Digital Commons Network^™

Sharing Stress With A Robot: What Would A Robot Say?, Honson Y. Ling, Elin A. Björling

Human-Machine Communication

With the prevalence of mental health problems today, designing human-robot interaction for mental health intervention is not only possible, but critical. The current experiment examined how three types of robot disclosure (emotional, technical, and by-proxy) affect robot perception and human disclosure behavior during a stress-sharing activity. Emotional robot disclosure resulted in the lowest robot perceived safety. Post-hoc analysis revealed that increased perceived stress predicted reduced human disclosure, user satisfaction, robot likability, and future robot use. Negative attitudes toward robots also predicted reduced intention for future robot use. This work informs on the possible design of robot disclosure, as well as …

Building A Stronger Casa: Extending The Computers Are Social Actors Paradigm, Andrew Gambino, Jesse Fox, Rabindra A. Ratan

Human-Machine Communication

The computers are social actors framework (CASA), derived from the media equation, explains how people communicate with media and machines demonstrating social potential. Many studies have challenged CASA, yet it has not been revised. We argue that CASA needs to be expanded because people have changed, technologies have changed, and the way people interact with technologies has changed. We discuss the implications of these changes and propose an extension of CASA. Whereas CASA suggests humans mindlessly apply human-human social scripts to interactions with media agents, we argue that humans may develop and apply human-media social scripts to these interactions. Our …

Experience-Dependent Changes In Nucleus Accumbens Activity Predict Cued Approach Learning: Contribution Of Nmda Receptors, Mercedes Vega Villar

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Animals learn associations between environmental cues and the natural rewards they predict (e.g., food, water, sex). As a result, reward-predictive cues come to trigger vigorous reward-seeking responses. Many neurons in the nucleus accumbens (NAc) become excited upon presentation of an already-learned reward-predictive cue. These NAc responses encode the motivational value of the cue and are necessary for the expression of the subsequent approach behavior. However, the precise temporal relationship between the emergence of cue-evoked excitations in the NAc and the acquisition of cued approach behavior remains unknown. In Experiment 1, NAc activity was recorded as rats learned to approach a …

The Scale Of Accurate Personality Prediction (Sapp): Predicting Low, Medium, Or High Sapp Scores From The 16pf Primary And Global Factors, Cayleigh Katherine Reeder

Theses and Dissertations

To measure a person’s self-knowledge, Miller (2000) created the Scale of Accurate Personality Prediction (SAPP), a measure derived by comparing subjects’ obtained and self-predicted scores across the 21 scales of the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (16PF). Most recently, DiLullo (2018) assessed which of the 21 16PF primary and global factors would best predict subjects’ SAPP scores, allowing for the derivation of SAPP scores directly from the existing 16PF factors. Due to the significant variability found across the results in DiLullo’s study, this study adjusted the methodology to encourage greater consistency across samples. To do so, categorical SAPP scores were utilized …

Solving Mate Shortages: Lowering Standards, Searching Farther, And Abstaining, Peter K. Jonason, Simone L. Betes, Norman P. Li

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Although much work on mating psychology has focused on mate preferences and responses to desirable sexual and romantic offers, less is known about what happens when individuals face a lack of mating options. We present 2 studies on (hypothetical) compensatory mating tactics. In Study 1 (N = 299), participants were asked to imagine they were struggling to find long-term and short-term mates and we revealed sex differences and context-specific effects consistent with parental investment theory. In Study 2 (N = 282), participants were asked to imagine they had been incapable of finding a short-term and long-term mate for 6 months …

Cross-Cultural Work In Music Cognition: Challenges, Insights, And Recommendations, Nori Jacoby, Elizabeth Hellmuth Margulis, Martin Clayton, Erin Hannon, Henkjan Honing, John Iversen, Tobias Robert Klein, Samuel A. Mehr, Lara Pearson, Isabelle Peretz, Marc Pearlman, Rainer Polak, Andrea Ravignani, Patrick E. Savage, Gavin Steingo, Catherine J. Stevens, Laurel Trainor, Sandra Trehub, Michael Veal, Melanie Wald-Fuhrmann

Psychology Faculty Research

Many foundational questions in the psychology of music require cross-cultural approaches, yet the vast majority of work in the field to date has been conducted with Western participants and Western music. For cross-cultural research to thrive, it will require collaboration between people from different disciplinary backgrounds, as well as strategies for overcoming differences in assumptions, methods, and terminology. This position paper surveys the current state of the field and offers a number of concrete recommendations focused on issues involving ethics, empirical methods, and definitions of “music” and “culture.”

Rewarding Effects Of M4 But Not M3 Muscarinic Cholinergic Receptor Antgonism In The Rostromedial Tegmental Nucleus, Nicole Buie, Dharm Sodha, Sarah B. Scheinman, Stephan Steidel

Psychology: Faculty Publications and Other Works

The rostromedial tegmental nucleus (RMTg) receives inputs from the laterodorsal tegmental and pedunculopontine tegmental nuclei, the two principle brainstem cholinergic nuclei. We tested the effects of RMTg M3 and M4 muscarinic cholinergic receptor antagonism in a conditioned place preference (CPP) paradigm in mice. RMTg infusions of the M3 muscarinic cholinergic receptor antagonist 1,1-Dimethyl-4-diphenylacetoxypiperidinium iodide (4-DAMP) do not result in the acquisition of CPP but increase locomotor activation. By contrast, RMTg infusions of the M4 muscarinic cholinergic receptor antagonist Tropicamide result in the acquisition of CPP but do not increase locomotor activation. The rewarding effects of RMTg Tropicamide infusions are dopamine-dependent …

Parents As Pimps: Survivor Accounts Of Trafficking Of Children In The United States, Jody Raphael

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

This article discusses four survivor accounts of survivors of being sold for sexual exploitation by their parents for monetary gain. These narratives, supplemented by other accounts from 100 newspaper stories between 2012 and 2018, reveal the fact that many survivors were sold as very young children, and the abuse continued through their teen years, blurring distinctions between pedophilia and the sex trade industry. In their accounts, survivors described the motivations of their parents as well as the buyers, who used excessive force and violence. Some researchers are beginning to document the existence of parental pimping and its prevalence, which ranges …

Analysis Of The Primary And Global Factors Of The 16pf To Evaluate Individual Traits The General Population Can Predict As They Relate To The Scale Of Accurate Personality Prediction (Sapp), Brittany Allison Haage

Theses and Dissertations

Miller (2000) developed the Scale of Accurate Personality Prediction (SAPP), which was derived from a formula comparing obtained and self-predicted scores from the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (16PF)’s 21 scales. While this measure creates one score speaking to the accuracy in self-prediction of a participant across all the traits, this present study was developed in order to examine each of the 21 traits individually. This includes the 16 primary factors and the 5 global factors. Archival data from 609 participants was analyzed through 5 Pearson correlational analyses. One of the correlational analyses was performed on the total sample of 609 …

Access To Autism Spectrum Disorder Services For Rural Appalachian Citizens, Angela Scarpa, Laura S. Jensen, Denis Gracanin, Sharon L. Ramey, Angela V. Dahiya, L. Maria Ingram, Jordan Albright, Alyssa J. Gatto, Jen P. Scott, Lisa Ruble

Journal of Appalachian Health

Background: Low-resource rural communities face significant challenges regarding availability and adequacy of evidence-based services.

Purposes: With respect to accessing evidence-based services for Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), this brief report summarizes needs of rural citizens in the South-Central Appalachian region, an area notable for persistent health disparities.

Methods: A mixed-methods approach was used to collect quantitative and qualitative data during focus groups with 33 service providers and 15 caregivers of children with ASD in rural southwest Virginia.

Results: Results supported the barriers of availability and affordability of ASD services in this region, especially relating to the need for more ASD-trained providers, …

Conceal, Don't Feel: Gender Differences In Implicit And Explicit Expressions Of Emotions, Sara Carlton, Abbey Harrison, Sydney Honoré, Leilani B. Goodmon

Modern Psychological Studies

Previous studies revealed that gender-role conforming men rated themselves lower on emotional scales (Etherton, Lawson, & Graham, 2014) and expressed emotion less freely than women in experimental situations (Brody, Lovas, & Hay, 1995). Further, men with high gender-role stress indicated fear of losing control over emotions (Jakupcak, 2003). The purpose of the current study was to explore if the physiological response to emotional suppression is similar to that associated with fear and anxiety. Gender-role conforming men and women experienced fearful and emotional stimuli. Experimenters recorded explicit and implicit reactions before and after exposure. Results showed females experienced greater changes in …

Attachment To God As A Function Of Mortality Salience And Intrinsic Religiosity, Jill Hoffman, Robert B. Arrowood, Maddie Weinstock, Arielle Cenin, Cathy R. Cox

Modern Psychological Studies

The present study examined the association between intrinsic religiosity and attachment to God following mortality salience. Participants (N = 158) consisted of Christian individuals who were asked to complete the Religious Orientation Scale (Allport & Ross, 1967) as a measure of intrinsic religiosity, a word search puzzle to prime either death-related or neutral words, and the Attachment to God Inventory (Beck & McDonald, 2004). A moderated regression found a significant interaction between MS and intrinsic religiosity on avoidant but not anxious attachment to God. Specifically, following reminders of death, low intrinsic individuals were more avoidant toward God compared to high …

Social Referencing In The Domestic Horse, Anne Schrimpf, Marie-Sophie Single, Christian Nawroth

Recognition Collection

Dogs and cats use human emotional information directed to an unfamiliar situation to guide their behavior, known as social referencing. It is not clear whether other domestic species show similar socio-cognitive abilities in interacting with humans. We investigated whether horses (n = 46) use human emotional information to adjust their behavior to a novel object and whether the behavior of horses differed depending on breed type. Horses were randomly assigned to one of two groups: an experimenter positioned in the middle of a test arena directed gaze and voice towards the novel object with either (a) a positive or (b) …

Musical Dogs: A Review Of The Influence Of Auditory Enrichment On Canine Health And Behavior, Abigail Lindig, Paul Mcgreevy, Angela Crean

Stress Collection

Music therapy yields many positive health outcomes in humans, but the effects of music on the health and welfare of nonhuman animals vary greatly with the type of music played, the ethology of the species, and the personality and learning history of individual animals. One context in which music therapy may be used to enhance animal welfare is to alleviate stress in domestic environments. Here, we review studies of the effects of music exposure on dogs as a case study for the implementation of music therapy in veterinary medicine. Nine reports of experimental testing for the therapeutic effects of music …

Musical Expertise Generalizes To Superior Temporal Scaling In A Morse Code Tapping Task, Matthew A. Slayton, Juan L. Romero-Sosa, Katrina Shore, Dean V. Buonomano, Indre Viskontas

Psychology

A key feature of the brain’s ability to tell time and generate complex temporal patterns is its capacity to produce similar temporal patterns at different speeds. For example, humans can tie a shoe, type, or play an instrument at different speeds or tempi—a phenomenon referred to as temporal scaling. While it is well established that training improves timing precision and accuracy, it is not known whether expertise improves temporal scaling, and if so, whether it generalizes across skill domains. We quantified temporal scaling and timing precision in musicians and non-musicians as they learned to tap a Morse code sequence. We …

Does Clicker Training Lead To Faster Acquisition Of Behavior For Dog Owners?, Brian J. Burton

Theses and Dissertations

Clicker training is a method of dog training that has increased in popularity over the past 20 years (Feng et al., 2017). However, while there has been an increased use of clicker training, studies examining the claims that clicker training leads to faster acquisition of new behavior (Skinner, 1951; Pryor, 1999) has only been investigated in a handful of studies with domesticated animals. In addition, all known published studies comparing a clicker-plus-food group to a food-only group have found no significant difference in acquisition of a novel behavior (Dorey & Cox, 2018; Feng et al. 2017), which suggests that a …

The Adaptive Functions Of Morality, Michael R. Apostol

Copley Library Undergraduate Research Awards

Morality is the principles that distinguish right from wrong. Humans maintain a moral self-image: the views, judgements, and actions that reflect a sense of right or wrong (Jordan, Leliveld, & Tenbrunsel, 2015). In order to study the impact of moral attitudes on behavior we must understand why certain moral beliefs persist, the function of morality, and why errors in moral judgement occur. With an evolutionary framework, studying the adaptive significance of morality may provide answers to these questions. Researchers have studied morality in nonhuman animals, the development of moral principles, cultural factors that influence ethical frameworks, how morality functions, and …

Is Enrichment Always Enriching And How Would You Know? Unintended Consequences And The Importance Of Formal Assessment Of Enrichment Programs In Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops Truncatus), Heidi Lyn, Hannah Bahe, Megan S. Broadway, Mystera M. Samuelson, Jamie K. Shelley, Tim Hoffland, Emma Jarvis, Kelly Pulis, Delphine Shannon, Mobashir Solangi

Student Publications

Bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) are viewed as a highly intelligent species capable of complex behaviors. This requires marine parks to maintain dynamic environmental enrichment programs in order to ensure dolphins’ optimal psychological and physiological well-being while in human care. In this study, two experiments were conducted to determine the effects of different forms of enrichment on the behavior of four bottlenose dolphins. In Experiment 1, multiple forms of novel enrichment resulted in a shift away from individual swim patterns – a change that is associated with increased behavioral diversity and so often considered an improvement in animal welfare …

The Effect Of Physical Interaction On Evolving Attention Relating To Advertisements And Visual Information, Margaret S. Davey

Psychology Honors Papers

As more technology is used on a daily basis around the world, the platforms of advertisements and learning have also changed. However, little is known about the effects of image and video interaction type on information retention. The current research examines the effect of different types of interaction such as swiping, tapping or viewing on memory of an image both with and without using the same interaction when the participants were asked if they remembered the image or not. In experiment one, the participants from the Connecticut College subject pool used a hand tracker system to swipe and tap images …

The Design Of Psychotherapy Waiting Rooms, Lilly Noble

Psychology Honors Papers

The purpose of this study is to understand the main features and design elements that are favored in a psychotherapy waiting room setting. The study investigated a sample of 20 psychotherapy waiting rooms in Southeastern Connecticut and Rhode Island, as well as the positive and negative factors that contributed to comfort and quality of care ratings made by the participants. There were two parts to this study. In the first part, 12 psychotherapists in southeastern Connecticut and Rhode Island agreed to be interviewed and have the waiting rooms (20 in total) of their practices photographed. In a within-subjects design, the …

Implicit Bias Through The Lens Of Electroencephalography, Hope Cooper

Behavioral Neuroscience Honors Papers

Unconscious or implicit bias is a part of everyday life. All human beings both exhibit implicit bias and (some more than others) are also the victims of it. Due to the way humans have evolved implicit bias will never be something that ceases to exist. Thus, it is important that neuroscience and social science closely study how it works and how to curb the behaviors caused by implicit bias. In the following research EEG (electroencephalography) was used alongside a weapons IAT (Implicit Association Test) to examine specific neural components that may correlate with higher bias scores on the IAT. Specific …

Intimations Of A Spiritual New Age: Iv. Carl Jung's Archetypal Imagination As Futural Planetary Neo-Shamanism, Harry T. Hunt

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies Advance Publication Archive

This series of papers on early anticipations of a spiritual New Age ends with Carl Jung’s version of a futural planetary-wide unus mundus rejoining person and cosmos, based on his psychoid linkage of quantum physics and consciousness, and especially on the neo-shamanic worldview emerging out of his spirit guided initiation in the more recently published Red Book. A cognitive-psychological re-evaluation of Jung’s archetypal imagination, the metaphoricity of his alchemical writings, and a comparison of Jung and Levi-Strauss on mythological thinking all support a contemporary view of Jung’s active imagination and mythic amplification as a spiritual intelligence based on a formal …

Colonial Trauma And Testimony In Mary Shelley’S Frankenstein And Jamaica Kincaid’S Autobiography Of My Mother, Leana Rene

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis will examine Freud’s Beyond the Pleasure Principle to examine the colonial trauma and loss found in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Jamaica Kincaid’s Autobiography of My Mother, not just on a character level, but in a much larger colonial context. Some scholars have suggested that Shelley’s monster is a symbol of a colonized other (due to his appearance and certain features he has). Kincaid’s Xuela is for sure a colonized other because of the heritage of her mother. This thesis explores their abandonment by their creators as the abandonment of colonized nations from their colonizers. Even now, formerly colonized …

Cognitive Performance In A Retired Nfl Population: Does Position Played And Racial Identity Impact Cognition?, Kimberly Chantelle Diah

Theses and Dissertations

Cognitive functioning is integral to everyday life as it involves mental processes crucial to everyday survival. Over the last decade, there has been increasing focus and controversy surrounding concussions sustained by players in popular contact sports. This attention has sparked national debates that continue to polarize both the sports and scientific communities on the long-standing neuroanatomical, cognitive, and psychiatric challenges that many retired NFL players experience later in life (Alosco et al., 2017; Hart et al., 2013). While studies have been conducted on the predictors of long-term neuropsychiatric and psychosocial outcomes following a traumatic brain injury, there are few studies …

Psychometric Analyses Of A Comprehensive Neuropsychological Battery For Retired Nfl Players, Kimberly Ethridge Fitzgibbon

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined psychometric properties of the NFL Concussion Battery used to examine neuropsychological functioning in retired NFL players who were part of the NFL’s concussion settlement. This battery assesses multiple areas of cognitive functioning; executive functioning, language, processing speed, attention and memory. The study included 117 participants who were male with at least 16 years of education. The sample was 75.9% African-American and average age was 47. All participants completed the entire battery and passed the majority of effort measures. Those that did not pass the majority of effort measures or complete the entire battery were excluded.

T-test analyses …

The Effects Of Sleep Restriction On Biological, Psychological, And Neurocognitive Measures Of Health, Margaret S. Lorenzetti

Theses and Dissertations

Chronic sleep restriction impacts a significant proportion of the population, even though health is optimized following a minimum of seven hours of sleep. A preponderance of the literature examining the effects of sleep loss focuses on males and total sleep deprivation. Sleep restriction paradigms provide more ecological validity, as they are more consistent with sleep loss characterized in epidemiological studies. Moreover, enhancing the understanding of sleep loss among women, who are generally the gender most likely to encounter negative health as a result of poor sleep quality, is crucial. Thus, this investigation aimed to examine sleep restriction amongst a female …

A Novel Cognitive Stress Test For The Detection Of Early Alzheimer’S Disease In African Americans, Kimberly Capp

Theses and Dissertations

The U.S. population is currently undergoing a major demographic transition, with increasing racial and ethnic diversity of the older adult population. As the growing population of older adults advances in age, memory complaints are projected to increase in prevalence particularly among African Americans and present a challenge to clinicians who must differentiate between normal aging and progressive neurocognitive conditions (Celsis, 2000; Sherwin, 2000). As targeted therapeutic interventions and emerging therapies for AD are much more likely to be effective in the earlier stages of the disease (Loewenstein, Curiel, Duara & Buschke, 2017), early assessment and detection of AD, especially in …

Breaking Away: The Role Of Homeostatic Drive In Perpetuating Depression, Jonathan Tory Toole

Theses and Dissertations

The brain can be considered a complicated system of feedback mechanisms that maintain physiological homeostasis. Through psychological activity, neurochemicals act as homeostatic regulators. This study proposes that these components are part of a regulatory system that is capable of supporting multiple homeostatic regimes that, in turn, give rise to self-sustaining psychological behaviors. This project hypothesizes that such alternate regulatory programs may play a role in perpetuating psychological dysfunction. Interactions within and between components of the neurotransmitter network are represented as a set of discrete logic circuits. Neurotransmitter levels are linked to psychological constructs such as depression based on current literature. …

Head-Impact-Related Outcomes By Position In Retired Nfl Football Players, Maria Cecilia Boix Braga

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined how repeated head-impact-related traumatic brain injury experienced by retired NFL players impacts their neuropsychological functioning, as well as whether player position was a significant factor in the impairment experienced. Participants (N=142) were selected from an archival database gathered through the NFL Concussion Settlement belonging to the Neuropsychology Assessment Center of Nova Southeastern University.

One-Sample T-Tests indicated that the combined sample and the Skilled players group demonstrated significant differences in all neuropsychological measures, while the Linemen and Skilled Linemen evidenced impairment in most areas except in visual-spatial and non-timed language measures. Two-way ANOVAs indicated player position and ethnicity …

Three Useful Things To Know About Human Motivation, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

Unseen commitments as well as material incentives drive our decisions and play an influential role in human motivation