Cognitive Psychology Commons^™

Prospective Associations Of Homocysteine, Executive Function, And Depressive Symptoms, Peter J. Dearborn

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Associations of cardiovascular risk factors, cognitive performance, and depressive symptoms have been well established. However, the directionality of these associations as well as the specificity of these associations with respect to executive function are less clear. Additionally few studies have determined whether genetic risk factors, such as apolipoprotein-E4 (APOE-E4) genotype, and age moderate the associations of cardiovascular risk factors such as homocysteine with changes in depressive symptoms and how these associations may be mediated by cognitive performance. The primary aim of this study was to analyze the bidirectional associations of a full range of cognitive domains and symptoms of depression …

Prospective Studies Of Cardiovascular Risk Factors And Mild Cognitive Impairment, Kevin Sullivan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The association of cardiovascular risk factors including hypertension, diabetes, cholesterol, kidney function, and arterial stiffness with cognitive impairment in older adults is a well-studied phenomenon. However, there is considerably less evidence relating cardiovascular health specifically to a diagnosis of Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI). As a precursor state of dementia, MCI is characterized by a decline in cognitive function from previous level, but not to the degree that activities of daily living are impaired. Not everyone who is diagnosed with MCI will eventually transition to dementia, but the transition rates are much higher compared to the general population (5-15% per year …

Faces, Locations, And Tools: A Proposed Two-Stimulus P300 Brain Computer Interface, Marissa R. Jones

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Brain Computer Interface (BCI) technology can be important for those unable to communicate due loss of muscle control. The P300 Speller allows communication at a rate up to eight selections per minute. Given this relatively slow rate of communication highly accurate classification is of great importance. Previous studies have shown that alternative stimuli (e.g., faces) can improve BCI speed and accuracy. The present study uses two new alternative stimuli, locations and graspable tools in a two-stimulus paradigm. Functional MRI studies have shown that images of familiar locations produce brain responses in the parahippocampal place area and graspable tools produce brain …

Video Game Engagement, Gender, And Age: Examining Similarities And Differences In Motivation Between Those Who May Or May Not Play Video Games, Joseph Camarata

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research aims to fill a research gap by examining video games to explore whether gender, age, or hours played per week would exert any influence on the information of those who may or may not play video games. Mood Management Theory and Uses and Gratification Theory were used as the theoretical foundation for this study. Four-hundred-three East Tennessee State University students who received the survey via email were asked to voluntarily participate in a survey about their motivations behind playing video games. Results from MANOVA showed that the motivations of male participants on video games were significantly higher than …

Gamification Of Visual Search In Real World Scenes, Alyssa Hess

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Gamification, or the application of game-like features in non-game contexts, has been growing in popularity over the last five years. Specifically, the successful gamification of applications (such as Waze, Foursquare, and Fitocracy) has begun a spike in gamification of more complex tasks, such as learning to use AutoCAD or Photoshop. However, much is unknown about the psychological mapping of gamification or how it translates to behavioral outcomes. This dissertation aims to compare three distinct styles of gamification (avatars, points and feedback, and leaderboards) onto the three basic psychological needs (autonomy, competence, and relatedness). It will assess behavioral outcomes on a …

Examining Energetic And Structural Components Of Knowledge Of Result Using A Vigilance Paradigm, Nicholas Fraulini

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Vigilance, or the ability to maintain attention to stimuli over a prolonged period of time (Davies & Parasuraman, 1982; Warm & Jerison, 1984), has been a troublesome research topic since World War II. Scientists have sought to counteract performance declines in vigilance tasks by training observers on these tasks. Though an extensive literature has been developed to examine the effectiveness of these techniques, the mechanisms by which many forms of vigilance training help performance are largely unknown. The present dissertation seeks to further the understanding of how two forms of training for vigilance, practice and knowledge of result, function to …

Examining The Role Of Cardiovascular And Cognitive Fitness In Goal-Directed Aiming Across The Lifespan, Michael Rupp

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Older adults experience more difficulties completing goal directed movements than younger adults. The reasons for this have not been completely elucidated within the research literature; however, it is thought that age related movement differences are due to at least one of three possible reasons. The current study investigated the influence of these three hypotheses: (1) biomechanical changes (limbs, joints, or muscles), (2) sensory feedback processing ability, or (3) differences in overall movement strategy on movement kinematics. Additionally, physical activi-ty is known to improve both physical and cognitive functioning and staying cognitively active may also attenuate age-related declines in cognitive ability; …

The Role Of Accounts And Apologies In Mitigating Blame Toward Human And Machine Agents, Kimberly Stowers

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Would you trust a machine to make life-or-death decisions about your health and safety? Machines today are capable of achieving much more than they could 30 years ago—and the same will be said for machines that exist 30 years from now. The rise of intelligence in machines has resulted in humans entrusting them with ever-increasing responsibility. With this has arisen the question of whether machines should be given equal responsibility to humans—or if humans will ever perceive machines as being accountable for such responsibility. For example, if an intelligent machine accidentally harms a person, should it be blamed for its …

Beyond Compliance: Examining The Role Of Motivation In Vigilance Performance, Alexis Neigel

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Vigilance, or sustained attention, is the capacity to attend to information for a prolonged period of time (Davies & Parasuraman, 1982; Jerison, 1970; Warm, 1977). Due to limitations of the human nervous system, as well as the environmental context, attention can begin to wane over time. This results in a phenomenon referred to as the vigilance decrement, or a decline in vigilance performance as a function of time. The vigilance decrement can manifest as poorer attention and is thusly associated with poor performance, which is defined behaviorally as more lapses in the detection of critical signals and an increase in …

Do Multiple Conditions Elicit The Visual Redundant Signals Effect In Simple Response Times?, Ada Mishler

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The redundant signals effect, or redundancy gain, is an increase in human processing efficiency when target redundancy is introduced into a display. An advantage for two visual signals over one has been found in a wide variety of speeded response time tasks, but does not always occur and may be weakened by some task parameters. These disparate results suggest that visual redundancy gain is not a unitary effect, but is instead based on different underlying mechanisms in different tasks. The current study synthesizes previous theories applied to redundancy gain into the three-conditions hypothesis, which states that visual redundancy gain depends …

An Exploration Of The Feasibility Of Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy As A Neurofeedback Cueing System For The Mitigation Of The Vigilance Decrement, Gabriella Hancock

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Vigilance is the capacity for observers to maintain attention over extended periods of time, and has most often been operationalized as the ability to detect rare and critical signals (Davies & Parasuraman, 1982; Parasuraman, 1979; Warm, 1984). Humans, however, have natural physical and cognitive limitations that preclude successful long-term vigilance performance and consequently, without some means of assistance, failures in operator vigilance are likely to occur. Such a decline in monitoring performance over time has been a robust finding in vigilance experiments for decades and has been called the vigilance decrement function (Davies & Parasuraman, 1982; Mackworth, 1948). One of …

The Effect Of Social Influence On Perception Of Tornado Warnings, Jason A. Parker

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Tornado activity annually results in many deaths throughout the U.S. As a result, the emergency alert system (including tornado warnings) has made considerable advancements throughout the past few decades. However, continued improvements could be made to warning content that aid to facilitate adaptive decision-making by increasing individuals’ motivation to respond. One method that could increase adaptive responses to warnings is by including the modality of descriptive social information within the warning. Research suggests that normative social influence acts as a powerful motivator for individuals to conform toward the witnessed or perceived behaviors of others. The current study examined the impact …

Examining The Effects Of Enclosure Size At Training And At Test In Spatial Reorientation, Zebulon K. Bell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Previous research has begun to shed light on the differentiated influence of enclosure size on cue use during reorientation (Sturz, Forloines, & Bodily, 2012). Namely, the question remains of why both feature (i.e., objects or landmarks in the enclosure) and geometric (i.e., shape of the enclosure) cues are differentially affected by enclosure size, and the extent to which local (i.e., wall lengths and corner angles) and global (i.e., principal axis of space) geometric cues are affected by enclosure size. Further, it remains unclear whether training size, testing size, or the relationship between training and testing size influences the use of …

Dual Task Testing Of The Adaptive Combination View In Spatial Reorientation, Donald G. Sullens

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

If an organism is trained to approach a location within an enclosure the organism will approach the correct location and it’s geometrically identical location within the environment upon removal of any features. This phenomenon has been turned spatial reorientation, and further studies on how, and to what, organisms reorient have conducted in the last several decades. In the reorientation literature, two theories have surfaced to fill the void left by the rejection of the initial reorientation theory, the Geometric Module theory. I attempt look to discern if the synonym judgement dual task will hinder reorientation in a similar or different …

Cognitive And Emotional Processes Involved In The Experience Of Objects As Holy Or Transcendent, Lotte J. Pummerer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In recent years, attitudes about religion/spirituality have become more pluralistic (Pew Research Center, 2015a). At the same time, the number of individuals who identify themselves as nonreligious, atheist or agnostic are growing (Pew Research Center, 2015b), yet we are lacking words and research to describe their attributions of transcendence in language not bound to religious concepts. This study aims at examining both concepts – holiness and transcendence – in their similarities and differences through assessing cognitive and emotional processes involved in experiences of objects.

The study consisted of two parts with a total of 206 Christian and 52 nonreligious/atheistic/agnostic participants. …