Digital Commons Network^™

Executive Cognitive Functioning Capacity Of ‘First Timers’, ‘Return Offenders’, And Controls, Erin H. Ross

Digitized Theses

Incarceration is often a compulsory consequence to criminal action, serving as both punishment and deterrent; however, there is a growing acknowledgement that imprisonment alone is insufficient in preventing future crime. As a result, various types of remediation programs have been implemented in hopes of reducing recidivism rates. One factor that has received relatively little attention with respect to remediation and recidivism is executive cognitive functioning (ECF), which refers to the higher order cognitive process of planning, initiation, and regulation of goal-directed behaviour. A group of 95 incarcerated male offenders and 45 community controls completed various behavioural measures of ECF. Offenders …

Exercise Treatment For Depression: An Examination Of Psychological, Cognitive And Physiological Mechanisms, Louise S. Foley

Digitized Theses

The study purpose was to examine the psychological, cognitive and physiological changes that accompany exercise-mediated amelioration of clinical depression. Depressed participants were randomly assigned to either a six week aerobic exercise (n=10) or stretching (n= 13) program. The outcome variables were depression severity, coping efficacy, episodic memory and cortisol awakening response (CAR). In both groups, depression significantly decreased over six weeks [F(1,15) = 17.20, p=0.001, η2=0.53], accompanied by a decrease in CAR [F(1,11) = 0.68, p=0.43, η2=0.06] and significant increases in coping efficacy [F(1,15) = 13.26, p=0.002, η2=0.47] and memory performance (un-cued recall: [F(1,15) = 6.10, p=0.03, η2=0.29], cued recall: …

Factors That Contribute To Culture Shock: A Case Study Involving Chinese Learners Of English, Weijuan S. Chi

Digitized Theses

Given the reality of large numbers of Chinese students studying in colleges and universities in Canada to pursue higher education, and the alienation that they experience during their studies, it is important that educators understand the nature of culture shock, the factors that contribute to culture shock, as well as the role that culture shock plays in the process of cross-cultural adaptation. The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between each of the six demographic factors (e.g. age, gender, future study plan, number of Canadian friends who are native speakers of English, previous travel experiences and length …

Forgiving Others: Investigating The Role Of Subjective Temporal Distance, Irene Cheung

Digitized Theses

The present research examined whether there is a relation between forgiveness and the psychological passage of time. It was predicted that transgressions perceived as distant in time would be associated with more forgiveness and weaker negative motivations towards the transgressor. In Study 1, participants were led to feel distant from or close to an interpersonal transgression against them. Although the manipulation was ineffective, correlational analyses showed that the further away the transgression was perceived to be, the more participants reported having forgiven their perpetrator. In Study 2, participants were led to feel distant from or close to a transgression committed …

Anosognosia In Mild Cognitive Impairment: Relationship To Activation Of Cortical Midline Structures Involved In Self-Appraisal, Michele L. Ries, Britta M. Jabbar, Taylor W. Schmitz, Mehul A. Trivedi, Carey E. Gleason, Cynthia M. Carlsson, Howard A. Rowley, Sanjay Asthana, Sterling C. Johnson

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

Awareness of cognitive dysfunction shown by individuals with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), a condition conferring risk for Alzheimer's disease (AD), is variable. Anosognosia, or unawareness of loss of function, is beginning to be recognized as an important clinical symptom of MCI. However, little is known about the brain substrates underlying this symptom. We hypothesized that MCI participants' activation of cortical midline structures (CMS) during self-appraisal would covary with level of insight into cognitive difficulties (indexed by a discrepancy score between patient and informant ratings of cognitive decline in each MCI participant). To address this hypothesis, we first compared 16 MCI …

An Experimental Test Of Instrumental Transcommunication, Imants Barušs

Psychology

As a result of a previous study in which electronic voice phenomenon failed to be found, the author introduced two new elements in an experiment seeking to produce instrumental transcommunication: the creation of text using random text generators and the presence of a medium. There were 26 experimental sessions carried out from April 28,2003 to August 30,2003 in the Psychology Laboratory at King's University College. The random text generators were engaged a total of 715 times producing 23,281 discrete units of textual data. Only a yeslno generator produced anomalous results. Of the 49 times the yeslno generator was used, 11 …

Franklin Wolff's Mathematical Resolution Of Existential Issues, Imants Barušs

Psychology

Just like anyone else, scientists can be troubled by existential questions such as "What is the purpose of life?" and "Why is there something instead of nothing?" One strategy for approaching such questions has been to suggest that a latent cognitive faculty needs to be activated in order to answer them. In effect, this means that a questioner needs to undergo a process of self-transformation leading to a transcendent state of consciousness in which such an ability is awakened. Franklin Wolff has proposed that there is a way of doing so, namely "mathematical yoga," that is particularly suited for scientists. …

Atypical Antipsychotics And Cognitive Enhancement In Schizophrenia: The Current Status, Amresh Srivastava

Psychiatry Presentations

No abstract provided.

Cognition As An Outcome Measure In Schizophrenia, Amresh Srivastava

Psychiatry Presentations

No abstract provided.

Hormone Effects On Fmri And Cognitive Measures Of Encoding: Importance Of Hormone Preparation, C. E. Gleason, T. W. Schmitz, T. Hess, R. L. Koscik, M. A. Trivedi, M. L. Ries, C. M. Carlsson, M. A. Sager, S. Asthana, S. C. Johnson

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

We compared fMRI and cognitive data from nine hormone therapy (HT)-naive women with data from women exposed to either opposed conjugated equine estrogens (CEE) (n = 10) or opposed estradiol (n = 4). Exposure to either form of HT was associated with healthier fMRI response; however, CEE-exposed women exhibited poorer memory performance than either HT-naive or estradiol-exposed subjects. These preliminary findings emphasize the need to characterize differential neural effects of various HTs. ©2006AAN Enterprises, Inc.

Activation Of Brain Regions Vulnerable To Alzheimer's Disease: The Effect Of Mild Cognitive Impairment, S. C. Johnson, T. W. Schmitz, C. H. Moritz, M. E. Meyerand, H. A. Rowley, A. L. Alexander, K. W. Hansen, C. E. Gleason, C. M. Carlsson, M. L. Ries, S. Asthana, K. Chen, E. M. Reiman, G. E. Alexander

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

This study examined the functionality of the medial temporal lobe (MTL) and posterior cingulate (PC) in mild cognitive impairment amnestic type (MCI), a syndrome that puts patients at greater risk for developing Alzheimer disease (AD). Functional MRI (fMRI) was used to identify regions normally active during encoding of novel items and recognition of previously learned items in a reference group of 77 healthy young and middle-aged adults. The pattern of activation in this group guided further comparisons between 14 MCI subjects and 14 age-matched controls. The MCI patients exhibited less activity in the PC during recognition of previously learned items, …

Structural Mri Discriminates Individuals With Mild Cognitive Impairment From Age-Matched Controls: A Combined Neuropsychological And Voxel Based Morphometry Study, Mehul A. Trivedi, Allison K. Wichmann, Britta M. Torgerson, Michael A. Ward, Taylor W. Schmitz, Michele L. Ries, Rebecca L. Koscik, Sanjay Asthana, Sterling C. Johnson

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

Background: Several previous studies have reported that amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI), a significant risk factor for Alzheimer's disease (AD), is associated with greater atrophy in the medial temporal lobe (MTL) and posterior cingulate gyrus (PCG). Method: In the present study, we examined the cross-sectional accuracy (i.e., the sensitivity and specificity) of voxel-based morphometry (VBM) in discriminating individuals with MCI (n = 15) from healthy age-matched controls (n = 15). In addition, we also sought to determine whether baseline GM volume predicted aMCI patients that converted to AD from those that did not approximately 2 years after the baseline visit. …

Paradoxical Facilitation Of Object Recognition Memory After Infusion Of Scopolamine Into Perirhinal Cortex: Implications For Cholinergic System Function., Boyer D Winters, Lisa M Saksida, Timothy J Bussey

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

The cholinergic system has long been implicated in learning and memory, yet its specific function remains unclear. In the present study, we investigated the role of cortical acetylcholine in a rodent model of declarative memory by infusing the cholinergic muscarinic receptor antagonist scopolamine into the rat perirhinal cortex during different stages (encoding, storage/consolidation, and retrieval) of the spontaneous object recognition task. Presample infusions of scopolamine significantly impaired object recognition compared with performance of the same group of rats on saline trials; this result is consistent with previous reports supporting a role for perirhinal acetylcholine in object information acquisition. Scopolamine infusions …

Exploring Expressions Of Disorganization In The Strange Situation In A High-Risk Sample, Lindsey M. Forbes, Amy Cox, Greg Moran, David R. Pederson

Psychology Presentations

No abstract provided.

Why Did Mothers With Unresolved Trauma Fail To Benefit From An Attachment Based Intervention? Correlates Of Unresolved Status In A High Risk Sample, Heidi Bailey, Greg Moran, Carey Anne Deoliveira, Karin Gleason, David R. Pederson

Psychology Presentations

No abstract provided.

Interaction In The Home Of Mothers And Infants In Disorganized Attachment Relationships, Greg Moran, Lindsey M. Forbes, David R. Pederson

Psychology Presentations

No abstract provided.

Representation Of Head-Centric Flow In The Human Motion Complex., Jeroen Goossens, Sean P Dukelow, Ravi S Menon, Tutis Vilis, Albert V Van Den Berg

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

Recent neuroimaging studies have identified putative homologs of macaque middle temporal area (area MT) and medial superior temporal area (area MST) in humans. Little is known about the integration of visual and nonvisual signals in human motion areas compared with monkeys. Through extra-retinal signals, the brain can factor out the components of visual flow on the retina that are induced by eye-in-head and head-in-space rotations and achieve a representation of flow relative to the head (head-centric flow) or body (body-centric flow). Here, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to test whether extra-retinal eye-movement signals modulate responses to visual flow in …

The Roots Of Love: Maternal Behaviour Related To Attachment Security, David R. Pederson, Greg Moran

Psychology Presentations

No abstract provided.

Self-Appraisal Decisions Evoke Dissociated Dorsal-Ventral Ampfc Networks, Taylor W. Schmitz, Sterling C. Johnson

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

The anterior medial prefrontal cortex (aMPFC) is consistently active during personally salient decisions, yet the differential contributory processes of this region along the dorsal-ventral axis are less understood. Using a self-appraisal decision-making task and functional magnetic resonance imaging, we demonstrated task-dependent connectivity of ventral aMPFC with amygdala, insula, and nucleus accumbens, and dorsal aMPFC connectivity with dorsolateral PFC and bilateral hippocampus. These aMPFC networks appear to subserve distinct contributory processes inherent to self-appraisal decisions, specifically a dorsally mediated cognitive and a ventrally mediated affective/self-relevance network. © 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The Nature And Origins Of Infant-Adolescent Mother Attachment Relationships, Greg Moran, David Pederson

Psychology Presentations

No abstract provided.

Maternal States Of Mind, Reflective Function, Maternal Behavior, And The Mother-Infant Attachment Relationship, Greg Moran, Erinn Hawkins, David R. Pederson

Psychology Presentations

No abstract provided.

Task-Dependent Posterior Cingulate Activation In Mild Cognitive Impairment, Michele L. Ries, Taylor W. Schmitz, Tisha N. Kawahara, Britta M. Torgerson, Mehul A. Trivedi, Sterling C. Johnson

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

Neuroimaging research has demonstrated that the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) is functionally compromised in individuals diagnosed with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (MCI), a major risk factor for the development of Alzheimer's disease (AD). In functional MRI studies with healthy participants, this same region is active during self-appraisal (requiring retrieval of semantic knowledge about the self) as well as episodic recognition of previously learned information. Administering both types of tasks to people with MCI may reveal important information on the role of the PCC in recollection. This study investigated fMRI activation in the PCC in individuals with MCI and matched controls …

Reduced Hippocampal Activation During Episodic Encoding In Middle-Aged Individuals At Genetic Risk Of Alzheimer's Disease: A Cross-Sectional Study, Mehul A. Trivedi, Taylor W. Schmitz, Michele L. Ries, Britta M. Torgerson, Mark A. Sager, Bruce P. Hermann, Sanjay Asthana, Sterling C. Johnson

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

Background: The presence of the apolipoprotein E (APOE) ε4 allele is a major risk factor for the development of Alzheimer's disease (AD), and has been associated with metabolic brain changes several years before the onset of typical AD symptoms. Functional MRI (fMRI) is a brain imaging technique that has been used to demonstrate hippocampal activation during measurement of episodic encoding, but the effect of the ε4 allelle on hippocampal activation has not been firmly established. Methods: The present study examined the effects of APOE genotype on brain activation patterns in the media[ temporal lobe (MTL) during an episodic encoding task …

A Pathway For Transformational Leadership’S Effects: Testing Relations Between Transformational Leadership, Identification And Commitment, Timothy A. Jackson

Digitized Theses

The primary purposes of the present research were to determine the interrelationships among transformational leadership (TFL), identification, and affective commitment (AC), and also to test whether identification mediates the relationship of TFL to AC at three different foci. The first mediation model tested a dyad focus, the second a work-group focus, and the third an organization focus. In each mediation model, TFL was entered as the predictor, followed by identification with the focus of interest as the mediator, and AC to the same focus as the criterion. Strong support was found for the direct relationships among all the study variables, …

Creativity = Intelligence + Intuition? The Relationships Between Intuition, Creativity, And Intelligence, Michael E. Battista

Digitized Theses

The study examined intuition and its relations with intelligence and creativity. Based on anecdotal evidence and past empirical research, it was hypothesized that measures of intuition, including implicit learning, would be related to each other. Furthermore, two hypotheses were explored: First, individual differences in creativity can be predicted by intelligence and intuition, and second, individual differences in intelligence can be predicted by creativity and intuition. Sixty eight participants completed various measures of intuition, an implicit learning task, and tests of creativity and intelligence. Self-report measures of intuition correlated with each other, but not with measures of implicit learning. Some limited …

An Investigation Of The Correlates And Developmental Sequelae Of Anomalous Maternal Behaviour And Disorganized Attachment Relationships, Sheri L. Madigan

Digitized Theses

It has long been believed that early relationships with parents play an important role in subsequent social development. Recent research in attachment theory has focused on understanding of the complex intricacies of disorganized attachment and ensuing psychopathology. This study aims to further elucidate our understanding of the origins, correlates, and developmental sequelae of disorganized attachment. This dissertation draws on theory and research from relevant areas of developmental and clinical psychology to investigate the relation between disorganized attachment relationships and 1) unresolved states of mind, and 2) anomalous interactive behavior. A narrative review and meta-analysis reporting on the links between unresolved …

Conceptual Hierarchies Arise From The Dynamics Of Learning And Processing: Insights From A Flat Attractor Network, Christopher M. O’Connor

Digitized Theses

The structure of people’s conceptual knowledge of concrete nouns has traditionally been viewed as hierarchical (Collins & Quillian, 1969). Specifically, superordinate concepts (vegetable) are assumed to reside at a higher level than basic-level concepts (carrot). A feature-based attractor network with a single layer of semantic features developed representations of basic-level and superordinate concepts. No hierarchical structure was built into the network. In Experiment and Simulation 1 the graded structure of categories (typicality ratings) are accounted for by the flat attractor-network. Experiment and Simulation 2 show that, as with basic-level concepts, the model predicts feature verification latencies for superordinate concepts (vegetable …

Democratic Illusions: Mythic Heroism And National Fantasy In Post-9/11 Superhero Films., Rebecca Noelani Elias

Digitized Theses

Emerging from the New York rubble, the media image of the courageous firefighter exploded as a symbol of patriotism and nationalism, generating a mass preoccupation with heroes after 9/11. The staggering rise of the filmic superhero in a

post 9/11 context indicates psychological defense against “terror” and the need for Manichean institutions and cultural regeneration that is symptomatic of war time ambiguity and political unrest. As popular culture mirrors the American collective

subconscious, this thesis questions the function of the contemporary superhero film by bringing together comic superheroes, film superheroes, myth studies and the terrorist attacks on the World Trade …

Extension Of The Three-Component Model Of Commitment To Teams, Ayca Yaprak Kumsar

Digitized Theses

The purpose of this research was to develop and validate a measure of team commitment. Meyer and Allen’s (1984, 1991; Allen & Meyer, 1990) Three-Component Model of commitment was used as the basis for the development of measures to assess affective, continuance, and normative commitment to the team. In addition, the three components were integrated with three terms of team commitment (commitment to team membership, commitment to team performance, and commitment to helping team members). Data from a sample of nurses (N=IOl) provided evidence that the newly developed team commitment measures are reliable and distinguishable from one another and from …

Exploring Continuity And Change In The Maternal Sensitivity Of Adolescent Mothers, Acia Blank

Digitized Theses

This exploratory study examined variations in maternal sensitivity in a sample of 44 adolescent mothers over a two-year period. Although existing research suggests that sensitivity is not stable over time, little information exists that would allow for the identification of the time at which sensitivity should be measured to most accurately reflect the quality of maternal behavior. In the current study, sensitivity was measured at four points (6-, 9-, 12-, and 24-months) using the Maternal Behavior Q-Sort. An exploration of the data indicated that a great deal of variation exists in sensitivity over time. In addition to evaluating each of …