatory, Integrative And Comparative Physiology, 285(4), R917-R925.

Pollock, M. S., & Mistlberger, R. E. (2003). Rapid eye movement sleep induction by microinjection of the GABA-A antagonist bicuculline into the dorsal subcoeruleus area of the rat. Brain research, 962(1), 68-77.

Hannesson DK, Howland J, Pollock M, Mohapel P, Wallace AE, & Corcoran ME. (2001). Dorsal hippocampal kindling produces a selective and enduring disruption of hippocampally mediated behavior. Journal of Neuroscience, 21(12),4443-50.

 

Recent conference presentations

Pollock, M. S. (2019). What are the evidence-based best teaching methods? Walls Optional Conference, Camosun College.

  • Abstract: In order for instructors to best use their limited time and resources to support all students’ learning, it is important to know the facts about how well different teaching methods work. This presentation reviewed empirical evidence about the effectiveness of a number of teaching methods, including Universal Design for Learning.

Pollock, M. S. & Ransome, K. M. (2017). Improving the practicality of the Method of Loci (MoL). NOrthWest Cognition And Memory (NOWCAM) Conference, Simon Fraser University.

  • Abstract: While the Method of Loci (MoL) produces large enhancements in the recall of information, its practical use has so far been limited due to difficulties with applying it. We found that successful MoL performance can be predicted by performance on a divergent thinking task and that compensating for deficits in imagination by supplying participants with examples of how to visualize items in the MoL can further enhance MoL performance.