Behavior and Behavior Mechanisms Commons^™

Economic Insecurity, Poverty, And Parental Alcohol Misuse, Joey Tucciarone

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Because parental alcohol misuse is associated with numerous negative outcomes for drinkers and other family members, it is important to examine factors predictive of alcohol misuse patterns among parents living with at least one child under the age of 18. Two possible factors include economic insecurity and poverty. This study sought to address whether measures of economic insecurity (i.e., housing and/or food insecurity in the past 12 months) and a dichotomous measure of poverty predict parental binge drinking and parental heavy alcohol consumption in a large population-based sample. It was hypothesized that economic insecurity and poverty, analyzed separately, would predict …

The Biopsychosocial Model And Clinical Decision Science In The Age Of Black Lives Matter: A Clinical Reflection, Abdul-Rahman M. Suleiman, Samer Ilayan

Clinical Research in Practice: The Journal of Team Hippocrates

The author reflects on the biopsychosocial considerations of elevated blood pressure in teenage African American youth during the era of Black Lives Matter (BLM). Parallels are drawn between Dr. Engel’s biopsychosocial model and clinical decision science.

Neuroactivational And Behavioral Correlates Of Psychosocial Stress-Induced Cocaine Seeking In Rats, Nicole M. Hinds, Ireneusz D. Wojtas, Desta M. Pulley, Stephany J. Mcdonald, Samantha De Guzman, Nicole E. Hubbard, Colin M. Kulick-Soper, Jessica J. Debski, Bianca Patel, Daniel Manvich

Rowan-Virtua Research Day

A prominent feature of cocaine abuse is a high risk of relapse even despite prolonged periods of abstinence. Psychosocial stress is thought to be a major contributor to the onset of cocaine craving and relapse in human substance abusers, yet most preclinical models of stress-induced relapse employ physical stressors (e.g., unpredictable footshock) or pharmacological stressors (e.g., yohimbine to elicit a drug seeking response) and do not rely upon psychosocial stress per se. Importantly, social stressors are well known to activate distinct neural circuits within the brain as compared to other stressors. It is therefore possible that currently available animal models …

Case Of New Onset Alice In Wonderland Syndrome In Adolescent After Prolonged Hospitalization, Michaela Margolis, Timothy Wong, Richard Hadi

Rowan-Virtua Research Day

Alice in wonderland syndrome (AIWS) has been described as body image illusions involving distortions of the size, mass, or shape of the patient’s own body or its position in space, often occurring with depersonalization and derealization. Most cases typically affect young children.

Common distortions are micropsia, macropsia, metamorphopsia, and pelopsia.

The term was adopted from the book by Lewis Carroll, wherein the main character perceived her size and shape to change in different scenarios.

These distortions are often expressed as sensory perceptions rather than illusions or hallucinations, and are often distressing to the patient.

AIWS onset has been found to …

What Is The Readiness Potential?, Aaron Schurger, Pengbo 'Ben' Hu, Joanna Pak, Adina L. Roskies

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

The readiness potential (RP) has been widely interpreted to indicate preparation for movement and is used to argue that our brains decide before we do. It thus has been a fulcrum for discussion about the neuroscience of free will.

Recent computational models provide an alternative framework for thinking about the significance of the RP, suggesting instead that the RP is a natural result of the operation of a stochastic accumulator process of decision-making, analyzed by time-locking to threshold-crossing events.

These models call for a reevaluation of: (i) the ontological standing of the RP as reflecting a real, causally efficacious signal …

Understanding The Traumatized Brain, Sam Marion, Elizabeth Marston

National Youth Advocacy & Resilience Conference

Students who have experienced trauma are often in need of behavioral intervention due to challenging behaviors and reactivity. Understanding the body’s threat response system gives insight into these behaviors and allows for empathy within the interventions. This presentation will outline basic neuroscience theories, propose interventions focused on self-regulation, and demonstrate how adding basic elements to existing interventions can increase efficacy.

The Role Of Alexithymia And Affective Lability In Disordered Eating Behaviors, Anna Marie Lilia Ortiz

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Affective distress may influence eating disorder behaviors in multiple ways. Affective lability refers to the tendency to experience frequent and striking fluctuations in mood. There is considerable evidence that it predicts eating disorder symptoms. Further, alexithymia is characterized by difficulties identifying and describing feelings and an externally oriented thinking style. Alexithymia has also been implicated in the development and maintenance of eating disorders. To date, these risk factors have been studied separately. Given the evidence that both alexithymia and affective lability are affective components associated with eating disordered behaviors, it may be important to examine possible relationships among alexithymia, affective …

How Duty Rosters And Stress Relate To Sleep Problems And Fatigue Of International Pilots, Marion Venus, Martin Grosse Holtforth

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

While previous research focused on pilots’ fatigue, rosters, potential performance-impairment and aviation-safety, this research investigates, how pilots’ work-related and psychosocial stress and rosters can affect their sleep and fatigue. A cross-sectional online survey was completed by 192 pilots flying for European operators, 180 Australian pilots and 34 pilots from UAE, Turkey and Asia Pacific. Pilots reported their actual duty- and flight-hours, flown sectors, standby, rest, vacation days, number of early starts, night-flights and sports-hours for the last two months. Schedule-related data, way to work, age, flight-hours on the present type of aircraft, subjective job-security and psychosocial stress were used as …

Does A Brief Mindfulness Induction Change Delay Discounting In Individuals With High Levels Of Obsessive-Compulsive Symptoms?, Cierra B. Edwards

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a mental illness characterized by obsessions and compulsions that cause significant distress and/or functional impairment. Delay discounting, the decline in value of a reward with the delay of its receipt, is linked to a range of maladaptive behaviors and mental disorders. Increased delay discounting is related to obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), reflecting that compulsive behaviors that aim to counteract obsessive thoughts are viewed as uncontrollable by the sufferer. We aimed to experimentally reduce delay discounting in individuals with high levels of obsessive-compulsive symptoms through a brief mindfulness induction. Eligible participants were randomly assigned to receive either a …

Perturbing The Sense Of Agency, Maiia Tolia-Shah, Brenda Gutierrez, Sook Mun (Alice) Wong, Uri Maoz

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

The goal of this experiment is to test a model of the sense of agency, intention, volition, and causality in order to examine the time course of the sense of agency associated with voluntary and involuntary movements. We examine the roles of context, expectation, and sensory feedback in the feeling of agency as well as examining the aspects of volition in different kinds of decisions. This experiment is thought to be very novel as it stimulates an internal signal for movement from an external source which is why the participant can find it hard to decipher if they are fully …

Historical Trauma Response Scores As A Function Of Unresolved Grief And Substance Use Disorder In American Indian Populations, Andrew R. Saunders

Undergraduate Research Symposium

Abstract

Researchers are interested in the outcomes of interventions, specifically, measuring historical trauma (HT) among American Indian/Alaska Native communities and the long-term distress and substance abuse as a result of historical trauma response (HTR). Previous literature has implicated limitations in the clinical conceptualization of the relationship between intergenerational transfer of HTR and substance abuse. The aim of the current study is to examine treatment efficacy of 50 homosexual, American Indian males randomized to a culturally-adapted juxtaposition of (1) Group Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT), (2) Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT), and (3) Historical Trauma and Unresolved Grief Intervention (HTUG), or (4) waitlisted on …

Empowering Nurses Of Minority In The Face Of Incivility And Bullying: Through The Lens Of Phenomenology, Corrine Floyd

Dissertations

Abstract

Up to 85% of nurses have reported exposure to incivility in the workplace (Hunt & Marini, 2012). The often-subtle nature of incivility toward nurses in a minority population may partially explain why it remains a problem. Healthcare organizations realize the need for civility to counter the high turnover rate, staff shortages, and low job satisfaction reported by nurses, but lack understanding of how nurses of a minority population perceive incivility and bullying. This study aimed to answer the research question how do nurses with minority representation experience incivility and bullying versus empowerment in the workplace? A descriptive phenomenological design …

A Case For Delirium Risk Prediction Models To Aid In Triaging Resources To Those Most At Risk An Integrative Literature Review, Tammy Perttula

Nursing Masters Papers

Abstract

Delirium is a complex syndrome resulting from compounding effects of acute illness, comorbidities, and the environment. It results in adverse outcomes: elevated mortality rates, length of stay, readmissions, institutionalization, long-term cognitive changes, and diminished quality of life. The rate of iatrogenic delirium is astounding, ranging from 10%-89%. There are no curative treatments; thus, primary prevention is the key. The purpose of this literature review is to identify and critique the research for the accuracy of risk stratification and feasibility in practice. Support for interventions that prevent delirium is mounting; however, interventions are resource-intensive and often not implemented. Researchers have …

Sense Of Purpose In Life And Five Health Behaviors In Older Adults, Eric S. Kim, Koichiro Shiba, Julia K. Boehm, Laura D. Kubzansky

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Accumulating evidence shows that a higher sense of purpose in life is associated with lower risk of chronic conditions and premature mortality. Health behaviors might partially explain these findings, however, the prospective association between sense of purpose and health behaviors is understudied. We tested whether a higher sense of purpose at baseline was associated with lower likelihood of developing unhealthy behaviors over time. Prospective data were from the Health and Retirement Study, a national sample of U.S. older adults. Our sample included 13,770 adults assessed up to five times across eight years. Among people who met recommended guidelines for a …

Scope Of Attention Variation As A Function Of Anxiety And Depression, Kathleen Anne O'Donnell

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

As a social species, correct emotional perception is so vital, that the human brain has evolved a mechanism to control attentional choices by exerting a narrowed field of perception during danger, called the scope of attention (SoA). The SoA determines what information will be focused on or ignored by blocking the perception of non-relevant items and increasing selective focus on danger; even if danger is merely a sad-face. The emotional items blocked from perception cannot be remembered because they were never perceived. But, attention-control to emotional stimuli also varies with mood, as seen in mood-disorders. A mood-disorder’s effect upon the …

An Experimental Test Of The Effects Of Sleep Deprivation On Approach Behavior, Rebecca L. Campbell

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Emotion regulation and sleep have been identified as mechanisms that may be involved in the development and maintenance of many mental health disorders. However, there has been little research into the relation between sleep and emotion regulation. To address this gap in knowledge, a novel study was conducted. We hypothesized that sleep deprived individuals would demonstrate less approach behavior toward a negatively valenced stimulus, as well as increased self-reported avoidance, compared to a control group. To test this, a randomized controlled experiment using a behavioral measure of approach and a self-report measure of avoidance was conducted. Fifty-two healthy individuals ages …

Calling Out The Trolls: Responses To Witnessing Use Of The “Troll” Label As A Defense In An Online Group Context, Dene E. M. Wamsley

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Although the term “troll” has existed since the 1980s, its meaning has shifted in recent years as social media use has increased. People provide contrasting and imprecise definitions for what constitutes “trolling,” and often apply the term subjectively to describe online discussants who are uncivil, who are deviant, and who and present counter-attitudinal opinions. Exposure to deviance, counter-attitudinal information, and incivility often leads to unwanted psychological effects. In theory, labeling an uncivil, counter-attitudinal deviant as a “troll” proposes that their intention is to disrupt the conversation and upset other discussants, which provides a reason for why incivility is used, and …

The Role Of Dopamine In Decision Making Processes In Drosophila Melanogaster, Michelle C. Bowers

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Understanding the neural processes that mediate decision making is a relatively new field of investigation in the scientific community. With the ultimate goal of understanding how humans decide between one path and another, simpler models such as Drosophila Melanogaster, the common fruit fly, are often utilized as a way of determining the neural circuits involved in these decision-making processes. One of the most important decisions flies make is the decision of where to lay their eggs (oviposit). Choosing the proper substrate upon which to lay eggs is a crucial decision that can ultimately impact their fecundity. This paper investigates the …

The Criterion Collection, Mackenna Finley

Honors Projects

The Criterion Collection is an examination of truth in fiction and poetry. The goal of this project is not to create truth that is absolute, but instead to allow for the experience of its subjectivity. The interplay between fiction and poetry, reader and author illuminates the subtle warping of truth through human experience.

Loss Of Self In Dissociation In Prostitution; Recovery Of Self In Connection To Horses: A Survivor's Journey, Sandra Norak

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

This narrative is about dissociation in the lives of women who have been exploited through prostitution. When we speak about prostitution, we do not speak often enough about the dissociation needed for women and girls to survive sexual exploitation. The author challenges the wisdom of governments such as Germany that legalize prostitution, treating it as a “job” and ignoring the violence and subsequent dissociation in women. The author describes her personal journey, explaining how women are traumatized even after the first commercial sex act, which is a sexual assault. They dissociate which makes their lives bearable, but they fail to …

The Missing Moral Dimension: Perceptions Of Transgressions And The Moderating Role Of Moral Foundations On Psychological Distress, Hannah Reas

Clinical Psychology Dissertations

Anxiety and depression can be represented on a dimensional spectrum of negative affect, broadly termed psychological distress. Research has identified several factors that maintain negative emotion, but have neglected the possibility that individuals’ interpretations of moral issues in the larger macro-system affects their level of distress. Thus, the current study investigated the role of perceptions of moral transgressions, or cognitive interpretations of stimuli (“transgressions”) that violate beliefs about right and wrong, as a predictor of psychological distress. Furthermore, this study tested how perceptions of moral transgressions vary as a function of individuals’ own moral intuitions, or moral foundations. Participants ( …

Mindfulness Training's Effect On Stress, Attention, And Perfectionism And Their Relationship To Achievement Goals, Alexandra Lesniak

Undergraduate Honors Theses

In recent years, the practice of cultivating mindfulness, a nonjudgmental awareness of the present moment, has made a resurgence in areas ranging anywhere from behavioral issues to work and academic productivity (Brown & Ryan, 2003a). The current study was focused on the relationships between mindfulness, achievement styles, stress, attention, and perfectionism at a single-sex, liberal arts institution. One hundred and five undergraduate, female students participated in this study. All participants were randomly assigned to either a mindfulness audio condition or a badminton audio condition as a control. Then, they were given measures relating to achievement goals, mindfulness capability, state mindfulness, …

Mood Effects And Individual Differences On Reappraisal And Distraction: An Erp Study Of The Sensitivity Of Emotion Regulation Strategies, Elsa Mastico

All Master's Theses

The present research evaluated the effect of mood and individual differences on the regulatory process of emotions by using a regulation task with negative and neutral images to assess reappraisal and distraction ability. Specifically, this research evaluated the average amplitude of the latent positive potential (latent positivity, LPP) brainwave linked to distraction and reappraisal using an ERP analysis. In addition, the current study compared the modulation of the LPP to the self-reported mood of the participants and their individual differences in regulation ability through scores of a self-report emotion regulation questionnaire. The latent positive potentials from an emotion regulation task …

Signaling Mechanism Responsible For 5-Ht2a Receptor Tolerance To Psychedelic Induced Head-Twitch Behavior In Mice, Audrey R. Mcmurtrie

Theses and Dissertations

In recent years, there has been a growing interest in psychedelic compounds stemming from their promising use as therapeutic agents and research tools that can be used to treat and study several neuropsychiatric disorders. Psychedelics have proven useful in a broad range of these diseases - they serve as models for psychosis in schizophrenia but have also had promising results in treating major depressive disorder, anxiety, and other common disorders. Decreased stigmatization surrounding psychedelics has further increased their use in research and clinical settings. In light of these trends and the promising nature of their use, a thorough understanding of …

What Makes An Image Memorable? Effects Of Encoding On The Mechanism Of Recognition, Asiya Gul

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Memory is undoubtedly one of the most important processes of human cognition. A long line of research suggests that recognition relies on the assessment of two explicit memory phenomena: familiarity and recollection. Researchers who support the Dual Process Signal Detection (DPSD) model of recognition memory link the FN400 component (a negative ERP deflection peaking around 400 ms at frontal electrodes) with familiarity; however, it is currently unclear whether the FN400 reflects familiarity or implicit memory. Three event-related potentials (ERP) studies were conducted to determine whether implicit memory plays a role in setting up encoding strategies, and how these encoding strategies …

Behavioral And Immunohistochemical Characterization Of Rapid Reconditioning Following Extinction Of Contextual Fear, Amy R. Williams, Earnest S. Kim, K Matthews Lattal

Faculty Publications - Psychology Department

A fundamental property of extinction is that the behavior that is suppressed during extinction can be unmasked through a number of postextinction procedures. Of the commonly studied unmasking procedures (spontaneous recovery, reinstatement, contextual renewal, and rapid reacquisition), rapid reacquisition is the only approach that allows a direct comparison between the impact of a conditioning trial before or after extinction. Thus, it provides an opportunity to evaluate the ways in which extinction changes a subsequent learning experience. In five experiments, we investigate the behavioral and neurobiological mechanisms of postextinction reconditioning. We show that rapid reconditioning of unsignaled contextual fear after extinction …

Recent Trends, Current Research In Cyberpsychology: A Literature Review, Amarjit Kumar Singh, Pawan Kumar Singh

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Cyberpsychology refers to the study of the mind and behavior in the context of interactions with technology. It is an emerging branch, which has focused on the psychological aspects connected to the increasing presence and usages of technology in modern lives. This paper traces recent advancement and trends of Cyberpsychology is an emerging domain of knowledge and goes on the give a literature review of the same. An analysis of the recent research and literature covering 300 most relevant research papers from the period of 2012 to 15, August 2019 was conducted to determine and shape the research pattern based …

How Does Alcohol Intoxication Impair Risk Detection Of Sexual Assault? Testing An Integration Of Alcohol Myopia And Social Information Processing Theories, Alexander James Melkonian

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Sexual assault among young adults is a highly prevalent public health concern. Alcohol is often implicated as a risk factor for sexual assault through its impairing effects on an individual’s ability to process and respond to social cues in the environment. The effect of alcohol myopia can result in greater focus of attention on salient environmental cues. The relationship between alcohol intoxication and resulting behavior may depend on what type of information is most salient. The current study examined the effects of alcohol on social information processing as it relates to sexual assault risk detection. Method: Participants were 48 young …

Getting Change-Space: A Grounded Theory Study Of Automated Ehealth Therapy, Marianne T. S. Holter, Ottar Ness, Ayna Johansen, Håvar Brendryen

The Qualitative Report

A promising tool for bettering people’s health is eHealth (or “mHealth”) programs: fully automated, web-based health interventions. However, we know surprisingly little about eHealth’s working mechanisms. One possible working mechanism is that program users benefit from a collaborative “relationship”—a “working alliance”—with the program. Although evidence support the existence of a person-to-program alliance it is unclear if and how it influences change. Therefore, we conducted a grounded theory study of how relating to an eHealth program for quitting smoking influenced the participants’ change processes. The ensuing model focuses on how participants got change-space—feeling free from social forcing and able to work …

Mouse Performance On A Novel Touchscreen Continuous Performance Task Is Dependent On Signaling In The Prelimbic Cortex, Tyler D. Dexter, Daniel Palmer, Amy C. Reichelt, Anita Taksokhan, Lisa M. Saksida, Tim J. Bussey

Western Research Forum

Attention is the cognitive processing that facilitates the ability to target and attend to relevant environmental stimuli, while filtering out irrelevant or distracting stimuli. Control over selective attention is theorized to be dependent on organized neural communication that stems from the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). To evaluate selective and sustained attention, mice were trained on the novel touchscreen rodent continuous performance task (rCPT), a task designed to emulate the human CPT. In the rodent version, images are continuously presented on a touchscreen, where mice have been trained to selectively respond to one image type while suppressing responses to all others. …