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Full-Text Articles in Psychology

Attention, Working Memory, And Adaptive Functioning In Emerging Young Adults With Psychometrically-Defined Schizotypy, Parth Nakirikanti Jan 2023

Attention, Working Memory, And Adaptive Functioning In Emerging Young Adults With Psychometrically-Defined Schizotypy, Parth Nakirikanti

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Schizotypy, a complex construct linked to schizophrenia-related traits, encompasses positive, negative, and disorganized symptoms. This study offers a review of the concept of schizotypy, including its historical evolution, tracing it from Bleuler's early mention in 1911 to Meehl's continuum model. Embracing a dimensional perspective, this research underscores the interplay of biological, psychological, and social factors in understanding schizotypy. Deficits in sustained attention and working memory within schizotypy remain underexplored, with prior studies yielding inconsistent results. Adaptive functioning deficits in individuals with schizotypy are also inadequately understood. Examining a college student population, this investigation utilized scores on the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire …


Hyperactivity In Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (Adhd): Testing Functional Relationships With Phonological Working Memory Performance And Attention, Dustin Sarver Jan 2013

Hyperactivity In Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (Adhd): Testing Functional Relationships With Phonological Working Memory Performance And Attention, Dustin Sarver

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Excessive gross motor activity is currently considered a ubiquitous and disruptive feature of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD); however, an alternative model challenges this premise and hypothesizes a functional relationship between activity level, attention, and working memory. The current study investigated whether, and the extent to which, particular forms of gross motor activity are functionally related to children’s attention and phonological working memory performance. Objective observations of children’s gross motor movements and attention by independent observers were conducted while children with ADHD (n = 29) and typically developing children (n = 23) completed multiple counterbalanced tasks entailing low and high phonological working …


Do Programs Designed To Train Working Memory, Other Executive Functions, And Attention Benefit Children With Adhd? A Meta-Analytic Review Of Cognitive, Academic, And Behavioral Outcomes, Sarah Orban Jan 2013

Do Programs Designed To Train Working Memory, Other Executive Functions, And Attention Benefit Children With Adhd? A Meta-Analytic Review Of Cognitive, Academic, And Behavioral Outcomes, Sarah Orban

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Children with ADHD are characterized frequently as possessing underdeveloped executive functions and sustained attentional abilities, and recent commercial claims suggest that computer-based cognitive training can remediate these impairments and provide significant and lasting improvement in their attention, impulse control, social functioning, academic performance, and complex reasoning skills. The present review critically evaluates these claims through meta-analysis of 25 studies of facilitative intervention training (i.e., cognitive training) for children with ADHD. Random effects models corrected for publication bias and sampling error revealed that studies training short-term memory alone resulted in moderate magnitude improvements in short-term memory (d= 0.63), whereas training attention …


Adhd Behavior Problems And Near- And Long-Term Scholastic Achievement Differential Mediating Effects Of Verbal And Visuospatial Memory, Dustin E. Sarver Jan 2010

Adhd Behavior Problems And Near- And Long-Term Scholastic Achievement Differential Mediating Effects Of Verbal And Visuospatial Memory, Dustin E. Sarver

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The current study examined verbal and visuospatial memory abilities as potential mediators of the relationship among ADHD behavior problems and near- and long-term scholastic achievement. Scholastic achievement was measured initially and at 4-year follow-up in an ethnically diverse sample of children (N = 325). Nested composite (reading, math, language) and domain-specific reading structural equation models revealed that ADHD behavior problems exerted a negative influence on scholastic achievement measures, both initially and at follow-up. Much of this influence, however, was mediated by verbal memory’s contribution to near-term achievement, whereas visuospatial memory contributed more robustly to long-term achievement. For the domain-specific math …


Adhd And Working Memory: The Impact Of Central Executive Deficits And Overwhelming Storage/Rehearsal Capacity On Observed Inattentive Behavior, Michael Kofler Jan 2009

Adhd And Working Memory: The Impact Of Central Executive Deficits And Overwhelming Storage/Rehearsal Capacity On Observed Inattentive Behavior, Michael Kofler

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Inattentive behavior is considered a core and pervasive feature of ADHD; however, an alternative model challenges this premise and hypothesizes a functional relationship between working memory and inattentive behavior. The current study investigated whether inattentive behavior in children with ADHD is functionally related to domain-general central executive and/or subsidiary storage/rehearsal components of working memory. Objective observations of children's attentive behavior by independent observers were conducted while children with ADHD (n=15) and typically developing children (n=14) completed 10 counterbalanced tasks that differentially manipulated central executive, phonological storage/rehearsal, and visuospatial storage/rehearsal demands. Results of latent variable and effect size confidence interval analyses …


A Comparison Of Attentional Reserve Capacity Across Three Sensory Modalities, John Brill Jan 2007

A Comparison Of Attentional Reserve Capacity Across Three Sensory Modalities, John Brill

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

There are two theoretical approaches to the nature of attentional resources. One proposes a single, flexible pool of cognitive resources; the other poses there are multiple resources. This study was designed to systematically examine whether there is evidence for multiple resource theory using a counting task consisting of visual, auditory, and tactile signals using two experiments. The goal of the first experiment was the validation of a multi-modal secondary loading task. Thirty-two participants performed nine variations of a multi-modal counting task incorporating three modalities and three demand levels. Performance and subjective ratings of workload were measured for each of the …


The Relative Sensitivity Of An Olfactory Identification Deficit In Individuals With Schizotypal Personality Features, Vidyulata Kamath Jan 2007

The Relative Sensitivity Of An Olfactory Identification Deficit In Individuals With Schizotypal Personality Features, Vidyulata Kamath

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Olfactory identification deficits have received recent attention as a potentially useful endophenotype for schizophrenia. Examination of this deficit in individuals with schizotypal personality features (SPF) offers an alternative approach to multiple confounds present when examining individuals with schizophrenia. The aim of the current study was to compare the relative sensitivity of performance on measures of olfaction identification and sustained attention to the presence of SPF. Twenty-six undergraduates were defined as having SPF based on scoring in the top 10% of the Abbreviated Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire (SPQ-B; mean age 19.6, SD = 1.1; 62% female). These individuals were compared to twenty-six …


Classroom Observation Of Children With Adhd And Their Peers: A Meta-Analytic Review, Michael Kofler Jan 2006

Classroom Observation Of Children With Adhd And Their Peers: A Meta-Analytic Review, Michael Kofler

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Meta-analysis of 23 between-group direct observation studies of children with ADHD and typically developing peers indicates significant deficiencies in children with ADHD's ability to pay attention in classroom settings. Comparison with 59 single case design studies of children with ADHD suggests generalizability of between-group comparisons. Weighted regression analysis determined that several methodological differences – sample characteristics, diagnostic procedures, and observational coding schema – have significant effects on observed levels of attentive behavior in the classroom. Best case estimation indicates that after accounting for these factors, children with ADHD are on-task approximately 65% of the time compared to 85% for their …


Individual Preferences In The Use Of Automation, Jennifer Thropp Jan 2006

Individual Preferences In The Use Of Automation, Jennifer Thropp

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As system automation increases and evolves, the intervention of the supervising operator becomes ever less frequent but ever more crucial. The adaptive automation approach is one in which control of tasks dynamically shifts between humans and machines, being an alternative to traditional static allocation in which task control is assigned during system design and subsequently remains unchanged during operations. It is proposed that adaptive allocation should adjust to the individual operators' characteristics in order to improve performance, avoid errors, and enhance safety. The roles of three individual difference variables relevant to adaptive automation are described: attentional control, desirability of control, …


Orienting Of Visual-Spatial Attention With Augmented Reality: Effects Of Spatial And Non-Spatial Multi-Modal Cues, Christian Jerome Jan 2006

Orienting Of Visual-Spatial Attention With Augmented Reality: Effects Of Spatial And Non-Spatial Multi-Modal Cues, Christian Jerome

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Advances in simulation technology have brought about many improvements to the way we train tasks, as well as how we perform tasks in the operational field. Augmented reality (AR) is an example of how to enhance the user's experience in the real world with computer generated information and graphics. Visual search tasks are known to be capacity demanding and therefore may be improved by training in an AR environment. During the experimental task, participants searched for enemies (while cued from visual, auditory, tactile, combinations of two, or all three modality cues) and tried to shoot them while avoiding shooting the …