Digital Commons Network^™

Divergent Immune Responses In Behaviorally-Inhibited Vs. Non-Inhibited Male Rats, Kerry C. Michael, Robert H. Bonneau, Rebecca A. Bourne, Ladara Godbolt, Michael J. Caruso, Christine Hohmann, Sonia A. Cavigelli

Psychology Publications

Stable behavioral traits (temperament, personality) often predict health outcomes. Temperament-specific differences in immune function could explain temperament-specific health outcomes, however, we have limited information on whether immune function varies by personality. In the present study, we examined the relationship between a basic behavioral trait (behavioral-inhibition vs. non-inhibition) and two immune responses (innate inflammation and delayed-type hypersensitivity, DTH) in a rodent model. In humans, behavioral inhibition (fearful temperament) is associated with altered stress physiology and allergies. In laboratory rats, the trait is associated with elevated glucocorticoid production. We hypothesized that behavioral inhibition is associated with glucocorticoid resistance and dampened T-helper 1 …

An Enhanced Ebook Facilitates Parent-Child Talk During Shared Reading By Families Of Low Socioeconomic Status, Georgene Troseth, Gabrielle Strouse, Israel Flores, Zachary Stuckelman, Colleen Russo Johnson

School of Education Faculty Publications

Language input plays a key role in children’s language development, but children from families of low socioeconomic status often get much less input compared to more advantaged peers. In “dialogic reading” (Whitehurst et al., 1988), parents are trained to ask children open-ended questions while reading, which effectively builds expressive vocabulary in at-risk children. In the research reported here, a dialogic questioning character in a narrated eBook provided effortless support for parents to ask questions while reading. Parents of lower socioeconomic status talked more than three times as much with their children using significantly more utterances and unique words when using …

Women With High Functioning Asd: Relationships And Sexual Health, Isabelle Taylor

CMC Senior Theses

Women with high functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are disproportionately less represented in research in comparison to their male counterparts. Some propose that this is as a result of more men having ASD and therefore the diagnostic criteria being further indicative of their gender, but regardless, it remains apparent that the need for supporting women with Autism Spectrum Disorder is just as crucial (Kreiser & White, 2014). For both genders, though, deficits in social skills and the presence of repetitive and restrictive behaviors often lend themselves to conduct seen as inappropriate or awkward within the neurotypical dating world (Hodges et …

Serotonin 5-Ht2a And 5-Ht2c Receptors Regulate Rat Maternal Behavior Through Distinct Behavioral And Neural Mechanisms, Jun Gao, Lina Nie, Yu Li, Ming Li

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Serotonin 5-HT_2A and 5-HT_2C receptors play important yet distinctive roles in the regulation of rat maternal behavior. The present study investigated their neural substrates and explored the possible behavioral mechanisms (i.e., behavioral organization or maternal motivation). Sprague-Dawley postpartum females were microinjected with either a selective 5-HT_2A agonist (TCB-2, 0.4 or 4.0 μg/side) or a 5-HT_2C agonist (MK212, 2.5 or 5.0 μg/side) into the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) or ventral tegmental area (VTA). Ten and 60 min later, their maternal activities were observed in the home cage; and their motivational responses towards pups were examined in a …

Image Acquisition And Quality Assurance In The Boston Adolescent Neuroimaging Of Depression And Anxiety Study, Viviana Siless, N. A. Hubbard, Robert Jones, Jonathan Wang, Nicole Lo, Clemens C. C. Bauer, Mathias Goncalves, Isabelle Frosch, Daniel Norton, Genesis Vergara, Kristina Conroy, Flavia Vaz De Souza, Isabelle M. Rosso, Aleena Hay Wickham, Elizabeth Ann Cosby, Megan Pinaire, Dina Hirshfeld-Becker, Diego A. Pizzagalli, Aude Henin, Stefan G. Hofmann, Randy P. Auerbach, Satrajit Ghosh, John Gabrieli, Susan Whitfield-Gabrieli, Anastasia Yendiki

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

The Connectomes Related to Human Diseases (CRHD) initiative was developed with the Human Connectome Project (HCP) to provide high-resolution, open-access, multi-modal MRI data to better understand the neural correlates of human disease. Here, we present an introduction to a CRHD project, the Boston Adolescent Neuroimaging of Depression and Anxiety (BANDA) study, which is collecting multimodal neuroimaging, clinical, and neuropsychological data from 225 adolescents (ages 14–17), 150 of whom are expected to have a diagnosis of depression and/or anxiety. Our transdiagnostic recruitment approach samples the full spectrum of depressed/anxious symptoms and their comorbidity, consistent with NIMH Research Domain Criteria (RDoC). We …

Role Of Brain Derived Extracellular Vesicles In Decoding Sex Differences Associated With Nicotine Self-Administration, Sneh Koul, Victoria L. Schaal, Subhash Chand, Steven T. Pittenger, Neetha Nanoth Vellichirammal, Vikas Kumar, Chittibabu Guda, Rick A. Bevins, Sowmya V. Yelamanchili, Gurudutt Pendyala

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Smoking remains a significant health and economic concern in the United States. Furthermore, the emerging pattern of nicotine intake between sexes further adds a layer of complexity. Nicotine is a potent psychostimulant with a high addiction liability that can significantly alter brain function. However, the neurobiological mechanisms underlying nicotine’s impact on brain function and behavior remain unclear. Elucidation of these mechanisms is of high clinical importance and may lead to improved therapeutics for smoking cessation. To fill in this critical knowledge gap, our current study focused on identifying sex-specific brain-derived extracellular vesicles (BDEV) signatures in male and female rats post …

Social Responsiveness And Objectification: The Moderating Roles Of Serotonin Transporter And Serotonin Receptor 2a Genotypes In An Objectification Theory Model Of Disordered Eating, Grace A. Sullivan, Sarah J. Gervais, Rebecca L. Brock, Scott F. Stoltenberg

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Feminist scholars have called for gender researchers to consider gene-environment interactions for gender-imbalanced disorders (Salk and Hyde Psychology of Women Quarterly, 36, 395–411, 2012). Responding to these calls, the present study integrates objectification theory (Fredrickson and Roberts Psychology of Women Quarterly, 21, 173–206, 1997) and genetic research. In the tested model, objectification experiences are associated with disordered eating through body surveillance and body shame, and serotonin transporter (SLC6A4) genotypes (5-HTTLPR and rs25531), serotonin 2A receptor SNP genotypes (HTR2A rs6311), and the epistatic interaction between those genotypes function as moderators. U.S. undergraduate women (n = 526) …

Functional Alterations In Cerebellar Functional Connectivity In Anxiety Disorders, Yoon Ji Lee, Xavier Guell, N. A. Hubbard, Viviana Siless, Isabelle R. Frosch, Mathias Goncalves, Nicole Lo, Atira Nair, Satrajit S. Ghosh, Stefan G. Hofmann, Randy P. Auerbach, Diego A. Pizzagalli, Anastasia Yendiki, John D.E Gabrieli, Susan Whitfield-Gabrieli, Sheeba Arnold Anteraper

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Adolescents with anxiety disorders exhibit excessive emotional and somatic arousal. Neuroimaging studies have shown abnormal cerebral cortical activation and connectivity in this patient population. The specific role of cerebellar output circuitry, specifically the dentate nuclei (DN), in adolescent anxiety disorders remains largely unexplored. Resting-state functional connectivity analyses have parcellated the DN, the major output nuclei of the cerebellum, into three functional territories (FTs) that include default-mode, salience-motor, and visual networks. The objective of this study was to understand whether FTs of the DN are implicated in adolescent anxiety disorders. Forty-one adolescents (mean age 15.19 ± 0.82, 26 females) with one …

The Effects Of Behavioral Skills Training To Teach Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder How To Respond To Bullying, Carissa Lyn Kazee

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The literature on bullying among school-aged children is widespread, with more than half of children on the autism spectrum having reported experiencing some form of bullying in the last year. For this reason, the primary goal of this study was to introduce a two-week long intervention to teach six middle-school aged children with autism how to recognize and appropriately respond to bullying. The intervention used behavioral skills training that is complimentary to Bandura’s social learning theory. Six middle school-aged participants, one girl and five boys, were taught to recognize bullying situations using comic strip vignettes, and how to respond to …

Do Cognitive Distortions And Coping Skills Predict Scar Acceptance And Body Esteem In Women With Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillators Or Pacemakers?, Nora Brier

PCOM Psychology Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine whether cognitions and coping skills predict scar acceptance and body esteem in women 18 years and older with implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) or pacemakers. A convenience sample of 272 individuals responded to a Facebook post. The measures were a demographic questionnaire, the Social Problem Solving Inventory-Revised (Short) (SPSI-R:S), the Body Esteem Scale for Adolescents and Adults, the Patient Scar Assessment Questionnaire (PSAQ), the Florida Patient Acceptance Survey, and the Inventory of Cognitive Distortions (ICD). Pearson correlation coefficient results revealed a moderate negative correlation between Negative Problem Orientation (NPO) and Body Esteem (Weight), …

The Reproductive Priming Effect Revisited: Mate Poaching, Mate Copying, Or Both?., Rebecca Burch, T. Joel Wade, James Moran

Faculty Journal Articles

According to the reproductive priming effect, an individual who enters into a romantic relationship tends to see an increase in admirers. To further understand the mechanisms underlying this effect and its relationship with mate poaching and copying, 560 undergraduates were asked to report their experiences of being a romantic target (i.e., experiencing more admirers when in a new relationship) or an admirer (having greater attraction for someone in a relationship). Over two thirds of respondents noticed this increase in admirers, and approximately half reported being more attracted to a person who recently entered a new relationship. Many of the responses …

Enhancing The Rewarding Effects And Subsequent Self-Administration Of Nicotine Through Appetitive Interoceptive Conditioning, Allissa Flynn

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Nicotine is commonly considered to be the primary addictive constituent in tobacco products. Therefore, research focused on nicotine and its effects is necessary for understanding nicotine dependency and in developing potential cessation treatments. Research has confirmed the relevance of learning processes associated with nicotine and their influence on the development of addiction. Conditioning involving interoceptive stimuli is increasingly cited as playing a role in many diseases, psychopathologies, and drug addiction. The internal stimulus effects of nicotine can form associations with other reinforcing stimuli through a process of Pavlovian conditioning where nicotine is the conditioned stimulus. In this way, nicotine acquires …

Goodness In Gaming: A Survey On Gamers And Their Altruism, Daniel Amaral

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The psychological inquiry into the effects of videogames and the internet on behavior is still a relatively new field. The question of whether playing violent videogames directly contribute to violent behavior, particularly in reference to its influence in mass shootings, is an important one that needs answers. A plethora of research purportedly shows the negative effects of (violent) videogames, but research showing positive effects, particularly on prosocial behaviors within the virtual world and reality, are less common. If specific videogame preferences are associated with altruistic behaviors, such a finding could elucidate how videogames might contribute to prosocial behavior. In this …

The Effect Of Long-Term Stress On Hippocampus And The Involvement In The Pathophysiology Of Psychological Disorders, Suicide, And Alcohol Use Disorder, Hinza Batool Malik

Undergraduate Research Awards

The hyperactivity of the HPA axis due to long-term stress results in an abnormally high level of glucocorticoids. A limbic system structure, the hippocampus has the highest number of receptor sites for glucocorticoids. Thus, making it highly vulnerable to damage during elevated levels of glucocorticoids, through neurotoxicity and metabolic challenges. In addition, this paper largely focuses on the effects of stress on the hippocampus, e.g., changes in hippocampal volume, as a contributing factor in the psychophysiology of a myriad of mental health problems. Most disorders follow the diathesis-stress trajectory where the symptoms begin to precipitate once a major stressor is …

Adults With Asd: Therapeutic Riding And Observed Social Behaviors And Stress Levels, Kayla Andersen

Student Research Posters

Therapeutic riding (TR) is a multisensory experience that increases mental and physical heath by emphasizing skills such as verbal and non-verbal communication, behavioral and emotional control, and attention; additionally, improvements in balance and muscle strength occur in the rider (Bass et al., 2009). However, the present literature is lacking in research on how adults with ASD are impacted by participation in TR. The goal of the present study is to determine the impact of TR on social responsiveness and stress levels on adults with ASD which included a sample of 8 therapeutic riding instructors from the United States. Instructors reported …

Climate Change Information's Impact On Death-Thought Accessibility And Global Climate Change Belief, Troy Class Franklin

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Global climate change is perhaps the greatest current existential threat to life on this planet. Despite the overwhelming scientific consensus for the existence of human-made global climate change, climate change skepticism continues to be a significant obstacle. The purpose of this experimental online study was to address research questions concerning the effect of climate change information on death-thought accessibility (DTA) and belief in global climate change and to investigate whether a relationship exists between DTA and belief certainty in global climate change. Terror management theory was the theoretical foundation for the study. The study sample consisted of 104 participants randomly …

Measuring The Effects Of Lobinaline-N-Bioxide (419) On Alcohol Consumption, Nicotine Locomotor Sensitization, And Conditioned Place Preference In Mice And Rats, Cocanut M. Suhail

Theses and Dissertations--Medical Sciences

Objective: Novel drug 419 was examined to see the effect it has in vivo mice and rats on alcohol consumption, nicotine locomotor sensitization, and conditioned place preference (CPP) models regarding behavioral tests on dopamine transporter activity.

Methods: Mice and rats were used to see how they react to the drug 419 and control vehicle, in each of the models. The animals were assessed to pre- and post- drug administration of novel drug 419. We examined each model to see the association between how drug 419 will help with treating drug abuse.

Results: We found that in alcohol consumption model the …

Dissociation And Metacognition: A Mixed Methods Analysis, Richard E. Nalbandian

Doctor of Psychology (PsyD)

Dissociation commonly occurs as a defense against trauma and can be understood as a breakdown in metacognition. The present research investigated the relationship between trauma, dissociation, and metacognition in subjects with PTSD, a trauma-related disorder. Specifically, we investigated a potential inverse relationship between metacognition and dissociation in participants who have undergone psychoanalytic therapy. Participants were patients admitted to the Austen Riggs Center, who consented to be a part of the Follow Along Study (FAS), a longitudinal investigation spanning 15 years. Quantitative and qualitative analyses examined differences in themes of dissociation across initial and follow-up-clinical interviews. Quantitatively, all subscales for metacognition …

Experiences Of Hope, Resilience And Spirituality In Kenyan Children And Adolescents, Anne King

Doctor of Psychology (PsyD)

Resilience is a vital factor in overcoming adversity. The presence of hope and spiritual meaning have been demonstrated to contribute to resilience. Globally, there are millions of children and adolescents who have faced traumatic experiences including, but not limited to, the loss of their parents. The current study explored Kenyan children and adolescents’ experiences of resilience, hope and spirituality in the environment of a group home and school in Kenya. Mixed measures were utilized. Seventy-five participants ages 10-19 years old completed the quantitative measures including the CD-RISC, SEARS-C/A, the Children’s Hope scale, the Adult Hope scale, and a 1-item Spirituality …

The Social And Cultural Factors Of Anorexia Nervosa In Adolescent Women, Hannah Daddario

Honors College Theses

Anorexia Nervosa (AN) is an eating disorder that typically begins in adolescence and it is characterized by three diagnostic criteria defined within the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5). This criterion consists of the restriction of energy intake, leading to a significantly low body weight, the intense fear of weight gain, and the disturbed sense in which someone perceives their body weight or shape. Adolescence is characterized as the time in aperson’s life which is the period of growth between the ages of 10 and 19 years old. This period of development spans through many milestones, including puberty …

Adhd: Not Overdiagnosed, Misdiagnosed, Krista Graham

Capstone Showcase

There has been much debate surrounding the over- or under- diagnoses of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). One reason for this debate is that ADHD is a commonly misdiagnosed disorder. This leads to negative consequences for those who have been misdiagnosed and receive stimulant medication management. Misdiagnosis of ADHD is likely due to the interaction of four main factors. First, the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) has a lower validity for ADHD diagnosis than previous editions. Second, primary care physicians (PCPs) are responsible for the vast majority of ADHD diagnoses but have a …

The Impacts Of Migration On Myanmar Women’S Identity And Connectedness To The Land And Food, Allison Joseph

Scripps Senior Theses

In the 21st century, Myanmar has become the largest migration source country in the Greater Mekong Sub-region (Kusakabe & Pearson, 2010). To achieve its economic goals, the government has prioritized the confiscation and reallocation of communal lands, which has resulted in a growing class of landless and dispossessed citizens (Franco, Twomey, Ju, Vervest, & Kramer, 2015). This has resulted in the wide-scale process of Myanmar’s rural women’s disinheritance from the land and food, as they are expropriated from the home of their ancestors and forced to migrate to urban centers to earn a livelihood. The proposed study will examine and …

Perceived Threat And Left-Wing Authoritarianism: The Effect Of Framing On Persuasive Messages, James Donald Mcfarland

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Past research reveals a strong connection between feeling threatened and Right-Wing Authoritarianism (RWA). This relationship is considered to be an integral part of authoritarianism and the nature of its presence in the left-leaning populace is still being fully explored. This study examined the relationship between perceived threat and Left-Wing Authoritarianism (LWA) through the framing of persuasive messages. Participants (n = 256) were recruited through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (MTurk) and given a list of reward- or threat-framed statements concerning the possible ramifications of voting in future elections and then asked to rate the quality and persuasiveness of the respective statements. …

Toward A Non-Anthropocentric View On The Environment And Animal Welfare: Possible Psychological Interventions, Sarah Gradidge, Magdalena Zawisza

Animal Sentience

Treves, Santiago-Avila, and Lynn (2019) argue for adopting a non-anthropocentric worldview to prevent further environmental damage and lack of consideration for animals. We discuss psychological interventions that might help achieve this.

The Relationship Between Nature, Media Use And Psychosocial Well Being In A College Population, Eve Gilles

Honors Theses

Time in nature is associated with a variety of mental, physical and emotional health benefits while the effects of media use on psychosocial well being are unclear. Although our society is increasingly urbanized and technology-focused, there is a lack of research examining the relationship between nature, media and psychosocial well-being. The aim of this research was to explore these variables in a college-age population. Method: 82 participants participated in a survey using measures of Psychosocial Well Being, Media Use and Nature Connection and Exposure. Results: Media use partially mediates the relationship between nature relatedness and social anxiety. Conclusions: There is …

The Crowbar Sabotaged The Machine: Effects Of Verb Intentionality And Syntactic Structure On Fixation Times During Reading, Michael Pittman

Honors Theses

Research conducted by linguists has indicated that inanimate entities are incompatible with verbs that connote intentionality because inanimate entities lack the facilities to complete intentional actions. However, there are currently no studies that have analyzed this inappropriate relationship in real-time. To address this gap, the current eye-tracking experiment investigated the infelicitous nature of this relationship, as well as how it may be modulated by different syntactic structures. The experiment implemented a 2 x 2 within-subjects design, in which the independent variables were verb type (neutral versus intentional) and syntactic structure (main clause versus relative clause), and the dependent variables were …

Examining Environmental Use By Captive Lemur Catta And Varecia Rubra, Rhiannon Belcher

All Master's Theses

There are over 100 named species of lemurs, of which 94% are considered threatened with extinction by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). They live in increasingly fragmented forests. To understand how best to protect them in their natural habitats, we can observe how they manipulate the environment and how they use objects, both natural and humanmade, around them. Understanding their behavior is a critical component of conservation, and observing behavior in a captive setting allows us to study lemur-environment relationships without disrupting what little habitat is left in Madagascar. In this study I investigated whether the …

Chimpanzee Early Life Experiences And Responses To Caregiver Use Of Species-Specific Behavior, Emily Patton

All Master's Theses

More than 1,400 chimpanzees live in captivity in the US and each has complex social needs. The humans who care for captive chimpanzees occupy a place within chimpanzee social structures and their actions have consequences on chimpanzee behavior and welfare. Two studies compared chimpanzee responses between a condition in which humans used chimpanzee behaviors (CB) and another in which they use human behaviors (HB) during informal interactions. The chimpanzees showed more affiliative behavior during the CB condition in one study and strong individual variation in responses to the two conditions in both studies. Individual variation in adult primate behavior can …

Do Violent Video Games Stimulate Aggressive Tendencies?, Megan Hamilton

Undergraduate Psychology Research Methods Journal

This study looked at the relationship between violent video game (VVG) play and aggressive tendencies. Participants were required to be at least 18 years of age or older and were recruited through flyers in the Library and Academic Resource Center and Young Hall on the Lindenwood University campus, as well as through the Lindenwood Participant Pool. Participants took a pretest on Qualtrics measuring aggressive tendencies and after the pretest, participants were systematically chosen to either play Grand Theft Auto V (GTAV); (Rockstar Games, 2014) or Stardew Valley (Barone & Sickhead Games, 2016). Following gameplay, participants then took a posttest on …

(2020) A Comunidade Da Infância, David Kennedy

Collected Papers of David Kennedy

Este livro, A comunidade da infância, é uma forma encontrada para assegurar a presença de David Kennedy entre nós, que tanto o admiramos. Entretanto, resta algo que não se sabe dizer sobre David Kennedy. Como algo que escapa, que foge ao domínio da escrita. David parece nos alertar para algo que permanece infantilmente sem palavra na linguagem. David não se apresenta de imediato. Sua escrita, em voltas, por aproximações e distanciamentos, revela conhecimentos e saberes acerca da infância para tocar aquilo que infantilmente deixou de ser enunciado e escapa à apreensão adulta dos dizeres acadêmicos. Depois de afastar-se do que …