Psychology Commons^™

The Effect Of Talker And Contextual Variability On Memory For Words In Sentences, Nichole Runge

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Previous research has found that adding different forms of variability during study can affect later memory at test. For example, having words spoken by different talkers has been shown to improve recall of known and novel words (Goldinger et al., 1999; Barcroft & Sommers, 2005), and varying the cues in cue-target related word pairs has been found to improve recall of the targets (Glenberg, 1979; Bevan et al., 1966). It was unclear, however, whether benefits of variability would extend to more naturalistic stimuli, such as sentences, which have higher working memory demands. The present set of experiments investigated how talker …

Lexical Retrieval Inhibition From Semantically Related Retrieval Primes, Abhilasha Ashok Kumar

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The phenomenological experience of lexical retrieval involves conscious and active attempts to retrieve semantically related information, but the direct influence of this retrieval process on subsequent retrieval is presently unknown. We investigated the influence of passively viewing or actively retrieving different types of information at the critical moment preceding lexical retrieval through a novel priming paradigm. Participants attempted to retrieve target words (e.g., FOLIAGE) from their low-frequency definitions or descriptions (e.g., the leafy parts of a plant or tree, collectively). Across five experiments, target retrieval was preceded by the brief presentation of a prime word (Experiment 1), progressive demasking of …

Exercise Engagement And Longitudinal Change In Alzheimer's Disease Biomarkers, Regional Brain Structure, And Cognitive Functioning, Marta Stojanovic

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Consequences Of Processing Of Goal-Irrelevant Information During The Stroop Task In Younger And Older Adults, Jessica Nicosia

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Recent evidence from memory paradigms indicates that older adults can sometimes benefit more from processing goal-irrelevant information than younger adults, however these studies have often failed to simultaneously provide evidence of age-related control deficits. In the present experiments, participants initially studied a list of words. They then received a color-naming Stroop task where neutral words were either previously studied or new words. Across three experiments, participants were given different types of memory tests to examine the lingering effects of the neutral words during color-naming in younger and older adults. The results from all three experiments (including an attempted replication study) …

Emotion Differentiation Moderates The Effects Of Rumination On Depression: A Longitudinal Study, Yunjing Liu

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Elevated trait rumination is associated with and predicts the onset of major depressive disorder (MDD), but not all people with elevated trait rumination develop MDD. We hypothesize that certain emotional processes weaken the rumination-depression link, protecting people against increases in depression. In the current prospective longitudinal study, we examined one such process, emotion differentiation—the ability to identify and label specific emotions. Because higher negative emotion differentiation (NED) has been associated with greater psychological well-being and people typically ruminate in the context of negative affect, we predicted that NED, but not positive emotion differentiation (PED), would moderate the rumination-depression association, such …

Emotion Regulation Variability And Adjustment Among College Students, Isidro Landa

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Bivariate Latent Change Score Analysis Of Peer Relations From Early Childhood To Adolescence: Leading Or Lagging Indicators Of Psychopathology, Brent Ian Rappaport

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Despite significant public health concerns, the association between problematic peer relations (e.g., bullying) and psychopathology remains unclear. Thus far research has suggested three possible models of this association: that peer relations lead, or are a risk factor for symptoms of psychopathology (interpersonal risk model); lag, or are a consequence of psychopathology (interpersonal scar model); or both lead and lag psychopathology (transactional model). We additionally propose and test the hypothesis that peer relations may be a leading or lagging indicator of psychopathology depending on the developmental period (developmental model). Measures of youth’s peer relations (as reported by a parent and teacher …

Trans-Diagnostic Relations Between Functional Brain Network Integrity And Cognition, Julia May Sheffield

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Cognitive impairment occurs across the psychosis spectrum. However it is unknown whether these shared manifestations of cognitive dysfunction also reflect shared neurobiological mechanisms, or whether the source of impairment differs. One common feature of cognitive impairment across psychotic disorders is that the impairments are often ҧeneralizedӬ indicating deficits in a range of cognitive domains, including executive functioning, processing speed, memory, and attention. The goal of the current study was to determine whether the similar generalized cognitive deficit observed across psychotic disorders is also associated with a shared putative mechanism of functional brain network integrity. To address this question, we estimated …

Levels Of Processing And The Parietal Memory Network, Hung-Yu Chen

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The parietal memory network (PMN) is a functional brain network that has been recently described through the convergence of task-based fMRI and resting-state functional MRI studies (Gilmore et al., 2015). The networkճ characteristic encoding/retrieval flip (deactivation at encoding and activation at later retrieval, discussed by Gilmore and colleagues) and its manifestation of a negative subsequent memory effect (greater deactivation at encoding for items that will later be recognizedѩ.e., subsequent hitsѴhan for those that will notѳubsequent misses) (Cabeza et al., 2004; Daselaar, Prince, & Cabeza, 2004; De Chastelaine & Rugg, 2014; Elman, Rosner, Cohn-Sheehy, Cerreta, & Shimamura, 2013; Kim, 2011; Otten …

Evaluation Of Neurobiological Risk Factors For Alcohol Consumption; Convergent Evidence For Predispositional Effects Of Brain Volume, David Baranger

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Alcohol is one of the most widely used psychoactive substances and accounts for 5% of global disease burden. The goal of the present work is to help advance efforts to both identify prognostic markers of risk, and to understand the mechanisms by which alcohol consumption impacts health. Early life stress is one of the strongest predictors of mental illness, including alcohol dependence, and has been hypothesized to impact risk via modulation of striatal reward functions and reward learning. Studies examined the effect of stress on reward learning and processing, and tested for moderation by genetic and environmental risk. Results were …

Biological And Behavioral Mechanisms Underlying Childhood Physical Abuse And Age-Related Disease: Borderline Personality Pathology And Inflammation, Christina Rae Di Iorio

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Background: The frequent comorbidity of psychiatric and physical health conditions may be partially attributable to early life stress-related changes in inflammatory signaling and behavior (e.g., borderline personality pathology, health behaviors) that reciprocally maintain and enhance their effects on overall health.

Methods: Using data from older adults (n=1,630) who participated in the ongoing longitudinal St Louis Personality and Aging Network (SPAN) study, we examined associations between childhood physical abuse, borderline pathology, inflammation markers (i.e., interleukin 6, c-reactive protein), health behaviors, and physical health. Morning fasting serum IL-6 and CRP were assayed from a subset of participants (n=791). Borderline pathology factor scores …

The Role Of Personality In The Development Of Health Disparities During Late-Mid Life, Juliette Mcclendon Iacovino

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Objectives: The current study examined race/gender disparities in initial levels and trajectories of self-reported physical and mental health, and health care utilization, as well as the impact of personality and stressful life events on race/gender disparities. We hypothesized that health disparities would remain stable or decrease over time; that at-risk personality traits (e.g., high neuroticism) would have a more robust negative impact on health for black participants; that trust would mediate racial disparities in health; and that personality traits would moderate the association between stressful life events and health trajectories differentially across race/gender. Methods: Analyses utilized the first six waves …

Just Don't Do It!: A Comparison Of Strategies For Reducing Commission Errors In Older And Younger Adults, Emily Streeper

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Prospective memory (PM) commission errors occur when an individual erroneously repeats an intention that is finished and therefore no longer relevant (e.g., accidentally taking a medication one no longer needs to take). Commission errors have been observed in younger and older adults with age exacerbating commission error risk in select conditions. Only one prior study has used the finished paradigm to investigate the use of explicit strategies to reduce commission error rates in older adults. Bugg, Scullin, and Rauvola (2016) found that forgetting practice, an experience-based strategy, minimized commission errors to floor levels but a preparation-based strategy was ineffective. The …

Prospective Memory Impairment In Parkinson Disease Without Dementia: Cognitive Mechanisms And Intervention, Erin R. Foster

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Cognitive impairment among non-demented individuals with Parkinson disease (PD) produces significant disability, reduced quality of life, and restricted participation. This dissertation will cover PD-related impairment in prospective memory, or the ability to remember to execute delayed intentions at the appropriate moment in the future. Prospective memory impairment in PD is increasingly recognized as a functionally and clinically relevant problem and viable target for cognitive intervention. To lay the groundwork for the development of effective interventions for prospective memory in PD, this dissertation examines the cognitive mechanisms underlying prospective memory impairment in PD and the potential of training in a targeted …

Development Of Social Exclusion Detection: Behavioral And Physiological Correlates, Hyesung Grace Hwang

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The present work aimed to directly test the theoretical claims about how we as human detect social exclusion using both physiological and behavioral methods across different life stages. Because feeling excluded from a group is a common human experience that starts in early childhood, this basic human need to belong or connect with others is argued to be universal and thought to have an evolutionary basis. In fact, it has been argued that the ability to detect being excluded may be present from birth and detecting exclusion occurs rapidly with little cognitive processing. Study 1 tested whether this rapid detection …

Parsing The Blues: What Depression Reveals About The Life Well-Lived, Ian Tully

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation explores the way depression illuminates –and is illuminated by – certain aspects of moral philosophy. I begin by defending, in chapter one, a cognitive theory of one important subtype of depression. The subsequent chapters then investigate what depression can teach us about the nature of well- (and ill-) being, and about the nature of moral virtue. In chapter two I ask ‘what makes depression bad for us?’ and go on to argue that reflection upon this question shows that desire-based theories of welfare are false. Then, in the next chapter, I provide a (partial) answer to that question, …

Through The Ear, To The Brain: How Cognitive Aging Impacts Veridical And False Hearing In The Presence Of Misleading Context, Eric Failes

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A consistent finding in the literature (Benichov, Cox, Tun, & Wingfield, 2012; Dubno, Ahlstrom, & Horwitz, 2000; Hutchinson, 1989; Nittrouer & Boothroyd, 1990; Pichora-Fuller, Schneider & Daneman, 1995; Rogers, Jacoby, & Sommers, 2012; Sommers & Danielson, 1999; Wingfield, Aberdeen, & Stine, 1991) is that spoken word identification improves for both older and younger adults following the addition of a meaningful semantic context, but the improvements are typically greater for older adults. However, more recent findings (Jacoby, Rogers, Bishara, & Shimizu, 2012; Rogers, Jacoby, & Sommers, 2012) suggest that, especially under less favorable perceptual conditions, the increased benefits of semantic context …

Attachment Orientations And Relationship Maintenance In College Friendships, Samuel Chung

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Friendships are a ready source of social support and have been shown to be important to individuals' well-being, especially among young adults. Evidence suggests that the quality of students' friendships are associated with transition into college life. Students with high friendship quality report less anxiety and depression and also show better academic performance. This suggests that proper maintenance of friendships is important to function well and succeed in college. However, maintenance behaviors in friendships remain largely unexamined. The present thesis examines maintenance behaviors in friendships through an attachment theory perspective.

Individual Differences In Discounting Delayed Gains, Delayed Losses, And Probabilistic Losses, Yu-Hua Yeh

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Many decisions in one’s daily life involve the discounting of delayed or probabilistic losses: Should we pay off our credit-card balance in full or incur interest; should we buy more collision and liability insurance or risk having to pay more in case of an accident? Despite its importance, however, discounting of losses is understudied, and few studies have focused on individual differences. The current study recruited 407 on-line participants through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk who completed three discounting questionnaires: delayed losses, probabilistic losses, and delayed gains. Magnitude effects were observed with delayed gains (i.e., larger delayed gains were discounted less steeply …