Psychology Commons^™

Feeling-Of-Knowing Experiences Breed Curiosity, Gregory Brooks

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

It is well-established that curiosity has benefits for learning. Less is known about potential links between curiosity and memory retrieval. In theoretical work on metacognition it has been argued that retrieval experiences that occur during memory search can exert control over behaviour. States of curiosity, which can be defined as behavioural tendencies to seek out information, may play a critical role in this control function. We conducted two experiments to address this idea, focusing on links between feeling-of knowing (FOK) experiences, memory-search duration, and subsequent information-seeking behaviour. We administered an episodic FOK paradigm that probed memory for previously studied arbitrary …

Understanding The Effects Of Physical Activity On Executive Functioning And Psycho-Emotional Well-Being In Children With Adhd, Hannah B. Bigelow

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

A short bout of physical activity has been shown to improve executive functioning in children. However, the implications for children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) has been understudied. We examined the impact of a 10min bout of physical activity on executive functioning and psycho-emotional well-being in children with ADHD. Participants engaged in two lab-based sessions separated by 1-week: a physical activity session and a control session. The physical activity session included a 10min bout of moderate-intensity biking, with a pre-post battery of cognitive and psycho-emotional assessments. The control session consisted of 10mins of silent reading. We used functional imaging …

Influence Of Feedback Modality On Motor Sequence Learning, Heba Hussian

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Abstract

Throughout our lifespan we obtain and refine our motor skills with the use of sensory feedback, such as learning how to play a piano. Research has suggested visual feedback is more advantageous to improve motor learning compared to other types of feedback. However, it is unclear if these advantages stem from the feedback being more relevant to the task. We developed an experimental design that tests the influence of visual, auditory and haptic feedback when acquiring a sequence learning task. The study uses a piano-like task, and therefore we propose that learning is enhanced by auditory and haptic feedback, …

Do Visual-Olfactory Associations Strengthen The Real-Object Preference?, Carly V. Goodman

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Current knowledge of human object perception relies heavily on studies using images as proxies for real objects. However, real objects are fundamentally different from images. For example, real objects have multisensory properties while images do not. Given that research shows that people look longer at real objects than images of objects, known as the real object preference, and that people look longer at objects when they are presented along with an associated smell, the present pilot study aimed to assess whether visual-olfactory associations contribute to the real-object preference. The present study used a within-subjects design including four participants. Participants …

Putting 'Dopamine Overdose' To The Test: A Psychopharmacological Investigation In Parkinson's Disease And Healthy Volunteers, Andrew Vo

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Dopaminergic therapy prescribed to address motor symptoms in Parkinson’s disease (PD) is done at the expense of some cognition functions. It has been hypothesized that whether a given function is improved or impaired by medication depends on the baseline dopamine levels within underlying brain regions. Areas most affected by PD and severely dopamine depleted are predicted to benefit from dopaminergic therapy. Regions with less dopamine deficiency are predicted to worsen from excessive dopamine stimulation. This theoretical framework is known as the dopamine overdose hypothesis. The central aim of this thesis was to critically test the straightforward predictions put forward by …