Digital Commons Network^™

Frequency Judgments And Recognition: Additional Evidence For Task Differences, Serena Lynn Fisher

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Four linked experiments were run in order to understand the relationship between frequency judgment and recognition discrimination tasks. The purpose of these studies was to contrast the common-path model and recursive reminding hypothesis as explanations for the underlying principles that drive these tasks. Item-attribute variables such as printed frequency, connectivity, and set size, and an episodic variable, study frequency were manipulated. Memory for recent episodes was evaluated using recognition and frequency judgment tasks. Although all of the variables, with the exception of set size, had significant effects in both tasks, an analysis of effect sizes revealed differences between the tasks …

Women, Domestic Abuse, And Dreams: Analyzing Dreams To Uncover Hidden Traumas And Unacknowledged Strengths, Mindy Stokes

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Domestic abuse is the number one cause of injury to women in the United States. Women and their children flee everyday to shelters to escape the abuse. Once inside the shelters, material resources are rendered so that the women can continue to lead lives outside the shelter and different therapies are employed so that the women can better understand the abuse and their options once leaving. A type of therapy used in other therapeutic forums, such as patients sexually abused as children, is dream analysis. This type of therapy has allowed formerly traumatized victims a safe space to uncover hidden …

The Influence Of Amyloid-Beta, A Major Pathological Marker In Alzheimer's Disease, On Molecular Cognitive Processes Of App+Ps1 Transgenic Mice, Chad Anthony Dickey

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is characterized by anterograde amnesia followed by a progressive decline in cognitive function. Post mortem examination of forebrain tissue from sufferers reveals the presence of extracellular amyloid-beta plaques, intracellular neurofibrillary tangles, activation of glial cells and massive neuron loss. Transgenic mice expressing mutated forms of the amyloid precursor protein (APP) and presenilin-1 (PS1) genes develop neuritic amyloid plaques, glial cell activation and memory deficits, without the formation of intracellular tangles and neurodegeneration.

The mechanisms by which these transgenic mice develop mnemonic deficiencies are unclear. Gene expression of aged memory-deficient APP+PS1 mice compared with non-transgenic littermates measured by …

Concerning Theories Of Personal Identity, Patrick, Bailey

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this thesis is to provide a brief examination of the historical accounts of philosophical theories of personal identity and show the influence that each has had on the development of contemporary theories. In doing so, the thesis explores the problems associated with these theories, attempting to establish a meta-theory (i.e. a theory about theories) of personal identity. What is demonstrated is that the fundamental problems of personal identity arise from issues related to the use of language, as well as assumptions involving the concept of personhood.

By demonstrating that our understanding of personhood is relative to frameworks …

Attention And Memory Bias For Positive Emotional Words, Gregory P Strauss

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

The current study examined the relationship between attention and memory for emotional words. Theories of "basic emotion" divide emotions into positive and negative classifications, and propose that discrete categories exist within the larger positive negative dichotomy. Previous research on emotion has yet to investigate the areas of attention and memory by dividing positive/negative words into discrete emotional categories. Participants included 30 undergraduate students between the ages 18--40. Attention and Memory were examined using an Emotional Stroop task, The Emotional Verbal Learning Test, and the California Verbal Learning Test-II, respectively. Stimuli for emotional tasks are divided into five emotional word categories …

The Impact Of Dynamic Changes In Talker Amplitude On Recognition Memory For Words, Kimberly M Cramer

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

This study investigated whether dynamic changes in the amplitude of speech were represented along with word information. An emotional manipulation was used to examine if listeners were sensitive to dynamic changes in amplitude. In Experiment 1, six talkers produced 200 phonetically balanced (PB) words with different intended emotions (e.g., joy versus sadness). Intensity measurements across time were recorded for each target word. Statistically distinct amplitude contours were obtained as a function of intended emotion. In Experiment 2, listeners judged whether each word in a list of spoken words was "new" (i.e., word was new to the list) or "old" (i.e., …

Memory Matters Ii: Predictors Of Self-Care Behaviors In Young Adults With Type 1 Diabetes, Sari A. Soutor

Theses and Dissertations

Type 1 diabetes and associated hypoglycemia can result in verbal memory difficulties, yet the role of memory in daily diabetes self-care has not been evaluated for young adults. Subtests from two well-standardized memory measures were administered to 34 young adults with type 1 diabetes, aged 18-29, in this pilot study. Self-care behaviors were assessed through 24-hour diabetes care interviews, while HbAlc indicated metabolic control. Verbal associative memory uniquely accounted for 12% of the variance in blood glucose testing frequency (p p p p = .06. Single-trial verbal memory uniquely predicted 10% of the variance in metabolic control (p p < .05. Importantly, memory was the only significant predictor in each model, which indicates memory, rather than overall cognitive capacity or financial/educational resources, relates to self-care behaviors/health status. Memory, a novel factor not previously evaluated in the quest to better understand daily disease management for young adults with diabetes, is significantly related to central self-care behaviors and metabolic control. Memory predictors likely warrant additional research and clinical attention such that eventually, intervention studies might identify strategies or compensatory aids that could improve young adults' self-care behaviors and health status through facilitating better memory functioning.

Effect Of Repeated Dosing Of Delta 9-Tetrahydrocannabinol, The Major Psychoactive Ingredient Of Marijuana, On Memory In Mice, Floride Niyuhire

Theses and Dissertations

Purpose: Marijuana is the most widely used illicit drug in the United States. However, marijuana and cannabinoid derivatives have potential therapeutic uses. Studies in cannabis users have yielded contradictory results with regard to long-term effects on cognitive functions. There is no prospective study assessing this issue, and such studies may raise ethical issues in humans, whereas mice have been shown to exhibit similar cannabinoid-mediated behaviors as humans. The purpose of this study was to assess the consequences of chronic administration of Δ9-THC, the major psychoactive component of marijuana, in a mouse memory model. Methods: In Experiment 1, the dose-response relationship …

"Honduran Memories": Identity, Race, Place And Memory In New Orleans, Louisiana, Samantha Euraque

LSU Master's Theses

During the decade preceding the height of the civil rights movement, a small population of Hondurans established residence in the New Orleans area. This Honduran migration was largely due to the trade relationship that existed between Honduras and New Orleans. Honduras was also experiencing political unrest and economic instability due to military coups, fruit company strikes and floods during the late 1950s. In response, the advent of the 1960s brought with it the first wave of Hondurans. According to the 2000 Census there were 64,340 people of Hispanic origin in the four parishes included in the New Orleans metropolitan area, …

A Performance Genealogy Of "Etchings Of Debutantes", Melanie A. Kitchens

LSU Master's Theses

In this thesis history performs that which Della Pollock terms “historicity” in her “Introduction” to Exceptional Spaces: Essays in Performance and History. History as historicity is no longer an evolutionary master narrative that dictates essential Truths. Rather, it is a site for performance where unfinalized and partial fragments of the past cluster into stories that mingle fact and fiction. Historicity defines a space or an event where history is a doing. The performer of this history embraces agency, which she uses to place herself within history rather than dominate or be dominated by it. Observing history as historicity, Joseph Roaches …

The Association Of Working Memory And Anxiety With Skill Acquisition And Transfer In Young And Older Adults, Isabelle Valk

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Two studies, involving a total of 184 adults between 17 and 89 years of age, were conducted to determine whether age differences in skill acquisition and transfer could be related to age differences in working memory functioning and anxiety. In both experiments, working memory functioning was measured using the Digit Span task (Wechsler, 1997) und the Reading Span tusk (Daneman & Carpenter, 1980), while anxiety levels were measured using the State Trait Anxiety Inventory (Spielberger, Gorsuch, Lushene, Vagg, & Jacobs, 1983). Participants were required to perform a mental arithmetic task in Experiment I, and a visual numerosity task in Experiment …