Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

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 …

How Do We Learn To Hope? The Development Of The Parent Report Of Child Hope, Lauren A. Sparks

Wayne State University Dissertations

Hope has been shown to be an important protective factor, with hypothesized origins in early childhood (Snyder, 2002). However, despite the established importance of hope, little research to date has examined its developmental origins. Specifically, a lack of appropriate instrumentation represents a significant barrier to detecting hope in children under the age of eight years old. The current study meets this need by examining the reliability and validity of a novel parent-report measure of hope in early childhood, titled the Parent Report of Child Hope (PRCH). The PRCH represents an initial step towards understanding individual differences in early childhood hope. …

Named But Not Known: Teaching And Assessing The Research-Writing Process, Ruth Boeder

Wayne State University Dissertations

In lived experience, the two processes of secondary research and writing overlap and intertwine interminably, creating an overarching complex system as research becomes expressed in writing and writing generates new research. This classroom study explores the two processes as one—the research-writing process—through coding of student journal responses and assessment of student research papers. Analysis reveals students to be thoughtful but not yet as nuanced in their descriptions of their research process as much be desired. They more frequently discuss writing with weaknesses in their research process than with research strengths. Further findings indicate that although it is difficult to assess …

The Eyes Never Lie: Detecting Simulated Traumatic Brain Injury With Eye-Tracking, Robert John Kanser

Wayne State University Dissertations

Performance validity test (PVT) inaccuracies can be explained by both test and extra-test (e.g., research design components) factors. Eye-tracking is a promising technology to enhance assessment of performance validity. Prior research has established that ocular behaviors are reliable biomarkers of (un)conscious cognitive processes. Experimental research on deception has shown that ocular behaviors reliably distinguish feigned concealment of information from honest responding. The primary objective of this study was to examine the incremental utility of incorporating eye-tracking into a clinical PVT to distinguish adults with verified TBI from adults coached to feign cognitive impairment. A secondary objective was to determine the …

Multicultural Face Recognition Memory And Own-Race-Bias Among Adults With Acquired Brain Injury, Nia M. Billings

Wayne State University Dissertations

Own-race bias (ORB) is a well-documented phenomenon that may influence face memory, such that face memory is improved when the observed target matches the observer’s racial background. However, the clinical measures widely used in neuropsychological evaluations lack racial diversity that may disenfranchise and disadvantage minority patients. Further, these existing measures have been criticized for having inconsistent visual contrast and facial content, as well as too much variability of non-facial information which may confound its acceptability as a measure of face memory specifically. To address these limitations, standardized, multicultural images with validated facial expressions (Beaupré et al., 2000) were used to …

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 …

The Effects Of A Life-Stress Interview For Women With Chronic Urogenital Pain: A Randomized Trial, Jennifer Carty

Wayne State University Dissertations

Chronic urogenital pain, pressure, and dysfunction are common, affecting nearly one in seven women in the U.S., who are commonly diagnosed with pelvic floor dysfunction, painful bladder syndrome, or interstitial cystitis. Women with these symptoms tend to have co-morbid anxiety and depression, relatively high rates of lifetime trauma and abuse, and conflicts or stress from key relationships. There is theory and evidence indicating that unresolved abuse or emotional conflicts can trigger or exacerbate urogenital pain and other symptoms (Abbass, 2009), but assessment of the presence and role of psychological stress is rarely done in women’s health care settings. When mental …

Parent Adherence To Psychologist Recommendations: The Role Of Expressed Emotion About Child And Reaction To Diagnosis, Lesley Ann Hetterscheidt

Wayne State University Dissertations

For the majority of children with significant behavioral or academic problems at school, the first course of action is to participate in a psychological evaluation. Upon completion of the evaluation parents receive an integrative report containing numerous recommendations for how to improve the well-being of their child. 51 child clients who

were referred and completed a comprehensive assessment for behavioral or academic problems were recruited for this study. A year or more after the evaluations were completed, parents of the children were asked about each written report recommendation, whether or not it was followed, and reasons for non-adherence. Expressed Emotion …

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 …