Cognition and Perception Commons^™

A Comparative Investigation Of Tonal Memory Improvements With Electronic And Vocal Pitch Stimulus Training, Grayson M. Fletcher

Senior Theses

The study described herein compares improvements in tonal memory for young adults (age 19- 22), specifically retention of pitches, between two groups (n1=8, n2=8) with nearly identical training programs. One group was provided electronic pitch stimuli for the training program, while the other group was given human vocal stimuli. Self-paced computerized training sessions were conducted in a soundproofed testing room and interposed between pre-test and post-test measurements. A pre-test—post-test randomized experimental design allowed for assessment of whether the training was effective for each group in addition to comparing effectiveness of training between groups. Analyses with demographic factors, particularly previous musical …

The Relationship Between Cognitive Functioning And Internalizing/Externalizing Behaviors In Children And Adolescents With Down Syndrome, Jessalin R. Good

USC Aiken Psychology Theses

Introduction: Down syndrome (DS) is a developmental disorder caused by a complete extra copy of chromosome 21. This genetic error results in a variety of other symptoms related to a range of medical and cognitive challenges. Although it has been reported that a significant relationship exists between cognitive functioning and both internalizing and externalizing behaviors in typically developing (TD) individuals, the literature is severely limited in investigating this relationship in those with DS.

Rationale: Internalizing and externalizing behaviors have been shown to have a negative relationship with cognitive functioning in TD children and adolescents (Shankman et al., 2010; Wood et …

Observing The Transformation Of Sketches When Rendered In Different Scenarios, Cade Fallaw

Senior Theses

The purpose of the project was to see how a single image of my house transformed when I drew multiple iterations of it under different conditions. Each condition was applied to the artist (me); either by limiting my physical state or by creating a specific mental frame that I drew from. This project consists of 31 sketches of my house: 24 of them were drawn with applied conditions and 7 were drawn from memory. As expected, the greatest differences between the drawings occurred when a greater constraint was placed on the artist, such as when I drew using three different …

The Effect Of The Difference In The Perception Of Temperature Between Sexes On The Academic Performance Of Chapin High School Students, Tiffany V. Phan

Journal of the South Carolina Academy of Science

Mental performance and mental functions may be negatively affected by decreases in thermal comfort as a result of large differences in temperature. Additionally, females are seen to be less content with room temperatures and actually prefer rooms with higher temperatures in comparison to males. This investigation explored the potential effect that sex plays in thermal perception and the impact it may yield on academic performance within a high school population. It was hypothesized that female students would experience an increase in academic performance as the temperature increased while males would experience the opposite effect. A quasi-experimental approach was used to …

Differences In Stimulus-Response Prediction And Reorientation Of Attention Relative To Student Athletic Background, Madelyn Quirk, Jessica Green

Senior Theses

Within the game of baseball, every hit, pitch, and catch, rely on a player’s ability to respond quickly and appropriately to the resulting play in a manner that allows them to be an asset on the field. The most successful athletes are those best able to allocate their attention to accomplish these goal-oriented tasks. To explore this attentional orientation, occipital neural recordings of alpha waves often show a preemptive shift in phase alignment according to temporal anticipations. Here we aimed to identify influences on voluntary attention using cueing paradigms to examine stimulus-response timing relative to validity and athletic background, while …

The Effects Of Mindfulness On Verbal Distress Disclosure, Sara Fleming

USC Aiken Psychology Theses

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of a mindfulness induction on participants’ verbal distress disclosure (as measured by the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count and State Disclosure Questionnaire). Participants were 86 undergraduate students enrolled in an Introduction to Psychology course and were randomly assigned to one of two conditions: a mindfulness condition or a control condition. Participants in the mindfulness condition engaged in a 15-minute mindfulness induction prior to disclosing about a stressful experience, while participants in the control condition listened to a neutrally valenced audio excerpt from a podcast about emotions before speaking about a …

Adult Attachment Styles And Psychopathic Traits: A Relationship Mediated By Empathy And Emotional Regulation?, Chelsea Heim

USC Aiken Psychology Theses

Psychopathic personality traits encompass an array of characteristics that emerge early in life and are influenced by insecure attachments between children and their parents. Disruptions in parent-child interactions also affect the development of empathy (Panfile & Laible, 2010) and emotion regulation (Waters, S. F., Virmani, E. A., Thompson, R. A., Meyer, S., Raikes, H. A. & Jochem, R., 2010), which contributes to lasting impairments in interpersonal working models about the self and others (Mack, Hackney & Pile, 2010). The interactions between psychopathy and insecure attachment, low levels of empathy, and the ability to regulate one’s emotions have been separately investigated …

The Impact Of Childhood Trauma As Moderated By Ptsd, Relationship With Caregiver, And Rumination, Aislyn M. Allen

USC Aiken Psychology Theses

The current study explored the relationship between childhood trauma and deliberate rumination, as well as PTSD symptomology, psychological and physiological functioning. Participants consisted of 55 undergraduate students, ages 18-23; who completed measures about a specific traumatic event, psychological functioning, parental attachment, PTSD symptoms, deliberate rumination, childhood maltreatment, and a demographics questionnaire. Reported childhood trauma was a specifically identified traumatic life event, child maltreatment, or having a parent with a substance abuse or mental disorder. Following completion of measures, participants were asked to answer questions while heart rate, heart rate variability, and electrodermal activity were monitored. Results indicated there was relation …

Does Self-Compassion Protect Against Emotional Dysregulation, Anxiety, And Other Negative Emotions?, Elizabeth Willits

USC Aiken Psychology Theses

Self-compassion is a multifaceted construct meant to allow individuals to treat themselves with kindness, have a balanced perspective on their experiences, and feel connected to others (Neff, 2003a). Emotion regulation is related to higher levels of self-compassion (Diedrich et al., 2013; Vettese et al., 2011), and Neff (2003a) proposes that self-compassion can be viewed as a superior emotion regulation strategy. Self-compassion is negatively correlated with many forms of psychopathology, including anxiety (Neff, 2003b; Neff et al., 2007; Neff & McGehee, 2010). Based on prior research, it appears that self-compassion may increase the ability to regulation emotions, therefore increasing an individual’s …