Psychology Commons^™

Neurochemical Effects Of Amyloid-Beta Oligomers In Rats, John J. Panos

Dissertations

Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive neurodegenerative disease characterized by memory loss and cognitive decline. Although the symptomology of Alzheimer’s disease is well defined, its precise etiology remains elusive. Animal models are invaluable for understanding the pathogenesis of this devastating disease. Knowledge of the neurochemical actions of amyloid-β oligomers in specific brain structures is essential for validating animal models of Alzheimer’s disease and for determining the most appropriate behavioral assays of memory. The specific aim of this project was to investigate the neurochemical effects of direct intracerebral infusion of amyloid-β oligomers in the rat. Experiment 1 investigated direct infusions of synthetic …

Effects Of Yellow Rectangular Rapid-Flashing Beacons And Novel Lane Markings On Motorists’ Yielding, Speed, And Headway At Multilane Uncontrolled Crosswalks, Jimmy Wayne Shurbutt

Dissertations

Several methods have been examined to increase motorists’ yielding to pedestrians and the distance at which they yield on multilane crosswalks at uncontrolled locations with relatively high average daily traffic (ADT). A series of 5 experiments were conducted to evaluate the efficacy of rectangular rapid-flashing beacons (RRFBs) as effective pedestrian crossing aides. The first experiment found that the RRFBs produced a significant increase in yielding behavior at all 26 sites located in 3 cities in the United States. Data collected over a 2-year follow-up period at 22 of these sites plus 14-month follow-up at an additional 4 sites documented the …

Inp 4004 Industrial/Organizational Behavior, Michael D. Coovert

Service-Learning Syllabi

No abstract provided.

Spirituality, Religiosity, And Weight Management In Black Women, Shené L. Bowie

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Background

Obesity is a major concern in the United States and Black Americans are among those with the highest rates of overweight, obesity, and related co- morbidities. While weight loss among Black women has been studied within the context of a faith-based setting, there is little information about the relationship between spirituality, or relationship with the transcendent, and self-efficacy in the achievement and maintenance of a healthy weight.

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to analyze the relationships among spirituality, self-efficacy for physical activity and healthy eating, and body composition measures among Black women over the period of participation …

Testing The Efficacy Of A Computerized Behavioral Activation Treatment Of Depressive Disorders, Alyssa H. Kalata

Dissertations

The present study sought to examine the feasibility and preliminary efficacy of a computerized behavioral activation treatment for depressive disorders (IMMBA), while also investigating potential mechanisms of action involved in the treatment of depression through the use of behavioral activation. Nine adults who met criteria for either Major Depressive Disorder or Dysthymic Disorder were recruited from Kalamazoo, Portage, and surrounding areas in Southwestern Michigan. All participants received ten sessions of IMM-BA treatment. Symptoms of depression and related information were assessed at pretreatment and one-week, onemonth, three-month, and six-month follow-up through the use of the Beck Depression Inventory - II (BDI-II), …

A Combined Fmri And Dti Examination Of Functional Language Lateralization And Arcuate Fasciculus Structure: Effects Of Degree Versus Direction Of Hand Preference Author Links Open Overlay Panel, Ruth E. Propper, Lauren J. O'Donnell, Stephen Whalen, Yanmei Tie, Isaiah Norton, Ralph O. Suarez, Lilla Zollei, Alireza Radmanesh, Alexandra Golby

Department of Psychology Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

The present study examined the relationship between hand preference degree and direction, functional language lateralization in Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas, and structural measures of the arcuate fasciculus. Results revealed an effect of degree of hand preference on arcuate fasciculus structure, such that consistently-handed individuals, regardless of the direction of hand preference, demonstrated the most asymmetric arcuate fasciculus, with larger left versus right arcuate, as measured by DTI. Functional language lateralization in Wernicke’s area, measured via fMRI, was related to arcuate fasciculus volume in consistent-left-handers only, and only in people who were not right hemisphere lateralized for language; given the …

Effect Of Depression On Attention Via Mood Induction In A Healthy Population, Cheryl Mae Calvano

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

This project continues research into the cognitive attention of persons with a sad mood similar to that experienced by dysthymia. The project utilizes the Dot Probe Task to evaluate attention to affective stimuli presented in the International Affective Picture Set (IAPS). Participants were psychology students recruited from La Sierra University. Participants completed a word task that intended to induce a sad or neutral mood. The Positive and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS) was used to evaluate the efficacy of the mood induction. Overall, participant’s negative PANAS scale did not differ between groups. Groups differed between administrations of the PANAS on the …

The Accuracy Of Observers' Estimates Of The Effect Of Glare On Nighttime Vision: Do We Exaggerate The Disabling Effects Of Glare?, Stacy Balk

All Dissertations

Designing headlights involves balancing two conflicting goals: maximizing visibility for the driver and minimizing the disabling effects of glare for other drivers. Complaints of headlight glare have increased recently. This project explored the relationship between subjective (discomfort and expected visual problems) and objective (actual visual problems) consequences of glare. Two experiments - a lab-based psychophysical study and a field study - quantified the accuracy of observers' estimates of the effects of glare on their acuity. In both experiments, participants over-estimated the extent to which glare degraded their ability to see a small high contrast target. Observers' estimates of the disabling …

Self-Construal And Insight Problem Solving, Junaid Salim Merrchant

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

Self-construal research has shown that the way people view themselves impacts a variety of cognitive processes. Research has focused on two levels of self-construal: the interdependent self-construal, or when the self is represented in relation to others, and the independent self­ construal, or when the self is represented independently of others. Findings from the self­ construal and cognition research suggest that the interdependent self is associated with diffuse attention, while findings from the self-construal and creativity research indicate that the independent self is associated with divergent thinking important for creativity. The present study examined the effect of self-construal priming in …

Spatial Perception And Robot Operation: The Relationship Between Visual Spatial Ability And Performance Under Direct Line Of Sight And Teleoperation, Joshua Gomer

All Dissertations

This dissertation investigated the relationship between the spatial perception abilities of operators and robot operation under direct-line-of-sight and teleoperation viewing conditions. This study was an effort to determine if spatial ability testing may be a useful tool in the selection of human-robot interaction (HRI) operators. Participants completed eight cognitive ability measures and operated one of four types of robots under tasks of low and high difficulty. Performance for each participant was tested during both direct-line-of-sight and teleoperation. These results provide additional evidence that spatial perception abilities are reliable predictors of direct-line-of-sight and teleoperation performance. Participants in this study with higher …

An Experimental Analysis Of Couple Aggression Using A Response Choice Paradigm, Claudia R. Viggiano

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Research suggests that a majority of the violence reported by couples involves mutual, low-level acts of aggression; however, there is a dearth of research examining this "common couple violence" using a true experimental paradigm. The current study was designed to more closely approximate a naturalistic situation involving common couple violence by allowing participants to choose whether to retaliate in the face of provocation by their partner. Couples were randomly assigned to four conditions representing different patterns of provocation. Based on the assigned condition, participants received varying amounts of bad tasting juice allegedly poured for them by their partners across 5 …

Locus Of Control And The Age Difference In Free Recall From Episodic Memory, Paul Amrhein, Judith K. Bond, Derek Hamilton

Department of Psychology Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

The authors investigated the relation of locus of control (LOC) to age differences in free-recall memory performance. Older and younger participants completed P. C. Duttweiler's (1984) Internal Control Index (ICI) and subsequently performed free-recall memory tasks. Compared with the younger participants, the older participants exhibited poorer recall with more intrusions and uncorrected repetition errors as well as reduced categorical clustering. For the older participants with less internal LOC, recall proportion and item-pair associative recall clustering were lower than for the older participants with more internal LOC. By contrast, the younger participants did not exhibit any LOC effects in their recall …

Psychometric Properties Of The Psychopathic Personality Inventory In A Non-Criminal Population, Julie Madeleine Woltil

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

The Psychopathic Personality Inventory (PPI) is a self-report measure which was created to identify the personality traits of psychopathy in noncriminal populations. These personality traits were grouped into eight subscales in the PPI including Machiavellian Egocentricity, Social Potency, Coldheartedness, Carefree Nonplanfulness, Fearlessness, Blame Externalization, Impulsive Nonconformity and Stress Immunity. The hypothesized relationships and factor structure of this study follow the theory of psychopathy as being a disorder rooted in antisocial behaviors (often aggressive and impulsive in nature) and inappropriate emotional reactivity (characterized as a lack in empathy and anxiety). A confirmatory factor analysis was done with an ethnically diverse undergraduate …

Sour Grapes While You're Down And Out: Self-Serving Bias And Applicant Attributions For Test Performance, Kyle Garret Mack

Dissertations and Theses

Recent research has shown that outcome favorability (Ryan & Ployhart, 2000) and perceived performance (Chan, Schmitt, Jennings, Clause, & Delbridge, 1998a) are key determinates of justice judgments, suggesting that self-serving bias is a critical mechanism in the formation of applicant reactions. However, organizational justice theory continues to be the dominant paradigm for understanding applicant reactions. Chan and Schmitt (2004) have suggested a far ranging agenda for research into reactions, which includes considering reactions in a longitudinal framework and considering the natural effect of time on reactions. The current study incorporates these theoretical approaches and addresses these gaps in the research …

Markers Of Marijuana Use Outcomes Within Adolescent Substance Abuse Group Treatment, Paul Amrhein, Brett Engle, Mark Macgowan, Eric Wagner

Department of Psychology Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Objectives: Despite their popularity, little is known about what distinguishes effective from ineffective or even iatrogenic adolescent group interventions. Methods: Audio recordings and transcripts from 19, 8—10 session, school-based treatment groups comprised of 108, substance abusing 10- to 19-year olds were analyzed. Group leader empathy was measured globally, while two new constructs, group commitment, and peer response, were measured using discourse analysis. All variables were measured at the group level. Results: Associations among these process variables were tested and supported, as were the hypothesized associations between both group member language constructs and marijuana use outcomes. Conclusions: These findings were consistent …

A Model Of Flow And Play In Game-Based Learning The Impact Of Game Characteristics, Player Traits, And Player States, Davin Pavlas

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation, the relationship between flow state, serious games, and learning was examined. Serious games, which are games that convey something other than enjoyment (e.g., learning), are increasingly popular platforms for research, training, and advertisement. The elements that make serious games useful to researchers, trainers, and practitioners are closely linked to those that make up the positive psychology construct of flow state. Flow state describes an optimum experience that is encountered when a variety of factors are met, and is characterized by high focus, engagement, motivation, and immersion. While flow state is often discussed in the serious games literature, …

Upward And Onward, Jeffrey N. Weatherly

Analysis of Gambling Behavior

No abstract provided.

Behavioral Gerontology And Gambling: The Jackalope Of Behavior Analysis, Jonathan C. Baker

Analysis of Gambling Behavior

Older adults constitute over one third of all gamblers in the United States. As the baby-boom generation continues to reach older adulthood, this proportion is likely to grow. To date, behavior-analytic research on gambling has focused on younger populations. Although such research is necessary and important, the present account will suggest that additional research should focus on studying older gamblers. The purpose of the present account is to review the literature that exists on typical behavior changes observed in older-adult populations and the implications for those changes related to current behavior-analytic research in gambling.

The Effect Of Relational Training On The Near-Miss Effect In Slot Machine Platers, Becky L. Nastally, Mark R. Dixon

Analysis of Gambling Behavior

In the current study, six slot machine players were exposed to two concurrently available computer simulated slot machines (one yellow and one blue). The blue slot machine produced a high frequency of near-miss outcomes and the yellow slot produced no such outcomes. Both machines produced reinforcement on a random-ratio 10 schedule and response options were presented in a free operant paradigm. After a 50-trial exposure, participants completed multiple exemplar training and testing as well as a stimulus-sort task to form a relation between the color blue and ‘worse-than’ and then were re-exposed to the slot machine task for another 50 …

The Impact Of Derived Relational Responding On Gambling Behavior, Simon Dymond, Bryan Roche

Analysis of Gambling Behavior

The present article describes existing research on the impact of derived relational responding on gambling behavior. First, it is argued that a greater understanding of the role of verbal behavior in gambling behavior is made possible by research findings and theoretical advances in research on derived relational responding generally, and the transformation of stimulus functions in particular. Second, the findings of several recent studies are described in order to describe the key features of this contemporary approach for verbal events. Finally, implications for the verbally based treatment of disordered gambling are outlined.

Concurrent Validity Of The Gambling Functional Assessment (Gfa):Correlations With The South Oaks Gambling Screen (Sogs)And Indicators Of Diagnostic Efficiency, Joseph C. Miller, Mark R. Dixon, Amanda Parker, Ashley M. Kulland, Jeffrey N. Weatherly

Analysis of Gambling Behavior

Concurrent validity of the recently introduced Gambling Functional Assessment (GFA) was assessed by comparison with the long-used South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS) in two nonclinical adult samples (N = 201, 49% female; N=101, 74% female). Correlations between GFA total scores and its four content scores with SOGS scores were promising (r = .04 to .61), with the content score relating to Escape yielding the highest correlations (.45, .61) and the score relating to Attention yielding the lowest. Performance in the second sample, where the SOGS-defined base rate of pathological gambling (28.7%) was high, was best for Escape scores, which efficiently …

Investigating The Relationship Between Escape And Gambling Behavior, Jeffrey N. Weatherly, Kevin S. Montes, Danielle M. Christopher

Analysis of Gambling Behavior

Recent research suggests that there is a potentially strong relationship between gambling as a means of escape and the presence of pathological gambling. The goal of the present study was to establish whether there was a correlation between endorsing gambling as a means of escape and how participants played video poker in a laboratory setting. Forty eight participants completed several questionnaires and then played video poker. Results demonstrated that endorsement of gambling as a means of escape, as measured by the Gambling Functional Assessment (Dixon & Johnson, 2007), was significantly positively correlated with number of credits risked during video-poker play. …

Recreational And Pathological Gamblers Preferences For Slot Machines Yielding Unequal Reinforcement, Mark R. Dixon, Kelly N. Paulson, Becky L. Nastally

Analysis of Gambling Behavior

The present study examined the effects of relational training and the transformation of stimulus function on the slot machine preferences of non-problem an problem gamblers. In order to extend previous research, the present study programmed the slot machines with unequal payouts values and employed a relational training reversal phase in order to enhance experimental control. Results showed no significant differences between the response allocations of nonproblem and problem gamblers; however, results did indicate significant differences in response allocations between the three slot machine tasks.

Sogs Scores Correlate With Rates Fo Delay Discounting Of Hypothetical Monetary Amounts, But Not Non-Monetary Outcomes, Jeffrey N. Weatherly, Adamn Derenne

Analysis of Gambling Behavior

Although several studies have reported that gamblers display steeper rates of delay discounting than non-gamblers, other research has failed to find a systematic relationship between self-reported frequency of gambling and discounting of different outcomes. One hundred fifty six college students self-reported their frequency of gambling, completed the South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS), and then completed a delay-discounting task involving five different outcomes. Self-reported frequency of gambling was correlated with discounting of one outcome (finding an ideal dating partner) and the correlation was in the opposite direction of what would be expected from the literature. SOGS scores were significantly and positively …

A Review Of Petry & Madden’S Chapter Discounting And Pathologicalgambling In Impulsivity: The Behavioral And Neurologicalscience Of Discounting, Becky L. Nastally

Analysis of Gambling Behavior

Petry and Madden contribute a revealing chapter on the relationship between discounting and pathological gambling to Madden and Bickel’s (2010) Impulsivity: The Behavioral and Neurological Science of Discounting. Within the chapter, the authors note the increased interest in the topic of delay discounting and gambling while presenting some obscurities in the existing body of literature further research will need to address, including the co-occurring role of substance abuse in pathological gamblers. Additionally, the chapter outlines theoretical interpretations of discounting as they relate to gambling behavior as well as highlights the need for further research in the area of probability discounting …

Feeling Of Knowing And Retrieval Failure: Tip-Of-The-Tongue State Is Not The Only Option, Amanda C. Gingerich

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

We investigated whether individuals are able to differentiate being in a tip-of-the-tongue state from the metacognitive experience of knowing information, but being unable to recall it. Results indicate that being unable to recall known information is separate from, and more common than, experiencing a tip-of-the-tongue state.

Implications Of Skinner's Verbal Behavior For Studying Dementia, Jeffrey Buchanan, Daniel Houlihan, Peter J.N. Linnerooth

Psychology Department Publications

Persons with dementia experience continual declines in a number of abilities. Language abilities are particularly hard hit and become increasingly impaired as the underlying disease progresses. These language impairments make verbal communication very challenging for family and professional caregivers. As a result, caregivers may inadvertently punish verbal behavior, thereby exacerbating the deterioration of verbal repertoires. Although the topography of language impairments associated with dementia have been well described, less empirical work has been conducted concerning how to minimize these impairments and their deleterious effects. In 1957 B.F. Skinner outlined his conceptualization of language and cognition in his book Verbal Behavior. …

Rehabilitation Counselor Education And The New Code Of Ethics, Harriet L. Glosoff, Rocco Cottone

Department of Counseling Scholarship and Creative Works

The purpose of this article is to discuss recent changes in the Commission on Rehabilitation Counselor Certification Code of Professional Ethics for Rehabilitation Counselors , effective January 1, 2010, that are most relevant to rehabilitation counselor educators. The authors provide a brief overview of these key changes along with implications for ethical practice in rehabilitation counselor education.

Prevalence Of Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (Ad/Hd) In Primary School Children In Tehran, Ali Shaker

university of science & culture

The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of AD/HD in Primary School Children in Tehran. For this reason, we have selected 2615 children (girls and boys) as sample with multi-stage cluster sampling. SWAN Questionnaire was used for collecting of data. Result showed that the prevalence of predominantly inattentive subtype, predominantly hyperactive-impulsive subtype and combined subtype of ADHD are between ./.6 to ./.9/1. As well, the findings showed that prevalence of predominantly inattentive subtype and predominantly hyperactive-impulsive subtype at age 9 increased and then decreased after age 9. In boys, prevalence of predominantly hyperactive-impulsive subtype and combined subtype …

Cross-Informant Agreement Among Parents And Children, Staci S. Mullins

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Rating scales are often used by school psychologists to assess for emotional and behavioral disorders in students. While one advantage of rating scales is that data can be collected and assessed from multiple informants, research has shown that agreement between multiple informants is usually low to moderate, with the lowest being between parents and youth. The Conners Comprehensive Behavior Rating Scale (CBRS) is a new multi- dimensional rating scale claiming to have moderate parent/youth agreement. The purpose of this study was to analyze the cross-informant agreement between youth and parents using the Conners CBRS and then compare the correlations from …