Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

An Examination Of Working Memory In Dancers And Non-Dancers, Mason Low

All Master's Theses

The present study examined the behavioral working memory differences between dancers and non-dancers. Previous research has indicated that dance can provide an enhancing effect on working memory, particularly in non-dancers. A Dance History Questionnaire along with the letters backward, digits backward, digits forward, letters forward, and abstract visual subtests of the Test of Learning and Memory II was used to collect data. The current study found that dancers had greater visuospatial memory than non-dancers and that dance experience may have an effect on certain working memory tests such as the letters forward subtest.

Mrs. Dalloway As A Window For Understanding Life, Kristen Venegas

English (MA) Theses

Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway may be dismissed as fiction, and fiction consequently is dismissed as fantasy. However, the novel enables readers to practice an intellectual exercise of meta-awareness that extends beyond the pages and onto real world phenomena. Under a cognitive neuroscience perspective, Mrs. Dalloway is a literary masterpiece due to its hyper- realistic execution of the intimacies of life. Through the narrative style of free-indirect discourse, Woolf illustrates what occurs in the minds of characters as they develop their own perceptions of reality and identity, exposes the fear and inadequacies of mankind’s distress in times of chaos and disorder …

Examining The Cross-Cultural Competence Of United States Christian Missionaries Engaged In Developing Indigenous Leaders: A Mixed Methods Study, Craig W. Goodman

Dissertations

For the past two millennia, missionaries have crossed from one culture to another to bring the Christian message to all cultures of the world. Questions about the effectiveness of these mission efforts have been asked and researched by many; however, one key question remains unanswered: what personal attributes help a person to be more competent at crossing cultures as they interact with people from other cultures? Although cross-cultural competence has been studied in a variety of fields over the past 50 years, the models and assessments used have never been applied to Christian missionaries.

To address this deficiency, this parallel …

Investigating Insensitivity To Prior Probabilities In Merger And Acquisition Decision Making, James A. Mcgaughan

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

In this dissertation I look at the high failure rates of Mergers and Acquisitions (M&As) and why there has been no discernible change in outcomes over the last several decades. Although we have greater access to data, sophisticated business intelligence (BI) and data analytics (DA) tools, and work by industry professionals and academics to improve the process, high failure rates have persisted. I explore the possibility that the representativeness heuristic could play a role, and specifically, the possibility that prior probabilities are being ignored in M&A evaluations. I use a mixed methods approach to explore the hypothesis that decision makers …

The Epistemic And Psychological Mechanisms Perpetuating Racism Within The Criminal Justice System, Danielle Walker

Theses

Abstract

Many attempts have been made by philosophers, political activists, psychologists, historians, social advocates, and others to explain the mechanisms at play in the perpetuation and resulting manifestations of systemic and institutional racism. On one side of the debate there lies a theory that there is an epistemic failure at the root of racial bias towards Blacks, white ignorance, a collective amnesia regarding what has and does take place in society, as it pertains to their oppression and isolation, like the view of philosopher Charles W. Mills. According to Mills, this type of ignorance, or non-knowing, is a cognitive phenomenon …

Role Of Spatial Ability In Musical Instrument Choice: Implications For Music Education, Tevis L. Tucker

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The intent of this thesis is to explore the relationship between spatial ability and the wide range of musical instruments musicians play. Existing literature has established a link between musicianship and improved spatial ability, but researchers have yet to look at how the spatial makeup of different musical instruments may, in turn, reveal unique levels of spatial proficiency from one instrumentalist to the next. This study was formatted as an online survey that included a music experience scale, a demographics scale, and two measures of spatial ability: the Card Rotations Test (CRT) and the Paper Folding Test (PFT). Participants who …

Syntax And Semantics Of Perceptual Representation, James K. Quilty-Dunn

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation is a defense of perceptual pluralism, the thesis that perceptual systems deliver multiple types of representations including those used in thought. In particular, it argues that perceptual systems output iconic (i.e., image-like, analog) representations as well as discursive (i.e., language-like, digital) states. A central thesis is that perceptual representations of objects are propositional and composed of concepts. It also develops a compositional syntax of iconic representation called the coordination model, according to which icons are sets of primitive parts, each of which determines values along multiple analog feature dimensions simultaneously. The dissertation supports the conclusion that perceptual …

Key Generalization Of Recognition Memory For Melodies, Abigail Lincoln Kleinsmith

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

People easily recognize a melody in a previously unheard key, but they also retain some key-specific information. I tested the hypothesis that individuals compare novel melodies to a memory “prototype” representing the central tendency of experienced exemplars. Participants were familiarized with a monotonic eight-note melody in two closely separated keys and tested for discrimination of that melody from others. Test and foil melodies included ones that were the “average” of pitch heights and ones that were more distant in pitch height. Hit rates and discriminability (d') were better for physically closer keys than for harmonically related keys. In follow-up experiments, …

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 …

Testing A Structural Equation Model Of Language-Based Cognitive Fitness, Elizabeth Ann Moxley-Paquette

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The normative development of language is often taken for granted, yet problems with language development can result in stress for the individual and family. A challenge with these language development problems lies within the contemporary education system, which assumes that children have appropriate skills when they begin school. The purpose of the study was to test a theoretical model of language readiness known as language-based cognitive fitness, which includes measures associated with structural concepts of language involving receptive language, expressive language, spontaneous narrative speech, and writing fluency. The sample included children from a private school who received an extensive battery …

The Role Of Cognition In Oral & Written Transmission As Demonstrated In Ritual Chant, Mary Elizabeth Husslein

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the role of cognition in oral and written transmission. It looks at areas of music history where cognition is already used as a reference, including the development of notation, trends and changes in oral transmission, and performance practice. The thesis examines three different case studies on ritual chant in order to demonstrate how the cognitive process can be used to explain the ways learning, retention, and transmission work in oral and written transmission. The first case study is on the chant practices originating in Jerusalem. It discusses the intervallic relationships and music patterns involved in retention of …

Goal Attainment As A Function Of Depressive Status In Women: The Role Of Problem-Solving, Lindsay Brauer

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Despite the theoretical importance of goal-related deficits in individuals with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), relatively empirical research has examined goal generation and perceived goal attainment in depression vulnerable individuals. The

current project sought to examine the impact of depressive status on perceived goal attainment in currently depressed, remitted depressed, and never-depressed women. In addition, perceived problem-solving skills, a construct thought to be critical for goal

striving and in goal attainment was also examined. Unexpectedly, no effects of depressive status on perceived goal attainment or overall perceived problem-solving skills were observed. Results did however reveal group differences in perceived control in …

Visual Search For Smoking Stimuli: Detection And Distraction, Jason A. Oliver

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Extensive research has shown that the attentional systems of addicted individuals are biased towards drug-related stimuli, but despite several decades of effort these results have frequently been inconsistent. Though commonly believed to result from addiction and dependence, cognitive research would suggest that frequent exposure to drug-related stimuli could affect the attentional processing of drug-related cues even if no actual drug use occurs. The present investigation examined attentional bias for smoking cues using a novel visual search paradigm amongst smokers currently in nicotine withdrawal and fully satiated smokers, as well as a non-smoker control group. Variables related to smoking behavior, as …

Implicit Affect And Alcohol Outcome Expectancies, John M. Ray

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Expectancy theory provides a useful framework within which to examine the link between cognitive representations of anticipated alcohol related outcomes and affective processes that ought to shape behavior at the level of implicit, or automatic, processing. The role of affect in alcohol expectancies is an important one as it reflects the approach-avoid contingency associated with reward learning presumed to underlie addictive processes. This study examined the relationship between affect and expectancy operation by using suboptimally presented alcohol related cues to prime affectively congruent evaluations of otherwise unrelated targets. Hypotheses predicted that drinkers who reported higher positive and arousing expectancies for …

The Social Construction Of Authorship: An Investigation Of Subjectivity And Rhetorical Authority In The College Writing Classroom, Johannah Rodgers

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Although we use the term author on a daily basis to refer to certain individuals, bodies of work, and systems of ideas, as Michel Foucault and other critics have pointed out, attempting to answer the question “What is an Author?” is by no means a simple proposition. And, starting from the position that there is no single, or definitive answer to this complex question, this dissertation seeks to contribute to the ongoing discussion of the genealogy of authorship by investigating the ways in which conceptions of the author have informed models of the writing subject in the field of rhetoric …