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The Effects Of Alcohol-Related Visual Stimuli On Inhibitory Control And Attentional Bias: Testing The Roles Of Classical Conditioning And Semantic Priming, Ramey G. Monem

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Alcohol research has shown that alcohol-related stimuli can disrupt behavioral control and attract more attention in alcohol drinkers. Stimuli typically used in tasks assessing these mechanisms are likely representative of an individual's history. Responses to visual stimuli that no longer closely resemble an individual's history may help shed light on whether these behaviors are due to classical conditioning or processes such as semantic priming. Hypotheses were tested using typical visual stimuli and modified, abstract versions in these tasks. 41 participants were exposed to these stimuli types while using a visual dot probe task. The difference in degree of attentional bias …

Parenting Behaviors Of Sleepy Parents: Associations With Emotion Regulation And Stress, Lauren R. Gilbert

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Over the last decade, the topic of sleep has garnered a great deal of interest from psychologists, due to the physiological, emotional, and behavioral outcomes associated with its deprivation. However, questions remain to be answered regarding sleep's influence in the day-to-day life of families. The current study examines the importance of sleep deprivation for parents’ parenting behaviors during problem solving discussions with their children; emotion regulation and stress reactivity are examined as mediators of these associations. Participants were 196 families with a child between the ages of 6-11. Parents filled out diaries for 7 days prior to their in-lab visit, …

The Effects Of Alcohol And Hypoxia Exposure In The Developing Brain, Megan L. Carter

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Exposure to alcohol (ethanol (ETOH)) during fetal development results in a variety of cognitive/behavioral deficits. The effects of fetal ETOH exposure vary across individuals and numerous studies have shown that ETOH’s interaction with other variables can affect outcome in offspring. These studies investigated the effects of developmental ETOH and hypoxia. It was hypothesized that a history of ETOH during development alters the response to a subsequent hypoxic challenge, such as that which may occur during parturition; this results in central nervous system (CNS) damage and behavioral deficits.

The first study determined if developmental ETOH and hypoxia exposure produced behavioral deficits …

The Five-Factor Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory: An Item Response Theory Analysis, Jennifer R. Presnall-Shvorin

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Arguments have been made for dimensional models over categorical for the classification of personality disorder, and for the five-factor model (FFM) in particular. A criticism of the FFM of personality disorder is the absence of measures designed to assess pathological personality. Several measures have been developed based on the FFM to assess the maladaptive personality traits included within existing personality disorders.

One such example is the Five-Factor Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory (FFOCI). The current study applied item response theory analyses (IRT) to test whether scales of the FFOCI are extreme variants of respective FFM facet scales. It was predicted that both the …

Examining The Behavioral Mechanism Of Cocaine Cue Attentional Bias, Katherine R. Marks

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Heightened attentional bias towards cocaine-related stimuli relative to neutral stimuli is a characteristic observed in cocaine-use disorders. Response time is an indirect measure of attention and research has failed to consistently demonstrate evidence of clinical relevance. Eye tracking presents a novel tool for directly measuring attentional allocation. The aim of this dissertation was to assess the sensitivity, reliability, and specificity of attentional bias through fixation and response time during the visual probe task.

In the visual probe task, substance-related and matched neutral images were presented side-by-side on a computer screen. Eye-tracking technology measured time spent fixating on each image. A …

Cocaine-Induced Behavioral Sensitization And Conditioned Place Preference In Japanese Quail (Coturnix Japonica): A Focus On Sex Differences And Dopaminergic Mechanisms, Karin E. Gill

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Research has indicated that gonadal hormones may mediate behavioral and biological responses to cocaine. Estrogen, in particular, has been shown to increase behavioral responding to cocaine in female rats relative to male rats. The use of Japanese quail may add to our knowledge of sex differences in drug abuse because of their advanced visual system and the ability to control their gonadal hormones via alterations in photoperiod. In three experiments, cocaine-induced behaviors were examined using this avian model.

In Experiment 1, I investigated the potential sex differences in cocaine-induced locomotor activity between male and female Japanese quail and I examined …

Effects Of Headings On Processing Of Audio Texts, Hung-Tao Chen

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Text-to-speech devices often do a poor job of translating signals such as headings from visual into audio mode. Previous research studies have attempted to address this problem but these studies have mainly used heading detection tasks. The current study seeks to investigate 1) whether listeners find the presence of audio headings useful in natural learning tasks, and 2) the type of heading rendering that is most useful in natural learning tasks. The three learning tasks in this study include note-taking, cued recall, and knowledge transfer. Results from this study reveal that listeners find audio headings useful in the note-taking task. …

Effects Of Repeated Cue Exposure On Cannabis Craving, Jessica S. Fogel

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Craving is a key element of the cannabis withdrawal syndrome that has been associated with continued use and relapse. Although cue-induced cannabis craving has been established in single laboratory sessions, procedures to sustain craving over multiple sessions are needed. The purpose of the present study was to determine if cue-induced craving responses could be elicited in the same subjects across multiple sessions. It was hypothesized that exposure to cannabis cues would produce more robust craving responses than exposure to neutral cues and that elicited craving responses will be sustained across multiple cue exposures. Five experimental cue exposure sessions (1 neutral …

Moderated Mediation Of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (Adhd) Symptoms And Peer Relations, Christine A. Lee

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) experience frequent and persisting peer rejection, yet current social skills training is ineffective. The current study focused on emotion dysregulation as a possible mediator between ADHD symptoms and poor peer outcomes with oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) symptoms as a moderator. Participants included 145 elementary-age children ranging from 8-10 years old. Parents and teachers rated children’s ADHD and ODD symptoms as well as their social skills. Parents also rated children on their emotion regulation abilities. Children then participated in a three-hour playgroup with unfamiliar peers in six structured and unstructured tasks. Research assistants provided global ratings …

Bidirectional Relations Of Impulsive Personality And Alcohol Use Over Two Years, Alison J. Kaiser

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Impulsive personality traits have been found to be robust predictors of substance use and problems in both cross-sectional and longitudinal research. Studies examining the relations of substance use and impulsive personality over time indicate bidirectional effects, where substance use is also predictive of increases in later impulsive personality. The mechanism(s) accounting for the impact of substance use on later personality remain unknown. The present study sought to explore the bidirectional relations of alcohol use with the impulsive personality traits over three time points, and to examine two potential mechanisms that could account for the impact of alcohol use on personality: …

The Behavioral Effects Of First-Generation Electronic Cigarettes After 24-Hour Tobacco Deprivation, Arit M. Harvanko

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Little is currently known about the ability of electronic cigarettes to manage tobacco withdrawal symptoms and their abuse liability. In the current study eight conventional cigarette smokers completed nine within-subject study sessions. In the first session participants practiced using an electronic cigarette containing 16 mg/ml of nicotine over six 10-puff bouts. Remaining study sessions were comprised of four two-day blocks (one for each condition), which assessed measures of tobacco withdrawal symptoms and abuse liability following unrestricted cigarette smoking and 24-hour tobacco deprivation. Study conditions included an electronic cigarette with 0, 8, or 16 mg/ml nicotine concentrations, or preferred brand of …

Effect Of Social Peers On Risky Decision Making In Male Sprague Dawley Rats, Virginia Weiss

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Adolescence is a time associated with increased risk taking and peer relations. Research has shown that adolescents are more vulnerable to peer pressure compared to adults, leading to exacerbated risk taking. Preclinical research suggests that these findings may also be applicable to adolescent rodents, which find social interaction rewarding and are prone to risky behavior. There is, however, little research on the effect of social interaction on rodent models of risky decision-making. This thesis utilized social chambers, which consisted of adjacent operant chambers separated by wire mesh. Adolescent rats performed a risky decision-making task in which they had a choice …

The Balloon Analogue Risk Task And Behavioral Correlates In Pigeons, Aaron P. Smith

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Individuals experience risk ubiquitously, but measuring risk taking is difficult. The balloon analogue risk task (BART) was developed in order to assess risk taking through having subjects press a key that accrues reward but also risk losing all reward with each press. In humans, greater responding in this task is associated with other maladaptive risk taking behaviors. The present research modeled this relationship in pigeons due to their previously shown propensity towards risk taking behavior. Experiment 1 used an unsignaled balloon task in which losing could only occur after 5 pecks. Results showed below optimal performance with greater pecks associated …

Examining The Neuroprotective Properties Of 3-Dimethoxybenzylidene-Anabasine (Dmxb-A) In A Third Trimester Chronic Ethanol Exposure Model In Rats, Logan J. Fields

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Excitotoxicity caused by ethanol (ETOH) withdrawal (EWD) is highly detrimental to the developing brain. Targeting this excitotoxicity has been shown to be a promising approach for improving outcome following developmental ETOH exposure. Activation of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChR), in the central nervous system can be protective against EWD. We examined the ability of DMXB-A, a α₇ nAChR agonist, to reduce neurotoxicity caused by EWD in the hippocampus. To test this, an organotypic hippocampal slice culture was used. Slices were exposed to ETOH (100mM) or control medium. After 10 days, the slices were treated with DMXB-A (1, 3, or 10uM) …

Examining Memory Consolidation And Reconsolidation In An Appetitive Pavlovian Task, Jonathan J. Chow

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Memory plays an important role in defining how one behaves. The neurobiological mechanisms of memory have been studied extensively in animal models and the NMDA glutamate receptor has been identified to play an important role in the consolidation and reconsolidation of appetitive memories. Certain memories, depending on what was learned, can function differently and can be more difficult to disrupt based on a number of factors. Currently, no study has examined whether or not a reward-predictive stimulus attributed with incentive value is more difficult to disrupt than a stimulus that functions as a general reward-predictor. To determine the role of …

Improving Depression Care For Older Home Health Patients, Sarah R. Schirmer

DNP Projects

Rates of depression in older home healthcare (HH) patients are highly prevalent. Although depression in this population is associated with increased rates of re-hospitalization, falls, and suicides, it is frequently under diagnosed and under treated. This Capstone Report examined this problem through three interrelated manuscripts. The first manuscript explored the problem through a review of the literature. This review determined that while there are many barriers to adequate depression care, programs that train clinicians to screen for depression and connect patients to depression care encourage adequate evaluation and treatment and can result in clinically significant changes in depression scores. This …