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Articles 1 - 30 of 44
Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Associations Between Early Childhood Sleep, Memory Function, And Brain Development Across The Nap Transition, Sanna Lokhandwala
Associations Between Early Childhood Sleep, Memory Function, And Brain Development Across The Nap Transition, Sanna Lokhandwala
Doctoral Dissertations
Preschool-age children often distribute their sleep across a midday nap and overnight sleep. Skipping the nap is suggested to increase the duration and depth of deep sleep (i.e., slow wave activity; SWA). Moreover, missing the midday nap has been shown to impair learning processes. This may be because children’s brains at this point in development are immature, necessitating the intervening nap period to strengthen memories before they are forgotten. Nonetheless, at some point during the preschool years, many children begin transitioning naturally out of napping. It is unclear whether the memory benefits of overnight SWA after a skipped nap depend …
The Impacts Of Environment And Host Evolutionary Relationships On Lemur Microbiota, Rachel B. Burten
The Impacts Of Environment And Host Evolutionary Relationships On Lemur Microbiota, Rachel B. Burten
Doctoral Dissertations
Recent studies have shown that the mammal microbiome is modified by environmental conditions, and that reduced microbiome functionality is associated with host health issues. Microbiome data in wild and captive primate populations can therefore be used to assess their health as they encounter a variety of environments. Comparative studies of the microbiome can also inform disease ecology, conservation, and captive management strategies tailored to different primate species. Therefore, this study examines how the hair, oral, and gut microbiota of nine wild and captive lemur species are determined by host phylogenetic relationships and host environment. I found that host species identity …
"You're Not Thriving, You're Just Trying To Survive The Environment That You're In:" Mental Performance Consultants' Narratives Of Emotional Abuse In Sport, Victoria Lynn Bradshaw
"You're Not Thriving, You're Just Trying To Survive The Environment That You're In:" Mental Performance Consultants' Narratives Of Emotional Abuse In Sport, Victoria Lynn Bradshaw
Doctoral Dissertations
Emotional abuse is defined as “a pattern of deliberate non-contact behaviors by a person with a critical relationship that has the potential to be harmful” (Stirling & Kerr, 2008, p. 178). Specifically, in the context of sport, emotional abuse is one of the more frequently occurring forms of abuse (Kavanagh, Brown & Jones, 2017; Kirby, Greaves & Hankvisky, 2000; Wilson & Kerr, 2021). Years after the termination of those emotionally abusive experiences, athletes are left to try and cope with and manage the short and long-term impacts that tend to develop as a result of repeated exposure to harmful behaviors …
Multidimensional Investigation Of Tennessee’S Urban Forest, Jillian L. Gorrell
Multidimensional Investigation Of Tennessee’S Urban Forest, Jillian L. Gorrell
Doctoral Dissertations
Preserving existing trees in urban areas and properly cultivating urban forest conservation and management opportunities is valuable to the ever-growing urban environment and necessary for creating optimal experiences and educational tools to meet the needs of increasing urban populations. This dissertation contains studies investigating several facets of the urban forest, including environmental effects of deforestation and urbanization, tree equity, and urban forest facility management and accessibility. Community education and outreach at arboreta about the importance of the tree canopy can help promote environmental stewardship. A digital questionnaire was electronically distributed to representatives of arboreta certified through the Tennessee Division of …
Psychological Determinants Of Physical Activity And The Prediction Of Physical Activity Levels In African American Men, Alvin L. Morton Iii
Psychological Determinants Of Physical Activity And The Prediction Of Physical Activity Levels In African American Men, Alvin L. Morton Iii
Doctoral Dissertations
African American (AA) men experience disproportionally higher rates of non-communicable, chronic diseases (e.g., cardiovascular, type 2 diabetes, and renal failure) than White men. Physical activity (PA) is known to reduce the progression of CVD, type 2 diabetes, and renal failure. National statistics illustrate that AA men are less likely to get sufficient levels of PA to obtain health benefits. Although many factors (e.g., biomedical, socio-cultural) influence participation in PA, the psychological factors at the individual level are essential to beginning and maintaining activity. Therefore, understanding the psychological determinants of PA in AA men and their associations with meeting national guidelines …
Sphenoidal Sinuses And Spherical Harmonics: Variation And Covariation Of The Most Morphologically Diverse And Least Understood Paranasal Sinus, Katharine Grace Josephine Ryan
Sphenoidal Sinuses And Spherical Harmonics: Variation And Covariation Of The Most Morphologically Diverse And Least Understood Paranasal Sinus, Katharine Grace Josephine Ryan
Doctoral Dissertations
Understanding the shape variation of the human sphenoidal sinus is important to several areas of research. This includes clinical investigation (sinus pathology and safe endoscopic endonasal surgical practice) and paranasal sinus evolution (for which there is still no consensus). Yet, the sphenoidal sinus has high morphological variation, prohibiting its quantification through traditional geometric morphometric landmarking methods. The sphenoid body, and thus also the sinus contained within, is located directly at the developmental center of the basicranium in humans, where the three cranial fossae meet at the midline, and adjacent to the three synchondroses which are the sites of cranial base …
Quality Of Life For Women With Chronic Lyme Disease: A Socioeconomic Investigation, Dale M. Jones
Quality Of Life For Women With Chronic Lyme Disease: A Socioeconomic Investigation, Dale M. Jones
Doctoral Dissertations
This is a mixed methods investigation of how chronic Lyme disease, including Lyme-like diseases and co-infections, affects the quality of life of women who have chronic Lyme. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were used during three phases of research: a 91-question survey instrument followed by focus group discussions and written narratives. The research considered the socioeconomic impact on quality of life in five areas: obtaining a diagnosis, relationships and personal support systems, struggles with the medical system, the ability to work, and access to treatment. There were 500 responses to the survey, of which 373 were analyzed; 11 participants in …
Motivated Attention To Social And Nonsocial Reward Images: Examining Relations With Externalizing Risk In Children, Adaeze C. Egwuatu
Motivated Attention To Social And Nonsocial Reward Images: Examining Relations With Externalizing Risk In Children, Adaeze C. Egwuatu
Doctoral Dissertations
Children that exhibit issues with externalizing behaviors often experience maladaptive outcomes in later life. Externalizing problems during middle childhood (e.g., 6-10 years old) are linked to issues with emotion regulation, which are, in turn, caused by disrupted attention and emotion reactivity to reward. Externalizing problems during this period have also been linked diminished processing of social reward stimuli, suggesting externalizing risk in children may be reflected in contrasting patterns in processing of non-social and social rewards. However, research comparing how differences in affective processing of specific reward content (i.e. social versus non-social) patterns relate to externalizing behavior within normative development …
Design And Development Of The Urban Population Health Observatory To Improve Disease Surveillance And Response, Whitney Brakefield
Design And Development Of The Urban Population Health Observatory To Improve Disease Surveillance And Response, Whitney Brakefield
Doctoral Dissertations
Chronic and infectious diseases have a profound impact on the quality and length of life of populations that suffer from these conditions. Scientists, physicians, and health officials are seeking innovative approaches to decrease the morbidity and mortality of deadly diseases. Incorporating artificial intelligence and data science techniques across the health science domain could improve disease surveillance, intervention planning, and policymaking. In this dissertation, we describe the design and development of the Urban Population Health Observatory (UPHO), an explainable knowledge-based multimodal big data analytics platform. A common challenge for conducting multimodal big data analytics is integrating multidimensional heterogeneous data sources, which …
Perceptions Of Historical Climate Change And Park Policy: The Impact On The Fremont Cottonwood In Zion National Park, Kathleen Kavarra Corr
Perceptions Of Historical Climate Change And Park Policy: The Impact On The Fremont Cottonwood In Zion National Park, Kathleen Kavarra Corr
Doctoral Dissertations
Despite its “natural” appearance and the Organic Act 1916 mandate for preservation of the natural environment in National Parks, the Virgin River as it flows through Zion National Park’s Zion Canyon was transformed through massive flood control re-engineering projects in the 1930s. The armoring of the river has had significant impacts on riparian vegetation, particularly on the stands of native Fremont Cottonwood trees that once filled the narrow valley. What was the motivation for this massive flood control project carried out in an arid region with less than 15 inches of rain per year? This dissertation explores the motivations which …
Monitoring Mammals At Multiple Scales: Case Studies From Carnivore Communities, Kadambari Devarajan
Monitoring Mammals At Multiple Scales: Case Studies From Carnivore Communities, Kadambari Devarajan
Doctoral Dissertations
Carnivores are distributed widely and threatened by habitat loss, poaching, climate change, and disease. They are considered integral to ecosystem function through their direct and indirect interactions with species at different trophic levels. Given the importance of carnivores, it is of high conservation priority to understand the processes driving carnivore assemblages in different systems. It is thus essential to determine the abiotic and biotic drivers of carnivore community composition at different spatial scales and address the following questions: (i) What factors influence carnivore community composition and diversity? (ii) How do the factors influencing carnivore communities vary across spatial and temporal …
Diversity And Evolution Of Human Eccrine Sweat Gland Density, Andrew W. Best
Diversity And Evolution Of Human Eccrine Sweat Gland Density, Andrew W. Best
Doctoral Dissertations
Human eccrine density is highly derived. However, little is known about contemporary variation in this trait, what shapes it, and how it influences heat dissipation. This project explores 3 questions: 1) Is variation in functional eccrine density (FED) explained by childhood climate? 2) Is this variation patterned by geographic ancestry? 3) Is variation in FED associated with differences in heat dissipation capacity? We measured FED and sweat production in 6 body areas via pharmacological stimulation and impressions of sweating skin in 72 participants. Childhood climate variables were taken from the WorldClim database and geographic ancestry was estimated with 23andMe tests. …
Using A Cognitive Behavioral Approach In Individual Counseling With Patients Undergoing Bariatric Surgery, Nina Marie Ditommaso
Using A Cognitive Behavioral Approach In Individual Counseling With Patients Undergoing Bariatric Surgery, Nina Marie Ditommaso
Doctoral Dissertations
Morbid obesity is linked to physical and psychological well-being. Bariatric surgery has shown tremendous success with rapid weight loss in the patient population with morbid obesity. These patients experience issues with weight regain post-surgery, which can be linked to psychological and social factors. Despite this, mental health counseling is rarely offered in bariatric surgery programs. The primary investigator used a six-session Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) approach in individual counseling with patients following bariatric surgery. The primary investigator used a single case research design to treat four participants. The primary investigator measured the effectiveness of a six-session CBT treatment, assessing for …
Social Context Influences On Behavior Of Carolina Chickadees, Brittany A. Coppinger
Social Context Influences On Behavior Of Carolina Chickadees, Brittany A. Coppinger
Doctoral Dissertations
This dissertation assesses fundamental social factors that drive variation in calling and other behaviors of experimental flocks of Carolina chickadees. Specifically, I tested how group member familiarity and group composition affected individual behavior. In addition, I performed a direct experimental test of the Social Complexity Hypothesis for Communicative Complexity, which states that groups that are more socially complex will communicate with greater signal complexity than groups that are less social complex. I consider complexity to be a combination of three factors: the number of parts in a system, the variation among the parts, and the variation in the way those …
Mental Fatigue: Examining Cognitive Performance And Driving Behavior In Young Adults, Abigail F. Helm
Mental Fatigue: Examining Cognitive Performance And Driving Behavior In Young Adults, Abigail F. Helm
Doctoral Dissertations
Mental fatigue causes an increase in task-based EEG theta and alpha power and a decrease in performance (for a review, see Tran et al., 2020). However, little is known about the emergence of mental fatigue in resting state EEG recordings and whether the progression of mental fatigue over time is influenced by individual differences. The current dissertation examined the utility of resting state EEG as a measure of mental fatigue by testing whether EEG power changed in young adults over the course of a cognitively demanding battery of tasks. The current dissertation also tested how this measure of mental fatigue …
Shared Neural Substrates Of Perception And Memory: Testing The Assumptions And Predictions Of The Representational-Hierarchical Account, D. Merika W. Sanders
Shared Neural Substrates Of Perception And Memory: Testing The Assumptions And Predictions Of The Representational-Hierarchical Account, D. Merika W. Sanders
Doctoral Dissertations
Proponents of the representational-hierarchical (R-H) account claim that memory and perception rely on shared neural representations. In the ventral visual stream, posterior brain areas are assumed to represent simple information (e.g. low-level image properties), but the complexity of representations increases toward more anterior areas, such as inferior temporal cortex (e.g., object-parts, objects), extending into the medial temporal lobe (MTL; e.g. scenes). This view predicts that brain structures along this continuum serve both memory and perception; a structure’s engagement is determined by the representational demands of a task, rather than the cognitive process putatively involved. In a neuroimaging study, I searched …
Examining The Physical Activity Levels Of Youth With Intellectual And Developmental Disabilities During Physical Education And Recess, Vincenzo Nocera
Examining The Physical Activity Levels Of Youth With Intellectual And Developmental Disabilities During Physical Education And Recess, Vincenzo Nocera
Doctoral Dissertations
Introduction: It is currently believed that children with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities (IDD) are less physically active than their peers. The school setting may offer a promising solution to allow children with and without IDD to engage in physical activity (PA). However, the current school-based PA levels of this population remain unclear. Therefore, the purpose of this investigation was to compare the PA levels and related context of youth with and without IDD during the total school day, physical education, and recess. Methods: A total of 13 children (n = 3 with IDD) enrolled in first- and second grade participated …
Exploring The Effects Of Traditional And Expert-Derived Attentional Focus Cue Structures On Complex Skill Learning, Kaylee Woodard
Exploring The Effects Of Traditional And Expert-Derived Attentional Focus Cue Structures On Complex Skill Learning, Kaylee Woodard
Doctoral Dissertations
Instructions that direct attention externally have been shown to enhance motor performance. However, research on learning effects has produced mixed findings, particularly in skilled populations, and particularly when realistic instructional protocols have been used. Most studies have presented an overly simplistic view of attention, such that all-internal focus protocols are contrasted with all-external focus protocols. Expert performers, however, have reported adopting combined approaches, revealing the need for research to test more realistic instructions. The current project was a two-part study designed to investigate the effects of realistic focus instructions on performance and learning. Study 1 was an exploratory study of …
Social-Ecological Systems Considerations For Wildlife Reintroduction And Conservation, Cristina Elisa Watkins
Social-Ecological Systems Considerations For Wildlife Reintroduction And Conservation, Cristina Elisa Watkins
Doctoral Dissertations
Wildlife management, especially projects requiring reintroduction, are complex undertakings requiring interdisciplinary approaches. This dissertation combines social science, ecology, economics, and policy to advance wildlife reintroduction science and improve conservation outcomes. The central focus of this dissertation involves wildlife reintroduction management, with a specific emphasis on the reintroduction of elk into East Tennessee. The dissertation is divided by three studies, each taking a unique interdisciplinary approach to wildlife reintroduction. The first study uses structural equation modeling to examine the social psychology constructs of risk perception and trust to examine their influence on attitudes towards reintroduced elk in Tennessee and support for …
De-Coding The Impact Of Evolved Changes In Gene Expression And Cellular Phenotype On Primate Evolution, Trisha Zintel
De-Coding The Impact Of Evolved Changes In Gene Expression And Cellular Phenotype On Primate Evolution, Trisha Zintel
Doctoral Dissertations
The goal of the dissertation work outlined here was to investigate the influence of proximal processes contributing to evolutionary differences in phenotypes among primate species. There are numerous previous comparative analyses of gene expression between primate brain regions. However, primate brain tissue samples are relatively rare, and my results have contributed to the pre-existing data on more well-studied primates (i.e. humans, chimpanzees, macaques, marmosets) as well as produced information on more rarely-studied primates (i.e. patas monkey, siamang, spider monkey). Additionally, the primary visual cortex has not previously been as extensively studied at the level of gene expression as other brain …
Improving Chinese Mothers’ Health Literacy: A Wechat Intervention, Qiong Chen
Improving Chinese Mothers’ Health Literacy: A Wechat Intervention, Qiong Chen
Doctoral Dissertations
The health literacy and eHealth literacy of women during the reproductive age is crucial, as it can affect their health and the health of their children. Promoting health literacy is essential to achieve mothers’ empowerment by improving access to and capacity of using health information effectively. However, functional, interactive, and critical health literacy and eHealth literacy have never been assessed among Chinese women. The first study during this dissertation assessed functional, interactive, and critical health literacy and eHealth literacy among 421 of Chinese mothers with children under 3 years old. The results revealed overall less than optimal level of health …
Modeling Fire Observations, Ignition Sources, And Novel Fuels To Understand Human Impacts On Fire Regimes Across The U.S., Emily Fusco
Doctoral Dissertations
Fire is a natural, and necessary, component of many ecosystems. However, people are changing the spatial and temporal distribution of wildfires in the U.S. at great economic and ecological costs. My dissertation addresses the impacts of humans on U.S. fires both through the introduction of ignition sources and flammable grasses. Further, I evaluate fire datasets that are widely used to investigate these phenomena over large spatial and temporal scales. Finally, I create an aboveground carbon map that can be used to estimate the potential carbon loss consequences in western U.S. ecosystems most at risk to fire. My work shows that …
Hearing And Seeing A Speaker: How Perceptual And Cognitive Factors Modulate The Dynamics Of Audiovisual Speech Perception, Elina Kaplan
Hearing And Seeing A Speaker: How Perceptual And Cognitive Factors Modulate The Dynamics Of Audiovisual Speech Perception, Elina Kaplan
Doctoral Dissertations
In face-to-face conversations, listeners process and combine speech information obtained from hearing and seeing the speaker talk. Audiovisual speech typically leads to more robust recognition of speech, as it provides more information for recognition but also as it helps listeners adjust to speaker idiosyncrasies. The goal of the current thesis was to examine how certain perceptual and cognitive factors modulate how listeners use visual speech to facilitate momentary speech perception and to adjust to a speaker’s idiosyncrasies. Results showed that (older) listeners’ sensitivity to cross-modal synchrony is related to the size of the audiovisual interactions during early perceptual processing. Furthermore, …
The Neural Correlates Of Stereotype Threat And The Stereotype Inoculation Model In Young Women, Chaia Flegenheimer
The Neural Correlates Of Stereotype Threat And The Stereotype Inoculation Model In Young Women, Chaia Flegenheimer
Doctoral Dissertations
A promising intervention technique for stereotype threat effects is the stereotype inoculation model (SIM), which utilizes in-group role models to counteract stereotype-induced pressures. However, it remains unclear how the SIM may impact neural mechanisms during stereotype threat, including negative feedback bias (increased attention to undesirable feedback). The following three studies aim to examine the behavioral (Study 1) and neural (Study 2) markers of ST in women and how these markers are influenced by the SIM (Study 3). In each study, participants completed a non-traditional math task (the approximate number task). In the first two studies, one group was told the …
Assessing The Long-Term Sequelae Of Mild Traumatic Brain Injury, Janna Mantua
Assessing The Long-Term Sequelae Of Mild Traumatic Brain Injury, Janna Mantua
Doctoral Dissertations
A mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), also known as a concussion, is defined as an injury that results in an alteration of consciousness or mental status. Previous studies have shown mTBI populations experience a number of chronic (> 1 year) symptoms, such as sleep disturbances (e.g., sleep stage alterations), mood alterations (e.g., depressive symptoms), and cognitive alterations (e.g., poor concentration). The three chapters of this dissertation sought to explore these long-term sequelae and the possible interrelations between them. In the first experiment, sleep-dependent memory consolidation of neutral stimuli was probed in a chronic mTBI sample and a control, uninjured sample. …
Mediation And Moderation Of Intergenerational Epigenetic Effects Of Trauma, Stefanie Renee Pilkay
Mediation And Moderation Of Intergenerational Epigenetic Effects Of Trauma, Stefanie Renee Pilkay
Doctoral Dissertations
Trauma and early-life stress have been linked to poor mental and physical health outcomes. In fact, research has identified trauma and stress can influence epigenetic marks on genes that can alter gene activity. It is suspected that epigenetically altered gene activity is involved in behavior and mental health. This may help explain why some individuals don’t experience great benefit from treatment for the effects of stress, and severe mental health symptoms can be chronic for decades or a lifetime. Moreover, some trauma-related mental health symptoms have shown generational patterns that appear linked to epigenetic marks. Therefore, this study sought to …
Conservation Decisions: Designing, Financing And Fundraising For Protected Areas, Rachel Elizabeth Fovargue
Conservation Decisions: Designing, Financing And Fundraising For Protected Areas, Rachel Elizabeth Fovargue
Doctoral Dissertations
Establishing protection for conservation is a complicated process that involves many critical decisions, from spatial prioritization to garnering the necessary financial support to complete a project. In my research, I address questions that inform various components of this process. First, I ask questions about protected area design using a case study of a large reef system in Australia. I find that simple design rules can facilitate the pursuit of conservation and extractive management goals. Second, I address questions about costs incurred by the financing of new protection. I establish a unique dataset of projects financed by a conservation non-profit through …
The Effects Of Predictability On Stereotypic Behavior In Nonclinical Adult Humans (Homo Sapiens) And Rhesus Macaques (Macaca Mulatta), Amy Ryan
Doctoral Dissertations
Stereotypies, or repetitive and purposeless behaviors, are observed in both humans and other animals. They have been primarily studied in captive animal and clinical human populations with comparably little research devoted to understanding less severe levels of stereotypies observed in nonclinical populations of adult humans and in most captive animals. As these behaviors are sometimes associated with routine events, I explored the relationship between the predictability of anticipated events and mild stereotypies. I studied this relationship in captive rhesus macaques and a novel comparison group of adult humans from a nonclinical population. I designed two experimental paradigms, a wait paradigm …
The Neural Correlates Of Emotion Reactivity And Regulation In Young Children With Adhd, Claudia I. Lugo-Candelas
The Neural Correlates Of Emotion Reactivity And Regulation In Young Children With Adhd, Claudia I. Lugo-Candelas
Doctoral Dissertations
Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is the most frequently occurring pediatric neurobehavioral disorder. Although emotion reactivity and regulation are frequently impaired in ADHD, few studies have examined these factors in preschool aged children with ADHD, and none have explored the neural correlates of emotion reactivity and regulation in this group though event-related potentials (ERPs). Children aged 4 to 7 with (n = 24) and without (n = 30) ADHD symptoms completed an attention task composed of four blocks: baseline, frustration, suppression, and recovery. In the frustration and suppression blocks, negative affect was induced by false negative feedback. During the …
Behavioral And Neural Mechanisms Of Impulsive Choice, Jesse Mcclure
Behavioral And Neural Mechanisms Of Impulsive Choice, Jesse Mcclure
Doctoral Dissertations
Impulsive choice is defined as the preference for a small immediate reward over a larger delayed reward. Individual variablity in impulsive choice correlates with many socially relevant behaviors. Although forms of impulsive choice have been studied in both behavioral ecology and psychology, the exchange of knowledge between these fields is just beginning. Drawing from both of these fields will improve our research methods allowing for a more detailed understanding of this complex behavior. Existing tasks to measure impulsive choice conflate the delay and quantity of the reward. To address this, I have drawn from foraging research to establish a method …