Digital Commons Network^™

Memory For Emotional Expressions In Adults With Acquired Brain Injuries, Lauren Jeanne Radigan

Wayne State University Dissertations

Introduction: Memory for emotions expressed by others forms the continuity that characterizes unique and intimate relationships. Successful memory for facial expressions requires the ability to remember the identity of the face (who showed the emotion) as well as the emotion (which emotion they showed). People with acquired brain injuries (ABI) frequently have problems with social cognition, which involves understanding cues that communicate emotional and interpersonal information. ABI is commonly associated with trouble perceiving emotional expressions and recognizing the identity of faces; however, research on memory for emotions after ABI is sparse. This study examined cognitive and emotional characteristics that contribute …

Tecumseh And Tenskwatawa: Myths, Memories, And Messages For Present Times, Matt Hoerauf

Wayne State University Theses

Tecumseh has been hailed as the most famous Indigenous leader in the United States and Canada. Many scholars have bemoaned the difficulty to separating man from myth. One thing is clear: there could be no Tecumseh without his brother Tenskwatawa. It was Tenskwatawa who first had a religious awakening that birthed a spiritual movement. It was Tenskwatawa who was the first leader of this pan-Indigenous group of followers. Tecumseh’s leadership would not emerge until nearly six years later. In the many works on Tecumseh, Tenskwatawa’s story can be easily found. However, he is nearly always portrayed as less important and …

Hearing Loss And Verbal Memory Assessment In Older Adults, Christina G. Wong

Wayne State University Dissertations

Prior research has found that adults with hearing loss perform worse on cognitive testing than adults without hearing loss, and some studies have suggested that hearing loss is associated with dementia. Heavy emphasis on tests involving auditory stimuli for memory assessment may result in overdiagnosis of cognitive impairment in individuals with hearing loss. The present study compared visual and auditory versions of a verbal memory test among older adults with and without hearing loss. Forty-one adults with moderate-to-severe, sensorineural hearing loss (HL) and 41 age-matched adults with normal hearing (NH) participated. Age ranged from 55 – 80 years. They completed …

Histological Evidence Of The Effect Of Oil Palm Phenolics In Atherogenic Diet Induced Rat Model Of Alzheimer’S Disease, Kenechukwu Monplaisir Monplaisir

Wayne State University Theses

BACKGROUND: Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease with the clinical presentation of memory loss and cognitive impairment. Alzheimer's disease pathology is the accumulation of beta amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles.

METHOD: In this study atherogenic diet was used to induce AD in aged Brown Norway rats. The rats were assigned to the following four groups fed isocaloric diets; control group (C ),high cholesterol diet (H), high cholesterol + oil palm phenolics group (HP), high cholesterol + curcumin group (HC). The impact of oil palm phenolics (OPP) on neuronal health and its effect on amyloid deposition was evaluated using histology …

Neural Correlates Of Episodic Memory Formation In Children And Adults, Lingfei Tang

Wayne State University Theses

The medial temporal lobe (MTL) and prefrontal cortex (PFC) are two key brain regions that support episodic memory formation in both children and adults, but the functional developmental of these regions remains unclear. In this study, we investigated the development of neural correlates of episodic memory formation using functional MRI with a subsequent memory paradigm, administered to a cross-sectional sample of 83 children and adults. We found that MTL subregions showed an age-related increase in activation supporting memory formation of complex scenes. In addition, a functionally defined scene-sensitive region in the posterior MTL also showed similar increase and predicted better …

Engagement In Activities And Cognitive Functioning Among Older Adults In The Health And Retirement Study, Pamela Emily May

Wayne State University Dissertations

The goal of this dissertation is to examine the effect of cognitive and social activities on cognitive performance and health conditions in a national sample of older adults from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS). This dissertation first aimed to identify longitudinal relations between activity frequency and cognitive functioning. Two hypotheses were tested, baseline activity frequency predicts change in cognitive functioning over time, and baseline cognitive performance predicts change in activity frequency over time. The dissertation’s second aim was to identify links between activity frequency and cognitive trajectories. The third aim was to identify longitudinal relations between activity frequency and …

Changes In Cerebral White Matter, Vascular Risk And Cognition Across The Adult Lifespan, Andrew Robert Bender

Wayne State University Dissertations

Numerous studies over the past decade have used diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) to examine associations between age, diffusion and anisotropy measures of cerebral white matter (WM), and cognitive performance. However, few have examined relationships between intra-individual change in DTI measures of WM and cognitive function. It is possible that the extant cross-sectional findings are a poor representation of age-related change in WM and cognition. The present study used latent difference-score modeling (LDM) to assess change over two years in DTI indices fractional anisotropy (FA), radial diffusivity (DR), axial diffusivity (DA) and mean diffusivity (MD). In addition, we examined the effects …

Making Memory: Techne, Technology, And The Refashioning Of Contemporary Memory, Kimberly Lacey

Wayne State University Dissertations

My dissertation answers two questions: Does the tension between interactive technologies and rhetoric re-shape the nature and relevance of the canon of memory? Do interactive technologies affect the ways we remember and persuade? I argue that my interpretation of techne suggests possibilities for the creation and production of new types of memory in combination with digital media. To interrogate this connection, I suggest three interpretations of the Greek concept, techne: as a process that is inherently productive; as a force that renegotiates contemporary sources of social power; and as a skill that balances expert knowledge with instrumentality. I explore …

Identidad, Exilio Y Memoria En La Narrativa De Tres Autoras Argentinas (Luisa Futoransky, Tununa Mercado Y Luisa Valenzuela), Elsa Menendez Della Torre

Wayne State University Dissertations

Se investiga la narrativa de Luisa Futoransky, Tununa Mercado y Luisa Valenzuela y la influencia del alejamiento de Argentina, afectaron sus perspectivas e identidad. Sus narrativas se posicionan en el movimiento literario posmoderno por su rompiemiento con los cánones narrativos convencionales. La metodología utilizada para este proyecto incluye teorías de Phillipe Lejeune y Silvia Molloy (autobiografia), Serge Doubrovsky (autoficcion) y Julia Kristeva (exilio y feminismo) entre otros. Se consideran también los acercamientos de diversos críticos y psicólogos en lo que respecta al exilio y a la memoria. Posteriormente se analiza la obra narrativa de Luisa Futoransky y su aproximación a …

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 …

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 …