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Task Manipulation Effects On The Relationship Between Working Memory Capacity And Go/No-Go Performance, Elizabeth A. Wiemers

Open Access Theses

Seemingly minor task manipulations can have large and sometimes unpredicted effects on task performance. Despite this, single tasks are typical in both research and assessment applications. This series of experiments aims to systematically investigate the differences between various perceptual and semantic versions of go/no-go tasks and their relationships with working memory capacity (WMC) with the goal of determining the cause of inconsistencies in the literature. Because these versions of the go/no-go have not previously been systematically studied, the first experiment does so. After determining which performance differences exist based on versions of both task and decision, and noting that these …

The Relationship Between P300 Evoked Potentials And Prefrontal Cortex Oxygen Use: A Combined Eeg And Nirs Study, Will S. Rizer

All NMU Master's Theses

The P300 subcomponent, P3b, is an event related potential detected at the scalp surface when a working memory comparison results in differences between the contents of working memory and incoming stimulus information. Previous research has indicated that as infrequent targets become more difficult to detect (morphologically similar to a frequent non-target stimulus) the P300 becomes attenuated. fMRI research has also indicated increased prefrontal cortex (PFC) activity during P300 generation. To examine the relationship between P3b amplitude and PFC activity participants performed an easy and difficult target detection task in both EEG and NIRS called the oddball. The EEG and behavioral …

Hands, And Numbers, And Dots Oh My! Examining The Effect Of Nearby-Hands On Counting And Subitizing, Gabriel Allred

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The “nearby-hand” effect (Tseng, Bridgeman, & Juan 2012), an alteration of performance caused by the presence of our hands in the visuospatial area, has been found in learning, attention, and working memory tasks (Brockmole, Davoli, Abrams, & Witt, 2013a). However, no work to date has been published demonstrating a relationship between the nearby-hand effect and judgments of magnitude, including subitizing and counting. It is suggested by Tseng, Bridgeman, and Juan (2012) that nearby-hands affect attentional disengagement, yet little experimental evidence is available to support this notion. Given the serialized nature of counting, which requires attentional disengagement from item to item …

A Network Analysis Of Developmental Change In Adhd Symptom Structure From Preschool To Adulthood, Michelle M. Martel, Cheri A. Levinson, Julia K. Langer, Joel T. Nigg

Psychology Faculty Publications

Although there is substantial support for the validity of the diagnosis of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), there is considerable disagreement about how to best capture developmental changes in the expression of ADHD symptomatology. This article examines the associations among the 18 individual ADHD symptoms using a novel network analysis approach, from preschool to adulthood. The 1,420 participants were grouped into four age brackets: preschool (ages 3–6, n = 109), childhood (ages 6–12, n = 548), adolescence (ages 13–17, n = 357), and young adulthood (ages 18–36, n = 406). All participants completed a multistage, multi-informant diagnostic process, and self and informant …

The Impact Of Balance Disturbance On Cognition, Erin Quasney

Dissertations (1934 -)

There have been remarkable gains within the scientific literature over the last few decades contributing to our understanding of the sequelae, recovery, and treatment of mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), yet our knowledge of relationships among symptoms remains elementary in comparison. Cognitive and balance deficits are two of the most prevalent consequence of mTBI. There is some indication that a challenge to one or both of these functions can result in cognitive detriments due to constraints on attentional capacity. However, the evidence remains both conflicting and sparse. This study examined the impact of increasing balance challenge on attention and working …

Naturalizing Anthropomorphism: Behavioral Prompts To Our Humanizing Of Animals, Alexandra C. Horowitz, Marc Bekoff

Marc Bekoff, PhD

Anthropomorphism is the use of human characteristics to describe or explain nonhuman animals. In the present paper, we propose a model for a unified study of such anthropomorphizing. We bring together previously disparate accounts of why and how we anthropomorphize and suggest a means to analyze anthropomorphizing behavior itself. We introduce an analysis of bouts of dyadic play between humans and a heavily anthropomorphized animal, the domestic dog. Four distinct patterns of social interaction recur in successful dog–human play: directed responses by one player to the other, indications of intent, mutual behaviors, and contingent activity. These findings serve as a …

Perceiving Oldness In Parietal Cortex: Fmri Characterization Of A Parietal Memory Network, Adrian Gilmore

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The manner in which the human brain recognizes certain stimuli as novel or familiar is a matter of ongoing investigation. The overarching goal of this dissertation is to improve our understanding of how this may be accomplished. More specifically, work contained herein focuses on a recently described "parietal memory network" (PMN; Gilmore et al., 2015) that shows opposite patterns of activity when perceiving novel or familiar stimuli: deactivating in response to novelty, and activating in response to familiarity. Critically, our understanding of this network is based on explicit memory tasks, in which subjects are deliberately instructed to learn or remember …

Visual Attention And Its Relation To Knowledge States In Chimpanzees, Pan Troglodytes, Megan J. Bulloch, Sarah T. Boysen, Ellen E. Furlong

Sarah Boysen, PhD

Primates rely on visual attention to gather knowledge about their environment. The ability to recognize such knowledge-acquisition activity in another may demonstrate one aspect of Theory of Mind. Using a series of experiments in which chimpanzees were presented with a choice between an experimenter whose visual attention was available and another whose vision was occluded, we asked whether chimpanzees understood the relationship between visual attention and knowledge states. The animals showed sophisticated understanding of attention from the first presentation of each task. Under more complex experimental conditions, the subjects had more difficulty with species-typical processing of attentional cues and those …

The Effect Of Content-Related And Unrelated Break Activities On Test Results, Ryan Gentek

Theses and Dissertations

Researchers have recently explored using brief breaks to maintain performance during prolonged tasks (Ariga and Lleras, 2011). However, research has yet to fully explore the effect of break activity content on the performance of the primary task. The present study sought to explore the differing effects of two break activities that were respectively similar and different in content to the main task. The present researcher compared past studies of task-switching and interruption studies to theories of the vigilance decrement and hypothesized that a brief similar task should result in significantly different main-task performance than the brief dissimilar task. 20 participating …

Neural Circuitry Underlying The Intrusion Of Task-Irrelevant Threat Into Working Memory In Anxiety, Daniel Stout

Theses and Dissertations

Dispositional anxiety is an important risk factor for the development of anxiety and other psychological disorders. Symptoms commonly expressed by highly anxious individuals include intrusive memories, uncertainty, and worry — all occurring in the absence of immediate threat. This raises the possibility that anxious individuals have difficulty governing threat’s access to working memory, the mental workspace where goal-related information is actively retained for guiding on-going behavior. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while 81 subjects completed a well-validated working memory task, I show that threat-related and neutral distracters unnecessarily gain access to working memory, as evidenced by increased neural activity …

Global/Local Processing In Incidental Perception Of Hierarchical Structure, Mark S. Mills

Department of Psychology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The goal of the current thesis is to provide a framework for investigating and understanding visual processing of hierarchical structure (i.e., local parts nested in global wholes, such as trees nested in forests) under incidental processing conditions—that is, where processing of information at global and local levels is both uninformative (cannot aid task performance) and task-irrelevant (need not be processed to perform the task). To do so, a novel method combining two widely-used paradigms (spatial cueing and compound stimulus paradigms) is used for implicitly probing observers’ perceptual representations over the course of processing. This compound arrow cueing paradigm was used …

Teacher Mindfulness In The Middle School Classroom: Reliability And Validity Of A New Scale, Nicolette Paige Rickert

Dissertations and Theses

Despite significant growth in research examining the effects of mindfulness interventions on teachers (Roeser, 2014), studies have mainly relied on self-reports of teacher mindfulness and have not examined observable behavioral manifestations of teacher mindfulness in the classroom. Due to possible biases in self-report measures (Dotterer & Lowe, 2011), as well as the need for a greater range of assessments of the effects of mindfulness trainings on teachers, the current study sought to create a new measure of teacher mindfulness in the classroom from three sources of information: teacher self-reports of their own behavior in the classroom, student perceptions of their …

The Development Of Attention To Dynamic Facial Emotions, Alison Heck, Alyson Hock, Hannah White, Rachel Jubran, Ramesh Bhatt

Psychology Faculty Works

Appropriate processing of emotions is paramount for successful social functioning. Adults’ enhanced attention to negative emotions such as fear is thought to be a critical aspect of this adaptive functioning. Prior studies indicate that increased attention to fear relative to positive or neutral emotions begins at around 7 months of age, and it has been suggested that this negativity bias is related to self-locomotion. However, these studies mostly used static faces, potentially limiting information available to the infants. In the current study, 3.5-month-olds (n = 24) and 5-month-olds (n = 24) were exposed to dynamic faces expressing fear, happy, or …

The Development Of Attention To Dynamic Facial Emotions, Alison Heck, Alyson J. Hock, Hannah White, Rachel Jubran, Ramesh S. Bhatt

Alyson J. Chroust

The Development Of White Asian Categorization: Contributions From Skin Color And Other Physiognomic Cues, Yarrow Dunham, Ron Dotsch, Amelia R. Clark, Elena V. Stepanova

Faculty Publications

We examined the development of racial categorizations of faces spanning the European–East Asian (“White–Asian”) categorical continuum in children between the ages of four and nine as well as adults. We employed a stimulus set that independently varied skin color and other aspects of facial physiognomy, allowing the contribution of each to be assessed independently and in interaction with each other. Results demonstrated substantial development across this age range in children’s ability to draw on both sorts of cue, with over twice as much variance explained by stimulus variation in adults than children. Nonetheless, children were clearly sensitive to both skin …

Attentional Window And Global/Local Processing, Steven Peter Schultz

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

How does the focus of attention influence the encoding of information? Research has shown that size and allocation of the attentional window has an influence on what information is attended to or missed. The size-scale of features also effects processing of visual information. Previous research involving hierarchical stimuli suggests precedence for global features. In the present experiment, I investigated the influence of attentional window size on accuracy of encoding hierarchical stimuli at the global and local level. Here I introduce a new method for manipulating the size of the attentional window and for collecting unconstrained responses. At the start of …

The Scientific Validity Of Subjective Concepts In Models Of Animal Welfare, Françoise Wemelsfelder

Françoise Wemelsfelder, PhD

This paper takes a closer look at the subjectivity/objectivity relationship, as it plays a role in the science of animal welfare. It argues that subjective, experiential states in animals such as well-being and suffering are, contrary to what is often assumed, open to empirical observation and scientific assessment. The presumably purely private, inaccessible nature of such states is not an inherent property of these states, but derives from their misguided conception as ‘causal objects’ in mechanistic models of behaviour. This inevitably endows subjective experience with a ‘hidden’ status. However, subjective experience should be approached on its own conceptual grounds, i.e. …

The Cost Of Getting Lost: Measuring The Slot Machine ‘Zone’ With Attentional Dual Tasks, W. Spencer Murch

International Conference on Gambling & Risk Taking

A contemporary stance on regular and problematic electronic gaming machine (EGM) gamblers argues that these individuals use machine gambling as a means of escaping aversive feelings rather than as a means of seeking out excitement. Often called “The Slot Machine Zone,” this hypothesis currently rests on qualitative and anecdotal data suggesting that machine gamblers are somehow lost in the game (Schüll, 2012). Conceptually similar to work on flow and dissociation, the zone hypothesis predicts that problematic EGM play is associated with 1) increased self-reported dissociation / immersion, 2) attenuated peripheral attention, and 3) a positive physiological state as a result. …

Focusing On Selection For Fixation, John K. Tsotsos, Calden Wloka, Yulia Kotseruba

MODVIS Workshop

Building on our presentation at MODVIS 2015, we continue in our quest to discover a functional, computational, explanation of the relationship among visual attention, interpretation of visual stimuli, and eye movements, and how these produce visual behavior. Here, we focus on one component, how selection is accomplished for the next fixation. The popularity of saliency map models drives the inference that this is solved; we suggested otherwise at MODVIS 2015. Here, we provide additional empirical and theoretical arguments. We then develop arguments that a cluster of complementary, conspicuity representations drive selection, modulated by task goals and history, leading to a …

Transient Pupil Dilation After Subsaccadic Microstimulation Of Primate Frontal Eye Fields., Sebastian J Lehmann, Brian D Corneil

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

UNLABELLED: Pupillometry provides a simple and noninvasive index for a variety of cognitive processes, including perception, attention, task consolidation, learning, and memory. The neural substrates by which such cognitive processes influence pupil diameter remain somewhat unclear, although cortical inputs to the locus coeruleus mediating arousal are likely involved. Changes in pupil diameter also accompany covert orienting; hence the oculomotor system may provide an alternative substrate for cognitive influences on pupil diameter. Here, we show that low-level electrical microstimulation of the primate frontal eye fields (FEFs), a cortical component of the oculomotor system strongly connected to the intermediate layers of the …

Attention Strongly Modulates Reliability Of Neural Responses To Naturalistic Narrative Stimuli, Jason J. Ki, Simon P. Kelly, Lucas C. Parra

Publications and Research

Attentional engagement is a major determinant of how effectively we gather information through our senses. Alongside the sheer growth in the amount and variety of information content that we are presented with through modern media, there is increased variability in the degree to which we “absorb” that information. Traditional research on attention has illuminated the basic principles of sensory selection to isolated features or locations, but it provides little insight into the neural underpinnings of our attentional engagement with modern naturalistic content. Here, we show inhumansubjects that the reliability of an individual’s neural responses with respect to a larger group …

Rumination And Rebound From Failure As A Function Of Gender And Time On Task, Ronald C. Whiteman, Jennifer A. Mangels

Publications and Research

Rumination is a trait response to blocked goals that can have positive or negative outcomes for goal resolution depending on where attention is focused. Whereas “moody brooding” on affective states may be maladaptive, especially for females, “reflective pondering” on concrete strategies for problem solving may be more adaptive. In the context of a challenging general knowledge test, we examined how Brooding and Reflection rumination styles predicted students’ subjective and event-related responses (ERPs) to negative feedback, as well as use of this feedback to rebound from failure on a later surprise retest. For females only, Brooding predicted unpleasant feelings after failure …

Visual Search Of Mooney Faces, Jessica E. Goold, Ming Meng

Dartmouth Scholarship

Faces spontaneously capture attention. However, which special attributes of a face underlie this effect is unclear. To address this question, we investigate how gist information, specific visual properties and differing amounts of experience with faces affect the time required to detect a face. Three visual search experiments were conducted investigating the rapidness of human observers to detect Mooney face images. Mooney images are two-toned, ambiguous images. They were used in order to have stimuli that maintain gist information but limit low-level image properties. Results from the experiments show: (1) Although upright Mooney faces were searched inefficiently, they were detected more …

The Effects Of Changing Attention And Context In An Awake Offline Processing Period On Visual Long-Term Memory, Timothy M. Ellmore, Anna Feng, Kenneth Ng, Luthfunnahar Dewan, James C. Root

Publications and Research

There is accumulating evidence that sleep as well as awake offline processing is important for the transformation of new experiences into long-term memory (LTM). Yet much remains to be understood about how various cognitive factors influence the efficiency of awake offline processing. In the present study we investigated how changes in attention and context in the immediate period after exposure to new visual information influences LTM consolidation. After presentation of multiple naturalistic scenes within a working memory paradigm, recognition was assessed 30 min and 24 h later in three groups of subjects. One group of subjects engaged in a focused …

Toddlers’ Word Learning From Contingent And Non-Contingent Video On Touchscreens, Heather L. Kirkorian, Koeun Choi, Tiffany A. Pempek

Psychology Faculty Scholarship

Researchers examined whether contingent experience using a touchscreen increased toddlers’ ability to learn a word from video. One-hundred-sixteen children (24-36 mos) watched an on-screen actress label an object: (1) without interacting, (2) with instructions to touch anywhere on the screen, or (3) with instructions to touch a specific spot (location of labeled object). The youngest children learned from contingent video in the absence of reciprocal interactions with a live social partner, but only when contingent video required specific responses that emphasized important information on the screen. Conversely, this condition appeared to disrupt learning by slightly older children who were otherwise …

How Do Parent-Child Relationships Relate To Attention, Executive Functioning, & Working Memory In School-Aged Children?, Miriam Goldstein

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

This study examined how parent-child relationships may facilitate children’s higher-order cognition. A cross-sectional design was used to examine the relationship between positive and negative parenting factors and both neuropsychological and parent-report measures of children’s executive functioning (EF), attention, and working memory. Participants included ninety 8- to 12-year-old children and their parents. Though parenting was largely unrelated to neuropsychological performance, several positive and negative parenting dimensions were associated with parent ratings of children’s attention, EF, and working memory. Relational frustration and parental involvement were robust predictors of child difficulties with inattention and EF, controlling for relevant covariates. Though the causal direction …

An Examination Of A Yoga Intervention And Elementary Students’ Selective Attention And Executive Function In The School Setting, M. Jill Rogers

Theses and Dissertations--Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of yoga on children’s executive function and selective attention. There were three primary aims of this study. The first aim was to examine whether yoga would have a positive effect on children’s selective attention in a school setting. Another aim was to explore if teachers will report an improved change in children’s executive function in the classroom. The final aim was to determine if yoga would be a socially acceptable intervention to teachers and students. Participants included three fifth grade students and two teachers. Mixed methods were used to visually …

Biopsychosocial Models Of The Development Of Childhood Disruptive Behaviors, Anne Bernard Arnett

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Hyperactivity/attention problems (HAP) and conduct problems (CP) are common and impairing disruptive behaviors in childhood and adolescence. Previous research has established that HAP and CP are highly comorbid, and that outcomes are worse for youth exhibiting both symptom clusters relative to youth with only one disruptive behavior type. Despite ample evidence that HAP and CP share common etiological factors and maladaptive outcomes, the nature of their developmental association remains unclear. This dissertation clarifies three important characteristics of comorbid HAP and CP development, in two replicate, longitudinal, population samples of youth. First, I test the theory that within-person variation in HAP …

Attention And Mimicry In Minimal Groups, Heidi Blocker

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

There is a group effect on matching behavior; ingroups tend to be matched more than outgroups. Differences in attention to ingroup and outgroup members may correspond with group differences in matching. Determining how both attention and matching are influenced by minimal groups can help distinguish between potential mechanisms used to explain group effects in social behavior. Furthermore, it would be beneficial to know if attention biases can be trained to social groups. Study 1 replicated attention training to neutral faces, but study 2 failed to replicate attention training to emotional faces. Study 3 used the same attention training method, but …

Standardized Patient Encounters Periodic Versus Postencounter Evaluation Of Nontechnical Clinical Performance, T. Robert Turner, Mark W. Scerbo, Gayle A. Gliva-Mcconvey, Amelia M. Wallace

Psychology Faculty Publications

Introduction: Standardized patients are a beneficial component of modern healthcare education and training, but few studies have explored cognitive factors potentially impacting clinical skills assessment during standardized patient encounters. This study examined the impact of a periodic (vs. traditional postencounter) evaluation approach and the appearance of critical verbal and nonverbal behaviors throughout a standardized patient encounter on scoring accuracy in a video-based scenario.

Methods: Forty-nine standardized patients scored either periodically or at only 1 point in time (postencounter) a healthcare provider's verbal and nonverbal clinical performance during a videotaped standardized patient encounter. The healthcare provider portrayed in this study was …