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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

A Graph Theoretical Analysis Of Functional Brain Networks Related To Memory And Healthy Aging, Ty Alvin Bodily Aug 2018

A Graph Theoretical Analysis Of Functional Brain Networks Related To Memory And Healthy Aging, Ty Alvin Bodily

Theses and Dissertations

The cognitive decline associated with healthy aging begins in early adulthood and is important to understand as a precursor of and relative to mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer disease. Anatomical atrophy, functional compensation, and network reorganization have been observed in populations of older adults. In the current study, we examine functional network correlates of memory performance on the Wechsler Memory Scale IV and the Mnemonic Discrimination Task (MST). We report a lack of association between global graph theory metrics and age or memory performance. In addition, we observed a positive association between lure discrimination scores from the MST and right …


Assessing Working Memory In Mild Cognitive Impairment With Serial Order Recall, Sheina Emrani May 2018

Assessing Working Memory In Mild Cognitive Impairment With Serial Order Recall, Sheina Emrani

Theses and Dissertations

Background: Working memory (WM) is often assessed with serial order tests such as repeating digits backward. In prior dementia research using the Backward Digit Span subtest (BDT) only aggregate test performance was examined. The current research tallied primacy/ recency effects; out-of-sequence transposition errors; perseverations and omissions to assess WM deficits in patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Methods: Memory clinic patients (n= 66) were classified into three groups - single domain amnestic MCI (aMCI), combined mixed domain/ dysexecutive MCI (mixed/dys MCI), and non-MCI where patients did not meet criteria for MCI. Serial order/ WM ability was assessed by …


Experience As Counterpoint: A Qualitative Study Of Home, Happiness & Aging Amongst First-Generation South Asian Migrants In The U.S., Angela Singh May 2018

Experience As Counterpoint: A Qualitative Study Of Home, Happiness & Aging Amongst First-Generation South Asian Migrants In The U.S., Angela Singh

Theses and Dissertations

Susan Stanford Friedman writes that “Home comes into being most powerfully when it is gone, lost, left behind, desired and imagined” (202). My dissertation addresses notions of home, nostalgia, happiness and aging often found in South Asian diasporic fiction, and from the results of a qualitative study I conducted in which I interviewed five migrant couples who moved to the US from India for educational and professional purposes in the 1960s and 1970s. This project draws on and contributes toward the fields of Migration and Diaspora Studies, Transnational Studies and South Asian Studies. My research aims to explore more uncommonly …


An Examination Of A Mindfulness-Based Intervention For Older Adults, Morgan Levy Jan 2018

An Examination Of A Mindfulness-Based Intervention For Older Adults, Morgan Levy

Theses and Dissertations

Mindfulness-based interventions use meditation and other learning exercises to help individuals become more aware of their current physiological and emotional experiences. Benefits of practicing mindfulness include an increase in positive psychological outcomes (e.g., psychological well-being, emotion regulation) and a decrease in negative psychological outcomes (e.g., anxiety, depression). The vast majority of studies focus on younger rather than older adults—setting the stage for the current study, which involved delivering a five-session mindfulness-based intervention to older adults (i.e., 60 and older). The smaller literature focused on older adults is promising but generally lacks methodological rigor (e.g., lack of no-treatment control groups). The …


Discrimination, Mental Health, And Preparedness For Aging In Trans(Gender)/Gender-Nonconforming Adults, Richard S. Henry Jan 2018

Discrimination, Mental Health, And Preparedness For Aging In Trans(Gender)/Gender-Nonconforming Adults, Richard S. Henry

Theses and Dissertations

This cross-sectional study examined relationships among discrimination, mental health (i.e., depression and anxiety), preparation for aging (i.e., familiarity and planning), social support, death attitudes, and aging anxiety among TGNC adults (N = 154). Neither discrimination nor mental health predicted preparation for aging familiarity or planning. Discrimination did, however, predict both anxiety and depression, although only the non-affirmation subscale was a unique predictor of both. As discrimination and mental health were not a significant predictor of preparedness for aging in the previous regressions, the hypothesized mediation model and subsequent moderated mediation models were not conducted. Additional exploratory multiple regressions were …