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The Effect Of Music Type On Emotion Regulation: An Emotional-Stroop Experiment, Marjorie Freggens

Psychology Honors Theses

Introduction: Emotion regulation, the process of changing one’s emotion is necessary for efficiency when performing cognitive tasks, and is often measured using a Stroop task that provides conflict between emotional and factual information. Researchers have found that listening to music increases performance on cognitive tasks, and we hypothesize that listening to music samples that evoke different arousal and valence levels will affect participants’ emotion regulation skills. Method: 38 Georgia State University undergraduates listened to three-minute excerpts of film scores known to evoke a particular mood and arousal state while completing an emotional-Stroop task. Results: We performed a repeated measures ANOVA …

Variable Education Exposure And Cognitive Task Performance Among The Tsimane, Forager-Horticulturalists., Helen Elizabeth Davis

Anthropology ETDs

At present, we know very little about the transition from traditional learning skills to models of standardized learning, and how it can influence the way one understands and solves problems. This research will examine cognitive performance and the factors affecting variation across communities and between individuals as it changes with age. The objective of this dissertation is to measure cognitive performance among children between 8 and 18 years of age exposed to variable levels of formal schooling in order to investigate three main research questions: (1) Whether exposure to schooling and increased performance in school-based abilities, such as math and …

The Phenomenon Of Abstract Cognition Among Scholastic Chess Participants: A Case Study, Brent C. Laws

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A qualitative investigation was conducted to explore the phenomenon of abstract cognition among a purposive sample of 5 secondary scholastic chess club participants. The case study enabled the researcher to explore the faculties of abstract cognition among students of contrasting skills and abilities in playing chess. The study also allowed for the consideration of potential visual-spatial, logical, academic, social competency and life benefits of chess play. Through analysis of interviews, chess simulations, blindfold chess play, and narration of chess lines and sequences, the investigator was able to extract meaning and code schemata into a holistic understanding of the phenomenon of …

The Impact Of Acute Bouts Of Two Types Of Physical Activity On Cognition In Elementary School-Aged Children, Aslynn Courtney Halvorson

Masters Theses

Purpose: To determine the effect of acute bouts of two types of physical activity on cognition in elementary school-aged children. Methods: Subjects were 21 6-11 year old children (8.8 ± 1.6 years) who were free of any cognitive or learning disabilities or delays. Children participated in three randomly ordered conditions. The control condition included watching 20 minutes of TV while seated, the cycle condition included 20 minutes of cycling on a pediatric cycle ergometer at 60% of estimated heart rate maximum, and the play condition include 20 minutes of semistructured free play activity. After each condition, the children completed 2 …

Blue Is In The Eye Of The Beholder: A Cross Cultural Study On Color Perception And Memory, Mark Douglas Lowry

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

According the linguistic relativity hypothesis, the language one speaks affects how one thinks. Because languages differ in how they categorize color, linguistic relativity has often been tested by conducting experiments on color perception and memory. This study examines the linguistic relativity hypothesis using ecologically valid stimuli: pictures of eyes. Because Russian-speakers are more likely to describe blue/grey eyes as grey, whereas English speakers are more likely to describe them as blue, English and Russian participants were asked to match the overall color of blue eyes to a color scale. There were three conditions. In the first condition (perception), participants saw …

Age-Related Aspects Of Mirror-Use By Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops Truncatus), Rachel A. Morrison

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Bottlenose dolphins are neuroanatomically different and evolutionarily divergent from primates yet they exhibit mirror self-recognition (MSR), a rare cognitive ability in non-human animals. This research investigated the developmental and age-related aspects of MSR in this species. During a longitudinal study, a social group of bottlenose dolphins at the National Aquarium, Baltimore, MD were exposed to a mirror and their behavioral responses were recorded to: 1) further confirm the presence of MSR in this species, 2) determine the age of emergence of MSR and 3) draw comparisons with data documenting the emergence of this ability in humans and great ape species. …

Visual Perception And Cognition In Image-Guided Intervention, Kamyar Abhari

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Surgical image visualization and interaction systems can dramatically affect the efficacy and efficiency of surgical training, planning, and interventions. This is even more profound in the case of minimally-invasive surgery where restricted access to the operative field in conjunction with limited field of view necessitate a visualization medium to provide patient-specific information at any given moment. Unfortunately, little research has been devoted to studying human factors associated with medical image displays and the need for a robust, intuitive visualization and interaction interfaces has remained largely unfulfilled to this day. Failure to engineer efficient medical solutions and design intuitive visualization interfaces …

Cognitive Function In The Alcohol Addiction Treatment Population, Suranee Abeyesinhe

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Chronic alcohol abuse has been linked to several cognitive deficits, such as problems with spatial processing, decreased executive functioning, impaired verbal fluency, poor working memory, response inhibition, and social problems such as aggression and social deviance. In order for patients to benefit from treatment, they must be able to utilize multiple cognitive functions. Research has shown that patients suffering from cognitive impairments are much more likely to drop out of treatment early, thereby lending them to higher relapse rates. This study aimed to identify cognitive deficits present in the alcohol addiction treatment population, demographic factors associated with higher levels of …

Characterizing Spoken Discourse In Individuals With Parkinson Disease Without Dementia, Angela C. Roberts

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Background: The effects of disease (PD) on cognition, word retrieval, syntax, and speech/voice processes may interact to manifest uniquely in spoken language tasks. A handful of studies have explored spoken discourse production in PD and, while not ubiquitously, have reported a number of impairments including: reduced words per minute, reduced grammatical complexity, reduced informativeness, and increased verbal disruption. Methodological differences have impeded cross-study comparisons. As such, the profile of spoken language impairments in PD remains ambiguous.

Method: A cross-genre, multi-level discourse analysis, prospective, cross-sectional between groups study design was conducted with 19 PD participants (M_age = 70.74, M …

Biosteel High Performance Sports Drink Improves Exercise Performance Following A Simulated Hockey Game, Kolten C. Abbott

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

INTRODUCTION: BioSteel High Performance Sports Drink (BioSteel) is one of the most popular sports supplements consumed by professional and amateur athletes. BioSteel Inc^® claims that consumption of BioSteel before and during exercise will result in “enhanced energy while delaying the onset of muscular and mental fatigue”. PURPOSE: Assess the efficacy of BioSteel supplementation on anaerobic and aerobic exercise performance as well as sport-specific cognition throughout exercise. METHODS: Eleven exercise-trained men completed a simulated hockey game on a cycle ergometer under two experimental conditions: BioSteel and isoenergetic placebo. Measures of exercise performance and cognition were assessed before, throughout and after …

Language, Mind, And Cognitive Science: Remarks On Theories Of The Language-Cognition Relationships In Human Minds, Guillaume Beaulac

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

My dissertation establishes the basis for a systematic outlook on the role language plays in human cognition. It is an investigation based on a cognitive conception of language, as opposed to communicative conceptions, viz. those that suppose that language plays no role in cognition (its only role being to externalize thought). I focus, in Chapter 2, on three paradigmatic theories adopting this perspective, each offering different views on how language contributes to or changes cognition. In Chapter 3, I criticize current views held by dual-process theorists, and I develop a picture of the complex interaction between language and cognition that …

From Capture To Care: Attention, Digital Media, And The Future Of Composition, Christian D. Smith

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation investigates the relationship between digital media and cognition as it emerges in the problematic of attention. Specifically, the project examines the workings of attention across three sites (social, neurological, and technological) in order to argue for a renewed cognitive process theory of writing based in attention studies. Using the ancient pedagogical concept of epimeleias--attending to, taking care--my dissertation asks after the ethical and rhetorical stakes of care in context of contemporary higher education. Ultimately, my dissertation aims to provide a foundation for digital literacy practices--literacy narratives, wiki-writing, remix, audio-visual essays, etc.--in light of the increasing shift towards hybrid …

Dual Task Interference In Low-Level Abilities: The Role Of Working Memory And Effects Of Mathematics Anxiety, Alex Michael Moore

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Mathematics anxiety is a negative affective reaction to situations involving mathematical thought and is commonly believed to reduce cognitive functioning by impairing the efficient use of working memory resources. The conventional theory describes that the processing disadvantage associated with high levels of math anxiety increasingly impairs performance as working memory demands increase in a math task. Despite this convention, recent reports demonstrate that the high math anxious disadvantage can be measured in tasks that are relatively free of working memory assistance (Maloney, Ansari, & Fugelang, 2011; Maloney, Risko, Ansari, & Fugelsang, 2010). The present study examines these relatively low level …

Cognitive Function Following Bubble-Contrast Transcranial Doppler For Evaluation Of Right-To-Left Shunt, Erin Elizabeth Krauskopf

Theses and Dissertations

Background: Stroke is a leading cause of significant physical, cognitive, and psychiatric morbidity. One risk factor for stroke is paradoxical embolization through a patent foramen ovale (PFO). In cardiac clinical practice, power M-mode Transcranial Doppler (TCD) evaluation is the gold standard for diagnosis of PFO, or right-to-left cardiac shunt (RLS). Brain micro-embolization due to diagnostic bubble contrast echocardiography may cause neurological symptoms in patients with PFO. However, the neurocognitive effects of TCD have not been studied. Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate cognitive outcomes in patients who undergo routine diagnostic bubble contrast TCD. The aims of the …

Cisgenderism In Gender Attributions: The Ways In Which Social, Cognitive, And Individual Factors Predict Misgendering, Erica Jayne Friedman

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The current program of research investigated the ways in which social representations of gender, cognitive processes, and individual factors can be integrated to predict "misgendering," an example of cisgenderism in which people are categorized as a gender with which they do not identify. I proposed an (In)consistency Processing Model of Gender Attribution in which perceivers make a gender attribution by interpreting the stereotype-(in)consistencies of a target's gender characteristics through either a biology- or identity-based schema. Five studies were conducted to test different aspects of this model, the first of which was a secondary data analysis on a sample of students …

Mindful Meditation And Physical Exercise: Neuropsychological Effects, Emma Stein

Honors Theses

An abundance of prior research has indicated the robust relationship between physical exercise and cognition (Colcombe & Kramer, 2003). More recent research has investigated the cognitive and stress-relieving benefits of mind-body exercise, involving a combination of mindful meditation techniques with physical movements (Wayne, et al., 2014). Among these two cognitively enhancing techniques, is “exergaming,” which provides interactive physical exercise with a virtual environment. Research on exergaming has found additional cognitive benefits of interactive mental and physical exercise compared to regular physical exercise (Anderson-Hanley, et al., 2012). However, it remains unclear as to which type of mental engagement is required during …

Cognitive Mechanisms Of Anger Regulation: The Role Of Executive Function, Katherine G. Denny

Open Access Dissertations

Anger is a prevalent and powerful emotion, arising when another person has thwarted a self-relevant goal or event, and increased effort is required for goal achievement. While the majority of research indicates that anger is an affective precursor to aggression, recent research implies that anger may also have beneficial consequences – at least for some people in some situations. With the negative cost of anger often being severe, and yet the potential that anger utilization can lead to enhanced performance, it is important to understand individual differences in the ability to regulate and utilize anger. To explore this area of …

Implications Of Human Umbilical Cord Blood Cells: An Immunotherapeutic Strategy For Alzheimer's Disease, Donna Darlington

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common progressive age related dementia and the fourth major cause of mortality in the elderly in the United States. AD is pathologically characterized by deposition of amyloid beta (Aβ) plaques in the brain parenchyma and neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs) within the neuronal soma. While pharmacological targets have been discovered, current strategies for the symptomatic or disease-modifying treatment of AD do not significantly slow or halt the underlying pathological progression of the disease. Consequently, more effective treatment is needed. One possibility for amelioration is using human umbilical cord blood cell (HUCBC) therapy. HUCBCs comprise a …

Assessing Executive Function As It Relates To Self-Regulation, Sarah K. Finley

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Slips of action are cognitive errors that occur during routine tasks in everyday life (Clark, Parakh, Smilek, & Roy, 2012). Minimizing these everyday errors involves executive function, a system of complementary cognitive processes that enable control over thoughts and actions, including attention, inhibition, cognitive switching, and maintaining and manipulating the contents of working memory (Norman & Shallice, 2000). Many aspects of executive function are necessary for self-regulation, or the management of habitual, dominant, prepotent responses (Hamilton, Vohs, Sellier, & Meyvis, 2011). The present study explored the relationship between self-regulation, using self-report questionnaires, and executive function, using task-based assessments. Greater self-regulatory …

Skill Generalization Following Computer-Based Cognitive Retraining Among Individuals With Acquired Brain Injury, Jonathan William Alonso, Nisha E. Chadha, Jennifer Elizabeth Pulido

Dissertations, Masters Theses, Capstones, and Culminating Projects

Individuals with acquired brain injury (ABI) often experience cognitive deficits. This creates many challenges in learning or relearning skills and generalizing skills among different contexts and task demands. Computer-Based Cognitive Retraining (CBCR) is a common intervention utilized by occupational therapists to help remediate cognitive deficits in individuals with ABI. Although research has shown that CBCR programs are effective at improving cognitive domains, there is limited evidence to support generalization of these skills to functional daily living tasks. Therefore, the primary purpose of this study was to assess the occurrence of generalizing gained skills in overall cognition, attention, and memory from …

Neural Progenitor Cell Transplantation And Proneurogenic Compound Administration Improve Outcomes After Trauma: Neuroprotection And Neurogenesis For The Treatment Of Traumatic Brain Injury, Meghan O’Connell Blaya

Open Access Dissertations

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) represents a serious public health problem as there are no clinically-available treatments to mitigate the functional complications and societal burdens endured by patients and their caregivers. In addition to the primary mechanical insult, deleterious secondary injuries contribute to the progressive atrophy and long-term histopathological changes that impair functional and cognitive outcomes. The studies carried out in this dissertation project assessed two treatment strategies designed to engage and enhance endogenous neurorestorative responses in the injured brain. We postulated that the protection of vulnerable cortical neurons and perilesional parenchyma together with the promotion of endogenous hippocampal neurogenesis would …

Effects Of Perceptual Fluency On Reasoning And Pupil Dilation, Juan Diego Guevara Pinto

Honors College Theses

Research on perceptual disfluency has examined the effects of perceptually demanding stimuli on information processing and reasoning, suggesting that disfluent stimuli elicit slower and more effortful processing. Recent criticism of perceptual disfluency, however, suggests that the effects disfluent stimuli have on processing are marginal, and that they are mediated by individual differences. Participants completed a computerized reasoning task presented in either a fluent (i.e., easy-to-read font) or disfluent format (i.e., hard-to-read font) while pupil diameter was measured by an eye-tracker system. Pupillometry is an established reliable measure of mental activity that reflects differences in cognitive load. Results showed no performance …

"That Doesn't Sound Like Me:" Student Perceptions Of Semiotic Resources In Written-Aural Remediation Practices, Jennifer Johnson Buckner

English Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation examines students' composing practices when working with unfamiliar modalities, attending to students' messy material and cognitive negotiations prior to their production of a polished multimodal project. Working from a conceptual vocabulary from composition studies and semiotics, I frame composing as an act of semiotic remediation, attending to students' repurposing and understanding of written and aural materials in composition and their impact on their learning. Specifically, this research uses a grounded theory methodology to examine the attitudes, experiences, and composing practices of first-year writing students enrolled in a composition II course at a private, liberal arts institution in the …

The Effectiveness Of The Concordance-Discordance Model: Identifying Learning Disabilities In School-Aged Children, Bryan Hendricks

PCOM Psychology Dissertations

After the reauthorization of Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) in
2004, the federal regulations indicated that there are three possible methods for the identification of a Specific Learning Disability (SLD). The three methods include the ability-achievement discrepancy (AAD), Response to Intervention (RTI), and the addition of a third method, which consists of other alternative research-based procedures. Hale and Fiorello (2004) proposed the use of a Concordance-Discordance Model (CDM), which suggests that learning disabled students have discordance between processing strength and both processing weakness and achievement deficit. In addition, SLD students have a concordance between the achievement deficit and processing …

Development And Validation Of The Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injury-Risk-Estimation Quiz (Acl-Iq), Erich J. Petushek

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

Over 2 million Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) injuries occur annually worldwide resulting in considerable economic and health burdens (e.g., suffering, surgery, loss of function, risk for re-injury, and osteoarthritis). Current screening methods are effective but they generally rely on expensive and time-consuming biomechanical movement analysis, and thus are impractical solutions. In this dissertation, I report on a series of studies that begins to investigate one potentially efficient alternative to biomechanical screening, namely skilled observational risk assessment (e.g., having experts estimate risk based on observations of athletes movements). Specifically, in Study 1 I discovered that ACL injury risk can be accurately …

Children's Cognitive Processing Of Abuse As Described In Investigative Interviews., Kayleen A. Willemsen, Kim P. Roberts

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

A great deal of research has examined ways in which investigative interviewers can elicit accurate information from children. More recently, research has studied children’s own thoughts or comprehension of abuse, and how these types of statements relate to disclosure, others’ perceptions of child witnesses, and psychological trauma. However, little research has investigated multiple types of children’s thoughts about abuse as they occur in an actual investigative interview. The current study examined seven types of statements children made about their abuse in a sample of 86 transcripts of investigative interviews conducted by Child Protective Services and a police department in a …

Anxiety Disorders And School-Based Treatments: Assessing School Pyschologists' Knowledge And Perceptions, Kelly A. Myhasuk

PCOM Psychology Dissertations

Anxiety disorders are common in children and youth. Despite high prevalence rates, most children with anxiety disorders do not receive treatment. In fact, for the few children who are receiving treatment, schools are the primary source of mental health care. When left untreated, children experience significant disruptions in their academic, social, emotional, and behavioral functioning. Therefore, it is important for those working in schools to recognize and treat children with anxiety disorders. The present study surveyed school psychologists (n = 178) to assess their knowledge about anxiety disorders and about empirically supported school-based treatments. Also, this study sought to investigate …

A Life Span Approach To The Relationship Between Cholesterol, Late Onset Alzheimer’S Disease, And Cognitive Functioning Among Older Adults, Brian Downer

Theses and Dissertations--Gerontology

There is evidence that cholesterol presents an important risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease (AD), but the direction of this relationship is modified by age. High cholesterol during midlife and low cholesterol during late life are both associated with an increased risk for AD. This dissertation research engaged a life span approach to study the relationship between cholesterol, AD and cognitive functioning among older adults. The purpose of this research was to determine if trajectories of cholesterol from midlife through late life differ according to AD status and if these trajectories are associated with cognitive functioning during old age.

This research …

The Effect Of Body Position On Cerebral Bllod Flow, Cognition, Cardiac Output, Map,And Motor Function In Patients Undergoing Shoulder Surgery : Lateral Versus Beach Chair Position Under General Anesthesia, Kelley Labonty

Wayne State University Dissertations

ABSTRACT

The Effect of Body Position on Changes in Cerebral Blood Flow, Cognition, and Motor Function in Patients Undergoing Shoulder Surgery: Lateral versus Beach Chair Position Under General Anesthesia

By

KELLEY LABONTY

December 2013

Advisor: Dr. Steven Cala

Major: Physiology

Degree: Doctor of Philosophy

This study aims to determine if there are alterations in cerebral perfusion in patients undergoing general anesthesia in the sitting position. With the reporting of 15 catastrophic cerebral vascular accidents recently being published during shoulder surgery in the sitting position, an increase of 90 times from previously reported data, there has become a clear need for …

A New Perspective On Thinking, Memory And Learning In Gifted Adults With Asperger Syndrome: Five Phenomenological Case Studies, Nola Grace Norris

University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 1954-2016

In response to the call for first-hand accounts of individuals experiencing autism, this study addresses the need for qualitative investigation of the thinking and learning of gifted adults with Asperger syndrome (AS). The findings represent a broad phenomenological ‘map of the landscape’ of the experience of the participants and take the form of: (a) five case study reports; and, (b) a conceptual framework for understanding thinking and learning in autism, which was developed from the research literature. The need for such a framework is particularly relevant for professional development of teachers of students with AS in mainstream schools, however, the …