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Full-Text Articles in Psychology

An Analysis Of Methodological Differences In Longitudinal Studies Of Infant Manual Preference, Sabrina Lynn Thurman Dec 2014

An Analysis Of Methodological Differences In Longitudinal Studies Of Infant Manual Preference, Sabrina Lynn Thurman

Masters Theses

Studies on infant manual laterality can be very similar in terms of the goals of the research, but they often show wide variability in several aspects of methodological approaches. This can be problematic when researchers directly compare findings from studies that employ different methodologies. The most common methodological inconsistencies are how many trials are utilized, which behaviors are observed, and how bilateral behaviors are addressed in computations. Here we aim to address whether methodological differences can lead to dissimilar conclusions about patterns in infant manual behaviors like laterality and coupling for three versus eight trials, reach versus grasp actions, and …


The Role Of Representational Flexibility In Toddlers' Manual Search, Lauren Hartstein Nov 2014

The Role Of Representational Flexibility In Toddlers' Manual Search, Lauren Hartstein

Masters Theses

In the model room task, children watch as a miniature toy is hidden somewhere in a scale model of a room and are asked to find the larger version of the toy in the corresponding place in the actual room. Previous work has shown that children under age three often perform very poorly on this task. One prominent theory for their failure is that they lack the ability to understand the model as both a physical object and as a symbolic representation of the larger room. An alternative hypothesis is that they need to overcome weak, competing representations of where …


The Effect Of Local Element Density On Processing Of Visual Hierarchical Patterns: An Infant Erp Study, Sara M. Mosteller Aug 2014

The Effect Of Local Element Density On Processing Of Visual Hierarchical Patterns: An Infant Erp Study, Sara M. Mosteller

Masters Theses

Previous research with infants, children, and adults has shown that global, or configural, information is processed before local, or featural, information in high density visual hierarchical patterns (Freeseman, Colombo, & Coldren, 1993; Ghim & Eimas, 1988; Kimchi, 1988; Navon, 1981; Navon, 1977). The current study used event-related potential to determine if a well documented bias toward global processing in infancy can be disrupted when the number and density of local elements is reduced through increasing the distance between elements. Infant responses were compared between high and low density conditions to global and local novel patterns and to familiar patterns. A …


Rhyme: A Tool For Word Learning, Kristen Elizabeth Thompson Mills Aug 2014

Rhyme: A Tool For Word Learning, Kristen Elizabeth Thompson Mills

Masters Theses

To become successful readers, children must be able to recognize how changes in sound correspond to changes in word meaning. Rhymes, which contain minimal pair words that differ in their initial phoneme but share final vowels and codas (e.g., the cat in the hat), are often used in preschool and kindergarten classrooms as a tool to promote literacy and word learning. Although young language learners can generally discriminate minimal pair words, they often show difficulty when asked to assign them as labels for separate novel objects. The present experiment investigated the role of experience with rhyme on the mapping of …


Sexual Possible Selves In Emerging Adulthood, Kristin Michelle Anders Aug 2014

Sexual Possible Selves In Emerging Adulthood, Kristin Michelle Anders

Masters Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to explore sexual-focused possible selves and strategies in a sample of undergraduate students at a large southeastern university. Sexual possible selves (SPS) address individualized expectations and fears regarding sex, along with the associated behavioral strategies used to attain or avoid these expected or feared selves. To date, there are no studies that examine the SPS of emerging adults. This study aims to fill this gap by examining the content of first year students’ SPS and behavioral strategies, and by considering whether SPS vary by sex, romantic relationship (RR) status, and indicators of socioeconomic status. …


Neural Correlates Of Face Processing: Perceptual Narrowing And Categorization, Katherine Claire Dixon Aug 2014

Neural Correlates Of Face Processing: Perceptual Narrowing And Categorization, Katherine Claire Dixon

Masters Theses

Perceptual narrowing is a developmental process that occurs between 6 and 9 months of age, during which infants transition from having more general perceptual abilities to more specific abilities. An example of this would be the other-species effect, in which infants experience a decline in the ability to individuate other species’ faces. It has been suggested that an infant’s growing ability to categorize could lead to a decline in their ability to discern individuals within other-species groups (Scott & Monesson, 2009), and that this difference is related to processing styles. In this study, 9-month-old infants were tested on their subordinate-level …


How Acoustic Salience Influences Infants’ Word Mapping, Qian Zhao Aug 2014

How Acoustic Salience Influences Infants’ Word Mapping, Qian Zhao

Masters Theses

Young language learners have the challenge of discovering which sounds in their complex auditory environment form acceptable object labels. During early word learning infants demonstrate both flexibility and constraint regarding what sounds form meaningful distinctions. Through language experience they hone in on the sounds and sound patterns that are meaningfully relevant in their native language. In the current study, I investigated the role that acoustic salience plays in early word learning. Using the Switch paradigm, 14-month-old infants were taught to associate two novel labels that differed only in pitch contour to two novel objects. Results from previous discrimination studies were …


The Gender Of Participants In Published Research Involving People With Autism Spectrum Disorders, Erin Watkins Apr 2014

The Gender Of Participants In Published Research Involving People With Autism Spectrum Disorders, Erin Watkins

Masters Theses

Research articles involving participants with an autism spectrum disorder and published from 2010-2012 in Autism, Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, Journal of Child Psychology and Child Psychiatry, and Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders were examined to determine the reported gender of participants. The overall male:female ratio was 4.62, which is similar to that reported in epidemiological studies, but the ratio was 6.07 in intervention studies. These findings suggesting that males were in a statistical sense over-represented in intervention studies, but not in other kinds of research. Most (82.21%) of these studies included both male and female participants, but …