Digital Commons Network^™

Towards An Understanding Of Learning In Immersive Virtual Reality: Investigating Learning Affordances To Bridge Theory And Practice, Gregory Mcgowin

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

This dissertation examines how modality-specific scaffolding shapes performance, presence, and transfer in immersive virtual reality (I-VR). Framed through theories of extended cognition, real-time guidance is conceptualized as cognitive scaffolding that structures perception and action by embedding task-relevant information within the environment. Situated within the learning sciences and informed by 4E cognition (embodied, embedded, enactive, extended), this work develops a framework for understanding how I-VR affordances relate to learning and performance.

The empirical study investigates how scaffolding modality (audio vs. visual) influences presence and performance in a VR racing simulation. Using a 3 × 2 × 2 mixed factorial design, 111 …

The Role Of Alcohol Expectancies In The Relationship Between Social Anxiety And Protective Behavioral Strategies Among College Students, Jordan Ortman

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

College students with elevated social anxiety are at heightened risk for alcohol-related consequences despite not consistently reporting greater alcohol use. One potential explanation for this pattern is lower engagement in protective behavioral strategies (PBS). Social alcohol expectancies are relevant to PBS use because students with elevated social anxiety often expect alcohol to reduce social discomfort or facilitate social interaction, and these beliefs may correspond with lower use of strategies that constrain the pace or amount of drinking. The present study examined whether positive and negative social alcohol expectancies were intermediate variables in associations between social anxiety and three PBS domains: …

Cracking The Code Of Ai Autonomy: Examining The Role Of Challenge And Hindrance Appraisals And Ai Literacy In Task Satisfaction, Rujuta Parekar

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

AI is constantly evolving and being rapidly integrated into the workplace. Limited research has examined how this integration is affecting employee outcomes, and particularly the impacts of whether employees are expected or mandated to use AI for their work. The present study utilized the challenge-hindrance framework to examine the effect of autonomy in using AI on task satisfaction through challenge and hindrance appraisal among working adults. Since the ability to understand and use AI can influence how individuals perceive it, the moderating effect of AI literacy on the hypothesized research model is also examined. A multi-wave research design was used …

Toward Evidence-Based Disposition Assessment In Counselor Education: Advocating For Established Measures And Evaluating The Psychometric Properties Of The Pdca-Ra, Laura Rendon Finnell

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Professional dispositions are recognized as an essential component of counselor competence and are now explicitly included within accreditation standards. However, questions remain regarding how these characteristics should assessed in ways that are fair, systematic, and supported by empirical evidence. This two-manuscript dissertation focused on professional disposition assessment in counselor education. The first manuscript provides a conceptual examination of professional dispositions, counselor competence, and gatekeeping responsibilities while reviewing established disposition assessment instruments in counselor education. The manuscript advocates for the use of established disposition measures rather than relying solely on locally developed assessment procedures. The second manuscript presents an empirical evaluation …

A Modular Virtual Reality Training Framework For Multi-Target Drone Defense, Susann Schleupner

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Unmanned aerial systems (UAS), commonly referred to as drones, have become a rapidly growing challenge in modern military operations. In particular, the increasing use of small, agile, and low-cost systems—such as first-person-view (FPV) drones and coordinated multi-drone deployments—places high cognitive demands on operators, requiring rapid target detection, prioritization, and decision-making under time pressure.

Existing training approaches either rely on costly and logistically constrained live exercises or focus primarily on isolated piloting and shooting tasks, without sufficiently addressing these cognitive demands. At the same time, advances in commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) virtual reality (VR) hardware enable scalable, flexible, and repeatable training environments. …

Visual Cues Of Human-Likeness, Not Salience, Impact Trust-Related Human-Computer Interaction, Jordan Schotz

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

As interactions with digital agents become increasingly integrated into daily life, understanding how visual representations influence social decision-making is critical. Previous research in human-computer interaction has frequently confounded the psychological effects of an agent's perceived human-likeness with the underlying visual salience of the stimuli. To address these persistent gaps, the present study systematically isolated the effects of human-likeness and visual cue trustworthiness on trust behavior while controlling for objective image properties. The present study expanded on and normed the Virtual Avatar Facial Stimuli Set (VAFSS), a comprehensive database comprising hundreds of identity-matched photographs and computer-generated avatars varying across a spectrum …

Revisiting The Foundation Of Strategic Core Theory: Informal Roles And Teamwork Roles In Work Team Centrality, Allen Thomas Shorey

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Strategic core theory makes a distinction between roles within a team that are central to the team’s workflow (i.e., core roles) and those that are not central (i.e., non-core roles) (Humphrey et al., 2009). This line of work has shown that attributes, such as job-related skill of core team members, were more predictive of team performance than those of non-core members. However, this line of work has primarily examined core and non-core roles as defined by formal taskwork roles. In this thesis, I examine patient care teams and management simulation teams with the principal conviction that (a) informal roles and …

Unmasking Impression Management: Large Language Models For Detecting Socially Desirable Responding In Open-Ended Situational Judgment Tests, Barret Vermilion

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Socially desirable responding (SDR) — the tendency to present oneself in an overly favorable light — remains a persistent validity concern in industrial-organizational psychology. Contemporary theory frames SDR as multidimensional, distinguishing agentic impression management (AM; inflating competence, dominance, and achievement) from communal impression management (CM; inflating warmth, cooperation, and prosocial qualities). Existing measures of AM and CM rely on self-report, which captures these constructs only at the level of generalized trait-like tendencies rather than as they naturally unfold in applicants' own language. This dissertation proposes a text-based alternative: detecting AM and CM in open-ended situational judgment tests (SJTs) of Big …

Switching Things Up: Investigating The Costs Of Switching Between Tasks Of Varying Interdependence And Factors That Influence These Transitions, Taylor A. Wilhelmy

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Though researchers have indicated that there is a high probability teams will transition between tasks of varying interdependence (Benishek & Lazzara, 2019; Mesmer-Magnus et al., 2016), there is a need to further examine this idea (Smith-Jentsch, 2015; Mesmer-Magnus et al., 2016) as few have actually studied it. Expanding upon Moon et al. (2004), this study examines the costs associated with transitioning between two tasks of varying levels of interdependence (i.e., pooled and team interdependence; Saavedra et al., 1993), how these costs vary depending on the order the tasks are engaged while examining how team cognition (i.e., transactive memory systems) and/or …

Careless Responding: Testing The Theory Of Vigilance, Rusty Wilson

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Careless responding (CR) has been identified as a threat to the psychometric integrity of cognitive and non-cognitive tests, with much of the current research focusing on the identification and removal of carelessness from dataset. While this research has proved fruitful in improving data quality, there has been a recent push to move towards preventing carelessness as opposed to post-hoc removal, which harms statistical power. However, the most common prevention strategy to prevent carelessness (pre-survey warnings) has shown equivocal effects. Additionally, the literature lacks an agreed upon theory to explain why carelessness occurs. To address these gaps I introduce theory from …

The Role Of Personality Traits In The Relationship Between Executive Functioning And Identity Dimensions, Faith Alexander

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

This study examined the mediating role of personality traits on the relationship between executive functioning (EF) domains and dimensions of identity development. A cross-sectional, correlational design was utilized. 364 participants (MAge = 20.03, SD = 4.11) completed self-report measures of EF, personality, and identity. It was hypothesized that the Big 5 personality traits would mediate associations between EF components (working memory, inhibitory control, and cognitive flexibility) and adaptive or maladaptive identity dimensions. Results indicated that conscientiousness partially mediated the relationship between working memory and identification with commitment, while fully mediating the relationship between working memory and commitment making, suggesting …

Robust Linking Estimation In Item Response Theory Using Quantile Regression: Applications To The Graded Response And Generalized Partial Credit Models, Ibrahim Almansour

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

This dissertation investigates robust estimation of linking coefficients in Item Response Theory (IRT) using quantile regression and its extensions. Linking procedures are essential for placing item and ability parameters from different test forms onto a common scale, thereby ensuring comparability of examinee scores across administrations. Traditional approaches such as moment methods, characteristic curve methods, and mean-based regression procedures like Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) and Generalized Least Squares (GLS) perform adequately under ideal conditions but tend to lose accuracy when ability distributions deviate from normality or include outliers.

To address these limitations, this research proposes a quantile-based regression framework that estimates …

A Test Of The Three-Step Theory: Examining Pain, Hopelessness, And Suicidal Desire Among College Students, Shelby Baker

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Suicide is a leading cause of death, and suicidal thoughts are prevalent among emerging adults and undergraduate students. Still, many prominent risk factors remain understudied. Guided by the Three-Step Theory of Suicide (3ST), this study examined the roles of hopelessness, psychological pain, and physical pain in prediction of suicidal desire among undergraduate college students (N = 1,705) recruited from UCF’s SONA system and CloudResearch’s Connect platform. Participants completed an online, cross-sectional survey that included measures of suicidal thoughts and behaviors, hopelessness, psychological pain, physical pain, and other psychological variables of interest. Psychological pain and physical pain were tested as moderators …

Examining Team Leader Visual Dynamics And Team Performance In Pediatric Emergency Simulations, Annamarie Brosnihan

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Pediatric medical emergencies are dynamic, high-intensity clinical situations that demand coordinated interdisciplinary actions for optimal patient outcomes. Effective teamwork and leadership are critical, especially during the preparatory phase. Here, team leaders define task goals, assign individual roles, and maintain situational awareness. This phase directs attention, organizes team dynamics, and ensures medical interventions are deployed properly. Medical simulations provide a unique opportunity to capture dynamic leadership behaviors in a controlled low-stakes environment using multimodal data, such as eye tracking, to gain insight into team leader cognitive processes (i.e., attention allocation and information processing). Prior research suggests that leaders who visually attend …

Applying Harm Reduction To Binge-Eating Disorder: Protective Behavioral Strategies Against Uncontrolled Eating, Emily Burr

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Binge-eating disorder (BED) is a highly deleterious mental illness, with ramifications ranging from psychological impairment to premature mortality. Despite the awareness of intervention urgency, treatment strategies to manage BED have limited long-term efficacy. Therefore, it is of high necessity to illuminate other methods of reducing the potential effects of binge eating (BE), either by combatting severity or frequency of the behavior. Protective behavioral strategies (PBS), first identified in the substance use field, are methods by which an individual attenuates potential harm from a behavior without expectation of abstaining (i.e., a harm reduction approach). Given high likelihood of treatment relapse for …

Behavioral Economic Factors Implicated In Young Adult Drinking In The Natural Environment: An Ema Study, Tatiana Magri

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Background: Young adult (YA) alcohol use remains a prominent public health concern. Despite research efforts aimed at mitigating harms related to drinking, rates of alcohol use and adverse outcomes related to use, remain high among YAs. Previous research has identified alcohol demand, craving, and delay discounting as risk factors for problematic drinking among YAs. However, few studies have concurrently examined these constructs using methodologies that maximize ecological and contextual validity. Method: YA individuals (N=104) completed an ecological momentary assessment (EMA) protocol assessing three demand indices (i.e., intensity, Omax, and breakpoint), delay discounting, craving, and alcohol use and problems. Participants received …

The Role Of Adolescent Attachment In The Relationship Between Trauma And Identity, Ellie Mitova

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Traumatic experiences have been shown to influence identity development during emerging adulthood, a complex developmental period. However, research examining how trauma interacts with adolescent attachment qualities to shape identity processes remains limited. Previous studies have primarily focused on infant attachment styles and their long-term developmental outcomes, leaving a gap in understanding how attachment qualities developed through relationships with parents and peers during adolescence may influence identity development in emerging adults. Additionally, while traumatic experiences have been associated with maladaptive identity processes such as rumination and identity distress, some research suggests that trauma may also contribute to deeper identity exploration and …

Examining Attrition In Rtms For Smoking Cessation: The Roles Of Perceived Research Burden And Delay Discounting, Miranda Proctor

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

This secondary analysis examined predictors of attrition in a randomized clinical trial conducted by Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center evaluating repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) for cigarette smoking cessation. Smoking cessation reduces cancer risk and mortality and improves mental health outcomes. Although rTMS shows promise for supporting sustained abstinence by targeting neurobiological mechanisms underlying nicotine dependence, participant attrition threatens statistical validity, reduces power, and limits generalizability. Identifying predictors of attrition is therefore critical for optimizing trial design and retention.

Research examining predictors of attrition in smoking cessation trials remains limited. Prior work in other clinical populations suggests that higher perceived …

Modeling Hazard Perception Learning In Novice Drivers With Autism: A Multimodal Simulation-Based Study, Erik J. Sand

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Young drivers with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often demonstrate difficulties with road-surveillance behaviors such as scanning ahead, monitoring mirrors, and identifying emerging hazards. These challenges can increase crash risk, particularly for adolescents with limited driving experience. This study explored whether a simple, video-game–based hazard-training program could improve hazard detection performance, visual scanning, and self-regulation in this population. Five participants aged 15–18 years, each identified by a parent as having ASD and possessing either a learner’s permit or no license, completed sequential Baseline, three Treatment, and Withdrawal phases using the SpeedLimit driving simulation. The study employed a single-case experimental design with …

Tl;Dr (Too Long; Didn't Read): Examining The Assessment And Causes Of Careless Responding Within Experimental Vignette Studies, David L. Sexton Jr.

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Careless responding occurs when participants answer survey items without considering their content and poses a serious threat to data quality. However, while past research has examined its deleterious effects on both survey and low-stakes cognitive ability measures, little research has focused on careless responding in experimental vignette methodology (EVM) research. EVM studies require participants to attend to one or more experimental vignettes, which are carefully crafted written scenarios designed to manipulate a focal variable across conditions. However, if participants are careless in attending to study vignettes, they may not be exposed to the researchers’ intended experimental manipulations, thereby precluding them …

Designing With Foresight: Premortem And Human-Centered Evaluation Of Emerging Technologies, Anusha Kannan

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Artificial intelligence is increasingly embedded in safety-critical systems, including transportation, where people must make fast decisions under uncertainty and high risk. As AI takes on a larger role in supporting human judgment, researchers and designers must evaluate more than just its technical performance, they must ask whether people can understand the system and use it effectively in high-risk settings.

This dissertation presents two distinct evaluation methodologies. First, the Human-Centered Evaluation, examines how intelligent in-vehicle alert systems influence driver decision behavior across two experiments. In Experiment 1 (n=24) and Experiment 2 (n=26), participants completed a driving simulator study in which our …

Per My Last Email: Analyzing Social & Emotional Cues In Digital Workplace Communication, Lauren Hunt

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

As virtual work arrangements expand and email becomes an increasingly central workplace communication tool, the function of virtual communication norms provide valuable insight into workplace email dynamics. This study draws from social information processing theory, expectancy violations theory, and channel expansion theory to model how behavioral and linguistic features associated with virtual communication norms shape email perceptions and downstream conflict. The present research examines key communication features from real workplace email threads. Specifically, I extracted response time, sentiment, and linguistic mimicry (e.g., text length, word use), using Natural Language Processing techniques. Data was collected from 461 participants, resulting in 245 …

The Influence Of Social Connectedness And Adverse Childhood Experiences: Understanding Motivation To Change In Early Substance Use Disorder Recovery, Adam M. Daniel

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Substance use disorder is a significant issue facing society today. As the rate of individuals with substance use disorders continues to rise, so too does the need of the counseling profession to explore further the ways to best support this population. The purpose of this study was to explore two specific variables for their impact on motivation to change for individuals in early recovery: social connectedness and adverse childhood experiences. Grounded in the Process-Person-Context-Time model, this study focused on the ways in which an individual’s motivation to change in early sobriety relates to their sense of connectedness to their family …

Resistance, Collaboration, And Ethnic Bias: Evidence On Social Cohesion In Wartime Ukraine, Janina Dill, Marnie Howlett, Carl Müller-Crepon, Mara Revkin

Faculty Scholarship

Interstate wars can rally societies around the flag, but they can also divide them based on individuals’ behavior and identities. Building on fieldwork in wartime Ukraine, we study the importance of collaboration and resistance, ethnic identity, and the interaction between behavior and identity. We examine how such divisions affect Ukrainians’ attitudes toward each other with two conjoint experiments (N=2,513). When choosing among potential neighbors, respondents prefer individuals who resisted over collaborators. However, two identity attributes—ethnic descent and exposure to Russian occupation of Ukrainian territory—activate biases that behavior alone does not fully overcome. Furthermore, we find that respondents value resistance less …

Hidden Wounds: Exploring Moral Injury In Childhood Exposure To Domestic Violence, Megan Elizabeth Denny

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The profound impacts of Childhood Exposure to Domestic Violence (CEDV) have been documented extensively, revealing long-term psychological effects such as the potential development of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and increased likelihood of future victimization or perpetration of violence. Yet, the concept of moral injury (MI) traditionally explored in military and healthcare contexts, remains significantly underexplored in populations exposed to CEDV. This study examines the relevance of MI among individuals who experienced domestic violence (DV) during their youth. The research focused on two primary aims: (1) to describe the level and variability of moral injury-related distress among adults with histories of …

Exploring Engagement With The Ecoschools Platform: An Interactive Display Board Exploratory Evaluation, Kaitlyn E. Ashmore

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This study explores strategies to enhance engagement with EcoSchools Canada, an online sustainability platform used across Canada. Through an exploratory case study involving two Waterloo Region District School Board (WRDSB) schools, the research evaluates the effectiveness of interactive tools such as an Interactive Display Board (IDB) and action cards in fostering student engagement, self-efficacy, and action competence in sustainability initiatives. Through examining user experiences and feedback from Eco-teams and staff, the findings aim to identify if and how these interventions serve as valuable complements to EcoSchools activities. Although not a standalone solution, these tools facilitate deeper involvement when integrated within …

Neural Correlates Of Cognitive Fatigue In Regular Cannabis Users And Non-Users: A Pilot Fnirs Study, Mariia Vistyzenko

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Background: Cognitive fatigue impairs performance across multiple domains, yet how regular cannabis use affects fatigue responses remains unclear. This pilot study investigated neural and behavioural correlates of cognitive fatigue in abstinent cannabis users versus non-users.

Methods: Twenty-six participants (18 non-users, 8 regular cannabis users after 24-hour abstinence) completed cognitive tasks before and after a 60-minute Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART) designed to induce fatigue. Tasks assessed working memory (N-Back), cognitive flexibility (Wisconsin Card Sorting), psychomotor speed (Digit Symbol Substitution), sustained attention (Continuous Performance Task), inhibition (Stroop, Stop Signal), and motion perception. Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) continuously monitored prefrontal cortex …

Injury To Insight: Exploring The Influence Of Media On Acl Rehabilitation Experiences Of Female Soccer Players, Chynna Ho-Young Cadogan, Jill Tracey

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Participation in soccer inherently carries a risk of injury, with female athletes facing a significantly higher susceptibility to anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries (Campbell et al., 2014; Le et al., 2025; Silvers-Granelli, 2021). The increasing participation in women’s soccer, coupled with the growing demand for its consumption through spectatorship, has contributed to a rise in ACL injuries, and increase in media coverage on this phenomenon (Parsons et al., 2021). Understanding how media narratives surrounding ACL injuries and recovery may influence rehabilitation experiences can educate coaches, mental performance consultants, athletic therapists, and female soccer players to better understand and navigate ACL …

Eeg Correlates Of Tactile Synchrony, Devon K. R. Gallagher

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

New research on the tactile system has suggested that cortical representations of body parts are not fixed, as previously thought, and are instead dynamically maintained through constant sensorimotor information and feedback. Within the somatosensory cortex (S1), the capacity for both permanent and temporary changes have been the topic of ongoing research. The current study aimed to corroborate whether 24 hours of a finger adhesion manipulation is sufficient to elicit behavioural and electrophysiological correlates from cortical reorganization of digit representations in S1, using a behavioural paradigm outlined by Kolasinski et al. (2016). Through electroencephalography (EEG) recording during a tactile discrimination task, …

Moral Identity And Cognitive Mechanisms In Moral Decision-Making, Zachariah I. Hamzagic

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Moral identity can be broadly conceptualized as the degree to which an individual places moral values as directly relevant to their personal identity. A recently introduced developmental framework of moral identity argues that moral identity can be conceptualized as a lifelong goal. According to this theoretical framework, the moral identity goal (i.e., to be a moral person and engage in moral action) becomes stronger over the course of development by becoming more abstract (i.e., general), internalized (to satisfy personal ideals) and promotion (i.e., action) oriented. Additionally, the strength of the moral identity goal predicts moral functioning. To date there has …