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Connection Between Cannabis Use And Psychosis And The Direct Vs. Indirect Form Of Inquiry To Combat Self-Report Bias, Lauren Grady May 2013

Connection Between Cannabis Use And Psychosis And The Direct Vs. Indirect Form Of Inquiry To Combat Self-Report Bias, Lauren Grady

Psychology

The purpose of this paper is to investigate two problems: one clinical and one methodological. The first is whether there is a connection between drug use, and specifically cannabis use, and psychosis. Previous research on the subject has provided mixed results. Van Os et al. (2002) and Arseneault et al. (2002) both found that cannabis use predicted the onset of psychosis. Van Dam, Earleywine, & DiGiacomo (2008) found that the use of other drugs was a better predictor of psychosis than cannabis alone. The second problem involves how to maximize honesty when people answer questions regarding their own drug use. …


Social Story Intervention For Children With Autism To Decrease Challenging Behaviors During Homework, Arianna Doss May 2013

Social Story Intervention For Children With Autism To Decrease Challenging Behaviors During Homework, Arianna Doss

Psychology

Researchers have created interventions to improve the social behavior and communication of children with autism spectrum disorder. One such intervention is called Social Stories, which describes social situations and their corresponding appropriate behaviors in order to help children with autism better understand social cues. Although several studies indicate the usefulness of this intervention, more evidence is needed. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of social stories in decreasing challenging behaviors of first-graders with autism during homework time and to measure changes in parental stress and family quality of life. Homework time was chosen because children with autism experience homework …


The Moderating Effect Of Skin Conductance Level On The Relationship Between Family Conflict And Disordered Eating Behaviors, Laura B. Kenneally May 2013

The Moderating Effect Of Skin Conductance Level On The Relationship Between Family Conflict And Disordered Eating Behaviors, Laura B. Kenneally

Psychology

The purpose of this study was to examine the moderating effect of the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) on the relation between family conflict and disordered eating behaviors. Participants were 67 undergraduate students at the University at Albany, SUNY, ages 17 to 40. Researchers used a retrospective measure of harsh parenting and interparental aggression experienced during childhood and adolescence to determine how sympathetic activation interacts with family conflict in predicting disordered eating behaviors in a sample of university students. SNS activation was measured by baseline skin conductance level (SCL). Results indicated that SCL moderated the relationship between harsh parenting experienced during …


The Relationships Among Sharing Behaviors, Social Skills, And Problem Behaviors In Preschool Children, Taylor P. Bulman May 2013

The Relationships Among Sharing Behaviors, Social Skills, And Problem Behaviors In Preschool Children, Taylor P. Bulman

Psychology

Over the past few decades, the field of developmental psychopathology has become increasingly interested in children’s development during preschool, a time of immense cognitive and social growth (Parker et al., 2006). Past research indicates that prosocial behaviors exhibited during childhood can predict later adaptive functioning (Gresham et al., 2010). The goal of the present study was to explore the relationships among sharing behaviors, social skills, and problem behaviors in preschool children. Predominantly lower-income preschool children (N = 57, Male = 28) were recruited for participation. Teachers of the participants completed the Social Skills Improvement System (SSIS). A modified version of …


Factors Affecting The Detection Of Relationship Status Deception, Fatima Aboul-Seoud May 2013

Factors Affecting The Detection Of Relationship Status Deception, Fatima Aboul-Seoud

Psychology

Evolutionary theory predicts that people should have sex-specific adaptations based on differential reproductive costs and benefits. Males have to contend with the costs of being cuckolded, while females have to contend with the costs of being abandoned. Previous research on reproductive deception has shown that males and females engage in sex-specific deception in ways that maximize fitness. This project examined the ability to discern ingenuous and disingenuous claims about romantic and sexual relationship status. Participants viewed and rated the veracity of pre-recorded claims about targets’ relationship status. Results showed that the ability to discern claim veracity was dependent upon the …


Comparing Grief As A Negative Emotion To Survival For Memory Enhancement, Sarah Pate May 2013

Comparing Grief As A Negative Emotion To Survival For Memory Enhancement, Sarah Pate

Psychology

The survival memory effect tested using a comparison of a survival scenario to the strong negative emotion of a grief scenario. The main hypothesis was that strong, negative emotions allow one’s self to relate to the scenario as it seems to do in the survival scenario. Strong negative emotions may outperform survival in a free recall memory task due to deeper levels of processing. Grief and survival scenarios were compared to a moving scenario that was used as a control condition. The three scenarios were each followed by a list of separate words to be rated on their relevancy to …


The Effects Of Progesterone Receptor On Development Of Serotonergic Circuits That Mediate Cognition, Heather Smith May 2013

The Effects Of Progesterone Receptor On Development Of Serotonergic Circuits That Mediate Cognition, Heather Smith

Psychology

As the rate of premature births has been substantially increasing, progestin administration is becoming a common treatment for the prevention of preterm labor. However, not much is known regarding how these hormonal supplements may affect the development of the fetal brain. The developing brain is highly sensitive to progesterone as progesterone receptor (PR) is expressed in many regions during critical developmental periods. Steroid hormone receptors such as PR are powerful transcription factors and regulate gene expression to alter fundamental processes of neural development. During the developmental period of post-natal day one (P1) to P14 in rats, PR is transiently expressed …


Cultivation Of Mindfulness And Acceptance Processes In Act And Cbt: A Randomized Clinical Trial In A Pure Self Help Context, Andrew N. Orayfig May 2011

Cultivation Of Mindfulness And Acceptance Processes In Act And Cbt: A Randomized Clinical Trial In A Pure Self Help Context, Andrew N. Orayfig

Psychology

There is a paucity of research on self-help approaches within Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT); specifically there is a need for more randomized controlled trials to elucidate the effectiveness of ACT-based biblio-therapy relative to more traditional cognitive behavior therapy (CBT). The aim of the present research, therefore, is two-fold: (a) to provide a preliminary comparison of ACT and CBT for anxiety in a self-help context and (b) to examine how the two treatments impact ACT-relevant processes in an international community sample (N=200) of persons reporting difficulties with anxiety and fear. Participants were randomized to receive either an ACT or CBT …


Neuropsychological Performance In Cannabis Users And Non-Users Following Motivation Manipulation, Michelle Stiles May 2010

Neuropsychological Performance In Cannabis Users And Non-Users Following Motivation Manipulation, Michelle Stiles

Psychology

Background: Previous research has yielded conflicting results regarding the long term consequences of cannabis use on cognitive functioning. Although in the cannabis literature, there is a commonly held belief associated with cannabis use called, “amotivational syndrome” the authors were unable to find any studies of neuropsychological performance that attempted to manipulate motivation. Methods: Fifty-five undergraduates (34 cannabis users and 21 non-users) participated in an extensive neuropsychological battery. The experimenter read a statement at the beginning of the battery designed to induce motivation. Group differences on test performance were calculated with a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) for tests that did …


The Role Of Progesterone Receptor In Development Of Medial Prefrontal Cortex And Impulsive Behavior, Vanessa Costanzo May 2010

The Role Of Progesterone Receptor In Development Of Medial Prefrontal Cortex And Impulsive Behavior, Vanessa Costanzo

Psychology

Human behaviors are regulated by the complex functions of the brain and many behavioral disorders are assumed to be the result of alterations or deficits in neural function. Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), characterized by differences in complex behaviors such as attention, memory and impulse control has been linked to alterations in dopaminergic activity in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). Therefore, factors that regulate development of this region may be implicated in ADHD. For example, steroid hormones can alter fundamental processes of neural development through interaction with their nuclear receptors, which act as transcription factors. Progesterone receptor (PR) is transiently …


The Effect Of Recurrent Hypoglycemia On Mental Flexibility, Justin Ramcharitar May 2010

The Effect Of Recurrent Hypoglycemia On Mental Flexibility, Justin Ramcharitar

Psychology

A major side-effect of intensive insulin replacement therapy, is recurrent hypoglycemia (RH). Clinical and experimental evidence suggest that RH may be associated with deficits in higher cognitive processes; specifically, in judgment and mental flexibility, processes believed to be mediated in large part by the medial prefrontal cortex. The present study investigates the effects of short-term RH on mental flexibility in rats. Animals underwent food restriction and were extensively handled and habituated. Prior to testing animals were randomly assigned to one of four groups with varying levels of RH. Animals were then tested for two consecutive days on a set-shift maze …