Cognitive Psychology Commons^™

Spontaneous Simulation Of Future And Past Events, Mackenzie Bain

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Spontaneous future and past events come to mind unintentionally. Previous research supports that environmental cues prompt spontaneous simulation, although the role of specific cues remains unaddressed. Previous work has found that involuntary autobiographical memories are generated in chained-event sequences, which refers to multiple, related events being generated consecutively. We addressed how event and location cues influence spontaneous future and past events, and whether future events occur in chains. In a boring vigilance task, 132 participants located a left-facing arrow amongst right-facing arrows. On 49 of 350 trials, participants encountered event or location cues. Ten times, participants audio-recorded off-task thoughts they …

Quantifying Neuromelanin Content Across Varying Magnetic Field Strengths: A Comparative Analysis, Laiba Rizwan

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Neuromelanin (NM) is an insoluble dark pigment molecule that is found in the substantia nigra of the human brain. Due to its paramagnetic nature, NM can be imaged using MRI in the form of neuromelanin sensitive contrast. This method, known as Neuromelanin Sensitive Magnetic Resonance Imaging (NM-MRI) allows non-invasive imaging of the human substantia nigra through its by-product, NM. NM-MRI research has been mostly done using lower field strength (3 or 1.5 Tesla) MRI scans. The advent of high field strength imaging, e.g., 7 Tesla (7T) provides the opportunity to study neuromelanin production sites with higher spatial resolution and enhanced …

Exploring The Effectiveness Of Mood Induction In Virtual Reality, Julia V. Ignaszewski

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Mood induction procedures (MIPs) are commonly used by researchers who seek to examine affective states and their effects on other outcomes of interest. Despite their popularity, MIPs do not generate the same type of intense and influential emotions that are caused by life events, creating an empirical gap between naturalistic and experimentally manipulated emotion. Researchers have begun exploring the use of virtual reality (VR) to address these flaws, as its engaging and immersive nature could confer higher ecological validity for laboratory-induced emotions. This study compared the effectiveness of fear-elicitation via a VR cinema MIP to that of a standard film …

Investigating The Language Of Time: Evaluating The Use And Comprehension Of Before And After, Kimberley R. Henderson

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Before-initial sentences are thought to be more difficult to comprehend than after-initial sentences because they structurally mismatch the temporal order of real-world events (Münte et al., 1998). Although event knowledge is known to affect how people understand before/after-initial sentences, little is known about the role of language knowledge in comprehending these sentences. A corpus analysis of before/after-initial sentences revealed that before typically is paired with a pronoun (Before he…) whereas after is paired with verb-ing (After leaving…). Participants' eyes were tracked while they read Before/After-pronoun/verbing sentences. Reading times did not match the …

Investigating Neural Mechanisms Associated With The Double Empathy Problem Using Fnirs Hyperscanning, Kate E. Turner

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The Double Empathy Problem posits that autistic social difficulties are due to differences in communication styles rather than an autistic deficit in theory of mind (ToM). We used fNIRS hyperscanning to examine whether neural synchrony in pairs with varying levels of autistic traits during social interactions supports the Double Empathy Problem. Participants with low and high autistic trait expression were paired creating High-High, Low-High, and Low-Low groups. Pairs completed two trials where they 1) listened to and 2) discussed stories that contained or lacked theory of mind elements, while brain activity was recorded within the ToM network. During conversation, High-High …

Spontaneous Intrapersonal Synchrony And The Effect Of Cognitive Load, Ramkumar Jagadeesan

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Spontaneous intrapersonal synchronization is the spontaneous synchronization of periodic behaviors within an individual. It is less investigated than spontaneous interpersonal synchronization, the synchronization of periodic behaviors that occurs spontaneously between individuals integrated into a single system through coupling, caused by the exchange of sensory feedback between them. It was therefore hypothesized that periodic behaviors produced by an individual, a single system by default, would spontaneously be more synchronous through exchange of sensory feedback, coupling and integration within the individual, when the behaviors are produced simultaneously, compared to separately. Based on a postulate that explains spontaneous interpersonal synchronization as a strategy …

Fraction Magnitude Understanding Across Learning Formats: An Fmri Study, Chloe A. Henry

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Knowledge of fraction magnitudes are an important, but notoriously difficult mathematical concept to master. Behavioural work has begun to explore and compare the instructional tools used for fraction learning. However, how fraction instructional tools are processed in the brain remains an underexplored question. Therefore, in the present thesis, we used functional brain MRI methodology to examine the neural activity of adult participants while completing a fraction verification task using the number line and area model, two common methods of fraction learning. We found that both models commonly recruited fronto-parietal activity, the neural regions typically implicated in number processing. However, we …

Examining The Paradox Of Adult Second Language Word And Grammar Learning, Leah Brainin

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Background: Adults generally demonstrate advanced cognitive skills compared to children, with second language (L2) learning being a key exception, particularly within the grammar domain. As optimal vocabulary and grammar learning are believed to engage in distinct explicit and implicit learning mechanisms, respectively, the advanced neurocognitive mechanisms underpinning adults’ higher-order cognitive skills may particularly interfere with implicit grammar learning. The objective of this dissertation was to examine select neural and cognitive factors that may contribute to word and grammar learning differences.

In Study 1, I investigated the neural correlates of artificial vocabulary and morphology learning using functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy …

Individual Differences In Decision-Making And Emotions: A Study Of Alexithymia Using The Columbia Card Task, Kaycee A. Stewart Ms.

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Making effective decisions requires a balance between rational thinking and emotional processing. Optimal decision-making approaches involve carefully analyzing available information to make informed and advantageous choices. This study investigates how people’s ability to identify, process, and express emotions (alexithymia) relates to their decision-making in different emotional contexts. We used the Hot and Cold versions of the Columbia Card Task (CCT) to evaluate how participants make decisions. By analyzing their decisions as a function of their alexithymia levels and three manipulated game parameters (loss probability, loss amount, and gain amount), we discovered that people with higher levels of alexithymia had reduced …