Cognition and Perception Commons^™

General Cognitive Ability In High School, Attained Education, Occupational Complexity, And Dementia Risk, Jimi Huh, Thalida Em Arpawong, Tara L. Gruenewald, Gwenith G. Fisher, Carol A. Prescott, Jennifer J. Manly, Dominika Seblova, Ellen E. Walters, Margaret Gatz

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

INTRODUCTION

We address the extent to which adolescent cognition predicts dementia risk in later life, mediated by educational attainment and occupational complexity.

METHODS

Using data from Project Talent Aging Study (PTAS), we fitted two structural equation models to test whether adolescent cognition predicts cognitive impairment (CI) and Ascertain Dementia 8 (AD8) status simultaneously (N_{Cognitive Assessment} = 2477) and AD8 alone (N_{Questionnaire} = 6491) 60 years later, mediated by education and occupational complexity. Co-twin control analysis examined 82 discordant pairs for CI/AD8.

RESULTS

Education partially mediated the effect of adolescent cognition on CI in the cognitive assessment aample and …

Preparing To Break Barriers: A Mixed Methods Exploration Of The Knowledge, Attitudes, And Perceptions Of Hiv, Prep, And Hiv Risk Behaviors Among Women Of Color In Miami, Florida, Amanda C. Ichite

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The U.S. HIV epidemic is characterized by regional, racial, and ethnic disparities. HIV rates are disproportionately higher in the South and Black and Hispanic populations are most impacted. Moreover, the intersectional identity of being a Black or Hispanic woman living in the South has been associated with profound disparities in HIV impact. Prior to the advent of the biomedical HIV prevention tool pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) in 2012, women were limited in their options for female-controlled HIV prevention strategies. Despite the proven efficacy of PrEP, utilization in women is significantly lower than other at-risk groups. In the present study, secondary analysis …

The Politics Of The Self: Psychedelic Assemblages, Psilocybin, And Subjectivity In The Anthropocene, Joshua Falcon

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines how psychedelic substances become drawn into particular sociohistorical and political arrangements, and how psychedelic experiences with psilocybin ‘magic mushrooms’ are used as tools of subjectivation. Guided by literatures in philosophy, critical theory, and the social sciences that focus on subjectivity, assemblage theory, and critical posthumanism, I argue that psychedelics are drawn into variegated assemblages, each of which conceptualizes the nature of psychedelics in highly specific ways that reflect implicit conceptions of the world and the self. In developing the concept of psychedelic assemblages, this research provides a window onto the politics of the self in the Anthropocene. …

History, Cognition And Nostromo: Conrad’S Explorations Of Torture, Trauma, And The Human Rage For Order, Richard Ruppel

English Faculty Articles and Research

Focusing on Joseph Conrad’s Nostromo, this essay historicizes the treatment of what we now call post-traumatic stress disorder, demonstrating how Conrad anticipated our current understanding and treatment of the illness. The second part of the essay addresses Nostromo’s treatment of historiography. Part three is concerned with epistemology and the relationship between neurological discoveries concerning the gap between perception and consciousness, relating those discoveries to Conrad’s use of delayed decoding.

An Evaluation Of Wayfinding Abilities In Adolescent And Young Adult Males With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Yingying Yang, Weijia Li, Dan Huang, Wei He, Yanxi Zhang, Edward Merrill

Department of Psychology Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Background

Wayfinding refers to traveling from place to place in the environment. Despite some research headway, it remains unclear whether individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) show strengths, weaknesses, or similarities in wayfinding compared with ability-matched typically developing (TD) controls.

Method

The current study tested 24 individuals with ASD, 24 mental-ability (MA) matched TD (MA-TD) controls, and 24 chronological-age (CA) matched TD (CA-TD) controls. Participants completed a route learning task and a survey learning task, both programmed in virtual environments, and a perspective taking task. Their parents completed questionnaires assessing their children’s everyday wayfinding activities and competence.

Results

Overall, CA-TD …

Historical Trauma Response Scores As A Function Of Unresolved Grief And Substance Use Disorder In American Indian Populations, Andrew R. Saunders

Undergraduate Research Symposium

Abstract

Researchers are interested in the outcomes of interventions, specifically, measuring historical trauma (HT) among American Indian/Alaska Native communities and the long-term distress and substance abuse as a result of historical trauma response (HTR). Previous literature has implicated limitations in the clinical conceptualization of the relationship between intergenerational transfer of HTR and substance abuse. The aim of the current study is to examine treatment efficacy of 50 homosexual, American Indian males randomized to a culturally-adapted juxtaposition of (1) Group Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT), (2) Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT), and (3) Historical Trauma and Unresolved Grief Intervention (HTUG), or (4) waitlisted on …

Wicked Problems: Depression, Sebastian Wendolowski

English Department: Research for Change - Wicked Problems in Our World

Depression is a disorder that can affect anybody and is the leading cause of disability and disorders in the United States. This year, due to COVID-19, it has hit an all time high, affecting many more people. Suicide rates have been steadily growing across all ages, and this year is at a record high too, showing correlation with depression. There are two types of depression, major depressive disorder and chronic depressive disorder. Diagnosis of depression is typically done physically or through a questionnaire, which is compared into a DSM-5. There are many risk factors for depression and other common mental …

Preferences In Information Processing, Marginalized Identity, And Non-Monogamy: Understanding Factors In Suicide-Related Behavior Among Members Of The Alternative Sexuality Community, Robert J. Cramer, Jennifer Langhinrichsen-Rohling, Andrea R. Kaniuka, Corrine N. Wilsey, Annelise Mennicke, Susan Wright, Erika Montanaro, Jessamyn Bowling, Kristin E. Heron

Psychology Faculty Publications

Suicide-related behavior (SRB) is a mental health disparity experienced by the alternative sexuality community. We assessed mental health, relationship orientation, marginalized identities (i.e., sexual orientation minority, gender minority, racial minority, ethnic minority, and lower education), and preferences in information processing (PIP) as factors differentiating lifetime SRB groups. An online cross-sectional survey study was conducted in 2018. Members of the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom (NCSF; n = 334) took part. Bivariate analyses identified the following SRB risk factors: female and transgender/gender non-binary identity, sexual orientation minority identity, lower education, suicide attempt/death exposure, Need for Affect (NFA) Avoidance, depression, and anxiety. …

Measurement Matters: Higher Waist-To-Hip Ratio But Not Body Mass Index Is Associated With Deficits In Executive Functions And Episodic Memory, Andree Hartanto, Jose C. Yong

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Background: The current study aimed to reconcile the inconsistentfindings between obesity, executive functions, and episodic memory byaddressing major limitations of previous studies, including overreliance onbody mass index (BMI), small sample sizes, and failure to control forconfounds.Methods: Participants consisted of 3,712 midlife adults from theCognitive Project of the National Survey of Midlife Development. Executivefunctions and episodic memory were measured by a battery of cognitive functiontests.Results: We found that higher waist-to-hip ratio was associated withdeficits in both executive functions and episodic memory, above and beyond theinfluence of demographics, comorbid health issues, health behaviors,personality traits, and self-perceived obesity. However, higher BMI was notassociated …

Social Work Trauma Interventions: Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, Kassie Baumann

Senior Honors Theses

According to Lynne Weilart (2013), in her article on the reasons why people seek out therapy, trauma is the number one reason people attend counseling. Many different trauma-informed approaches are designed specifically to address the consequences of trauma and to facilitate healing. Some of these approaches are as follows: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT); Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT);Mentalization Based Therapy (MBT); Trauma Systems Therapy (TST); Trauma Assessment Pathway (TAP); and Attachment, Self-Regulation, and Competency (ARC) (de Arellano, Danielson, Ko, & Sprauge, 2008). The effectiveness of each trauma intervention will be examined. DBT is one of these trauma interventions that is growing …

The Contributing Factors To Adolescent Depression, Josie H. Lee

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Objective: This paper reviews individual, familial, peer, and societal factors influencing adolescent depression in developed countries. Background: Depression usually onsets at adolescence and contributes to high DALYs. Since depression is treatable, efforts should be made to reduce its prevalence and effect. Methods: The research consisted of looking at literature relevant to the topic and age group and conducting interviews with experts who know about and have worked with adolescent depression. Discussion: Adolescents begins at the onset of puberty, allowing different biological factors such as genetics, stress of puberty, and cognitive changes to increase vulnerability to depression. Adolescents who had substance …

Children's Cancer And Transplant Hospital: A Micro Town Within A Bubble, Kimia Samimi

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

As the greatest considerations in health-care design have traditionally been functional —hygiene, efficiency, and flexibility for changing technology— hospitals have evolved to become dehumanizing spaces. In this thesis two specific groups of chronically ill children who have among the longest inpatient stays are studied: cancer and organ transplant patients. Being under immunosuppressive drugs, these children are physically vulnerable thus are kept completely isolated. These long stays and isolation can be very depressing for them.

This thesis undertakes the challenge of designing a fully isolated space that doesn’t feel like one or in other words “a micro-town within a bubble”. The …

Testing The Indirect Effect Of Trait Mindfulness On Adolescent Cigarette Smoking Through Negative Affect And Perceived Stress Mediators, C. Anderson Johnson, David S. Black, Joel Milam, Steve Sussman

CGU Faculty Publications and Research

Mindfulness refers to an enhanced attention to and awareness of present moment experience. This study examined how trait mindfulness, as measured with six items from Mindfulness Attention Awareness Scale, might influence adolescent cigarette smoking frequency through its impact on depressive affect, anger affect and perceived stress mediators. Self-reported data from Chinese adolescents (N = 5287, mean age = 16.2 years, SD = 0.7; 48.8% females) were collected within 24 schools. The product of coefficients test was used to determine significant mediation paths. Results from baseline cross-sectional data indicated that trait mindfulness had a significant indirect effect on past 30-day …

Increasing Parity Is Associated With Cumulative Effects On Memory, Laura M. Glynn

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this investigation was to determine if reproductive experience is associated with cumulative effects on human memory performance during pregnancy and if these effects persist into the postpartum period.

METHODS: Verbal recall memory performance was assessed in 254 women four times during pregnancy and at 3 months postpartum. The relation between parity and memory function was evaluated with hierarchical linear modeling and analysis of covariance (ANCOVA).

RESULTS: The data indicate that the previously documented adverse effects of pregnancy on memory performance are compounded with successive pregnancies. During gestation and postpartum, multiparity was associated with poorer memory function, …

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 …

Attachment: The Antidote To Trauma, Joshua Straub

Faculty Publications and Presentations

Trauma and loss in life are inevitable. And all too often the traumatic experience itself can be enough to paralyze the mental, emotional, and spiritual state of any given person. Unable to interpret the traumatic experience, many instead are left defined by it. Helping clients discern the objective experience and their subjective reactions to it will help free them from the emotions and beliefs that subsequently control their lives. Based on the most relevant attachment theory research and clinical techniques, this workshop teaches the attentional strategies necessary to helping clients overcome trauma.

A Pilot Study Of Bibliotherapy To Reduce Alcohol Problems Among Patients In A Hospital Trauma Center, Paul Amrhein, Timothy Apodaca, William R. Miller, Carol R. Schermer

Department of Psychology Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Because alcohol use plays a major role in many injuries that require hospital care, there is increasing interest in developing interventions to address alcohol problems among emergency department and trauma center patients. The aim of the current study was to extend past research on brief interventions by investigating the use of a self-help manual to treat problem drinkers in a hospital trauma center. Forty injured patients who were either intoxicated at the time of injury or screened positive for harmful drinking were randomly assigned to receive either a brief assessment and a self-help booklet with no more than 5 minutes …

Client Commitment Language During Motivational Interviewing Predicts Drug Use Outcomes, Paul Amrhein, William R. Miller, Carolina Yahne, Michael Palmer, Laura Fulcher

Department of Psychology Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Client language from a motivational interview (MI) and drug use outcome were investigated. Interview videotapes of 84 drug abusers were coded for frequency and strength of utterances expressing commitment, desire, ability, need, readiness, and reasons to change or maintain their habit. Cluster analysis of proportion days abstinent (PDA) revealed 3 groups: high PDA at intake and follow-up (3, 6, 9, 12 months; maintainers); low intake PDA/high follow-up PDA (changers); and low intake PDA/low to moderate follow-up PDA (stragglers). Distinct group patterns emerged for commitment strength (CS) during MI. Clients dishonest in checklist self-report exhibited CS similar to stragglers. CS for …

Are Suicide Attempters Who Self-Mutilate A Unique Population?, Barbara Stanley, Marc Gameroff, Venezia Michalsen, John Mann

Department of Justice Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

OBJECTIVE: Individuals who mutilate themselves are at greater risk for suicidal behavior. Clinically, however, there is a perception that the suicide attempts of self-mutilators are motivated by the desire for attention rather than by a genuine wish to die. The purpose of this study was to determine differences between suicide attempters with and without a history of self-mutilation.

METHOD: The authors examined demographic characteristics, psychopathology, objective and perceived lethality of suicide attempts, and perceptions of their suicidal behavior in 30 suicide attempters with cluster B personality disorders who had a history of self-mutilation and a matched group of 23 suicide …