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Haunting Witnesses: Diasporic Consciousness In African American And Caribbean Writing, Brandi Bingham Kellett

Open Access Dissertations

This project examines the ways in which several texts written in the late twentieth century by African American and Caribbean writers appropriate history and witness trauma. I read the representational practices of Toni Morrison, Ernest Gaines, Paule Marshall, and Fred D'Aguiar as they offer distinct approaches to history and the resulting effects such reconstituted, discovered, or, in some cases, imagined histories can have on the affirmation of the self as a subject. I draw my theoretical framework from the spaces of intersection between diaspora and postcolonial theories, enabling me to explore the values of the African diaspora cross-culturally as manifested …

Ordinary Spirits In An Extraordinary Town: Finding Identity In Personal Images And Resurrected Memories In Lily Dale, New York, Mary Catherine Gaydos Gabriel

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Every summer, Lily Dale, New York, a community founded on spiritualist beliefs and steeped in an eccentric explosive past, hosts thousands of visitors seeking to communicate with dead friends and relatives, while the residents lead ordinary lives in the midst of the supernatural hype permeating their town. Their stories are considered by most to be secondary to the illustrious trappings of the community in which they occurred. My research employs oral histories prompted by personal photographs to showcase the residents' everyday experiences amidst the town's infamy, illuminating the undervalued individual experience of those living in communities of such extraordinary repute. …

Project: Love Yours, Wei Hsiao

Theses

Project: Love Yours is a graduate thesis project that examined the importance of emotional attachments to product longevity in the context of problems where our material culture is distant and disposable. Through research memory was identified as an influential factor in attachment formation. By incorporating the philosophical concept of imperfection as a design strategy to stimulate the process of memory building, three concept solutions were developed. The design implementation in four product prototypes proves to be successful in encouraging memories to grow within each product. As ownership continues over the years, we can anticipate memories to accumulate and build up …

Causality And Similarity In Autobiographical Event Structure: An Investigation Using Event Cueing And Latent Semantic Analysis, Christopher M. O'Connor

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The influence of similarity- and causally-based relations on the organization of autobiographical events was investigated using extended strings of related event memories. These strings were elicited using an event cueing paradigm in which participants generated descriptions of memories from their life, which were then presented as cues to subsequent event memories. In Experiment 1, similarity between generated events was investigated using participants’ similarity ratings, Latent Semantic Analysis, and experimenter judgements of shared event properties. For events close together in a string, event owners’ similarity ratings were higher than non-owners’, and non-owners’ ratings were comparable to similarity calculated using LSA. In …

Memory Consolidation In Developmental Disorders, Laszlo A. Erdodi

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The relationship between memory and adaptive functioning was studied in sample of 268 children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD, n = 83), autism spectrum disorder (ASD, n = 62), velo-cardio-facial syndrome (VCFS, n = 21), and low birth weight (LBW, n = 38) and neurotypicals (n = 64). Children with ASD and VCFS demonstrated a relative weakness in facial and visual memory, while no between-group differences were found during the auditory verbal learning task of the TOMAL. Learning curve analyses showed that after the first trial of the visual span test, all groups performed at the same level, but the …

The Interaction Of Pain And Morphine On Analgesia, Locomotion, And Cognitive Functioning, Brandon Baiamonte

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Opioid medications are medicine's best weapon against severe intractable pain, but prolonged use of these medications can be complicated by side effects like tolerance and mental clouding which, themselves, can be disabling. The present study examined the independent and combined effects of inflammatory pain and opioid medication on spatial memory for a well learned task in Sprague-Dawley rats. The Hargreaves method was used to verify the pain state of the animals after complete Freund's adjuvant injection and morphine treatment. Whereas pain had little effect on spatial memory, morphine had profound detrimental effects that persisted beyond the analgesic effectiveness of the …

Beyond The Battlefield: Direct And Prosthetic Memory Of The American War In Viet Nam, Susan L. Eastman

Doctoral Dissertations

“Beyond the Battlefield: Direct and Prosthetic Memory of the American War in Viet Nam” examines shifts in American, Viet Namese, and Philippine memorial, literary, and cinematic remembrance of the war through the cultural lenses of later wars: the Gulf War (1990-1991) and the “War on Terror” that began in 2001. As opposed to earlier portrayals of the American War in Viet Nam (1964-1975), turn-to-the-twenty-first-century representations engage in an ever-broadening collected cultural memory—a compilation of multifaceted, sometimes competing, individual and group memories—of the war. “Beyond the Battlefield” begins with the Vietnam Veterans Memorial (1982) because it serves as the impetus for …

Representations Of Remembrance: Literature And Memory In Borges, Pigila, And Fresán, Paul Michael Mcneil

Theses and Dissertations

This study examines three works by Argentine authors of the late 20th and early 21st centuries: Jorge Luis Borges's "La memoria de Shakespeare," Ricardo Piglia's La ciudad ausente, and Rodrigo Fresán's Mantra. These works explore the theme of memory directly, and provide insight into the role of memory in relation to literature, technology, and media. To understand memory and its functions and failures, I employ concepts from recent scientific inquiry into the nature of memory, particularly neuroscience and clinical psychology. Within this framework, I show how memory and narrative fiction share a number of similarities, and explore the …

The Embedded American Artist, Jason Edward Chaffin

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

As our world ramps up the speed of its connections, our identities merge with increasing speed and angles of confluence. Not only are new identities created, but also the more fringe social and cultural elements of our world are exposed to mainstream consciousness. My work is a product of my own fringe background (namely its sheer breadth of experiences not normally visited upon a single person's life). My aim is to add variables to our social and cultural speed of combination and new variety by creating work that is derived from my own experiences to speak to those who are …

Memory Created, Maria Fabrizio

Theses and Dissertations

Memory is like afternoon light penetrating the windows of a fast moving car. The light coming through the trees creates images, reveals objects and faces, and introduces fluctuating sensations of warmth and coolness. Sometimes these images appear in logical sequences and at other times they are fleeting, surreal, and ambiguous. While memories are often presented linearly as fact, in actuality our stories only grasp at the truth. They are fragmented, imagined, and rearranged. By examining the intersection of reality and imagination in memories we see retelling as an act of creativity.

The Door In The Threshold., Ani Kristine Volkan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This paper is the supporting document for the Master of Fine Arts exhibition, The Door in the Threshold, held in the Slocumb Galleries at East Tennessee State University from March 15-19, 2010. The exhibition contains twelve pieces of artwork, mounted on the wall. The paper expands upon such themes as memory and family as explored by the work in the gallery. The title of both the paper and show reference the impact of my Armenian heritage on my creative process. Doors in Armenian folklore were sacred places containing the threshold to the spiritual. Thus, my pieces are meant to …

Screen/Writing: Time & Cinematics In An Age Of Rhetorical Memory, Joshua Hilst

All Dissertations

This essay argues that part of memory is external to ourselves. This memory, which began with writing but has since grown to encompass digital media, the internet, and other forms of new media, faces a two-fold problem in the information age. The first is privatization, which is represented by copyright, and has heretofore received a greater share of scholarly attention. Regulation is represented through the concept of protocols, which are the rules digital media execute in order to perform functions. Protocols are a regulation of external memory, which I argue also represents a threat to deliberation, the form of rhetoric …

Characterization And Optimization Of Antigen-Specific T Cell Responses During Ex Vivo Expansion Of Melanoma Tumor-Infiltrating Lymphocytes, Yufeng Li

Dissertations & Theses (Open Access)

Treatment of metastatic melanoma with tumor reactive T cells (adoptive T cell therapy, ACT) is a promising approach associated with a high clinical response rate. However, further optimization of this treatment modality is required to increase the clinical response after this therapy. ACT in melanoma involves an initial phase (pre-REP) of tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) expansion ex vivo from tumor isolates followed by a second phase, “rapid expansion protocol” (REP) generating the billions of cells used as the TIL infusion product. The main question addressed in this thesis was how the currently used REP affected the responsiveness of the CD8+ T …

The Imagined Collection, A Story, Nancy Knapik

Theses

Music was the creative inspiration that provided the underlying rhythm to this body of work. It was guided by the concept of ethereal sound materializing into tangible found objects whose attributes included the ability to visually invoke the fleeting emotional memories of the listening experience. This written thesis serves to discuss the philosophies and aesthetic choices these conceptual themes prompted while making the work. It includes an artistic exploration of the fascinating nature of collection and the association between art and memory. The oral defense of the work brought to light the need to address the distinction between the maker …

The Effect Of Goal Orientation Of Attention, Learning, And Metacognitive Awareness, Ordene V. Edwards

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

An experimental study was conducted to examine whether achievement goals affect attention, comprehension, and metacognition. One hundred and twenty undergraduate students enrolled in introductory educational psychology classes participated. Students were randomly assigned to one of four goal groups (mastery, performance approach, performance avoidance, or control group) and one of three question groups (emotions, brain, and no questions). The study was conducted in two sessions. First, students were given a reading test, and questionnaires to measure their prior knowledge and personal goals. Second, students read the text on a computer. Then they completed an interest questionnaire, a manipulation check, a post …

Voice On The Skin, Sarah Turner

Theses and Dissertations

“The body can write on the skin from the inside—the soul, the mind, and the passions rise to the surface in boils, blushes, and rashes, and the invisible inside speaks by writing from the other side of the page”. -James Elkins Skin not only covers but reveals what is behind it. I utilize its language as indicator of flaws and pathologies. I depict and manipulate this, not just as it already exists with the human body, but as projections of my psychological states onto inanimate objects. Proposing that sight is a kind of touch, we touch with our minds, through …

Amnesia Y Nostalgia, Una Odisea Africana Y Española: La Inmigración Africana En La Espana Contemporanea Como Vista En Tres Representaciones Fílmicas Españolas, Lorraine Anne Lynch

World Languages and Cultures Theses

Este trabajo explora los temas de la nostalgia y la amnesia, de los africanos inmigrantes así como de los españoles, representados en tres películas contemporáneas españolas que se tratan de la inmigración de los africanos a España. Va a explorar estos temas de la amnesia y la nostalgia a través de los pasos de un inmigrante africano – 1ª paso) el viaje difícil de África a España, 2ª paso) la vida del inmigrante dentro de España, y 3ª paso) el regreso a África - como representados, respectivamente, en las siguientes películas: 14 kilómetros (2008), Said (1998), y Pobladores (2006).

Empty Streets In The Capital Of Modernity: Formation Of Lieux De Mémoire In Parisian Street Photography From Daguerre To Atget, Sabrina Lynn Hughes

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study proposes the existence of lieux de mémoire in the photographs of Eugene Atget (1857-1927). My framework is based on historian Pierre Nora's definition: a lieu de mémoire is an object or idea which has become a symbolic stand-in for a community's memorial heritage. I suggest that Atget's photographs of the streets of old Paris, in concert with an empty-street aesthetic function as lieux de mémoire for their primary audience, antiquarians and professional archivists who specialized in old Paris.

According to Nora's structure, identification of a lieu de mémoire requires first the establishment of a historical tradition. In the …

The Relationship Between Subjective Memory And Objective Cognition, Depression, And Anxiety By Dementia Status, Nia Malika Reed

Gerontology Theses

This secondary data analysis of the Health and Retirement Study – Aging, Demographics, and Memory Study (ADAMS) examines the relationship between subjective cognition and objective performance, depression, and anxiety in cognitive impairment with no dementia (CIND) and dementia. With a cross-sectional design, this study consists of 480 older adults between ages 72-105. Participants completed the Mini-Mental State Examination. The Wechsler Memory Scale- Revised Logical Memory I/II measured memory. Anxiety and depression were measured by the Neuropsychiatric Inventory. Subjective memory was measured by the HRS Self-report Memory and Informant Questionnaire on Cognitive Decline in the Elderly. Independent t-tests and Pearson correlation …

Investigating The Self-Assessment Of Adult Literacy Learners With Dyslexia Across Several Cognitive Domains, Kelli Sandman-Hurley Edd

Dissertations

The dissertation evaluated the ability of adult literacy learners with dyslexia to assess their cognitive abilities in two separate domains: reading and memory. This study also evaluated the effect that one-on-one tutoring had on the learner's ability to accurately self-assess these cognitive abilities. Twenty adult literacy learners (n = 20) with dyslexia were tested in both domains. This study also included a control group of 10 good readers (n = 10) who were administered the same three standardized tests. This data was collected by administering three standardized assessments. This was a quantitative study that used analysis of variance (ANOVA), repeated …

Does Chronic Stress Accelerate Late-Aging Cognitive Decline In Memory And Executive Functioning?, Diane Robinson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Few studies exist examining the relationship between self-reported stress and cognitive function in healthy nonpsychiatric older adults, and even less studies have examined whether high levels of self-reported stress accelerate the cognitive decline found in normal late-aging populations. A group of older nonpsychiatric adults, ages 54 years and above, were asked to complete three measures assessing their self-perceived stress over the past month, past year, and their lifetime. Sixty-one adults between the ages of 54 and 88 (52% female) participated in a second phase in which neuropsychological tasks were administered to assess three cognitive domains; memory, learning, and executive functioning. …

Harmony In Time: Memory, Consciousness, And Expectation In Beethoven's Waldstein Sonata, Op. 53, Andrew S. Powell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Harmonic expectations in Western tonal music are formed throughout an individual's lifetime, created by the encounter of commonly recurring patterns of relationships of chords within music. The recognition and identification of these patterns, particularly when the anticipated patterns are denied, are expressed on a conscious level. Although identified and articulated from the conscious experience, a listener's attention may not be actively engaged in harmonic processing; moreover, the identification of deviations may arise from nonconscious processing of harmonic events. This paper identifies the processes in formulating and expressing harmonic expectation and its subsequent denial, as well as the nonconscious processing which …

A Land Fit For Heroes?: The Great War, Memory, Popular Culture, And Politics In Ireland Since 1914, Jason Robert Myers

Dissertations

Despite the fact that over 200,000 Irish men fought in the British Army during the First World War, Ireland's sizeable contribution to the war remained in the shadows of history for most of the twentieth century. This dissertation examines the cultural components of the memory of the Great War in Ireland and argues that, taken together, they constitute an alternative Irish national identity that threatened and challenged republican nationalism. These cultural components existed in the realm of vernacular memory, which lay beyond the reach of the Irish government. By examining commemorative rituals, war memorials, and popular culture, this project breathes …

Rightly Or For Ill: The Ethics Of Remembering And Forgetting, Alison Nicole Reiheld '93

Doctoral Dissertations

Forgetting a birthday, a wedding anniversary, a beloved child's school play or a dear colleague's important accomplishments is often met with blame, whereas remembering them can engender praise. Are we in fact blameworthy or praiseworthy for such remembering and forgetting? When ought we to remember, in the ethical sense of 'ought'? And ought we in some cases to allow ourselves to forget?

These are the questions that ground this philosophical work. In fact, we so often unreflectively assign moral blame and praise to ourselves and others for memory behaviors that this faculty, and moral responsibility for it, deserve careful philosophical …

The Cultural Memory Of German Victimhood In Post-1990 Popular German Literature And Television, Pauline Ebert

Wayne State University Dissertations

My dissertation analyzes the representation of Germans as victims of the Third Reich and the Second World War in post-1990 German memory. After unification, there no longer were two states that could each blame the other as the heir of National Socialism and this past had to be renegotiated. The claim that many Germans had been victims became central as evidenced by the vast number of popular literature, commercial cinema and television programs of this subject. I argue with Wulf Kansteiner (2006) that to understand collective memory, we should explore mass media representations. As the majority of highbrow artifacts do …

Recasting The Role Of Memory In The History Of Rhetoric: The Case Of Nineteenth And Twentieth Century Autobiographies By Rhetors Of Color, Hector Carbajal

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The primary object of study in this dissertation is memory within autobiographical writing among writers of color. Specifically, this project uses autobiographies by Gloria E. Anzaldúa and Frederick Douglass as case studies for how minority writers of color remember within the act of writing. Memory is an important object of study because it is partially the medium by which knowledge is reproduced, reconstructed, and invented. Autobiographical writing is significant because it is a genre that has enabled individuals to write themselves as part of history. Being a part of history is important because it allows a subject to change the …

Adhd Behavior Problems And Near- And Long-Term Scholastic Achievement Differential Mediating Effects Of Verbal And Visuospatial Memory, Dustin E. Sarver

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The current study examined verbal and visuospatial memory abilities as potential mediators of the relationship among ADHD behavior problems and near- and long-term scholastic achievement. Scholastic achievement was measured initially and at 4-year follow-up in an ethnically diverse sample of children (N = 325). Nested composite (reading, math, language) and domain-specific reading structural equation models revealed that ADHD behavior problems exerted a negative influence on scholastic achievement measures, both initially and at follow-up. Much of this influence, however, was mediated by verbal memory’s contribution to near-term achievement, whereas visuospatial memory contributed more robustly to long-term achievement. For the domain-specific math …

Assessment Of Memory Function And Effort Using The Wechsler Memory Scale - 4th Edition, Justin B. Miller

Wayne State University Dissertations

Even the most psychometrically sound measures are sensitive to the level of effort put forth by the examinee and their intent. This is especially true for measures of memory functioning that are a common target of negative response bias and withholding effort. The aim of the present study was to develop methods for detecting these behaviors for the current edition of the Wechsler Memory Scale, 4th Edition (WMS-IV) using a community sample of healthy adults coached to simulate traumatic brain injury (TBI) and a sample of bona fide TBI survivors. The primary analytic strategy involved generation of prediction models to …

Use-Dependent Plasticity Regulates Sleep Need In Drosophila Melanogaster, Jeffrey Donlea

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

Although the necessary functions of sleep have not been identified, sleep has been shown to play an important role in the consolidation of memories. Recent studies have shown that, in addition to playing a strong role in sleep regulation, the circadian clock also influences processes associated with learning and memory. Thus, the neural circuits that control circadian rhythms are uniquely positioned to play an important role in coordinating interactions between sleep and memory. Drosophila melanogaster exhibit increased sleep following several days of social experience and require sleep to consolidate long-term memories: LTM) after Courtship Conditioning, an associative memory assay. We …

Organizational Processes Contribute To The Testing Effect In Free Recall, Franklin Zaromb

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

In educational contexts, tests not only assess what students know, they can also directly improve long-term retention of subject matter relative to restudying it. More importantly, the memorial advantage of testing is not limited to select information that was tested earlier. Research has shown that testing can serve as a versatile learning tool by enhancing the long-term retention of non-tested information that is conceptually related to previously tested information; stimulating the subsequent learning of new information; and permitting better transfer of learning to new knowledge domains. We further investigated the potential benefits of testing on learning by asking whether testing …