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Hippocampal Volumetry And Episodic Memory In Preterm Born Children, Dana Marie Anderson Mccall

Wayne State University Dissertations

Objective The hippocampus (Hc) is essential for memory and vulnerable to the sequelae of premature birth. Relationships between subcomponents of the Hc and memory performance have been documented in adults. Yet little is known about the generalization of these findings to young children, whether term or preterm-born. This tripartite investigation focused on Hc subregion and subfield volumes, a potential latent construct for episodic memory, and the relationship between Hc volume and memory performance across birth weight (BW) and gestational age (GA).

Participants and Methods Forty-eight children (20 preterm), ages 5-7, completed an MRI scan and several episodic memory tasks. An …

Ante- And Perinatal Risk Factors And Neuropsychological Outcome: Exploration Of The Role Of Multiple Birth And Acid-Base Status In Preterm Born Preschoolers, Jamie Piercy

Wayne State University Dissertations

Increased attention to medical risk factors that precede or accompany preterm birth is necessary in order to better understand functional deficits in this vulnerable population. Children who are born preterm are subject to increased risk of neurodevelopmental deficits in the preschool years and beyond. As such, the current study aimed to gain a better understanding of the influence of two disparate biological risk factors, one antenatal and the other perinatal, on neuropsychological development. More specifically, the influence of twin gestation and low arterial pH (reflecting hypoxic risk) on neuropsychological outcomes was examined in a sample of preterm-born (before 34-weeks gestation) …

Acceptability And Feasibility Of A Multicomponent Group Intervention To Initiate Health Behavior Change: The Kickstart Health Program, Shannon Marie Clark

Wayne State University Dissertations

There is a growing need to address the difficulties that people face trying to engage in a healthier lifestyle and the integration of behavioral health into primary care settings may offer an opportunity to address this need. Health behavior change groups may be an effective style of intervention in medical settings; however, the experiences patients have attending these groups as well as how health behavior change groups best fit into integrated care settings is largely unknown. The purpose of the current study was to offer a preliminary test of feasibility and acceptability for a group intervention, conducted in a primary …

The Eyes Never Lie: Detecting Simulated Traumatic Brain Injury With Eye-Tracking, Robert John Kanser

Wayne State University Dissertations

Performance validity test (PVT) inaccuracies can be explained by both test and extra-test (e.g., research design components) factors. Eye-tracking is a promising technology to enhance assessment of performance validity. Prior research has established that ocular behaviors are reliable biomarkers of (un)conscious cognitive processes. Experimental research on deception has shown that ocular behaviors reliably distinguish feigned concealment of information from honest responding. The primary objective of this study was to examine the incremental utility of incorporating eye-tracking into a clinical PVT to distinguish adults with verified TBI from adults coached to feign cognitive impairment. A secondary objective was to determine the …

Uncertainty In Online Dating, Elena Corriero

Wayne State University Dissertations

Relationship initiation is a moment typically characterized by high uncertainty, and online dating platforms have the potential to heighten uncertainty and thus deeply affect relationship formation dynamics. While previous research has focused on other-uncertainty and on its reduction through information-seeking, this qualitative study adopts Babrow’s (2001) problematic integration (PI) theory to expand our understanding of uncertainty in online dating beyond other-focused uncertainty, by exploring the meanings and sources of uncertainty in online dating, how uncertainty is appraised, and what strategies daters adopt to cope with it.

Data obtained from 13 semi-structured interviews with active online daters was analyzed using thematic …

Detroit People And Transitions In Housing-3 (Dpath-3): Changes In The Composition And Service Needs Of The Homeless Adult Population, Kiel Opperman

Wayne State University Dissertations

The current research study explores the composition and service need of the homeless community in Detroit, Michigan and its surrounding county, Wayne. The project aims to 1) examine differences in composition and social service characteristics across three decades and 2) access service utilization and unmet needs of the homeless population. The study’s central hypothesis is that demographic shifts in the homeless population indicate the need to make specific and substantive shifts in the distribution of the limited resources allocated to homelessness. Results demonstrated significant changes across the three time points, where the current sample of homeless people were older, spent …

Interpersonal Processes And Consequences Of "Technoference" In Romantic Couples, Julia Leah Briskin

Wayne State University Dissertations

Smartphone use during in-person interactions with romantic partners (“technoference”) has become commonplace, and research has begun to investigate the negative effects of technoference on romantic relationships. However, little research has explored the mechanisms by which technoference influences romantic relationships, and the specific interpersonal processes that are disrupted by technoference must be identified and tested. The present dissertation aims to integrate the interpersonal process model (Reis & Shaver, 1988) with Williams’ model of ostracism (Williams, 1997) to provide a theoretical framework for understanding how technoference uniquely influences romantic relationships. Using a combination of correlational, experimental, and daily diary methodology, four studies …

Proximity, Touching, And Testosterone: An Observational Study Of Mate Retention Tactics In Humans, Kraig Shattuck

Wayne State University Dissertations

Mate guarding behaviors are strongly selected for in species that suffer from infidelity and cuckoldry. Two forms of mate guarding behaviors that have been found in self-report studies on humans are proximity and touching. Proximity actively prevents infidelity though the physical act of being present. Touching indirectly prevents infidelity by signaling to any potential rivals that their partner is taken, as well as signaling to the partner that they are being watched. Testosterone is a hormone implicated in competition and aggression. When in the presence of a potential rival, testosterone levels tend to increase. This increase should be related to …

Multicultural Face Recognition Memory And Own-Race-Bias Among Adults With Acquired Brain Injury, Nia M. Billings

Wayne State University Dissertations

Own-race bias (ORB) is a well-documented phenomenon that may influence face memory, such that face memory is improved when the observed target matches the observer’s racial background. However, the clinical measures widely used in neuropsychological evaluations lack racial diversity that may disenfranchise and disadvantage minority patients. Further, these existing measures have been criticized for having inconsistent visual contrast and facial content, as well as too much variability of non-facial information which may confound its acceptability as a measure of face memory specifically. To address these limitations, standardized, multicultural images with validated facial expressions (Beaupré et al., 2000) were used to …

Characterizing The Development Of Episodic Memory And Assessing The Reliability Of Fmri Measures, Lingfei Tang

Wayne State University Dissertations

The ability to remember past events is critical for everyday life and showed robust improvement over development from childhood to adulthood. With advances in noninvasive neuroimaging methods such as functional MRI in recent years, research efforts have been focused on identifying neural correlates underpinning developmental gains in memory performance. In my dissertation work, using a widely-validated subsequent memory paradigm, I aim to characterize functional MRI correlates of memory development. Specifically, I focused my investigation on identifying age differences in the functional patterns of two brain regions critical for memory, the prefrontal cortex and the hippocampus. Focusing on the prefrontal cortex …

Gay And Lesbian Discrimination In The Workplace: The Role Of Agentic And Communal Trait Expectations, Daniel Krenn

Wayne State University Dissertations

Workplace discrimination is a recurring problem in organizations, particularly in organizational processes such as employee selection. Such discrimination is caused by a variety of factors including stereotyping of people by demographic identities and prejudice against various demographic groups. While federal and local legislation protects many stigmatized groups such as race and gender minorities, sexual minorities are largely unprotected. Previous research on sexual orientation reveals a diverse set of negative experiences. However, evidence for formal discrimination against sexual minorities in personnel selection has been inconclusive. Drawing on Role Congruity Theory, perceived characteristic misfit, cognitive stereotyping, and emotionally influenced prejudicial feelings are …

The Protective Role Of Parenting Behaviors In The Development Of African American Adolescents, Kelsey Johanna Sala-Hamrick

Wayne State University Dissertations

This dissertation aimed to understand how African American parents protect their teens from developing psychopathology in the face of extreme adversity. To do this, I examined three dimensions of parenting behavior, stress exposure, and behavior problems in order to understand the direct and moderating relations between parenting behaviors, cumulative stress and youth internalizing, externalizing, and total psychological problems. 150 African American primary caregivers reported on their adolescent children’s internalizing, externalizing and total behavior problems, exposure to stressful events, and their own parenting behavior. 150 inner-city African American adolescents reported on their exposure to traumatic stressors and a subsample of 43 …

Arab American Women's Health Study: Correlational And Experimental Examination Of A Sexual Health Interview, Hannah Holmes

Wayne State University Dissertations

Arab Americans are a diverse group of Americans of Arab heritage or identity. Given the underrepresentation of Arab Americans in research and a taboo surrounding sexuality in Arab culture, it is not surprising that Arab American sexual health is understudied, even though sexuality is an important aspect of health. Arab American women face the challenging task of negotiating both their heritage and American culture, which may have implications for sexual health due to the two cultures’ disparate views on sexuality. Given the conflict and taboo likely to surround the topic of sexuality among Arab American women, confidential discussion of these …

The Influence Of Household Chaos And The Home Language Environment On Preschool-Age Children’S School Readiness, Laura Mary Northerner

Wayne State University Dissertations

School readiness, including both cognitive and social-emotional development, is an important indicator of a child’s preparedness for school entry, and a meaningful predictor of future academic success (Duncan et al., 2007). The home environment plays a critical role in the development of children’s school readiness, especially for children facing social inequalities. Within the home environment, household chaos and home language have been found to impact school readiness. The current study expanded on previous research on household chaos by collecting multiple measures of household chaos, including a naturalistic observation across several days. The current study also naturalistically investigated the home language …