Digital Commons Network^™

Intermittent Swim Stress Effects On Anxiety Behavior, Timothy A. Warner

Doctoral Dissertations

Millions of Americans are suffering from depression each year, leading to a significant number of individuals who seek treatment for their ailment. However, fewer than 50 percent of depressed individuals fully recover using current methods. The comorbidity between depression and anxiety could be a contributing factor in the lower rates of recovery. The demonstrated correlation between anxiety and depression has led to the term "anxious depression," which is associated with difficulty in coping, a poorer rate of recovery, and more severe symptoms of depression. The purpose of this dissertation was to expand on an existing animal model of depression (intermittent …

A Longitudinal Analysis Of The Effect Of Disability Type And Emotional/Behavior Problems On Different Forms Of Maltreatment Across Childhood, Jennifer A. Vanderminden

Doctoral Dissertations

Children are among the most vulnerable people in our population, especially those with disabilities, emotional and behavioral problems (EBP), and those who experience maltreatment. This dissertation increases our understanding of the complex relationships between disability, internalizing symptoms (IS), externalizing symptoms (ES), and maltreatment across developmental stages. Previous literature suggests that children with disabilities (CWD) are at a heightened risk for maltreatment (Spencer, Devereux, Wallace, Sundrum, Shenoy, Bacchus, and Logan 2005 ; Sullivan and Knutson 2000). Yet, recently the Fourth National Incidence Study of Child Abuse and Neglect (NIS-4) has challenged the notion that CWD are at increased risk, showing that …

Investigating Priming, Inhibition, And Individual Differences In Visual Attention, Jennifer Lechak

Doctoral Dissertations

While much has been explored within the attentional control literature, questions still exist as to how attentional processing is modulated, and how different types of visual search paradigms can elucidate the underlying mechanisms involved in successful visual search. Throughout this dissertation, I will focus on the multifaceted aspects that come with the study of visual attention. After discussing visual attention I explore priming of pop out along two different dimensions. Specifically, using a rapid serial visual presentation design, I demonstrate that temporal and spatial priming interact along a similar mechanism. This result adds to the priming literature by demonstrating simultaneous …

Impressions Of College Intructors: Stability And Change In Student Ratings, Kari L. Dudley

Doctoral Dissertations

Although the topic of stability and change in classroom impressions research is not new, there remain unanswered questions about what impressions are stable, when they are likely to change, and for whom they are likely to change over the course of a semester. My research will begin to answer those questions.

My research took place in four college classroom studies and assessed students' impressions of their instructor's teaching effectiveness and personal qualities 1) after the first day of class, 2) before and following at least one exam, and 3) at the end of the semester. My results supported previous findings …

Examining Social Climate And Youth Social Goals On Extended Wilderness Courses: A Path Toward Improving Participant Experiences, Benjamin J. Mirkin

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation examined participants' expectations of the social climate on extended wilderness courses, how students' actually experienced the social climate during their course, and how these expectations, perceptions and the influence of environmental characteristics, impacted their goals for peer interactions. Pre and posttest surveys were used to assess students' expectations and perceptions of their experience and multi level modeling was used to better understand the relationship of social climate to peer interaction. The research was undertaken to improve the practical and theoretical understanding of organizations' and leaders' ability to facilitate a social climate that promotes adaptive forms of social motivation. …

Movements, Dive Behavior And Trophic Ecology Of Leatherback Turtles (Dermochelys Coriacea) In The Northwest Atlantic, Kara Dodge

Doctoral Dissertations

The endangered leatherback turtle is a highly migratory predator that feeds exclusively on gelatinous zooplankton. Leatherbacks spend most of their lives submerged or offshore, and their at-sea biology (particularly that of males and sub-adults) is poorly understood throughout much of their range. I used satellite telemetry to monitor movements and dive behavior of nine adult and eleven sub-adult leatherbacks captured off Massachusetts, USA, and tracked throughout the NW Atlantic. Leatherback movements and environmental associations varied by oceanographic region, with slow, sinuous, area-restricted search behavior and shorter, shallower dives occurring in cool, productive, shallow shelf habitat at temperate latitudes. Leatherbacks were …

Enhancing Memory Access For Less-Skilled Readers, Emily R. Smith

Doctoral Dissertations

Ericcson and Kintch (1995) suggested that less-skilled readers often have an impoverished representation of text. The results of five experiments demonstrated that the addition of causality enhanced the text representation of less-skilled readers. Experiments 1-3 showed that the addition of causal information enhanced less-skilled readers' ability to detect global inconsistencies. Experiments 4 and 5 showed that the addition of causal information to updating information resulted in less-skilled readers updating to the same extent as skilled readers.