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The Relationships Between Brain Function, Brain Structure, And Behavior In Children With Fetal Alcohol Speectrum Disorder, John Pinner

Psychology ETDs

Prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE), the leading cause of childhood developmental disability, has long-lasting effects extending throughout the lifespan. The teratogenic effects of PAE, not always physically discernable, may corrupt brain structure resulting in neural dysfunction. These aberrant effects often result in executive functioning deficits, associated with social and academic difficulties, which hinder typical development. As maternal alcohol use during pregnancy is heavily stigmatized, children without physical dysmorphology often go unreported and untreated; resulting in increased deficiencies compared to those more severely affected who receive early life interventions. This phenomenon requires the discovery of neurophysiological makers of PAE in order to …

The Influence Of Infant Temperament On Maternal Sensitivity In Preterm Infants, Suzanne Vaccaro

Psychology ETDs

Infants who experience sensitive caregiving are at lower risk for numerous adverse outcomes. This is especially true for infants born preterm, leading them to be more susceptible to risks associated with poorer quality caregiving. Some research suggests that preterm and full term infants differ on in temperament, which may contribute to findings that caregivers of preterm infants are often found to display less sensitive responding to their infants. To investigate the associations between term status, infant temperament, and maternal behavior, videotaped play interactions and a measure of temperament, the Infant Behavior Questionnaire were coded for samples of preterm and full …

How Do Trainers In Empirically Supported Treatments Decide What To Train?: An Investigation Of The Trainer’S Role In The Science-To-Service Pathway, David Pendleton Forman

Psychology ETDs

BACKGROUND: Despite significant progress in identifying empirically supported

elements of psychotherapy treatments over the last 20 years, the integration of these findings into clinical practice remains low. Practitioner training has been identified as a core component of successful translation of scientific findings into practice. Yet, little research has been conducted on the role of the trainer in the dissemination of empirically supported treatments (ESTs). This exploratory study investigated the practices and attitudes of trainers of an EST, Motivational Interviewing (MI), to identify potential factors related to successful and/or unsuccessful dissemination efforts. METHOD: A measure of Motivational Interviewing components (MIC) and …

Effect Of A Learned-Threat On Pain Perception And Behaviors, Eric Kruger

Psychology ETDs

Pain is an adverse experience and a motivating force which allows for effective responding to environmental threats. There has been limited research in how pain related consequences can be learned outside of direct experience. The purpose of this study was to investigate if a non-painful threatening stimulus can modulate pain behavior. Forty-three male participants were trained via a computer task to respond to a threatening visual symbol (i.e. learned-threat). Participants also completed a painful task, a cold-pressor task (CPT), prior to and after threat training and were randomly assigned to threat/non-threat conditions during a CPT after the threat training. Repeated …

Pilot Rct Of Mbrp In Outpatient Methadone Clinic: A Neuropsychologically-Informed Approach, Jessica Pommy

Psychology ETDs

Introduction: The primary study goal was to assess the feasibility of implementing a Randomized Clinical Trial (RCT) of Mindfulness-Based Relapse Prevention (MBRP) in a substance use and methadone clinic using a neuropsychological framework. Methods: Participation interest, retention rates, and feasibility of study design were examined. 13 participants were randomized to waitlist (n = 6) or MBRP (n =7). Associations between baseline variables and retention were examined. Executive function (EF) performance and topological properties of fNIRS resting-state networks were assessed. Results: Power was limited, but quantity of outside treatment was associated with retention. EF was variable, but within the average range. …

Substance Use Treatment Accessibility For Pregnant And Postpartum Women, Adrienne Borders

Psychology ETDs

This study aimed to (1) characterize substance use treatment preferences, barriers, and attitudes in an under-represented sample of pregnant and postpartum women; (2) examine associations between barriers and help-seeking preferences, treatment attitudes, treatment engagement, substance use, and well-being; and (3) examine moderating effects of culture. Participants were 27 women, most of whom were treatment-experienced, of ethnic minority status, and from lower-income households. Results indicated flexibility in treatment preferences, and positive attitudes about treatment despite an extensive number of barriers. Participants indicated greater interference from stigma, relative to instrumental barriers. Qualitative responses revealed unique barriers experienced by this sample, and offspring …

Understanding The Learning Benefits Associated With Transcranial Direct Current Simulation Of The Right Ventrolateral Prefrontal Cortex, Benjamin C. Gibson

Psychology ETDs

Previous work has demonstrated that anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) applied to the right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (rVLPFC) is capable of accelerating learning of a threat identification and classification task. However, questions remain as to the cognitive mechanisms underlying this effect, and whether the observed tDCS mediated learning is specific to threatening stimuli or, rather, a more generalizable learning processes. The goal of the current project was to isolate specific aspects of the threat detection task in order to exemplify previous findings. A number of pre-test measures were included to attempt to decipher the characteristics of subjects who are …

Addressing Content, Convergent And Predictive Validity Of Implicit Pain-Related Fear In Chronic Low Back Pain, Eric S. Kruger

Psychology ETDs

Chronic low back pain (CLBP) is a common condition that can lead to emotional distress and physical disability. Fear of pain, a phobic-like response to pain, can contribute to significant avoidance behavior and is associated with disrupted physical and emotional functioning. While questionnaires remain the standard for measurement of pain-related fear, recent work has explored the use of implicit methods. This study aimed to use an implicit measure, the Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP), to assess convergent and predictive validity of implicit pain-related fear in relation to explicit self-report measures. Seventy-four participants with CLBP were recruited and completed the pain-related …

Identifying Error-Related, Response Inhibition, And Structural Integrity Deficits Associated With Youth With Elevated Psychopathic Traits And Predictive Of Future Recidivism, James M. Maurer

Psychology ETDs

Juvenile delinquency poses a severe cost to society. Adolescent offenders who are more likely to recidivate, including youth scoring higher on measures of psychopathic traits, and non- psychopathic life-course persistent offenders, are characterized by cognitive control deficits which may increase their propensity towards future recidivism. In this dissertation, we found that youth scoring high on psychopathic traits exhibited increased functional connectivity during response inhibition and reduced functional connectivity during error-related processing, and reduced structural integrity in the inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus and uncinate fasciculus, compared to youth scoring low on psychopathic traits. In addition, we found error-related processing deficits and reduced …

Prescription Of Opioids To Youth 2005-2016: An Examination Of Trends, Patient Characteristics, And Outcomes Through 12 Months, Melissa Pielech

Psychology ETDs

Data on all outpatient opioid prescriptions (N=71,647) to youth below age 21 (N=42,020) from 2005-2016 were extracted from electronic medical records within a university hospital system, including demographic characteristics, markers of morbidity, and mortality. Relative risk was calculated for markers of morbidity and mortality based on sociodemographic characteristics. The sample was primarily male (55.0%), Hispanic/Latino (50.1%), English-speaking (88.9%), and publicly insured(50.1%). Mean age was 13.54 (sd = 6.50). From 2005-2016, overall frequency of opioid prescriptions increased by 86.6% (from 2470 to 4610) with the largest increase (206.2%) observed from 2005-2008 (2470 to 7562). Patients who …

The Impact Of Persistent Sadness And Bullying Victimization On Suicidal Thoughts And Behaviors Among Heterosexual-Identified Sexual Minority And Lgbq Adolescents, Amber L. Dukes

Psychology ETDs

Participants who identify as heterosexual comprise a proportion of those who report same-sex contact that is as large as or larger than their gay, lesbian, bisexual, and questioning peers. However, little research has explored psychosocial outcomes among heterosexuals with same- or both-sex contact, referred to herein as heterosexual-identified sexual minority (HSM) participants. This study examined the impact of persistent sadness, bullying victimization, and sexual orientation on the probability of suicidal thoughts and behaviors (STBs) in a sample of heterosexual- and LGBQ-identified adolescents. Results showed that the probability the probability of STBs was higher for bisexual and questioning participants compared with …

Clearing The Muddy Waters: Is Lack Of Motivational Interviewing Quality Accounting For Mixed Findings And Can Measuring Fidelity Help?, Lauren N. Rowell

Psychology ETDs

ABSTRACT

Objective: The SMART ED study was a randomized, controlled trial of 3 brief interventions in ER settings targeting high-risk substance use. Findings in the main study indicated that there was no difference in outcomes for groups receiving minimal, rather than more extensive, behavioral interventions. This secondary analysis investigated the quality of (MI) sessions in the SMART ED study to examine the hypothesis that better quality of MI would be associated with improved client outcomes.

Method: The Motivational Interviewing Treatment Integrity Code (MITI 3.0) was used to evaluate 388 sessions, yielding indicators of MI Quality including Overall Spirit (MI Spirit), …

Bilingualism And Executive Functioning In Children Born Very Low Birth Weight And Normal Birth Weight, Natalia Carr Moss, Sarah Erickson, Jean Lowe, Steven Verney, Judy Ho

Psychology ETDs

Research has documented an advantage on executive functioning in bilingual compared to monolingual children, suggesting that bilingual children may develop inhibitory control earlier than their monolingual peers. There are no known studies examining the differences between monolingual and bilingual children who were born very low birth weight (VLBW). Children born VLBW are at greater risk for difficulties with attention and inhibition. Executive functioning abilities were measured at 3-4 years and at 5-7 years. Caregivers reported sociodemographic information. Bilingualism was measured by self-report and observation of unstructured mother-child play. Executive functioning abilities were measured using the Bear Dragon (inhibition and working …

Patient-Provider Communication In Community Mental Health: How Perceptions Of Engagement In Decision-Making Influence Patient-Perceptions Of Well-Being, Elizabeth R. Stein

Psychology ETDs

Shared Decision-Making (SDM) is being increasingly advocated for in the fields of physical and mental healthcare as it provides a means for patients and providers to engage in meaningful conversation about treatment decisions. Although there are many reasons for advocating for the implementation of SDM, there is limited information on how SDM impacts patient outcomes throughout treatment and the mechanisms through which these effects occur, and this information is even more limited in the area of mental health. The current research used secondary data analyses to examine patient and provider perspectives on the occurrence of SDM and patient engagement in …

Supporting Pre-Service Teachers With Skills From Dialectical Behavior Therapy, Almut K. Zieher

Individual, Family, and Community Education ETDs

Mindfulness trainings, which tend to include daily home meditation practice, have been found to improve in- and pre-service teachers well-being, but findings indicate that participants struggle to complete the recommended home meditation practice. A mindfulness training based on Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) skills may be a more feasible training format for teachers because the home practice is informal and easily integrated into daily life. DBT skills are also discrete and easy-to-understand and directly relate to the intrapersonal and interpersonal challenges teachers face. Although DBT skills-based trainings have been used with non-clinical populations, to date no study has been identified exploring …

An Erp Investigation Of Reward Signals For Differing Classes Of Reinforcing Stimuli, Darin R. Brown

Psychology ETDs

In order to successfully traverse an actively complex environment, an agent is required to learn from the consequences of their actions. For over a century, models of behavior have been developed demonstrating these consequence-based learning systems. More recently, underlying biological systems have been found to adhere to these constructs of learning. The electroencephalographic signal known as the Reward Positivity (RewP) is thought to reflect a dopamine-dependent cortical signal specific to reward receipt. Importantly, this signal has been shown to adhere to an axiomatic (rule-like) positive reward prediction error, whereby it is evoked following outcomes that are better than expected. These …

Assessing How Terrain Representations And Scale Affect The Accuracy Of Distance Estimates, Kristian Mueller

Geography ETDs

Terrain is often displayed on maps either as background or foreground. Although terrain representations are ubiquitous, there is not a thorough understanding of map-readers’ cognition of geographic surfaces from various terrain representations. The research described in this thesis empirically assessed map users’ abilities at estimating straight-line distance using maps with two different types of terrain representations and at three different scales. The objective of this research was to assess how accurately map users estimate distance on the ground taking into account variations in elevation. Participant data in the form of demographics and distance estimates were statistically analyzed to determine if …

Effects Of Chemogenetic Inhibition Of Ventral Hippocampal Glutamatergic Neurons On Anxiety-Like Defensivity In Male Long-Evans Hooded Rats, Carlos R. Maestas-Olguin

Psychology ETDs

Previous research in rodents and humans has implicated the ventral hippocampus in regulating anxiety. However, many rodent studies examining ventral hippocampal neuronal pathways have utilized lesions that create nonspecific and/or nonreversible damage to the region. The present study sought to characterize the role of ventral hippocampal glutamatergic pyramidal neurons in modulating anxiety-like behavior during exposure to a variety of threatening stimuli. Five weeks prior to testing, male Long-Evans hooded rats received ventral hippocampal viral-vector infusions expressing either pAAV-CaMKIIα-hM4D-mCherry (DREADD) or pAAV-CaMKIIa-EGFP (GFP). DREADD transfection allowed for the specific, noninvasive and temporary inhibition of ventral hippocampal glutamatergic neurons immediately before threat …

Engaging Sacred Space And Experiencing God In The Mountains: A Study Of The Non-Traditional Worship Environment Of Mountain Cathedrals, An Ecumenical Meetup Group Based In Albuquerque, New Mexico, Brendan Isaiah Nixon

Geography ETDs

This paper focuses on the non-traditional Christian worship site of Mountain Cathedrals in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I argue that affectual and emotional responses are elicited from the congregants of Mountain Cathedrals through the process of sacralization. It is shown that Christian worship in a non-traditional outdoor setting affects the ways in which the congregants engage with, participate in, and create sacred space. I survey current literatures of sacred space, the contemporary Christian church, and non-traditional worships spaces. Using the literature as a backdrop, I utilize Mountain Cathedrals as a case study for understanding the ways in which sacred space is …

Cerebellar Vermis: Contributions To The Phenomenology Of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Moriah Eve Stern

Psychology ETDs

Background: Current neurocognitive models of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) implicate dysfunction in top-down inhibitory control mechanisms. Research supports alteration in the functional activity of cortico-basal ganglia-thalamo-cortical loops in OCD, as well as the inferior parietal region, posterior medial cortex, thalamus and cerebellum. The cerebellum, once only known as a region of motor coordination, is now accepted as being highly involved in cognitive regulation as well. Emerging evidence of connectivity between the posterior cerebellum and areas of the brain related to inhibitory functioning, including the basal ganglia, prefrontal, and inferior parietal regions, suggests a potential cerebellar role in OCD-symptomology. In fact, in …

A Functional Perspective On Everyday Sadism, Marley Russell

Psychology ETDs

Everyday sadism is thus far a poorly operationalized personality trait. In its current conceptualization it offers predictive value for aggressive behavior over and above the effects of other antisocial personality traits. To improve the utility of this potentially critical predictor of socially undesirable behavior I conducted an exploratory study that more precisely examines its psychometric structure and informs its evolutionary significance. Due to the scarcity of research on everyday sadism (which is additionally limited by the trait’s poor operationalization) I suggest a functional hypothesis for its evolution based largely on theoretical reasoning. I propose this hypothesis for everyday sadism with …