Digital Commons Network^™

Great Ape Mindreading: What’S At Stake?, Kristin Andrews

Ethology Collection

Humans and other great apes are similar in so many ways. We share an extended immaturity and intense infant-caregiver relationships, group living situations, cultural transmission of technology, and many emotions and cognitive capacities. Yet the communities of nonhuman apes are also very different from human communities. Humans build lasting tools, and store them to use later. We build permanent sleeping and living structures. We cook our food. We have courts of law and prisons and ethics books. There are vast technological differences between humans and nonhuman great apes. What is it that accounts for such a difference? On one account, …

Social Learning In Juvenile Lemon Sharks, Negaprion Brevirostris, Tristan L. Guttridge, Sander Van Dijk, Eize Stamhuis, Jens Krause, Samuel Gruber, Culum Brown

Sentience Collection

Social learning is taxonomically widespread and can provide distinct behavioural advantages, such as in finding food or avoiding predators more efficiently. Although extensively studied in bony fishes, no such empirical evidence exists for cartilaginous fishes. Our aim in this study was to experimentally investigate the social learning capabilities of juvenile lemon sharks, Negaprion brevirostris. We designed a novel food task, where sharks were required to enter a start zone and subsequently make physical contact with a target in order to receive a food reward. Naive sharks were then able to interact with and observe (a) pre-trained sharks, that is, ‘demonstrators’, …

Does True Syntax Or Simple Auditory Object Support The Role Of Skylark Song Dialect?, Elodie F. Briefer, Fanny Rybak, Thierry Aubin

Sentience Collection

Parallels between birdsong and human language are numerous and include particular temporal arrangements of acoustic units and the existence of dialects. In animal communication, modifications of the temporal ordering of existing acoustic units have rarely been clearly linked with changes in information content, particularly in a natural environment. Here, we show that the organization of birdsong units (‘syllables’) in sequences supports interindividual relationships within skylark communities. We manipulated the temporal arrangement of song dialect variants (‘shared phrases’) in the skylark, Alauda arvensis, a songbird with a very large repertoire of syllables and complex song. When tested with playback experiments performed …

Assumptions In Animal Cognition Research, Kristin Andrews, Brian Huss

Psychology Collection

No abstract provided.

Ape Autonomy? Social Norms And Moral Agency In Other Species, Kristin Andrews

Autonomy Collection

No abstract provided.

Do Painful Sensations And Fear Exist In Fish?, Lynne U. Sneddon

Distress Collection

The detection of pain and fear in fi sh has been subject to much debate and, since fi sh are a popular experimental model and commercially important in both angling and aquaculture, many procedures that fi sh are subjected to cause injury, fear and stress. These injuries would give rise to the sensation of pain in humans but whether fi sh have the capacity for pain is relatively under explored. Recent evidence has shown that fi sh have the same neural apparatus to detect pain that mammals and humans do, that their brain is active during a potentially painful experience, …

Treatment Efficacy Of Exposure Therapy And Mindfulness Meditation On Physiological And Self-Perceived Measures Of Stress For A Certain Public Speaking Task, Maria A. Stevens

Honors Theses, 1963-2015

Empirical research has demonstrated that the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) consists of public speaking that has been used effectively to increase physiological and perceived stress. In addition, exposure therapy and mindfulness meditation have been widely used to decrease stress in a clinical setting. The purpose of this study was to see if practicing an exposure exercise or mindfulness meditation would decrease physiological and perceived measures of anxiety after speaking in front of a video camera. A total of 19 undergraduates were assigned to one of three conditions. The control condition completed no preparation, the mindfulness meditation condition practiced a …

Applying Principles Of Psychology To Contemporary Society, Gary J. Burkholder

Walden Faculty and Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Detection Of Magnetic Field Intensity Gradient By Homing Pigeons (Columba Livia) In A Novel "Virtual Magnetic Map" Conditioning Paradigm, Verner Peter Bingman, Cordula V. Mora

Psychology Faculty Publications

It has long been thought that birds may use the Earth's magnetic field not only as a compass for direction finding, but that it could also provide spatial information for position determination analogous to a map during navigation. Since magnetic field intensity varies systematically with latitude and theoretically could also provide longitudinal information during position determination, birds using a magnetic map should be able to discriminate magnetic field intensity cues in the laboratory. Here we demonstrate a novel behavioural paradigm requiring homing pigeons to identify the direction of a magnetic field intensity gradient in a "virtual magnetic map" during a …

Dreaming And Reality: A Neuroanthropological Account, Charles D. Laughlin

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

In what sense is dreaming real to people of different cultures? How do they come to conclude that dreaming is real, and how do they use dreams to expand their knowledge and control of real events? The reader is introduced to dream anthropology and shown that there are universal patterns to how dreams are experienced, expressed, and used by societies. The distinction between monophasic and polyphasic cultures is described, the latter being the majority of societies that consider dreaming as being in some sense real. Neuroscience supports the notion that there is a natural realism behind the experience of reality …

The Self: A Transpersonal Neuroanthropological Account, Charles D. Laughlin

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

The anthropology of the self has gained momentum recently and has produced a significant body of research relevant to interdisciplinary transpersonal studies. The notion of self has broadened from the narrow focus on cultural and linguistic labels for self-related terms, such as person, ego, identity, soul, and so forth, to a realization that the self is a vast system that mediates all the aspects of personality. This shift in emphasis has brought anthropological notions of the self into closer accord with what is known about how the brain mediates self-as-psyche. Numerous examples from the ethnography of the self are given, …

Dream-Spirits And Innovation In Aboriginal Australia’S Western Desert, Robert Tonkinson

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

Among the Mardu Aborigines, dreams (kapukurri; jukurrpa) may carry at least the same weight as the events of waking life. ‘Travelling’ in dream-spirit form enhances the possibility of revelations both dangerous and enlightening. In the Australian case, a major cultural dilemma is to accommodate and rationalize an inevitable dynamism when the dominant ideology is one of timelessness and stasis. Two key cultural symbols, the Dreaming and the Law, still substantially shape worldviews and behaviour of the Martu people, who live in the remote Western Desert region. Much of my focus is on a category of popular, largely public contemporary ritual …

Understanding Bohm’S Holoflux: Clearing Up A Conceptual Misunderstanding Of The Holographic Paradigm And Clarifying Its Signifigance To Transpersonal Studies Of Consciousness, Mark A. Schroll

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

Throughout the past 31 years transpersonal anthropologists and transpersonal psychologists seeking a scientific language to discuss anomalous phenomena and the farther reaches of human nature (or to invoke a discussion of ultimate reality, universal mind or cosmic consciousness) have referred to the holographic paradigm, the conceptual origin of which is directly related to David Bohm’s implicate order theory. In 1982 and 1984 Bohm discussed the holographic paradigm’s limitations (and more specifically his concept of holomovement) to accurately represent his implicate order theory, suggesting instead the more precise conceptual reference holoflux; yet the limited publication of this correction has not been …

A Comparison Of Chinese And Western Interpretations Of Cause, Will, And Free Will, Martin E. Mort

Papers from the International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology Conferences

A cross-cultural comparison of how constructs overlapping with cause, will (human cause), and free will (human cause of a controversial kind) have evolved from concrete origins reflected by Chinese pictographs and the Indo-European etymologies of Greek written words. Cause-related constructs compared are Zhang Dainian’s 元 (yuán), 因 (yīn), 故 (gù), and 所以 (suóyǐ) and the Greek terms aitia (αιτια; “cause”), archē (αρχε; “origin”) and genesis (γενεσις, “genesis”). 因 (yīn) is said, for example, to show a man enclosed (by determinants, possibly prison walls), while aitia (“cause”) is said to be related to aisa (“fate”) and ultimately to the Indo-European root …

Training A Parent To Teach Her Autism Spectrum Disorder Child To Use An Independent Activity Schedule, Tessa Lynne Bryan

Theses Digitization Project

The purpose of this study was to train the parents of an ASD child (who was not receiving prior intervention services) to teach their child to use an Independent Activity Schedule (IAS) to enable him to engage in short periods of appropriate, independent play without adult prompting and/or disruptive, stereotypical behaviors. Teaching the parent (s) to utilize this technique will benefit the child in that his/her parent (s) are usually with him/her and would thus be able to use the IAS with him/her continuously.

Belief Is Not Experience: Transformation As A Tool For Bridging The Ontological Divide In Anthropological Research And Reporting, Bonnie Glass-Coffin

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

For more than a hundred years, anthropologists have recorded stories of beliefs in other-than-human sentience and consciousness, yet we have most frequently insisted on contextualizing these stories in terms of cultural, epistemological, or ontological relativism. In this paper, I ask why we have had such a hard time taking reports of unseen realms seriously and describe the transformative role of personal experience as a catalyst for change in anthropological research and reporting.

The Restorative Effects Of Color And Environment Type On Cognitive Functioning, Jessica Michaelis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Although individuals have limited directed attention capabilities, it has been shown that exposure to natural environments elicit cognitive restoration (i.e. Berman, 2008). It has also been shown that individuals prefer blue and green colors because they are relaxing and prompt happy feelings (Guilford & Smith, 1959; Mahnke, 1996; Wexner, 1954). The question however, is what aspects of nature elicit these effects: is it the natural colors, the environmental setting, or both? The present experiment will examine the effects of color (Blue, Green, Black and White, & Natural) and environmental setting (Urban, Foliage, & Aquatic) on measures of attention, short term …

Mice With Deficient Bk Channel Function Show Impaired Prepulse Inhibition And Spatial Learning, But Normal Working And Spatial Reference Memory., Marei Typlt, Magdalena Mirkowski, Erin Azzopardi, Lukas Ruettiger, Peter Ruth, Susanne Schmid

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

Genetic variations in the large-conductance, voltage- and calcium activated potassium channels (BK channels) have been recently implicated in mental retardation, autism and schizophrenia which all come along with severe cognitive impairments. In the present study we investigate the effects of functional BK channel deletion on cognition using a genetic mouse model with a knock-out of the gene for the pore forming α-subunit of the channel. We tested the F1 generation of a hybrid SV129/C57BL6 mouse line in which the slo1 gene was deleted in both parent strains. We first evaluated hearing and motor function to establish the suitability of this …

Assessment Of Verbal And Nonverbal Memory And Learning In Abstinent Alcoholics, Alyson L. Phelan

ETD Archive

Neuropsychological performance was measured in chronic alcoholics who maintained abstinence for at least six months and with matched controls. Specifically, measures of verbal memory were assessed utilizing the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT) and measures of nonverbal memory with the Rey Osterreith Complex Figure Test (ROCF) and a new measure, the Poreh Nonverbal Memory Test (PNMT). In addition, both the RAVLT and the PNMT provide a measure of operationalized learning, as they are multi-trial tasks utilizing five trials to assess recall in each trial. Verbal memory includes the ability to encode, store and retrieve information for words, language and …

White Matter Integrity And Age Related Differences In Reaction Time Components, Yiqin Yang

Wayne State University Dissertations

Reduced speed in information processing is a well-documented phenomenon associated with advanced aging. Age-related deterioration in white matter integrity might play a role in age-related increase in reaction time (RT). However, the association between microstructural differences in particular white matter regions or tracts with RT is unclear. Decomposing RT into parts might be a better way to understand the relationship due to multiple processes involved in RT. In a lifespan sample of 90 healthy normotensive participants, this study examined the association between RT components derived from the Ratcliff diffusion model with age related difference in DTI indices of a wide …

Steering The Cultural Dynamics, Yoshihisa Kashima, Emiko S. Kashima, Ruth Beatson

IACCP Proceedings of the Biennial International Conferences

A peer-revieved book based on presentations at the XX Congress of the International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology, 2010, Melbourne, Australia. Edited by Yoshihisa Kashima, Emiko Kashima, and Ruth Beatson.

(c) 2013, International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology

Endogenous Angiotensin Ii‐Induced P44/42 Mitogen‐Activated Protein Kinase Activation Mediates Sodium Appetite But Not Thirst Or Neurohypophysial Secretion In Male Rats, Laura A. Grafe, Steven J. Fluharty, Daniel K. Yee, Loretta M. Flanagan-Cato

Psychology Faculty Research and Scholarship

The renin–angiotensin–aldosterone system makes a critical contribution to body fluid homeostasis, and abnormalities in this endocrine system have been implicated in certain forms of hypertension. The peptide hormone angiotensin II (AngII) regulates hydromineral homeostasis and blood pressure by acting on both peripheral and brain targets. In the brain, AngII binds to the angiotensin type 1 receptor (AT1R) to stimulate thirst, sodium appetite and both arginine vasopressin (AVP) and oxytocin (OT) secretion. The present study used an experimental model of endogenous AngII to examine the role of p44/42 mitogen‐activated protein kinase (MAPK) as a signalling mechanism to mediate these responses. Animals …

Personal And Social Factors In Risk-Taking Behaviors Of Emerging Adults, Katherine A. Roeser

Wayne State University Dissertations

The transitional period from adolescence to young adulthood is defined as the stage of life that begins at the conclusion of high school and ends with the acceptance of adult roles (i.e., career, marriage, parenthood). The focus of the present study was on college students' excessive use of alcohol and other drugs and participation in high-risk sexual activity and the association between those behaviors and personal and social factors such as sensation seeking, peer influence, perceived general resistance to peer influence, perceived self-efficacy to resist risky behavior, and emotion regulation. The participants were 427 emerging- adult, undergraduate students 18 to …

Play And Treatment Outcomes In A Cognitive-Behavioral Program For Children With Anxiety: The Role Of Child Involvement And Collaboration, Enid S. Flagg

PCOM Psychology Dissertations

This study examined a mediation model of the relationship between play, process variables (child involvement and collaboration), and treatment outcome in a randomized clinical trial (RCT) of CBT for childhood anxiety disorders. Additionally, it explored the use of play in CBT for children. Participants (N=43; M age = 10.09) took part in a RCT which evaluated the effectiveness of an individual cognitive-behavioral treatment (ICBT) versus a family cognitive-behavioral treatment (FCBT), for childhood anxiety disorders. Archival data (videotaped treatment sessions) at a university based clinic for childhood anxiety disorders was coded for treatment interventions (play and cognitive-behavioral) and process variables (child …

Using Multivariate Pattern Analysis To Identify Conceptual Knowledge Representation In The Brain, Jing Wang

Theses and Dissertations

Representation of semantic knowledge is an important aspect of cognitive function. The processing of concrete (e.g., book) and abstract (e.g., freedom) semantic concepts show systematic differences on various behavioral measures in both healthy and clinical populations. However, previous studies examining the difference in the neural substrates correlating with abstract and concrete concept representations have reached inconsistent conclusions. This dissertation used multiple novel data analyses approaches on functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data, to investigate representational differences of abstract and concrete concepts and to provide converging evidence that the representations of abstract and concrete semantic knowledge in the brain rely on …

An Examination Of The Relationship Of Problematic Food Types To The Development Of Substance Use Disorder In Post-Bariatric Surgery Patients, Lauren Fowler

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

The present study focuses on the recent discovery of an overrepresentation of postbariatric surgery patients in substance abuse h'eatment centers (Saules et aI., 2010) and accumulating evidence of new-onset substance use disorders among post-bariatric surgery patients (Ivezaj, 2011; Saules, Reslan, & Schuh, 2012; Wiedemann, Saules, & Ivezaj, 2012), suggesting a role for both food addiction and addiction transfer (Avena & Gold, 2011; McFadden, 2010). Burgeoning research with both animal models and humans demonstrates the applicability of putative "food addiction" in the context of obesity, and justification for further examination of specific macronuh'ients as they relate to obesity and addiction transfer …

Processes Underlying Syntactic Control: Evaluating Linguistically Diverse Children, Vanessa R. Raschke

Dissertations

The current study focused on the mechanisms involved in syntactic awareness development in monolingual and bilingual (English/Spanish-speaking) nine-year-olds. Inclusion of child language brokers (those who translate and interpret for non-English speaking family members) diversified the definition of "bilingual." Previous research has shown bilingual advantages in areas of metalinguistic awareness and executive function (e.g., Bialystok, 2010; Davidson, Raschke, & Pervez, 2010), however, child language brokers have not been distinguished in these studies. These children, due to early language-switching and translation duties, may have differential development of areas of inhibition, cognitive flexibility, and working memory, areas suspected to aid in metalinguistic awareness …

The Effect Of Visual Wulst Lesions And Trigeminal Nerve Sectioning On The Discrimination Of Magnetic Inclination In The Homing Pigeon (Columba Livia), Merissa Acerbi

Honors Projects

The ability of homing pigeons to return to their loft from unknown places has fascinated scientists for centuries. It is well established that homing pigeons, like migratory birds, posses an innate magnetic inclination compass to determine direction by measuring the angle between the magnetic field vector and the Earth's surface. Recent work has indicated that the avian magnetic compass is light mediated and appears to mediate magnetic information to the brain. This occurs via a visual pathway with processing in the visual Wulst area of the forebrain. There is, however, also evidence from other avian species that magnetic direction may …

Acute Elevation In Estradiol Influences The Salience Of Cocaine Cues, Samara Morris Bobzean

Psychology Theses - Archive

Previous research demonstrates that women and female rodents are more responsive to environmental stimuli associated with drug reward than males. A growing body of literature supports a role for estradiol as one of the mechanisms underlying sex differences in the behavioral response to drugs of abuse. However, little is known about the influence of acute elevations in levels of estradiol on cocaine conditioned behaviors. Thus, the purpose of the present study was to investigate the influence of an acute increase in systemic estradiol levels on the expression of cocaine-induced conditioned place preference (CPP). Experimentally naïve, adult female Long Evans rats …

Using Power-Law Properties Of Social Groups For Cloud Defense And Community Detection, Justin L. Rice

Doctoral Dissertations

The power-law distribution can be used to describe various aspects of social group behavior. For mussels, sociobiological research has shown that the Lévy walk best describes their self-organizing movement strategy. A mussel's step length is drawn from a power-law distribution, and its direction is drawn from a uniform distribution. In the area of social networks, theories such as preferential attachment seek to explain why the degree distribution tends to be scale-free. The aim of this dissertation is to glean insight from these works to help solve problems in two domains: cloud computing systems and community detection.

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