Digital Commons Network^™

Fish Intelligence, Sentience And Ethics, Culum Brown

Sentience Collection

Fish are one of the most highly utilised vertebrate taxa by humans; they are harvested from wild stocks as part of global fishing industries, grown under intensive aquaculture conditions, are the most common pet and are widely used for scientific research. But fish are seldom afforded the same level of compassion or welfare as warm-blooded vertebrates. Part of the problem is the large gap between people’s perception of fish intelligence and the scientific reality. This is an important issue because public perception guides government policy. The perception of an animal’s intelligence often drives our decision whether or not to include …

The Sensitivity Of Qba Assessments Of Sheep Behavioural Expression To Variations In Visual Or Verbal Information Provided To Observers, P. A. Fleming, S. L. Wickham, C. A. Stockman, E. Verbeek, L. Matthews, F. Wemelsfelder

Sentience Collection

Qualitative behavioural assessment (QBA) is based on observers’ ability to capture the dynamic complexity of an animal’s demeanour as it interacts with the environment, in terms such as tense, anxious or relaxed. Sensitivity to context is part of QBA’s integrative capacity and discriminatory power; however, when not properly managed it can also be a source of undesirable variability and bias. This study investigated the sensitivity of QBA to variations in the visual or verbal information provided to observers, using free-choice profiling (FCP) methodology. FCP allows observers to generate their own descriptive terms for animal demeanour, against which each animal’s expressions …

The Use Of Judgement Bias To Assess Welfare In Farm Livestock, L. Baciadonna, A. G. Mcelligott

Sentience Collection

The development of accurate measures of animal emotions is important for improving and promoting animal welfare. Cognitive bias indicates the effect of emotional states on cognitive processes, such as memory, attention, and judgement. Cognitive bias tests complement existing behavioural and physiological measures for assessing the valence of animal emotions indirectly. The judgement bias test has been used to assess emotional states in non-human animals; mainly in laboratory settings. The aim of this review is to summarise the findings on the use of the judgement bias test approach in assessing emotions in non-human animals, focusing in particular on farm livestock. The …

Intrasexual Selection Drives Sensitivity To Pitch, Formants And Duration In The Competitive Calls Of Fallow Bucks, Benjamin J. Pitcher, Elodie Briefer, Alan G. Mcelligott

Ethology Collection

Background: Mammal vocal parameters such as fundamental frequency (or pitch; fo) and formant dispersion often provide information about quality traits of the producer (e.g. dominance and body size), suggesting that they are sexually selected. However, little experimental evidence exists demonstrating the importance of these cues in intrasexual competition, particularly fo. Male Fallow deer (bucks) produce an extremely low pitched groan. Bucks have a descended larynx and generate fo well below what is expected for animals of their size. Groan parameters are linked to caller dominance, body size and condition, suggesting that groans are the product of sexual selection. Using a …

Predator Recognition And Responses In The Endangered Macquarie Perch (Macquaria Australasica), Culum Brown, Jennifer Morgan

Sentience Collection

Macquarie perch, Macquaria austalasica, is an endangered species endemic to southern Australia whose distribution is highly fragmented and continues to decline. Key threatening processes include habitat destruction, dams and weirs, overfishing and interactions with introduced species. Here, we examined the responses of small and large Macquarie perch to two native predators and to the introduced redfin perch, Perca fluviatilis. Our results showed that Macquarie perch generally avoided large-bodied native predators but was attracted to small-bodied native predators. Responses to large and small redfin perch lay between these two extremes, suggesting that the Macquarie perch does treat these foreign fish as …

“Goats That Stare At Men” – Dwarf Goats Alter Their Behaviour In Response To Human Head Orientation But Do Not Spontaneously Use Head Direction As A Cue In A Food-Related Context, Christian Nawroth, Eberhard Von Borell, Jan Langbein

Social Cognition Collection

Recently, comparative research on the mechanisms and species-specific adaptive values of attributing attentive states and using communicative cues has gained increased interest, particularly in non-human primates, birds, and dogs. Here, we investigate these phenomena in a farm animal species, the dwarf goat (Capra aegagrus hircus). In the first experiment, we investigated the effects of different human head and body orientations, as well as human experimenter presence/absence, of a human on the behaviour of goats in a food-anticipating paradigm. Over a 30-sec interval, the experimenter engaged in one of four different postures or behaviours (head and body towards the subject, head …

Scent Of The Familiar: An Fmri Study Of Canine Brain Responses To Familiar And Unfamiliar Human And Dog Odors, Gregory S. Berns, Andrew M. Brooks, Mark Spivak

Social Cognition Collection

Understanding dogs’ perceptual experience of both conspecifics and humans is important to understand how dogs evolved and the nature of their relationships with humans and other dogs. Olfaction is believed to be dogs’ most powerful and perhaps important sense and an obvious place to begin for the study of social cognition of conspecifics and humans. We used fMRI in a cohort of dogs (N = 12) that had been trained to remain motionless while unsedated and unrestrained in the MRI. By presenting scents from humans and conspecifics, we aimed to identify the dimensions of dogs’ responses to salient biological …

Obtaining A Hierarchically Optimal Cta Model Via Unioda Software, Paul R. Yarnold, Fred B. Bryant

Psychology: Faculty Publications and Other Works

The use of UniODA software to obtain a hierarchically optimal (maximum-accuracy) classification tree analysis (HO-CTA) model is demonstrated.

Mindfulness And Rumination As Predictors Of Persistence With A Distress Tolerance Task., Greg Feldman, Emily Dunn, Carrie Stemke, Kelly Bell, Jeffrey M. Greeson

College of Science & Mathematics Departmental Research

Distress tolerance (DT) is a proposed transdiagnostic factor in psychopathology, yet sources of individual differences in DT are largely unknown. The present study examined mindfulness and rumination facets as predictors of persistence on a standardized DT task (mirror tracing). Acting with awareness (a facet of mindfulness) and reflection (a potentially adaptive form of rumination) predicted increased DT. Increased task-induced skin conductance reactivity predicted decreased DT. These results held after controlling for task skill and subjective and heart rate reactivity. Together, these results suggest that teaching skills to promote mindful awareness and reflection hold promise as interventions to enhance DT.

Use Of Prescription Drugs And Future Delinquency Among Adolescent Offenders, Tess K. Drazdowski, Lena Jäggi, Alicia Borre, Wendy L. Kliewer

Psychology Publications

Non-medical use of prescription drugs (NMUPD) by adolescents is a significant public health concern. The present study investigated the profile of NMUPD in 1349 adolescent offenders from the Pathways to Desistance project, and whether NMUPD predicted future delinquency using longitudinal data. Results indicated that increased frequency and recency of NMUPD in adolescent offenders are related to some demographic factors, as well as increased risk for violence exposure, mental health diagnoses, other drug use, and previous delinquency, suggesting that severity of NMUPD is important to consider. However, ANCOVA analyses found that NMUPD was not a significant predictor of drug-related, non-aggressive, or …

Husband's Response To Infidelity, Toby Q. Jenkins

Theses and Dissertations--Family Sciences

Infidelity is the most often cited reason for divorce in the United States and much of the world. Providing therapy for a couple trying to recover from infidelity is one of the most difficult and complex presenting problems for therapists. Much of the existing research that predicts responses to infidelity subscribes to an evolutionary psychology perspective, predicting response by gender differently based on motives concerning procreation. Males would find sexual infidelity more threatening because paternity would be uncertain, females would find emotional infidelity more threatening because of the risk of resources and protection being diverted to another female’s offspring. Much …

The Asymmetrical Bridge: A Review Of James Tabery's Book "Beyond Versus.", David S. Moore

Pitzer Faculty Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Biomechanics Of Head Impacts Associated With Diagnosed Concussion In Female Collegiate Ice Hockey Players, Bethany J. Wilcox, Jonathan G. Beckwith, Richard M. Greenwald, Neha P. Raukar, Jeffrey J. Chu, Thomas W. Mcallister, Laura A. Flashman, Arthur C. Maerlender, Ann-Christine Duhaime,, Joseph J. Crisco

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Epidemiological evidence suggests that female athletes may be at a greater risk of concussion than their male counterparts. The purpose of this study was to examine the biomechanics of head impacts associated with diagnosed concussions in a cohort of female collegiate ice hockey players. Instrumented helmets were worn by 58 female ice hockey players from 2 NCAA programs over a three year period. Kinematic measures of single impacts associated with diagnosed concussion and head impact exposure on days with and without diagnosed concussion were evaluated. Nine concussions were diagnosed. Head impact exposure was greater in frequency and magnitude on days …

Programmed Physical Exertion In Recovery From Sports-Related Concussion: A Randomized Pilot Study, Arthur C. Maerlender, Wanda Rieman, Jonathan Lichtenstein, C. Condiracci

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Although no data exist, general practice recommends only rest following concussion. This randomized clinical trial found that programmed physical exertion during recovery produced no significant differences in recovery time between groups of participants. However, high levels of exertion were deleterious. This study provides initial evidence that moderate physical activity is a safe replacement behavior during recovery.

Mexican-Origin Parents’ Work Conditions And Adolescents’ Adjustment, Lorey A. Wheeler, Kimberly A. Updegraff, Ann Crouter

Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families, and Schools: Faculty Publications

Mexican-origin parents’ work experiences are a distal extra-familial context for adolescents’ adjustment. This two-wave multi-informant study examined the prospective mechanisms linking parents’ work conditions (i.e., self-direction, work pressure, workplace discrimination) to adolescents’ adjustment (i.e., educational expectations, depressive symptoms, risky behavior) across the transition to high school drawing on work socialization and spillover models. We examined the indirect effects of parental work conditions on adolescent adjustment through parents’ psychological functioning (i.e., depressive symptoms, role overload) and aspects of the parent-adolescent relationship (i.e., parental solicitation, parent-adolescent conflict), as well as moderation by adolescent gender. Participants were 246 predominantly immigrant, Mexican-origin, two-parent families …

Risk For Engagement In Nonsuicidal Self-Injury In Children And Adolescents, Andrea Lee Barrocas Gottlieb

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Although NSSI engagement is a growing public health concern, little research has documented the developmental precursors to NSSI in longitudinal studies using youth samples. This study aimed to expand upon previous research on groups of NSSI engagement in a population-based sample of youth using multi-wave data. Moreover, this study examined whether chronic peer and romantic stress, the serotonin transporter gene (5-HTTLPR), parenting behaviors, and negative attributional style predicted the NSSI group membership as well as the role of sex and grade. Participants were 549 youth in beginning in the 3^rd, 6^th, and 9^th grades at …

A Mixed Methods Evaluation Of The Effectiveness Of A Group Yoga Intervention As An Adjunctive Trauma Therapy For Adolescent Girls, Melissa Eileen Houser

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Neuroscience findings support the need for trauma treatments that work from the lowest levels of the brain up to the highest levels of the brain (Perry, 2009) due to evidence that the inverse relationship between amygdala and medial prefrontal cortex is not as strong in individuals who have experienced trauma, leading to difficulty in inhibiting fear responses through cognition (McRae, Ochsner, & Gross 2011). Difficulties associating language with traumatic events have also been found (van der Kolk, 2006). The integration of mindfulness practices and the popularization of yoga in the West have led to use of yoga to address trauma …

Increased Attention And Memory For Beloved-Related Information During Infatuation: Behavioral And Electrophysiological Data, Sandra J. E. Langeslag, Jamie R. Oliver, Martine E. Köhlen, Ilse M. Nijs

Psychology Faculty Works

Emotionally salient information is well attended and remembered. It has been shown that infatuated individuals have increased attention for their beloved. It is unknown whether this attention bias generalizes to information related to the beloved. Moreover, infatuated individuals report to remember trivial things about their beloved, but this has not yet been tested empirically. In two studies, we tested whether infatuated individuals have increased attention and memory for beloved-related information. In a passive viewing task (Study 1), the late positive potential, an event-related potential (ERP) component reflecting motivated attention, was enhanced for beloved-related vs friend-related words/phrases. In a recognition task …

Anger Is A Gift: How Psychology And Ethics Illuminate Moral Responsibility - Peter White Scholar Grant, Zac Cogley

Grants

This proposal details a project that builds on my current interdisciplinary research program to articulate and develop a novel theory of moral responsibility. Like many philosophers, I maintain that whether someone is morally responsible for an action depends on whether it is appropriate to adopt attitudes such as anger and resentment toward the person. What makes my view unique is how I understand these “reactive attitudes.” I show they serve three functions: to appraise the action of a person (e.g. that it is wrong), to communicate the appraisal of wrongdoing to others, and to sanction the perceived wrongdoer. My defense …

The Impact Of Collective Intelligence And Honest Signaling On Fraud Brainstorming Effectiveness: A Sociometric Investigation Using Wearable Sensor Technology, Allen Hartt

2015

This dissertation investigates the impact of collective intelligence and honest signaling on the fraud risk brainstorming effectiveness of audit groups. Emerging research in psychology shows that collective intelligence, which captures the general ability of a group to perform a wide variety of tasks, is a strong predictor of group performance. Honest signals are nonverbal communication cues that are either so costly to make or difficult to suppress that they are reliable in signaling intent.

The first study of this dissertation provides a summary of extant literature examining collective intelligence and honest signaling, with an emphasis on those studies that have …

Examining The Relationship Among Genes, Attention Bias To Emotion, Depression In Youth, Jessica L. Jenness

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The investigation of biologically initiated pathways to psychological disorder is critical to advance our understanding of mental illness. Research has suggested that attention bias to emotion may be an intermediate trait for depression associated with biologically plausible candidate genes, such as the serotonin transporter (5-HTTLPR) and catechol-o-methyl-transferase (COMT) genes, yet there have been mixed findings in regards to the precise direction of effects. The experience of recent stressful life events (SLEs) may be an important, yet currently unstudied, moderator of the relationship between genes and attention bias as SLEs have been associated with both gene expression and attention to emotion. …

Behavioral Couples Therapy For Smoking Cessation: A Pilot Randomized Clinical Trial, Heather Lachance, Erin M. Tooley

Arts & Sciences Faculty Publications

Introduction—Behavioral couples therapy (BCT) has been found to improve long-term abstinence rates in alcohol- and substance-dependent populations but has not been tested for smoking cessation. This pilot study examined the feasibility and acceptability of BCT for smoking-discordant couples.

Methods—Forty-nine smokers (smoking >10 cigarettes/day) with non-smoking partners were randomized to receive a couples social support (BCT-S) intervention, or an individually-delivered smoking cessation (ST) treatment. The couples were married or cohabiting for at least one year, with partners who had never smoked or had not used tobacco in one year. Both treatments included seven weekly sessions and 8-weeks of nicotine …

High-Field Functional Imaging Of Pitch Processing In Auditory Cortex Of The Cat., Blake E. Butler, Amee J Hall, Stephen G Lomber

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

The perception of pitch is a widely studied and hotly debated topic in human hearing. Many of these studies combine functional imaging techniques with stimuli designed to disambiguate the percept of pitch from frequency information present in the stimulus. While useful in identifying potential "pitch centres" in cortex, the existence of truly pitch-responsive neurons requires single neuron-level measures that can only be undertaken in animal models. While a number of animals have been shown to be sensitive to pitch, few studies have addressed the location of cortical generators of pitch percepts in non-human models. The current study uses high-field functional …

The Cognitive Basis Of Social Behavior: Cognitive Reflection Overrides Antisocial But Not Always Prosocial Motives, Brice Corgnet, Antonio M. Espín, Roberto Hernán-González

Economics Faculty Articles and Research

Even though human social behavior has received considerable scientific attention in the last decades, its cognitive underpinnings are still poorly understood. Applying a dual-process framework to the study of social preferences, we show in two studies that individuals with a more reflective/deliberative cognitive style, as measured by scores on the Cognitive Reflection Test (CRT), are more likely to make choices consistent with “mild” altruism in simple non-strategic decisions. Such choices increase social welfare by increasing the other person's payoff at very low or no cost for the individual. The choices of less reflective individuals (i.e., those who rely more heavily …

Tweeting About Sexism: The Well-Being Benefits Of A Social Media Collective Action., Mindi D. Foster

Psychology Faculty Publications

Although collective action has psychological benefits in non-gendered contexts (e.g., Drury et al., 2005), the benefits for women taking action against gender discrimination are unclear. This study examined how a popular, yet unexplored potential form of collective action, namely tweeting about sexism, affects women’s well-being. Women read about sexism and were randomly assigned to tweet, or to one of three control groups. Content analyses showed tweets exhibited collective intent and action. Analyses of linguistic markers suggested public tweeters used more cognitive complexity in their language than private tweeters. Profile analyses showed that compared to controls, only public tweeters showed decreasing …

Is It Time To Consider The "Burnout Syndrome" A Distinct Illness?, Renzo Bianchi, Irvin Sam Schonfeld, Eric Laurent

Publications and Research

The "burnout syndrome" has been defined as a combination of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment caused by chronic occupational stress. Although there has been increasing medical interest in burnout over the last decades, it is argued in this paper that the syndrome cannot be elevated to the status of diagnostic category, based on (1) an analysis of the genesis of the burnout construct, (2) a review of the latest literature on burnout-depression overlap, (3) a questioning of the three-dimensional structure of the burnout syndrome, and (4) a critical examination of the notion that burnout is singularized by its …

Orbitofrontal 18f-Dopa Uptake And Movement Preparation In Parkinson’S Disease, Lucio Marinelli, Arnoldo Piccardo, Laura Mori, Silvia Morbelli, Nicola Girtler, Antonio Castaldi, Agnese Picco, Carlo Trompetto, Maria Felice Ghilardi, Giovanni Abbruzzese, Flavio Nobili

Publications and Research

In Parkinson’s disease (PD) degeneration of mesocortical dopaminergic projections may determine cognitive and behavioral symptoms. Choice reaction time task is related to attention, working memory, and goal-directed behavior. Such paradigm involves frontal cortical circuits receiving mesocortical dopamine which are affected early in PD. The aim of this study is to characterize the role of dopamine on the cognitive processes that precede movement in a reaction time paradigm in PD.We enrolled 16 newly diagnosed and untreated patientswith PDwithout cognitive impairment or depression and 10 control subjectswith essential tremor. They performed multiple-choice reaction time task with the right upper limb and brain …

Differential Parenting Practices Within Families: Associations With Siblings' Academic And Behavioral Outcomes, Ashley Ceresnie

Wayne State University Dissertations

The association between parenting behaviors and the outcomes of children has been widely studied, with results commonly linking parents' attitudes and behaviors with child outcomes. Few studies, however, have examined and analyzed the link between differential or inconsistent parenting within families and the academic and behavioral outcomes of siblings. Thus, the main purpose of this study was to explore the relations between differential parenting within families and the academic and general behavioral outcomes of pairs of siblings. Included in this study were variables that represent parenting factors (demandingness and responsiveness) and child outcomes (academic grades and behaviors). Unique to this …

The Influence Of Sibling Presence On Grade Point Average, Amanda Joanne Kipp

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Using archival data from schools in southeastern Ohio, this paper explores the idea that the GPA of students will be affected when a sibling resides in the home compared to students who do not have a sibling in the home. The study explored whether having an older sibling affects the GPA of a student more than that of a younger sibling. Finally, the study examined whether an older male sibling has an affect on the student’s GPA more than an older female sibling. The results showed that having a sibling in the home does not affect the GPA of a …

Critical Period Conditioning By Orgasm During Heterosexual Oral Sex, Kristy N. Woods

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Data were obtained retrospectively and anonymously using a computerized survey instrument from 450 female and 489 male participants who had experienced orgasm during oral sex before age 18, as well as 352 female and 151 male participants who had not experienced an orgasm while receiving oral sex before age 18. Female participants who experienced an orgasm during oral sex prior to age 18 were significantly more likely to experience an orgasm during oral sex after age 18. For male participants, although the difference was in the hypothesized direction, it did not reach significance. Female participants who experienced an orgasm during …