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Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons™
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- Development (2)
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Articles 1 - 12 of 12
Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
In Search Of Psychiatric Kinds: Natural Kinds And Natural Classification In Psychiatry, Nicholas Slothouber
In Search Of Psychiatric Kinds: Natural Kinds And Natural Classification In Psychiatry, Nicholas Slothouber
Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository
In recent years both philosophers and scientists have asked whether or not our current kinds of mental disorder—e.g., schizophrenia, depression, bipolar disorder—are natural kinds; and, moreover, whether or not the search for natural kinds of mental disorder is a realistic desideratum for psychiatry. In this dissertation I clarify the sense in which a kind can be said to be “natural” or “real” and argue that, despite a few notable exceptions, kinds of mental disorder cannot be considered natural kinds. Furthermore, I contend that psychopathological phenomena do not cluster together into kinds in the way that paradigmatic natural kinds (e.g., chemical …
How Do Humans Process Magnitudes? An Examination Of The Neural And Cognitive Underpinnings Of Symbols, Quantities, And Size In Adults And Children, Helen Moriah Sokolowski
How Do Humans Process Magnitudes? An Examination Of The Neural And Cognitive Underpinnings Of Symbols, Quantities, And Size In Adults And Children, Helen Moriah Sokolowski
Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository
A striking way that humans differ from other species is our unique ability to represent and manipulate symbols. This ability to process numerical magnitudes symbolically (e.g., ‘three’, ‘3’) is widely thought to be supported by an ancient system that evolved to process nonsymbolic numerical magnitudes (i.e., quantities). In this thesis, I present four empirical studies to uncover whether symbolic representations are indeed supported by the system that evolved to process quantities, or if symbolic representations are sub-served by a similar but ultimately distinct system.
In experiments 1 and 2, I investigate how the adult brain processes symbols and quantities using …
How Does The Brain Represent Digits? Investigating The Neural Correlates Of Symbolic Number Representation Using Fmri-Adaptation, Celia Goffin
Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository
How does the brain represent numerical symbols (e.g., Arabic digits)? Activity in left parietal regions correlates with symbolic number processing. Research with functional resonance imaging adaptation (fMRI-A) indicates that the intraparietal sulcus (IPS) exhibits a rebound (increase in activation) effect when a repeatedly presented number is followed by a new number. Importantly, this rebound effect is modulated by numerical ratio as well as the difference between presented numbers (distance). This ratio-dependent rebound effect could reflect a link between symbolic numerical representation and an approximate number system (ANS). In this doctoral dissertation, fMRI-A is used to investigate mechanisms underlying symbolic number …
Cognitive, Neural, And Educational Contributions To Mathematics Performance: A Closer Look At The Roles Of Numerical And Spatial Skills, Zachary C.K. Hawes
Cognitive, Neural, And Educational Contributions To Mathematics Performance: A Closer Look At The Roles Of Numerical And Spatial Skills, Zachary C.K. Hawes
Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository
The principal aims of this thesis were to (1) provide new insights into the cognitive and neural associations between spatial and mathematical abilities, and (2) translate and apply findings from the field of numerical cognition to the teaching and learning of early mathematics.
Study 1 investigated the structure and interrelations amongst cognitive constructs related to numerical, spatial, and executive function (EF) skills and mathematics achievement in 4- to 11-year old children (N=316). Results revealed evidence of highly related, yet separable, cognitive constructs. Together, numerical, spatial, and EF skills explained 84% of the variance in mathematics achievement (controlling for chronological age). …
Using Meditation To Improve Measures Of Attention In Older Adults, Sabrina Ford
Using Meditation To Improve Measures Of Attention In Older Adults, Sabrina Ford
Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository
Age-related cognitive decline greatly impacts quality of life for older adults. Previous research has indicated that meditation may act as a neuroprotective factor to prevent age-related cognitive decline. This thesis sought to replicate previous findings and investigate if a four-week meditation intervention would improve sustained attention. Participants 60 years and older (n=27, 17 female) were recruited and assigned to a focused-attention (FA) meditation or relaxation group which met for four weeks, three times a week. Resting-state EEG was used to collect individual alpha peak frequency (iAPF) and frontal alpha asymmetry (FAA). The Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART) was also …
Improving Stimulus Realism: The Effect Of Visual Dimension On Affective Responding, Shannon Compton
Improving Stimulus Realism: The Effect Of Visual Dimension On Affective Responding, Shannon Compton
Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository
For decades researchers have used 2D stimuli under the assumption that they accurately represent real objects. This assumption has been challenged by recent vision and neuroeconomics research which has found that 2D images can evoke different neural and behavioural responses than real objects. The current study continues this line of research in the field of affective cognitive neuroscience; a field where small effect sizes are common and rapid habituation to affective stimuli used in the lab often occurs. The present study uses realistic 2D and 3D emotional images to determine the impact of visual dimension on affective responding. Subjective ratings …
Neurodevelopmental Outcomes Of Infantile Hydrocephalus: An Fmri Case Study, Ikhlas Ahmed Hashi
Neurodevelopmental Outcomes Of Infantile Hydrocephalus: An Fmri Case Study, Ikhlas Ahmed Hashi
Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository
Ventricle dilatation caused by infantile hydrocephalus may result in extensive damage of the posterior cortex (parietal and occipital lobes). We hypothesize that pathological changes in the development of the posterior cortex can be linked to non-verbal learning disabilities in children with previous infantile hydrocephalus. This case study will investigate the neurodevelopmental outcomes of 3 treated hydrocephalus patients, when compared to a group of healthy control children (n = 12). Within the hydrocephalus group, patients displayed differences in non-verbal test performance as well as parietal brain activation during an fMRI number comparison task. We associated these differences with clinical variables such …
Resedent Study- Reducing Sedentary Behaviour May Slow Cognitive Decline In Older Adults With Mild Cognitive Impairment: A Pilot Study, Kirsten B. Dillon
Resedent Study- Reducing Sedentary Behaviour May Slow Cognitive Decline In Older Adults With Mild Cognitive Impairment: A Pilot Study, Kirsten B. Dillon
Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository
Physical activity (PA) has been shown to slow down dementia. Unfortunately, older adults spend most of their day in sedentary behaviours (SB). Breaking up prolonged bouts of sitting with intermittent bouts of light intensity PA may reduce glycemic variability in the brain; potentially mitigating cognitive decline. This study investigated how interrupting SB with 10 min bouts of light intensity PA 3x a day would affect mild to moderate cognitive impairment progression (primary outcome) in older adults residing in an assisted living facility. Participants (n=25) were assigned in clusters into a two arm 10-week single site pilot randomized controlled trial. Secondary …
Investigating How Neural Entrainment Relates To Beat Perception By Disentangling The Stimulus-Driven Response, Aaron Wc Gibbings
Investigating How Neural Entrainment Relates To Beat Perception By Disentangling The Stimulus-Driven Response, Aaron Wc Gibbings
Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository
Beat perception – the ability to perceive a steady pulse in music – is nearly ubiquitous in humans, but the neural mechanisms underlying this ability are unknown. A growing number of electroencephalography (EEG) studies suggest that beat perception is related to neural entrainment, a phenomenon in which cyclic changes in the excitability of populations of neurons synchronize with a rhythmic stimulus. However, the relationship between acoustically-driven and entrainment-driven neural activity is unclear. This thesis presents EEG research that extends our understanding neural entrainment is related to beat perception by characterizing, equating, and finally removing the stimulus-driven response in the neural …
The Dissociable Impact Of Auditory Vs. Visual Emotional Cues On Visual Processing, Emma K. Stewart Bsc, Derek Gv Mitchell Phd
The Dissociable Impact Of Auditory Vs. Visual Emotional Cues On Visual Processing, Emma K. Stewart Bsc, Derek Gv Mitchell Phd
Western Research Forum
Background: Emotional information has privileged access to processing resources, which can cause it to have a distracting or facilitating effect on task performance for reasons that are poorly understood. The sensory modality through which it is presented may be one determining factor. Some findings suggest that auditory stimuli facilitate visual task performance while visual stimuli interfere with it, but there are conflicting findings.
Hypothesis: We hypothesize that emotional content of a different sensory modality from the task improves task-related performance via a general alerting and arousing effect for all stimuli, while emotional content of the same modality disrupts performance when …
The Origins And Development Of Visual Categorization, Laura Cabral
The Origins And Development Of Visual Categorization, Laura Cabral
Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository
Forming categories is a core part of human cognition, allowing us to make quickly make inferences about our environment. This thesis investigated some of the major theoretical interpretations surrounding the neural basis of visual category development. In adults, there are category-selective regions (e.g. in ventral temporal cortex) and networks (which include regions outside traditional visual regions—e.g. the amygdala) that support visual categorization. While there has been extensive behavioural work investigating visual categorization in infants, the neural sequence of development remains poorly understood. Based on behavioral experiments, one view holds that infants are initially using subcortical structures to recognize faces. Indeed, …
Spontaneous Mimicry Of Emotional Facial Expressions As A Function Of Trait Sadism, Cathleen Fleury, Mary Ritchie, Derek Mitchell
Spontaneous Mimicry Of Emotional Facial Expressions As A Function Of Trait Sadism, Cathleen Fleury, Mary Ritchie, Derek Mitchell
Western Research Forum
Using electromyography (EMG), it has been shown that facial muscles imperceptibly mirror the facial expressions of others, a phenomenon referred to as spontaneous facial mimicry. Facial mimicry may be involved in empathy processing, and is impaired in several empathy deficit disorders. It was previously believed to follow the direct-matching principle, a theory postulating that spontaneous facial mimicry involves the observer mirroring their partner’s expression exactly. However, several recent studies have demonstrated that context and individual differences may be influencing factors of spontaneous facial mimicry. In the present study, we propose to investigate the relationship between facial mimicry and empathy through …