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Cognitive Psychology

Theses/Dissertations

2017

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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Caffeine Withdrawal And Dependence: A Review, Alexander Roberts Dec 2017

Caffeine Withdrawal And Dependence: A Review, Alexander Roberts

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

With the prevalence of caffeine use increasing in modern lifestyles, it is important to look at the symptoms of caffeine use, including withdrawal and dependence, and whether these symptoms have implications for addiction. A limited number of assessments have been developed to assess caffeine withdrawal. In order to make a call for more assessments and programs to be developed to assist with healthy caffeine use, this literature review observed recent studies focusing on withdrawal and dependence. Ozsunger et al. (2009) classified caffeine withdrawal into three categories of symptoms. Three years later, Juliano et al. (2012) used an experimental approach to …

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Examining Attentional Control And Processing Speed Deficits As Underlying Mechanisms Of Neuropsychological Impairment In Schizophrenia, Mayte Forte Dec 2017

Examining Attentional Control And Processing Speed Deficits As Underlying Mechanisms Of Neuropsychological Impairment In Schizophrenia, Mayte Forte

Graduate Masters Theses

Neuropsychological impairment is a key characteristic of schizophrenia (SZ), but its cognitive profile and underlying information processing mechanisms are not yet well understood. We compare patterns of neuropsychological functioning in 85 persons with SZ and 76 healthy controls across measures of intelligence, memory, and executive function. We then test the hypothesis that neuropsychological impairment in SZ is related to dual deficits in two related but distinct information processes: processing speed and attentional control. All research participants completed Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Third Edition (WAIS-III), Wechsler Memory Scale Third Edition (WMS-III), and Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), all of which provided measures …

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The Domain-Generality And Durability Of Efficient Learning, Christopher Zerr Dec 2017

The Domain-Generality And Durability Of Efficient Learning, Christopher Zerr

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

People differ in how quickly they learn information and how long they remember it, and a common finding in the literature is that a quicker rate of learning coincides with better retention for the learned material. Zerr and colleagues (2017) termed the relation between learning rate and retention as learning efficiency, with more efficient learning representing both a faster acquisition rate and better memory performance after a delay. Zerr et al. also demonstrated in separate experiments that how efficiently someone learns is stable across a range of days and years. The current thesis includes two experiments addressing additional questions …

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Exploring The Underlying Mechanisms Of Structure Building, Reshma Gouravajhala Dec 2017

Exploring The Underlying Mechanisms Of Structure Building, Reshma Gouravajhala

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Structure building, the ability to build a coherent mental model of any narrative, requires the identification and integration of important parts of that narrative, as well as the suppression of irrelevant details. Critically, while individual differences in structure building have been shown to have important consequences in the classroom, little has been concluded about underlying deficits and causal mechanisms of low structure building ability. In the present study, we tested the theory that an impaired ability to suppress unimportant details is low structure builders’ sole deficit (Gernsbacher, 1990). We presented participants with educationally authentic text materials that offered varying degrees …

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Prospective Associations Of Homocysteine, Executive Function, And Depressive Symptoms, Peter J. Dearborn Dec 2017

Prospective Associations Of Homocysteine, Executive Function, And Depressive Symptoms, Peter J. Dearborn

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Associations of cardiovascular risk factors, cognitive performance, and depressive symptoms have been well established. However, the directionality of these associations as well as the specificity of these associations with respect to executive function are less clear. Additionally few studies have determined whether genetic risk factors, such as apolipoprotein-E4 (APOE-E4) genotype, and age moderate the associations of cardiovascular risk factors such as homocysteine with changes in depressive symptoms and how these associations may be mediated by cognitive performance. The primary aim of this study was to analyze the bidirectional associations of a full range of cognitive domains and symptoms of depression …

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Increasing Student Registered Nurse Anesthetists Clinical Self-Efficacy Using Peer Mentoring, Megan Christine Bass Dec 2017

Increasing Student Registered Nurse Anesthetists Clinical Self-Efficacy Using Peer Mentoring, Megan Christine Bass

Doctoral Projects

The purpose of this project is to determine if clinical self-efficacy is increased in SRNAs at The University of Southern Mississippi after participation in the peer mentoring program. The project was a one-group pre and posttest design in a sample of SRNAs who received peer mentoring. To evaluate the students’ perceived clinical self-efficacy before and after the peer mentoring educational intervention, the Rowbotham and Schmitz Student Self-Efficacy scale (SSE) (2013) was adapted and administered to second-year SRNAs (N=17). Clinical performance, skill and knowledge development, social interaction with clinical faculty, and coping with clinical stress are the four areas evaluated by …

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Assessing The Relationships Between Multicultural Training, Cultural Identity, And Multicultural Counseling Competence Among Master’S Level Counseling Students, Rachel Reinders Dec 2017

Assessing The Relationships Between Multicultural Training, Cultural Identity, And Multicultural Counseling Competence Among Master’S Level Counseling Students, Rachel Reinders

Theses and Dissertations

The discrepancy between the demographics of the American population and mental health providers means that providers will increasingly be called upon to work with clients who are different from the provider. This study evaluated the relationship between multicultural competence (MCC), ethnic identity, and worldview variables for Master’s level counseling students enrolled in an introductory multicultural counseling course. It also included an analysis of course factors. A total of 201 students completed the survey at both the beginning and end of the semester. Students reported higher levels of ethnic identity development at the end of the semester as compared to the …

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An Assessment Of Frontal Lobe Activity And Bdnf Levels Following Concussion In Collegiate Athletes: A Near-Infrared Spectroscopy Study, Keara Kangas Dec 2017

An Assessment Of Frontal Lobe Activity And Bdnf Levels Following Concussion In Collegiate Athletes: A Near-Infrared Spectroscopy Study, Keara Kangas

All NMU Master's Theses

Impacts to the head that are associated with sports related injuries, can result in a mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), known as a concussion. Previous research has assessed how mTBIs affect the brain, but these assessments are limited in their ability to directly measure the consequences of mTBI. Along with concussion assessments, only a few studies have used neuroimaging techniques to evaluate brain injury. This study utilized a neuroimaging technique that is inexpensive, non-invasive, and portable, to measure brain activity post-concussion. In particular, near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) was used to measure prefrontal cortex (PFC) activity during the dot-probe task of affective …

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Do Learners Have Insight Into The Levels Of Processing Effect? Exploring Unresolved Levels Of Processing Phenomena With Judgments Of Learning, Elif Eylul Tekin Dec 2017

Do Learners Have Insight Into The Levels Of Processing Effect? Exploring Unresolved Levels Of Processing Phenomena With Judgments Of Learning, Elif Eylul Tekin

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The levels of processing (LOP) effect shows that semantic processing leads to better retention than other types of processing. The effect is routinely obtained on many types of tests, yet, to this day, its mechanisms are still debated and it is poorly understood. In two old/new recognition experiments, I investigated potential explanations as to why the LOP effect occurs under intentional learning instructions. I asked a) whether subjects were aware of the LOP effect while they were studying the material, b) whether explicitly encouraging subjects to study the words with their idiosyncratic strategies would eliminate the effect, and c) whether …

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The Impact Of Delay On Retrieval Success In The Parietal Memory Network, Nathan Anderson Dec 2017

The Impact Of Delay On Retrieval Success In The Parietal Memory Network, Nathan Anderson

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Recent work has identified a Parietal Memory Network (PMN), which exhibits regular patterns of activation during memory encoding and retrieval. Among these characteristic patterns, this network displays a strong “retrieval success” effect, showing greater activation for correctlyremembered studied items (hits) compared to correctly-rejected novel items (CRs). To date, most relevant studies have used short retention intervals. Here, we ask if the retrieval success effect seen in the PMN would remain consistent over a delay. Twenty participants underwent fMRI while encoding and recognizing scenes. Greater activity for hits than for correctly-rejected lures within PMN regions was observed after a short delay …

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The Effects Of Repeated Lineups And Delay On Eyewitness Identification, Wenbo Lin Dec 2017

The Effects Of Repeated Lineups And Delay On Eyewitness Identification, Wenbo Lin

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Prior eyewitness research has examined the effects of repeated identification procedures and delays on eyewitness identification, but these studies have either confounded these two factors or studied them in isolation. Experiment 1 attempted to disentangle these factors through systematic manipulations of the number of repeated lineups and the length of delay between the original event and the first lineup. Experiment 2 examined whether the length of delay between two lineups (Lineups 1 and 2) affects the subsequent lineup identification decisions. We found that people were more inclined to choose when a lineup was repeated. A longer delay between the crime …

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Quizzing And Restudy Dynamics In A Tst Paradigm: The (Null) Effect Of Feedback And The (Significant) Effects Of Metacognition, Francis Anderson Dec 2017

Quizzing And Restudy Dynamics In A Tst Paradigm: The (Null) Effect Of Feedback And The (Significant) Effects Of Metacognition, Francis Anderson

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In authentic educational settings, using formative quizzes or tests can improve students’ memory by direct strengthening of the memory trace. There are other indirect effects of testing, however, such as improved understanding of what one does and does not know. That is, quizzes can benefit students’ metacognitive awareness, which may in turn affect their restudy behaviors. We tested whether different types of feedback (correct/incorrect, correct answer, or minimal) differentially affected students’ metacognition, changed their restudy behaviors, and influenced final test performance. We found no effect of feedback type, but were able to better understand quizzing and restudy dynamics in an …

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How Does Increasing The Power Of Retrieval Cues Change The Experience Of Remembering?, Oyku Uner Dec 2017

How Does Increasing The Power Of Retrieval Cues Change The Experience Of Remembering?, Oyku Uner

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Increasing the power of retrieval cues typically enhances recall and recognition. Is this driven by remembering, knowing, or both? The current study used the remember/know paradigm in different recall tasks that manipulated the power of retrieval cues. In the first two experiments, participants studied words in a semantic or phonetic context, and were tested in one of these contexts, resulting in two match and two mismatch conditions. Participants recalled more in the match conditions, and this was driven by remembering. In the third experiment, participants studied multiple word lists and were tested immediately after each list with varying number of …

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Life-Long Creativity: Changing The Narrative Of Aging And Retirement, Jennifer K. Gippel Dr Dec 2017

Life-Long Creativity: Changing The Narrative Of Aging And Retirement, Jennifer K. Gippel Dr

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

The current narratives and stereotypes around retirement and aging are both inaccurate and incomplete. The popular media regularly portrays retirees and older citizens as blissfully happy but bland; or physically feeble and forgetful. Rarely are they portrayed as achievers and vibrant problem solvers. Instead they are perceived by policy makers as a problem to be solved. This project offers a different narrative ― one that presents retirement and aging as a unique time of creative opportunity, possibility, and freedom to choose. The primary outcome of the project is two chapters of a book entitled: Retirement by design: How to discover …

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Elements Of Moral Functioning In Sport And School, Christopher Funk Nov 2017

Elements Of Moral Functioning In Sport And School, Christopher Funk

Dissertations

Moral functioning is complex and implicates numerous cognitive and affective processes. Drawing upon Rest’s four-component model of moral functioning and more recent dual-process accounts of cognition, the current study examined a model of moral functioning in both sport and school contexts. Specifically, drawing upon the empirical record, a model of moral functioning was proposed and tested wherein moral identity influenced the adoption of specific contesting orientations, which, in turn, influenced prosocial and antisocial behaviors, both directly and indirectly via moral foundations and moral disengagement. Fit of the model was moderately strong in both contexts, though significant contextual differences emerged, both …

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Contributions Of Appetitive And Aversive Motivational Systems To Decision-Making, Heather E. Soder Nov 2017

Contributions Of Appetitive And Aversive Motivational Systems To Decision-Making, Heather E. Soder

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Optimal decision-making entails outcome evaluation, comparing received costs and benefits with predicted costs and benefits. The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), a brain area with major connections to the appetitive and aversive motivation systems, may provide the neural substrate of this evaluation process. One way to measure the relative contribution of these systems on decision-making is to measure individual differences in risk-taking behaviors. For individuals who make risky choices, this evaluation step may be biased: some show a preference for immediate, short-term rewards (increased appetitive system), while devaluing the long-term consequences of their choices (decreased aversive system). However, most studies supporting …

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Search Guidance Can Be Adjusted By Experience With Search Discriminability, Junha Chang Oct 2017

Search Guidance Can Be Adjusted By Experience With Search Discriminability, Junha Chang

Masters Theses

Several recent studies show that previous experience can influence observers’ search strategy in a way that improves search performance. The purpose of the present study is to investigate how the experience of difficult color discriminability affects search strategies. Two participant groups either experienced difficult color discriminability in a half of the trials (i.e., hard-discrimination group) or experienced easy search in all trials (i.e., easy-discrimination group) in a dual-target search task. Participants were required to respond to the presence of a target (colored T) among distractors (colored pseudo-L). Eye movements were recorded to understand which feature information is used to guide …

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A Simulated Walk In Nature: Testing Predictions From The Attention Restoration Theory, Corey Crossan Oct 2017

A Simulated Walk In Nature: Testing Predictions From The Attention Restoration Theory, Corey Crossan

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Attention Restoration Theory (ART) predicts that top-down processing during everyday activities can cause attentional fatigue and that bottom-up processing that occurs when people experience nature will be restorative (Kaplan, 1995). The present study examined this prediction by exposing participants to three different conditions using a repeated measures design: a control condition during which participants walked on a typical treadmill, a nature/restorative condition during which participants walked on the same treadmill, experiencing a simulated nature walk, and a perturbation condition that included the same simulated nature scene but also required top-down processing during the walk. The findings supported ART predictions. As …

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Cognitive Impairment, Depression, Anxiety, And Personality And Ms Patient Estimations Of Memory Function, Jordan Charboneau Oct 2017

Cognitive Impairment, Depression, Anxiety, And Personality And Ms Patient Estimations Of Memory Function, Jordan Charboneau

Dissertations (1934 -)

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease of unknown etiology, characterized by a wide range of physical, cognitive, psychological, and behavioral symptoms. To effectively diagnose and treat MS, clinicians rely on patient reports of function to help identify and treat their problems (Kinsinger, Lattie, & Mohr, 2010). Specifically, self-reports of cognitive symptoms are a valuable source of information upon which clinicians depend (Van der Hiele, Spliethoff-Kamminga, Ruimschotel, Middelkoop, & Visser, 2012). While patient reports of cognitive functioning, including memory, are important, there has been substantial debate about the accuracy of such information. The present study investigated the association between general …

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Biculturalism, Bilingualism, & Executive Function Among U.S. Latinos: Implications For Cognitive Reserve, Leticia G. Vallejo Oct 2017

Biculturalism, Bilingualism, & Executive Function Among U.S. Latinos: Implications For Cognitive Reserve, Leticia G. Vallejo

Dissertations (1934 -)

The current study was an exploratory investigation of the cultural constructs of biculturalism and bilingualism as predictors of executive function among a community-based sample of 25 older adult Latinos living in the U.S. The potential moderating effects of education and bicultural identity integration were also examined. Using regression analyses, biculturalism and bilingualism were examined independently as predictors of performance on three separate tasks of executive function: trail making tests, a phonemic fluency task, and a clock drawing task. Bilingualism was not found to predict performance on any of the executive functioning tasks. In the overall sample, biculturalism also was not …

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Syntax And Semantics Of Perceptual Representation, James K. Quilty-Dunn Sep 2017

Syntax And Semantics Of Perceptual Representation, James K. Quilty-Dunn

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation is a defense of perceptual pluralism, the thesis that perceptual systems deliver multiple types of representations including those used in thought. In particular, it argues that perceptual systems output iconic (i.e., image-like, analog) representations as well as discursive (i.e., language-like, digital) states. A central thesis is that perceptual representations of objects are propositional and composed of concepts. It also develops a compositional syntax of iconic representation called the coordination model, according to which icons are sets of primitive parts, each of which determines values along multiple analog feature dimensions simultaneously. The dissertation supports the conclusion that perceptual …

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Examining The Concurrent And Predictive Relations Of Working Memory In Childhood Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Ashley N. Simone Sep 2017

Examining The Concurrent And Predictive Relations Of Working Memory In Childhood Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Ashley N. Simone

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Attention-deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by developmentally inappropriate levels of inattention and/or hyperactivity/impulsivity which lead to impairment in multiple settings (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Childhood ADHD has been concurrently associated with various neurocognitive deficits and one in particular that has been under examination over the past several years is working memory (WM). WM is a temporary storage system that is responsible for maintenance and/or manipulation of information in order to complete complex cognitive and behavioral tasks. Researchers have postulated that WM is one of several potential endophenotypes of ADHD (Castellanos & Tannock, 2002) and/or that WM is …

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Cognitive And Affective Control Deficits In Adults With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Melissa-Ann Mackie Sep 2017

Cognitive And Affective Control Deficits In Adults With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Melissa-Ann Mackie

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Cognitive control constrains mental operations to prioritize information that reaches conscious awareness and is essential to flexible, adaptive behavior under conditions of uncertainty. However, cognitive control can be compromised by neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD), which is characterized by the presence of social and communicative deficits, and restricted interests/repetitive behaviors. Although prior investigations have attempted to elucidate the nature of cognitive control deficits in ASD, whether there is an underlying deficit in cognitive and affective control associated with the symptom domains of ASD remains unclear. The present series of eight experiments presents an information theoretic framework for …

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The Effect Of The Dopamine Agonist Pramipexole On Measures Of Impulsivity In Young, Healthy Participants, Daniel Glizer Sep 2017

The Effect Of The Dopamine Agonist Pramipexole On Measures Of Impulsivity In Young, Healthy Participants, Daniel Glizer

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Patients with Parkinson disease are prescribed dopamine agonists such as pramipexole to improve motor symptoms. Several studies have found that patients taking dopaminergic medication develop impulse control disorders. In contrast, other studies suggest that some behaviors become less impulsive with pramipexole. We evaluated the performance of 20 young, healthy participants who received pramipexole (0.5 mg) and 20 participants who received placebo, on the Go/No-Go, the Stop Signal Task, and the Balloon Analogue Risk Task. We found that the pramipexole group had more timed out Go trials on the Go/No-Go task than the placebo group, suggesting reduced motor impulsivity. There were …

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Harm And Victim Age As Factors In The Determination Of Intentionality And Culpability, Donal David Barnard Jr. Sep 2017

Harm And Victim Age As Factors In The Determination Of Intentionality And Culpability, Donal David Barnard Jr.

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In the United States criminal justice system, jurors are directed to determine a defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt by establishing both the act of committing a crime (actus reus) and the culpable mental state of the defendant (mens rea), that is, the defendant’s intentionality. The role of a juror in a criminal case is that of a factfinder, deciding whether the two elements of the crime have been met. Criminal cases where jurors are asked to decide the facts vary in the harm that resulted. The more severe the harm, the greater the perceived injustice. This …

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Semantic Attention: Effects Of Modality, Lexicality And Semantic Content, David Britton Sep 2017

Semantic Attention: Effects Of Modality, Lexicality And Semantic Content, David Britton

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Since the discovery of the Stroop Effect in 1935 questions about the role of language vs. non-lexical stimuli in selective attention remain. Early researchers attributed the powerful distracting influence shown in the Stroop task, naming the color in which a spelled word is printed when incongruent with the color name the word spells, to an automaticity of language that gives it privileged access to meaning, but many others since have shown various ways to reduce or even reverse this distracting effect of an incongruent word. This study addresses this by using EEG to record neural activity along with reaction time …

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The Effects Of Pre-Trial Event Stimulus Properties On Timing In The Peak Interval Procedure, Daniel A. Garces Sep 2017

The Effects Of Pre-Trial Event Stimulus Properties On Timing In The Peak Interval Procedure, Daniel A. Garces

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In the peak interval procedure, intruded conditioned stimuli produce shifts in peak/middle time towards later values, regardless of whether these stimuli are presented prior to or during the timing signal. Although the effects of during-trial stimulus properties—temporal location, duration, and salience—have been previously reported, no research exists on how before-trial stimulus properties influence the extent of shifts in middle time. In the present study, we manipulated within subjects both the temporal location and type (i.e., cue alone, response-independent reinforcer alone, or cue and response-contingent reinforcer together) of the pre-trial event. An individual-trial analysis suggested that the type of stimulus event …

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Understanding The Role Of The Ventrolateral Prefrontal Cortex In Emotional Memory Using Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation And Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, R. Rachel Weintraub-Brevda Sep 2017

Understanding The Role Of The Ventrolateral Prefrontal Cortex In Emotional Memory Using Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation And Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, R. Rachel Weintraub-Brevda

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Emotional stimuli can have both beneficial and detrimental effects on memory, such that emotional stimuli can be distracting from current neutral working memory goals, while also leading to enhanced episodic memory for the distracting emotional stimuli. Recent evidence suggests that the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC) has multiple roles in the enhancing effects of emotion on memory through top-down/controlled processes, including 1) coping with negative distraction and 2) elaborative encoding of negative information. Additionally, previous research has alluded to hemispheric differences in the VLPFC (Chapter 1). However, previous research has been correlational, with no strong laterality tests of the VLPFC. Two …

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Prospective Studies Of Cardiovascular Risk Factors And Mild Cognitive Impairment, Kevin Sullivan Aug 2017

Prospective Studies Of Cardiovascular Risk Factors And Mild Cognitive Impairment, Kevin Sullivan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The association of cardiovascular risk factors including hypertension, diabetes, cholesterol, kidney function, and arterial stiffness with cognitive impairment in older adults is a well-studied phenomenon. However, there is considerably less evidence relating cardiovascular health specifically to a diagnosis of Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI). As a precursor state of dementia, MCI is characterized by a decline in cognitive function from previous level, but not to the degree that activities of daily living are impaired. Not everyone who is diagnosed with MCI will eventually transition to dementia, but the transition rates are much higher compared to the general population (5-15% per year …

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Is There A Higher-Order Mechanism That Explains Performance Across Prediction Tasks?, Michelle Lisa Eisenberg Aug 2017

Is There A Higher-Order Mechanism That Explains Performance Across Prediction Tasks?, Michelle Lisa Eisenberg

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

People constantly make predictions about what will happen in the near future. People anticipate how other people around them will act, what other people will say, and what actions will help them achieve the greatest rewards. Because all of these behaviors are typically called prediction, it is easy to make the assumption that performance across all of these types of tasks is driven by the same underlying mechanism. However, there has been little investigation into whether the mechanisms underlying prediction are the same across multiple task modalities. Therefore, in the current study, 226 participants completed four types of tasks that …

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