Psychology Commons^™

Threat By Association: Minimal Group Affiliation And Its Outcome For Stereotype Threat, Eric W. Fuller

Wayne State University Theses

Stereotype threat has been shown to be an important cause of performance detriments in various social groups. It has also been theorized that stereotype threat could be applicable to any group so long as the individual believes their performance may reinforce the negative stereotype. The current work attempts to induce stereotype threat in participants believing they belong to an experimentally created and negatively stereotyped group using a minimal group paradigm. Across two studies there did not appear to be significant performance changes typically observed in stereotype threat research. Various cognitive measures and post-performance inquiries did generally support claims that participants …

Lateral Cognitive Processing And Belief Updating, Erin Marie Holcomb

Wayne State University Theses

Bias in mental representations and belief systems has been linked to asymmetries in information processing by the two hemispheres in research that uses wide variety of methodologies and participant samples. Also, associations have been drawn between such biases in belief systems and sociopolitical orientation leading to the hypothesis that links can be drawn from lateral processing through cognitive style to social and political orientation. This study sought to examine individual differences in laterality - as assessed via a lateralized semantic priming methodology - and manifestations of rigidity and flexibility in belief updating within a sociopolitical context. Analyses revealed that a …

The Effect Of Word Sociality On Word Recognition, Sean Seaman

Wayne State University Dissertations

While research into the role of semantic structure in the recognition of written and spoken words has grown, it has not looked specifically at the role of conversational context on the recognition of isolated words. This study was a corpus-based and behavioral exploration of a new semantic variable - sociality - and used on-line behavioral testing to obtain new word recognition data using the visual and auditory lexical decision tasks. The results consistently demonstrated that sociality is one of the most robust predictors of lexical decision performance. Overall, it appears that the visual lexical decision task is quite sensitive to …

C-Reactive Protein, Homocysteine, And Cognitive Performance In Healthy Adults, Cheryl Dahle

Wayne State University Dissertations

Elevated blood levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) and homocysteine (Hcy) have received a great deal of attention as biomarkers for the development of cardiovascular disease. Their utility in predicting cognitive function has also been assessed, though the findings are equivocal. The current study examined the relationship between elevated blood levels of CRP and Hcy and their effect on cognition across several cognitive domains. As baseline blood levels of CRP and Hcy and cognition are in part regulated by genetic factors, the impact of T carrier status for variants in the CRP -286 C>T>A and the MTHFR 677C>T …

Communicative Competence In Persons With Aphasia: The Impact Of Executive Function, Judy Marie Mikola

Wayne State University Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between executive function and performance on selected linguistic tasks in persons with aphasia secondary to left frontal lesions.

A group of 15 persons with aphasia (PWA) completed three communication board tasks of varying levels of complexity and structure. The subject's functional use of the picture/word communication board was tested during a Story Retelling task. In addition, the PWA's executive function skills were examined using six nonverbal tests. The PWA group performance scores were compared to that of the neurologically healthy control group.

Results demonstrated that the control group performed significantly …