Digital Commons Network^™

The Effects Of Positive Anticipation On Optimistic Cognitive Bias And Emotional Resilience In Rats, Megan Hooper

Honors Theses

The anticipation of positive events and optimism have been shown to improve health and emotional states in rats and humans. The current study is interested in the impact of positive anticipation on optimistic cognitive bias and emotional resilience, as well as neural markers of resilience. Male (n = 12) and female (n = 12) rats were assigned to either unpredictable positive expectancy response (UPER) training or the control (CON) group (n = 6 per group). Optimism was assessed using an ambiguous cue test (ACT) in which the rats were trained to associate a specific visual pattern with a high-value (Froot …

Sense Of Relatedness From Racial Groups Within Maltreated Youth, Jessica Castillo, Jaelin Isquith

Undergraduate Research Symposium Posters

Sense of relatedness is a crucial factor in the development of meaningful interpersonal relationships (Datu, 2017). Interpersonal relationships have demonstrated a significant impact on how individuals cope with their environment (Yulina et al., 2021). Youth in low socioeconomic environments are at higher risk of being exposed to unstable relationships which further increases this vulnerable population to learning ineffective interpersonal skills throughout their lifespan (Colman & Wisdom, 2004). Youth from marginalized groups have higher risk at experiencing negative life experiences, for example economic inequalities, heightened distress, systemic oppression, and economic inequalities (Hatch & Dohrenwend, 2007). Previous research has suggested African-American individuals …

The Project That Claire, Uh I Mean The Student Completed: Relative Clauses And Repair Disfluencies, Claire O’Shaughnessy

Honors Theses

Several areas of psycholinguistics focus on the role of memory in language processing. Two of these areas are repair disfluencies and complex syntactic structures; however, these two topics have traditionally been investigated completely separately from one another. The current experiment combines these two topics by presenting listeners with spoken sentences containing subject-extracted relative clauses (SRCs) and object-extracted relative clauses (ORCs) in which the semantic similarity between the critical noun phrases (NPs) was manipulated. In addition, the sentences could be spoken fluently, or there could be a repair disfluency in which the reparandum contained information that would be potentially helpful in …

Career Interests, Sarah Stepanek, Megan Paul

Umbrella Summaries

Career interests reflect individuals’ “trait-like preferences for activities, environments, and outcomes that motivate goal strivings and achievement” (Jones et al., 2020). Simply put, interests are a series of likes and dislikes that develop alongside one’s cognitive abilities and personality to shape human behavior (Jones et al., 2020; Low et al., 2005). Interests, thus, drive the amount of time and effort individuals spend acquiring knowledge and abilities within a certain domain and their pursuit of educational and career goals (Jones et al., 2020). According to vocational choice theory, individuals tend to seek work that aligns with their interests, and when this …

The Influence Of Motivation To Control Prejudice On Facial Processing Flexibility In Individuals Who Identify As Biracial, Chloë Steckart

Honors Theses

Facial processing is one of the most important and immediate aspects of cognition (Jaeger, 2019; Kovács, 2020). Race is an extremely salient facial processing cue that has immediate and long-term impacts on how we interact with others (Oosterhof & Todorov, 2008; Senholzi & Ito, 2013; Blascovich et al., 2017; Kawakami et al., 2022). Race is a powerful in-group in American contexts, and race cues in facial processing play a part in determining in- and out-group members (Tropp & Wright, 2001; Castano et al., 2002).

We investigated how race impacts the facial processing of individuals who identify as Biracial and whether, …

Dental Fear, Anxiety, And Phobia – Behavioral Management And Implications For Dentists, Nadya Tsetsova Avramova

Journal of Mind and Medical Sciences

Clinical management of patients with dental fear, anxiety, and phobia could be a major challenge to daily practice of dental professionals. The aim of the current review was to expand the modern consideration with respect to these issues, and therefore to discuss basic approaches and psychological techniques for management of oral health behaviors that should be employed in dentistry. This paper presents detailed description of the characteristics of dentist-patient therapeutic relationship as well as the most used techniques to cope with dental fear, anxiety, and phobia - relaxation techniques, cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), hypnosis and melotherapy. We can still argue that …

What Was The Real Trouble With The Troubles? The Lived Experience Of Attending A Maintained School In Northern Ireland During The Troubles, Lisabeth Daniels Sweeney

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Immigrant parents from Northern Ireland (NI) interact with American schools differently than most other immigrant cultures. The current generation of NI immigrant parents grew up amidst a sectarian conflict known as the Troubles. This cohort also attended Catholic maintained schools in NI, where corporal punishment was a daily experience. These life experiences can potentially shape an individual’s worldview and view of education. This qualitative study aimed to understand the lived experience of attending maintained schools in NI during the Troubles and how this phenomenon may have shaped NI parents’ view of education. A phenomenological approach using a qualitative survey and …

Book Review: The Secret Life Of Secrets: How Our Inner Worlds Shape Well-Being, Relationships, And Who We Are, Michele Hoffnung

Sociology Between the Gaps: Forgotten and Neglected Topics

No abstract provided.

Mental Health Outcomes From Adverse Childhood Experiences And The Role Of Natural And Service-Based Community Involvement, Sydney Elizabeth Wooten Quinones

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Despite the literature that exists on adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) related to relationships and mental health outcomes, there is a gap that exists in how community involvement can be a moderating factor. Studies do not address how extended family and community influence childhood development as it relates to mental health outcomes. This study is a mixed-method research design. Participants included 61 individuals with at least 1 ACE score and who were at least 18 years of age. They were recruited through social media sharing. Phase 1 assessed demographics, ACE scores, depression and anxiety severity, involvement with a service-based community, and …

American Church Leaders’ Responses To Mental Illness, Erica Elaine Harris

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This phenomenological study enlightens the experience between the development of mental illness and the help-seeking of Christian church leaders. Eleven church leaders in Dallas, Texas, were asked to describe their experiences with a mental disorder as church leaders. The theory guiding this study was Heidegger’s phenomenological theory. Heidegger’s phenomenological approach was the best for exploring the lived experiences of pastors as this theory supports that a person’s experience cannot be examined separately from their world system. Three research questions focused on the occasion of a mental health episode while in the role of a pastor in the Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas, …

Targeting The Gap In Mental Health Advocacy For First-Year College Students, Hailey Kurtz

Honors Projects

The transition from high school to attending a university has been shown to have an impact on the mental health and well-being of first-year university students. First-year students struggle with anxiety and depression in relation to being in a new environment, feeling lonely, fitting in, and taking more academically rigorous coursework. Current students have an awareness of what mental health and well-being resources on their campus are available to them, but such resources are not widely used, though a majority of students indicate that they do or have struggled with their mental health. This indicates that though students are struggling …

Universal Screening For Student Mental Health: Selection Of Norming Sample As A Determinate Of Risk Status, Meagan Zeitvogel

LSU Master's Theses

The prevalence of student mental health concerns has increased the need for universal mental health screening. In turn, students may have increased access to services and support. Some screeners determine risk status by comparing student scores to norming samples that can be based solely on age (i.e., combined-gender) or on age and gender (i.e., separate-gender). Combined-gender norming samples assign risk status based on typical emotional and behavioral functioning across development. Separate-gender norming samples assign risk status based on developmental and biological differences between boys and girls. Currently, there is no research determining if students’ risk status changes based on norming …

Assessing The Dynamic Amongst Self-Compassion, Connection To Nature, And Well-Being, Yueyi Fan

Honors Theses

In 2015, the United Nations deemed promoting individual well-being of paramount importance, along with seventeen other sustainable development goals (to be achieved by 2030). Unfortunately, overall mental health has taken sharp declines with the unprecedented onset of the COVID-19 pandemic (OECD, 2021). According to a report from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the prevalence of anxiety and depression has increased globally; it has doubled or more than doubled as compared to previous years (OECD, 2021). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reported increasing levels of adverse mental health conditions, substance use, and suicidal …

Plant Sentience: A Hypothesis Based On Shaky Premises, Carel Ten Cate

Animal Sentience

Plants may produce fascinating behavioural phenomena for which the label ‘cognitive process’ may be applicable, at least by some definitions. Segundo-Ortin & Calvo (2023) base their hypothesis that plants might be sentient on the premise of demonstrated presence of cognitive complexity. However, the way phenomena are ascribed, and how the term ‘cognitive’ is used by Segundo-Ortin & Calvo, deviates from the common practice in studies of animal cognition, implying greater complexity than seems justified. It thus provides a questionable basis for attributing sentience to plants.

Plant Sentience: "Feeling" Or Biological Automatism?, Andrea Mastinu

Animal Sentience

Sentience refers to the ability of an organism to have subjective experiences such as sensations, emotions and awareness. Whereas some animals, including humans, are widely recognized as sentient, the question of whether plants are sentient is still debated among scientists, philosophers, and ethicists. Over the past 20 years, many scientists such as Trewavas, Baluška, Mancuso, Gagliano, and Calvo have reported interesting discussions about memory, behavior, communication, and intelligence in plants. However, the reported conclusions have not convinced the entire scientific community. In this commentary, I would like to focus on two critical aspects related to sentience: cognition and emotion

Complexity Science: A Framework For Psychotherapy Integration, Günter Schiepek, David Pincus

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

The paradigm of complexity science provides a new way to address the problem of psychotherapy integration and allows us to bypass the various shortcomings of the linear-interventionist perspective. Nine criteria are outlined, which should be satisfied by any integrative approach to psychotherapy: (a) the use of complexity science to provide a meta-theoretical and generic understanding of change processes (from neuronal to social system levels); (b) a comprehensive and formalised modelling of change processes and personality development; (c) an integrative method of case formulation; (d) the ability to understand a variety of techniques in terms of basic change principles; (e) criteria …

Low-Dose Psilocybin Enhances Novel Object Recognition But Not Inhibitory Avoidance In Adult Rats, Claire E. Miller, Colin R. Del Valle, Margaret M. Naylor, Heather R. Sparkman, Connor M. Cruea, Rachel E. Rice, Brooke E. Bramlage, Lillianna P. Puppel, Madison L. Brown, Aleece K. Al-Olimat, Elizabeth S. Dietz, Phillip R. Zoladz

ONU Student Research Colloquium

Given the recently renewed interest in using psychedelics to aid in the treatment of psychological disorders, we aimed to examine the impact of psilocybin, a 5-HT_2A agonist, on learning and memory in rodents. Previous work has demonstrated that psilocybin and other 5-HT_2A agonists can enhance fear conditioning, fear extinction, and novel object recognition (NOR). Thus, we predicted that low doses of psilocybin would enhance inhibitory avoidance (IA) and NOR memory. In the first experiment, adult male and female Sprague-Dawley rats underwent step-through IA training (involving 0.45, 0.65, or 1 mA scrambled footshock) and were injected intraperitoneally (i.p.) with …

Tunnel Vision, False Memories, And Intrusive Memories Following Exposure To The Trier Social Stress Test, Chloe N. Cordes, Cassidy L. Pfister, Kayla M. Boaz, Taylor D. Niese, Sydney L. Parker, Kristen E. Long, Mercedes L. Stanek, Matthew S. Risner, John G. Blasco, Koen N. Suzelis, Kelsey M. Siereveld, Shannon B. Carnes, Boyd R. Rorabaugh, Phillip R. Zoladz

ONU Student Research Colloquium

Most research examining the impact of stress on learning and memory has exposed participants to a stressor and measured how it affects learning and memory for unrelated material (e.g., list of words). Such work has been helpful, but it has not been the most translational to the human condition. When considering phenomena such as intrusive memories in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or an eyewitness's memory for a crime, it is most useful to know what an individual remembers about the stress experience itself, not unrelated information. In prior work, investigators used a modified version of the Trier Social Stress Test …

Impact Of Acute Stress, Sex, And Childhood Maltreatment On Fear Learning And Fear Generalization In A Fear-Potentiated Startle Paradigm, Kayla M. Boaz, Chloe N. Cordes, Cassidy L. Pfister, Taylor D. Niese, Sydney L. Parker, Kristen E. Long, Mercedes L. Stanek, Boyd R. Rorabaugh, Seth D. Norrholm, Phillip R. Zoladz

ONU Student Research Colloquium

Many researchers approach the etiology of trauma-, stressor-, and anxiety-related mental disorders from the perspective of classical conditioning processes gone awry. According to this view, abnormal associative relationships between conditioned and unconditioned stimuli may underlie pathological anxiety and result in unusually intense fear memories or fear memories that cannot be properly extinguished. Recent work has expanded on this view by showing that many psychological disorders involving pathological anxiety are associated with an exaggerated form of stimulus generalization, leading individuals with such disorders to respond with fear and anxiety to a variety of contexts and cues that should not be threatening. …

Psilocybin Prevents Symptoms Of Hyperarousal And Enhances Novel Object Recognition In Rats Exposed To The Single Prolonged Stress Paradigm, Colin R. Del Valle, Heather R. Sparkman, Margaret M. Naylor, Connor M. Cruea, Rachel E. Rice, Claire E. Miller, Brooke E. Bramlage, Lillianna P. Puppel, Madison L. Brown, Aleece K. Al-Olimat, Elizabeth S. Dietz, Phillip R. Zoladz

ONU Student Research Colloquium

Pharmacotherapy for stress-related psychological disorders remains inadequate. Patients who are treated with conventional pharmacological agents frequently report negligeable symptom reduction, and, in most cases, less than 50% experience full remission. Clearly, there is a need for additional pharmaceutical research into both established and novel approaches to alleviate these conditions. Over the past several years, there has been a renewed interest in the use of psychedelics to aid in the treatment of psychological disorders. Several studies have reported promising results in patients with major depression, anxiety disorders, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) following treatment with psychedelic agents such as lysergic acid …

Capturing The Racial Identities Of Latiné Students At A Mid-Size Texas University, Marlena Sandoval

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Cultural Concepts Of Distress And Clinical Intake Processes For Chinese And Chinese American Populations In The United States, Jasmina Harambasic

Undergraduate Theses

Research shows that Chinese Americans underutilize mental health services more than any other ethnic group in the U.S. This project aims to explore the mental health experiences of Chinese American and immigrant communities, with a specific focus on clinical intake processes, including interviews and screening assessments. Cultural concepts of distress refer to ways that cultural groups experience and communicate mental distress, and an exploration of these illness experiences within Chinese American populations can inform how to adapt or develop screening and interview tools to fully capture personal narrations of illness during intake processes in preparation for treatment. Challenges that may …

The Relationship Between Test-Anxiety, Test Performance, Metacognitive Beliefs And Self-Esteem In College Students, Amie Shelley

Campus Research Month

Test anxiety and low self-esteem could affect the validity of certain academic examinations especially if it limits students from performing successfully. There is a need to ensure that students, whose future is often tied to academic success, are adequately educated and assisted in understanding the many layers of internal and external influence that can be in effect. This research will be based on the following question: How are metacognitive beliefs and self-esteem related to test anxiety and academic performance? Essentially, the research is focused on better understanding the tenuous relationship observed from previous research between test-anxiety and academic performance by …

The Relationship Between Test-Anxiety, Test Performance, Metacognitive Beliefs And Self-Esteem In College Students, Amie Shelley

Campus Research Month

Test anxiety and low self-esteem could affect the validity of certain academic examinations especially if it limits students from performing successfully. There is a need to ensure that students, whose future is often tied to academic success, are adequately educated and assisted in understanding the many layers of internal and external influence that can be in effect. This research will be based on the following question: How are metacognitive beliefs and self-esteem related to test anxiety and academic performance? Essentially, the research is focused on better understanding the tenuous relationship observed from previous research between test-anxiety and academic performance by …

Job Stress Moderates The Effects Of A Mindfulness Intervention On Early Childhood Teachers' Emotion Dysregulation, Emily J. Starr

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Addressing the current crisis of early childhood (EC) teacher turnover is essential for supporting the development of young children. Teacher attrition remains a concern for policymakers globally, and in the United States, early childhood teachers frequently cite job stress and lack of support as reasons for leaving the field. For over 40 years, researchers who study childcare have been concerned about the consequences of work-related stressors. Even if these stressors do not result in turnover, EC teachers’ psychological well-being may be impacted, leading to increased emotion regulation difficulties and more frequent negative teacher-child interactions. Young children’s emotional development is significantly …

Pupil Dilation Is Not Associated With Memory For Prior Remembering, Sana Aftab

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

This experiment was conducted to assess the relationship between pupil dilation and memory for prior remembering. Prior remembering is the judgment of whether a memory was previously remembered. Previous studies have suggested that pupil dilation can change in response to emotional stimuli as well as “old” versus “new” stimuli in recognition memory tests. The present experiment had participants view emotional and neutral context image-word pairs before they completed two separate cued-recall tests. Critically, some image-word pairs changed between tests. During the second cued-recall test, participants were also asked to make a judgment about whether they previously retrieved a given word …

Lgbtq Related Intervention In Indonesia: A Literature Review, Gary Collins Brata Winardy, Eva Septiana

Psychological Research on Urban Society

Sexuality remains a divisive but relevant topic in Indonesia, especially concerning sexual minorities, societal view on sexuality, and what role education should take regarding sexuality. The views on the education field in Indonesia are separated on two camps, with some scholars decrying LGBTQ as a problem, a phenomenon incompatible with the national, cultural, and religious values. Whereas at the same time, other schools of thought are pushing for the integration and tolerance toward sexual minority. This article aims to review the current practices on how Indonesia education system handle the topic of LGBTQ. This is done through reviewing research articles …

Volume 14, Ireland Seagle, Dalton C. Whitby, Cassandra Poole, Rachel Cannon, Heidi Parker-Combes, Devon G. Shifflett, Antonio Harvey

Incite: The Journal of Undergraduate Scholarship

Table of Contents:

• Introduction: Dr. Amorette Barber
• From the Editor: Dr. Larissa "Kat" Tracy
• From the Designers: Rachel English, Rachel Hanson
• Hungry Like the Wolf: The Wolf as Metaphor in Paramount Network’s Yellowstone: Ireland Seagle
• “Floating Cities”: Illustrating the Commercial and Conservation Conflict of Alaskan Cruise Ship Tourism: Dalton C. Whitby
• What Can You Do When Your Genes are the Enemy? Current Applications of Gene Manipulation and the Associated Ethical Considerations: Cassandra Poole
• La doble cara: un tema romántico en las obras de Larra y Hawthorne: Rachel Cannon
• Resolving a Conflict: How to …

A Review Of Pre-Clinical Studies On Meth-Induced Gut Microbiome Alterations, Payton Brabant

Honors Theses

Substance use disorder (SUD) is a chronic, pervasive disease that affects approximately 40.3 million people aged 12 and over within the United States (SAMHSA, 2021). Recent investigations have emphasized preventive measures targeting the development of SUDs and the occurrence of relapse. However, to date, FDA-approved medications are only available for those with alcohol (AUD) and opioid use disorders (OUD) (Forouzan et al., 2021). Given that about 964,000 people have methamphetamine use disorder (MUD) within the United States, investigation of novel treatment approaches for psychostimulant abuse is warranted (Forouzan, Hoffman, and Kosten, 2020). Several negative effects can occur after using methamphetamine …

Plant Sentience: Bias And Promise, Sidney Carls-Diamante

Animal Sentience

Whichever side of the debate one chooses, plant sentience is a fertile research area that challenges received views and assumptions, generates novel insights, and suggests new ways that felt states might arise. My commentary discusses methodological and philosophical implications.