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Full-Text Articles in Psychology

Recognition Memory Revisited: An Aging And Electrophysiological Investigation, Elliot C. Jardin Jan 2018

Recognition Memory Revisited: An Aging And Electrophysiological Investigation, Elliot C. Jardin

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This study provides a better understanding of contributing factors to age differences in human episodic memory. A recurrent finding in recognition memory is that older adults tend to have lower overall accuracy and tend to make fewer false-alarm errors in judging new items, relative miss errors (Coyne, Allen & Wickens, 1986; Danziger, 1980; Poon and Fozard 1980). Two possible causes for decline in these abilities include an age-related decrement in speed of processing (Salthouse 1991) and changes in information processing ability due to entropy (Allen, Kaufman, Smitch, & Propper 1998a; Mallik et al., in preparation). Additionally, age differences may be …


The Effect Of Contact Type On Perceptions Of Sex Offender Recidivism Risk, Donald Walker Jr. Jan 2017

The Effect Of Contact Type On Perceptions Of Sex Offender Recidivism Risk, Donald Walker Jr.

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Prior research has found that the general public perceives sex offenders negatively as a whole (Edwards & Hensley, 2001). These perceptions have enabled sex offender management policies that create ironic conditions for sex offender rehabilitation and reintegration (Hanson, & Harris, 2000). More recent research has found that when sex offenders are presented as subcategories the public has more varied, though still negative attitudes toward sex offenders (King & Roberts, 2015). Furthermore, a burgeoning area of research has developed around the differentiation of child sex offenders based on the contact that they have had with their victims: non-contact, contact-only, and mixed-contact. …


Speed Accuracy In Motor Performance And Risk-Taking Characteristics, Morgan Lee Gabbert Jan 2017

Speed Accuracy In Motor Performance And Risk-Taking Characteristics, Morgan Lee Gabbert

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Past research has led to the conclusion, through studies of the speed-accuracy trade-off, that there is a natural covariance between speed and accuracy within individuals on movement tasks (Adam, 1992). In this study, we investigated the relationship between the speed-accuracy continuum and risk-taking personality characteristics. In order to investigate the hypotheses, the study used a Fitts’ cyclical aiming task in which participants moved a mouse between two targets that were at various widths and amplitudes. The various widths and amplitudes included 15 unique combinations of movement measurements, which were compared to two measures of risk-taking. These were the Investment Risk …


Work Lives Of Homeless Men, Eric William Wallace Jan 2017

Work Lives Of Homeless Men, Eric William Wallace

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This study sought to better understand how currently homeless men have met their work needs through a mix of formal and informal work across their lives. The Biographical Narrative Interview Method (BNIM), a qualitative method that seeks to analyze biographical narratives related in interviews, was utilized to collect and analyze the data. The loss of blue-collar jobs, criminal histories, and substance abuse difficulties all served to circumscribe the work available to these men. Nevertheless, participants negotiated these circumstances, as well as early traumas, to build complex work histories. Social connection emerged as a central need participants met through work. The …


I Hate It, But I Can't Stop: The Romanticization Of Intimate Partner Abuse In Young Adult Retellings Of Wuthering Heights, Brianna R. Zgodinski Jan 2017

I Hate It, But I Can't Stop: The Romanticization Of Intimate Partner Abuse In Young Adult Retellings Of Wuthering Heights, Brianna R. Zgodinski

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In recent years, there has been a trend in young adult adaptations of Wuthering Heights to amend the plot so that Catherine Earnshaw chooses to have a romantic relationship with Heathcliff, when in Bronte’s novel she decides against it. In the following study, I trace the factors that contribute to Catherine’s rejection of Heathcliff as a romantic partner in the original text. Many critics have argued that her motives are primarily Machiavellian since she chooses a suitor with more wealth and familial connections than Heathcliff. These are indeed factors; however, by engaging with contemporary research on adolescent development, I show …


An Exploration Of Parenting Styles, Emotion Regulation, Depression, And Culture's Role, Krysten L. Monzon Jan 2016

An Exploration Of Parenting Styles, Emotion Regulation, Depression, And Culture's Role, Krysten L. Monzon

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The present research examined whether cultural background had an effect on depressive symptoms through parenting style and emotion regulation strategies. Recent literature suggests that parenting styles differ across cultures, thus leading to different levels of depressive symptoms as a result differences of parenting styles aligning with cultural values. Additionally, it is suggested that some emotion regulation strategies are harmful in western cultures, but are not in collectivistic culture. Lastly, it is suggested that certain parenting techniques foster both harmful and helpful emotion regulation strategies. Participants (N=83) completed measures of PAQ (Parental Authority Questionnaire), ERQ (Emotion Regulation Questionnaire), and CES-D (Center …


Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia (Rsa) In Adults With Possible Autism Spectrum Disorder (Asd) Symptoms, Arielle Bowers Jan 2016

Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia (Rsa) In Adults With Possible Autism Spectrum Disorder (Asd) Symptoms, Arielle Bowers

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Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) are a group of developmental disorders, which are becoming a major health concern within the US. According to The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed.; DSM–5; American Psychiatric Association, 2013) an ASD includes the following features: continuous impairments associated with social communicative and interactive skills, replication of specific, patterned behaviors and/or attentiveness to specific interests. Recent psychophysiological research has looked at how high and low respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) activity may be related to a lack of social communicative skills relating to social cognition, which are hallmark features of individuals who have been …


The Mediating Effects Of Self-Handicapping On Eating Disorder Symptomatology, Brooke Kelly Strumbel Jan 2016

The Mediating Effects Of Self-Handicapping On Eating Disorder Symptomatology, Brooke Kelly Strumbel

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With the high prevalence of eating disorders (ED) and the functional impairment that they cause, there is a pressing need to more fully identify their risk factors and mechanisms. While perfectionism and negative affect are known risk factors for ED, the mechanisms by which they develop are not well understood. The present study examined the roles of self-handicapping, thought suppression, and maladaptive emotion regulation strategies, as potential mechanisms through which perfectionism and negative affect confer risk for ED. A sample of 161 female undergraduates completed measures of perfectionism, negative affect, thought suppression, self-handicapping, eating disorder tendencies, and an Implicit Association …


Borderline Personality Disorder: How Various Stressors Impact Rumination Tendencies, Corey J. Maddox Jan 2016

Borderline Personality Disorder: How Various Stressors Impact Rumination Tendencies, Corey J. Maddox

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The high prevalence of Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) combined with a need to improve treatment efficacy produced a demand for the identification of how various risk factors are more likely to exacerbate BPD symptoms. While emotion dysregulation and interpersonal difficulties are known maladies of BPD, the goal of the present research was to examine their influence on rumination processes, thereby allowing therapeutic providers to facilitate treatment by honing in on specific stressors that are more likely to exacerbate symptoms due to initiating a ruminative response. A sample of 127 participants, 21 of whom endorsed clinical levels of BPD symptoms, were …


The Interactive Effects Of Biofeedback-Assisted Stress Management And Training Acquisition In Predicting Health Outcomes, Cary M. Sears Jan 2016

The Interactive Effects Of Biofeedback-Assisted Stress Management And Training Acquisition In Predicting Health Outcomes, Cary M. Sears

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Thirty-seven chronic disease patients were randomized to either a biofeedback-assisted stress management (BFSM) experimental group or a usual care (UC) control condition. It was hypothesized that participants enrolled in the BFSM treatment group would demonstrate lower levels of norepinephrine and depression than those in the UC control condition. It was further hypothesized that training acquisition would modify the main effect of group assignment on depression and norepinephrine. The BFSM group demonstrated significantly lower levels of norepinephrine than the UC group. There were no main effects of BFSM on depression. The training acquisition X group assignment interaction was not significant. Results …


The Effects Of Cognitive Load On The Perception Of Foreign-Accented Words, Leah M. Bonath Jan 2016

The Effects Of Cognitive Load On The Perception Of Foreign-Accented Words, Leah M. Bonath

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A significant amount of the research conducted in the area of foreign-accented speech has examined the influence that intelligibility, comprehensibility, and strength of accent have on the perception of foreign-accented speech. Factors such as speaking rate, signal-to-noise ratio, number of talkers, familiarity with the foreign-accent and, most relevant to the present study, cognitive load all play a role in how accented speech is perceived. In the current study, we explored the inverse of this relationship. We hypothesized that degree of cognitive load would affect participants’ accent ratings. The purpose of this research was to evaluate two competing hypotheses. According to …


Investigating The Role Of Open Bigrams In Visual Word Perception, Amy M. Palinski Jan 2016

Investigating The Role Of Open Bigrams In Visual Word Perception, Amy M. Palinski

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Many models of word identification suppose a hierarchical system in which units at increasing levels respond to features, letters, letter combinations, and words. Some models suppose units responsive to bigrams—letter pairs—that may not be adjacent in a letter-string stimulus. In such a model, a stimulus such as BIRD would activate, at the bigram level, bigrams representing adjacent letters BI, IR, and RD, and also bigrams representing nonadjacent letters BR and ID. Grainger, Mathot, and Vitu (2014) reported an experiment in which strings to be classified as words or pseudowords were flanked by bigrams from the target string or not; for …


An Interpersonal Model Of Depression: A Psychophysiological Perspective, Kelsey J. Pritchard Jan 2016

An Interpersonal Model Of Depression: A Psychophysiological Perspective, Kelsey J. Pritchard

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This study examined whether parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) activity predicts depression risk through excessive reassurance seeking (ERS) which subsequently erodes social support and generates stress. Recent theories suggest that the PNS evolved to regulate social interaction and that the PNS is associated with depression and interpersonal deficits. Therefore, PNS deficits may be associated to ERS, given its interpersonal function. Participants (N= 65) completed measures of ERS, interpersonal stressors, social support quality, depression symptoms, and a protocol that measured indices of the PNS (i.e., respiratory sinus arrhythmia; RSA) at rest and during a paced breathing task. Multiple mediator models …


Variability And Location Of Movement Endpoint Distributions: The Influence Of Instructions For Movement Speed And Accuracy, Abhishek Dey Jan 2016

Variability And Location Of Movement Endpoint Distributions: The Influence Of Instructions For Movement Speed And Accuracy, Abhishek Dey

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An influential theory of motor control predicts that targeted hand movements should be aimed at the target center and that the variability of movement endpoint distributions should fill the target region (Meyer et al., 1988). Because increases in the amount of movement endpoint variability correlates with increases in movement speed (Schmidt et al., 1979), centering the distribution on the target center and expanding variability to the limits of the target boundaries should allow for maximization of movement speed, without the production of movement errors (i.e., target misses). Slifkin and Eder (2016) recently found that those predictions only held over a …


The Effect Of Mixed Font Items On Lexical Decision Performance, Arielle B. Cenin Jan 2016

The Effect Of Mixed Font Items On Lexical Decision Performance, Arielle B. Cenin

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The multistream model of word perception (Allen, Smith, Lien, Kaut, & Canfield, 2009) suggests that word identification generally involves whole-word information, but that when the orthographic form of a letter string is not standard, processing occurs analytically and is slower. For example, within-item case transitions slow responses in lexical decision experiments, in which participants are required to decide if a letter string is or is not a word; a within-item font transition may have a similar effect. Letters within a font are distinct yet related, and are constrained on several parameters to facilitate processing (Sanocki & Dyson, 2012). Font tuning …


Aging And Emotion Recognition: An Examination Of Stimulus And Attentional Mechanisms, Stephanie Nicole Sedall Jan 2016

Aging And Emotion Recognition: An Examination Of Stimulus And Attentional Mechanisms, Stephanie Nicole Sedall

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Emotion recognition is essential for interpersonal communication. However, previous research has suggested that older adults are not as accurate as younger adults in recognizing certain emotions, particularly negative facial expressions of anger, fear, and sadness. Including additional contextual information (e.g., manipulation of certain facial features) might help us better understand these age differences. The present study investigated how potential age differences in emotion recognition are influenced by stimulus factors (target eye gaze direction) as well as facial viewing patterns, cognitive functioning, and physiological processes. A sample of younger and older adults viewed static facial expressions depicting anger, fear, sadness, happiness, …


Overloaded? Examining Predictors Of Work-Family Conflict Through Role Overload, Lisa J. Brasdovich Jan 2016

Overloaded? Examining Predictors Of Work-Family Conflict Through Role Overload, Lisa J. Brasdovich

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Work-life balance is becoming a popular topic within organizations as no employee wants to endure work-family conflict. Research has been trying to understand what can impact work-family conflict. To increase knowledge about work-family conflict this study examined how role overload can impact different groups of people depending upon work schedule, parental status, and activity during commute. The data were collected through two surveys posted on Amazon's Mechanical Turk. In total, there were 192 respondents. Results found that an interaction was present between an employee's work schedule and the child's status as a student to significantly predict the time the employee …


An Experimental Test Of Whether Mortality Salience Can Motivate Open-Mindedness Among Individuals With Intrinsic Goal Orientations, Mark Blades Jan 2016

An Experimental Test Of Whether Mortality Salience Can Motivate Open-Mindedness Among Individuals With Intrinsic Goal Orientations, Mark Blades

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Terror management theory posits that when people are primed with thoughts of death, they will seek to abide by their cultural worldview beliefs. For example, mortality reminders motivate those with an extrinsic goal orientation to strive to accomplish culturally valued goals (e.g., wealth) and defend familiar cultural worldviews. But, as of yet, no research has investigated the possibility that MS might motivate those with an intrinsic goal orientation to strive instead to explore culturally, socially, or intellectually novel experiences and information. The present research hypothesized that MS would lead individuals with stronger extrinsic goal orientations to defensively prefer their familiar …


Urban Adolescents' Experiences Of Parental Unemployment, Keelan Quinn Jan 2016

Urban Adolescents' Experiences Of Parental Unemployment, Keelan Quinn

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A substantial number of children in the United States are being raised in households with an unemployed parent. These individuals may have unknown and unmet needs, as they are the first generation since the Great Depression to be raised during a time characterized by economic hardship and high unemployment. The purpose of this study was to explore how urban adolescents of unemployed parents experience parental unemployment. This qualitative study was informed by phenomenology for data collection and consensual qualitative research (CQR) for data analysis. Participants included 13 urban adolescents from low socio-economic status areas, who have been raised by unemployed …


Exploring The Relationship Between Ego Development And Mental Health, Heather R. Bonnett Jan 2016

Exploring The Relationship Between Ego Development And Mental Health, Heather R. Bonnett

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The goal of this study was to examine the relationship between ego identity in adults (ego development), symptoms of psychological distress, and self-esteem. Ego identity was operationalized using Loevinger’s (1976) stage theory of ego development, further modified by Cook-Greuter (1994; 2010). The test used to measure ego development was the Sentence Completion Test Integral (SCTi). Symptoms of mental disorders or psychological distress were measured using Derogatis’ (1994) Symptom Checklist 90 Revised (SCL-90-Revised). Self-esteem was measured using the Rosenberg Self Esteem Scale (RSES). It has been thought there would be noticeable differences in the relationship between ego development and the types …


Attentional Bias To Body-Related Stimuli In Younger And Middle-Aged Females: The Role Of Eating Disorders And Thin Ideal Priming, Teresa A. Markis Jan 2015

Attentional Bias To Body-Related Stimuli In Younger And Middle-Aged Females: The Role Of Eating Disorders And Thin Ideal Priming, Teresa A. Markis

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Research has shown individuals with an eating disorder selectively attend to stimuli related to their concerns, and this attentional component might be one way in which eating disorders are maintained. Research using a variant of the Stroop task has demonstrated that women with an eating disorder have a stronger Stroop interference effect for words related to body shape than controls. The conclusion is individuals with an eating disorder have an information processing bias for stimuli related to their disorder, and thus, slower responses. A main objective of this study was to investigate this effect in both younger and middle age …


Recognition And Use Of Empirically-Supported Treatments Among Clinicians Treating Clients With Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Christopher Heckman Jan 2015

Recognition And Use Of Empirically-Supported Treatments Among Clinicians Treating Clients With Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Christopher Heckman

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In order to provide adequate care, it is important for clinicians to be informed about the level of empirical support for various treatment approaches. The present study analyzes data culled from a survey of clinicians who work with PTSD. Respondents were presented with a range of treatments. They were then asked to rate their familiarity with and training in each treatment, their theoretical orientation, their level of experience conducting psychotherapy in general, and their experience with PTSD in particular. Finally, they were asked to categorize each of these treatments as "empirically supported⁰" or "not empirically supported," and to rate how …


Effects Of Information Processing Strategies On Rater Motivation In Job Analysis, Corey Alexander Cecil Jan 2015

Effects Of Information Processing Strategies On Rater Motivation In Job Analysis, Corey Alexander Cecil

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Accuracy of the output resulting from a job analysis is of utmost importance to practitioners and human resource professionals. Without this accuracy, many of the organizational actions that follow can be prone to failure. One of the notable sources of inaccuracy in job analysis is motivation. Evidence of motivation as a source of inaccuracy in job analysis comes from findings which have been largely adapted from cognitive and social psychology literature. To bridge the gap more directly, this study examined how different variables such as self-efficacy, need for cognition, job complexity, and job analysis purpose impacted the relationship between information …


Gerontological Intelligence Test, Erika Beatriz Gobbi Jan 2015

Gerontological Intelligence Test, Erika Beatriz Gobbi

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The current study was designed as a preliminary analysis to design an alternative intelligence scale for older adults ages 65 plus. This study was predominantly administered to White participants with a females being the prominent gender (30 females, 14 males). 44 participants were administered the four subtests Analogies, Matrices, Geometric Shapes and Information. The Block Design and Vocabulary from the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale was administered to assess the validity of the current study. By creating a more tailored intelligence test for older adults, problems such as fatigue, administrator bias and physical limitations can be addressed. With the population of …


How Coping, Ptsd And Treatment Preferences Interact?, Martha Mae Golubski Jan 2014

How Coping, Ptsd And Treatment Preferences Interact?, Martha Mae Golubski

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Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a mental disorder characterized by symptoms of intrusive recollection, avoidance or numbing, and hyper arousal following being exposed to a traumatic event involving threatened or actual death or serious injury (4th ed., text rev, DSM-IV-TR American Psychiatric Association, 2000). Those with PTSD, employ a variety of coping strategies to deal with the symptoms following their trauma exposure. Across studies, it has been found that coping styles which are active have a positive effect on both physical and psychological health (Gil & Caspi, 2005 Lazarus & Moskowits, 2004 Olff, Langeland, & Gersons, 2005). However, avoidance coping …


The Effect Of The Muscular Ideal Prime In A Lexical Decision Task, Stephanie A. Henley Jan 2014

The Effect Of The Muscular Ideal Prime In A Lexical Decision Task, Stephanie A. Henley

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Research has shown that body dissatisfaction (BD) is prevalent among males and is associated with unhealthy outcomes (Karazsia & Crowther 2009). Muscular ideal internalization and social comparison are predictors of BD in males. However, the majority of body image research has focused on females, with limited research having been conducted with males. In particular, little research has been aimed at understanding the internal mechanisms associated with male BD. In the current study, I examined the effect of priming an extreme muscular body and a moderate muscular body on the subsequent perception of positive and negative feeling words and positive and …


Gender Differences In Treatment Outcomes Among Fibromyalgia Patients, Ashley Anne Haas Jan 2014

Gender Differences In Treatment Outcomes Among Fibromyalgia Patients, Ashley Anne Haas

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Fibromyalgia is a chronic pain disorder that is characterized by widespread pain and additional somatic, cognitive, and mood symptoms. Although there is no cure for fibromyalgia and it greatly impacts the lives of affected individuals, the research on gender differences in fibromyalgia symptomatology has largely been inconsistent. No study, to date, has explored sustained outcomes in women versus men in the context of an interdisciplinary pain rehabilitation program (IPRP). This retrospective study of 163 (F=135, M=28) Cleveland Clinic Chronic Pain Rehabilitation Program participants investigated: 1) immediate and six month outcomes of fibromyalgia patients participating in an IPRP treatment and 2) …


The Relationship Between Childhood Attachment Style And Adult Dissociation, Laura Michelle Swiney Jan 2014

The Relationship Between Childhood Attachment Style And Adult Dissociation, Laura Michelle Swiney

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The relationship between attachment style and dissociation was examined in this study. A total of 36 undergraduate students were administered self-report questionnaires that revealed their attachment style, and then underwent two tasks (dot-staring and mirror-staring) to evoke acute dissociative symptoms. In a repeated-measures design, it was found that individuals with insecure attachment experienced a significant increase in dissociation following both of the tasks than did those who were securely attached. Additionally, this increase was significantly greater for those participants who reported higher everyday dissociation


Coordination Of Continuous And Discrete Components Of Action, Stephanie L. Kilian Jan 2014

Coordination Of Continuous And Discrete Components Of Action, Stephanie L. Kilian

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Goal-directed movement may contain discrete and continuous components of action. In this experiment, participants moved back and forth between targets using a computer mouse in a cyclical aiming task. It was of interest to examine the relation between a discrete button press on a computer mouse, indicating an attempt at target capture, and the peak position of the corresponding, continuous movement trajectory of the mouse. How might the spatial and temporal relations between those events vary as a function of variations in task constraints? In particular, this experiment varied the target width (W) and amplitude requirement (A), where variations of …


Effects Of Orientation Change On Spatial Learning Of Novel Environments On Younger And Older Adults, Michael J. Fox Jan 2014

Effects Of Orientation Change On Spatial Learning Of Novel Environments On Younger And Older Adults, Michael J. Fox

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Yamamoto and DeGirolamo (2012) found that increasing age has unequal effects of impairment on spatial learning dependent on the perspective in which an environment is learned. Further, the learned condition of ground-level perspective (first-person exploratory) showed greater decline in elderly participants than was found in aerial (map reading) conditions. These results supported previous research involving fMRI scans implicating the medial temporal lobe (MTL) role in exploratory navigation of novel environments and MRI scans indicating MTL atrophy with age. However, Yamamoto and DeGirolamo (2012) did not consider the effects of conducting the experiment with one condition being presented with changing orientation …