Life Sciences Commons^™

Exploring And Training Spatial Reasoning Via Eye Movements: Implications On Performance, Victoria A. Roach

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This dissertation sought to determine if eye movements could serve as an indicator of success in spatial reasoning, and if eye movements associated with successful completion could be applied to strategically improve spatial reasoning.

Using the line images of Shepard and Metzler, an electronic test of mental rotations ability (EMRT) was designed. Two versions of the test were created, allowing for both a timed (6 seconds per question) and untimed testing environment. Four experiments were designed and completed to relate mental rotation ability (MRA) scores from the EMRT, to patterns in chrononumeric and visual salience data. In each experiment, participants …

Neural And Behavioural Responses To Rewards And Losses In Early Development: A Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study, Niki Hosseini-Kamkar

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to investigate the neural and behavioural correlates of learning from rewards and losses in children. Greater blood-oxygen-level dependent (BOLD) responses in the ventral striatum (VS) and the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC) were found when participants received rewards compared to when they missed out on an opportunity to receive rewards. In contrast, greater BOLD responses in the anterior insula (AI) and the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) were found when participants received losses compared to when they avoided losing. The BOLD response to rewards in the VS and VMPFC correlated positively with the tendency to …

A Kinematic Analysis Of Visual And Haptic Contributions To Precision Grasping In A Patient With Visual Form Agnosia And In Normally-Sighted Populations, Robert Whitwell

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Skilled arm and hand movments designed to obtain and manipulate objects (prehension) is one of the defining features of primates. According to the two visual system hypothesis (TVSH) vision can be parsed into two systems: (1) the ventral ‘stream’ of the occipital and inferotemporal cortex which services visual perception and other cognitive functions and (2) the ‘dorsal stream’ of the occipital and posterior parietal cortex which services skilled, goal-directed actions such as prehension. A cornerstone of the TVSH is the ‘perception-action’ dissociation observed in patient DF who suffers from visual form agnosia following bilateral damage to her ventral stream. DF …

Muscular Christian Edmonton: The Story Of The Edmonton Young Men's Christian Association 1898-1920, Courtney Hope Van Waas

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

From its initial conception as the EYMI in 1898 to its emergence as the Edmonton YMCA through 1920, the institution always had a distinct purpose. The absence of a Muscular Christian agenda in the EYMI, coupled with a purposive refocusing of programming within the YMCA towards what was directed towards the public interest, religion within this institution waned following World War I. Newspapers and executive minute notes demonstrate the EYMI focus on producing the next generation of respectable businessmen. The Edmonton YMCA attempted to fulfill the task of ‘saving’ young men by distracting them from social vices. As a result …