Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Source Estimation Of The Reward Positivity And Related Resting State Network Activity In Major Depressive Disorder, Christopher J.H. Pirrung

Psychology ETDs

Anhedonia is a complex symptom of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) that presents itself through multiple behavioral phenotypes of diminished reward processing. In order to better understand this deficit, we aim to look at a marker of reward that is sensitive to information content and valence, the Reward Positivity (RewP). The source of this signal is, however, up for debate. This study used concurrent EEG and MEG to establish the source of the RewP as a distributed network involving ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), anterior midcingulate cortex (aMCC), and insulae. Additionally, only vmPFC showed a deficit in MDD. fMRI resting state functional …

Traumatic Brain Injury And Psychopathy In Incarcerated Men And Women, Tessa Cappelle

Psychology ETDs

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is one of the most suffered injuries with detrimental effects on the individual’s health, personality, and behavior. Overlap exists between TBI sequelae and symptoms of psychopathy. Both conditions are especially prevalent in incarcerated populations which makes studying their interrelation critical. Two studies examined the relationship between history of TBI (TBI+ vs. TBI-) and psychopathy (via the Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Revised; PCL-R) in adult incarcerated men and women at correctional facilities in New Mexico and Wisconsin. Study 1 included 342 women, study 2 included 1049 men. Measurement invariance was evident for TBI+ and TBI- for both studies. TBI+ …

Exploring The Role Of Dieting Style In Nutritional And Psychological Health Among College Women, Hayley L. Vanderjagt

Psychology ETDs

The current study aimed to profile styles of eating among dieting and non-dieting college-aged women, and to explore the extent to which dieting attitudes were associated with both nutritionally healthy eating and psychological well-being. A latent profile analysis was conducted using indicators of self-reported intuitive eating, binge eating, and two psychometric measures of dietary restraint; various measures of eating restraint were utilized to potentially capture distinct characteristics of dieting, such as self-discipline and disinhibition (Polivy et al., 2020; Stice et al., 2010). Four distinct probabilistic profiles emerged, indicating that individuals within the study population could be meaningfully categorized as Intuitive …

Science, Technology, Engineering, And Mathematics (Stem) Project-Based Learning (Pbl) Education: A New Mexico Case Study For Equity And Inclusion, Kimberly A. Scheerer

Teacher Education, Educational Leadership & Policy ETDs

This research addresses how student participation in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) project-based learning (PBL) education activities encourages underrepresented minority student achievement in STEM career field trajectories. Seven New Mexico high school counselors and 12 STEM organization personnel were interviewed during this study. Their responses represent the nuanced professional voices where New Mexico public education intersects with STEM student interest and cultural influence.

For students, STEM PBL can foster deep integration across educational disciplines and enhance STEM career trajectory interest and readiness. STEM education converged with PBL methodologies has the ability to leverage community support while broadening student networks. …

Covid-19 Pandemic Impact Report At The University Of New Mexico, Lisa A. Marchiondo, Shannon Sanchez-Youngman, Teagan Mullins, Naila V. Decruz-Dixon, Melanie E. Moses, Julia Fulghum

ADVANCE Reports

This report outlines four overarching issues that the COVID-19 pandemic raised or amplified for faculty, based on a survey of full-time faculty on the main campus of the University of New Mexico in Spring 2022. Some of the issues identified existed before the pandemic, which further exacerbated challenges and inequities. Results based on faculty gender, race/ethnicity, and job title are provided.

The report contains multiple recommendations for each of the four core issues that will assist individual faculty and improve campus climate and culture. Recommendations are often applicable to multiple issues, so we provide an appendix that cross-lists recommendations between …

An Application Of Tajfel’S Social Identity Theory To Understand Gamer As A Social Identity Among Saudi College-Level Students, Mohammad M. Assiri

Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs

Understanding the social identity construction of Saudi college-level students who self-identify as gamers in Saudi Arabia is essential when designing a student-centered education. Although support exists within the literature for exploring what it means to be a gamer from the perspective of gamers, a review of the literature revealed a gap in this regard in the context of Saudi Arabia. Therefore, this grounded theory study explored self-identification as a gamer in Saudi Arabia using Tajfel's (1981) three tenets of self-identification with a group. A social identity framework was used to understand the characteristics of Saudi gamers, their positive or negative …

Development Of A Measure Of Physical Distancing: The O'Sickey Distancing Test, Anthony J. O'Sickey

Psychology ETDs

Introduction: Covid-19 has swept the globe and has disproportionately affected the United States with over 600,000 deaths in just over one year. The Centers for Disease Control recommendations for reducing the spread of Covid-19 have focused on physical distancing (PD), the practice of maintaining a distance greater than 6 feet from individuals not in the same household. When employed, this health behavior has been found to reduce the incidence of Covid-19. A review of the measurement literature evaluating PD indicates that PD has been measured at the community level via GPS, using proxy measures of the behavior, or as a …

Exploring Components For A Family-Focused Intervention For Families With A Child Diagnosed With Cancer And Other Chronic Illnesses, Nicole Kubinec

Psychology ETDs

Chronic illnesses are often life-long and affect academic performance, social development, psychological well-being, and family functioning. The broad effects of childhood chronic illnesses are often assessed using measures of child health-related quality of life (HRQL). Parent factors (parental distress, perceptions of child vulnerability, overprotection) and family factors (maintaining rituals, open communication, positive coping) have been associated with changes in child HRQL. This study sought to discover how parent and family factors were associated with child HRQL, and how such factors were perceived by families for inclusion in future interventions. Results demonstrated that parental perceptions of child vulnerability were associated with …

“Finding The Positive” In Recovery: Psychometric Properties Of A Measure Of Human Flourishing In An Alcohol Use Disorder Recovery Sample, Hannah A. Carlon

Psychology ETDs

The fields of alcohol use disorder (AUD) recovery and positive psychology have both rapidly grown in recent years, are paralleled in their philosophy and goals, but have scarcely overlapped. An important first step to applying positive psychology to addiction treatment and recovery is quantifying the extent that treatment-as-usual encourages human flourishing (i.e., holistic well-being and adequate functioning). The PERMA Profiler is a measure based on the PERMA model of flourishing, captured across five positive psychology domains (i.e., Positive Emotions, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, and Accomplishments), and has been validated in a wide variety of samples. The …

Measurement Invariance Of Relationship Intimacy And Attachment Across Hispanic And Non-Hispanic White College Women, Kristen N. Vitek

Psychology ETDs

The study of relationship intimacy and attachment has gained increasingly greater attention within the field. As such, researchers have developed numerous self-report measures of relationship intimacy and attachment. However, a majority of such measures have been developed and validated with White, Western populations, which calls into question the validity of such measures when used with minority populations. One way to establish validity of measures is to test for measurement invariance; namely, that the measures assess the same constructs across groups. The focus of this study was to test the measurement invariance of two commonly used measures of relationship intimacy, the …

Spirituality, Well-Being, And The Role Of Oneness, Kelly S. Erickson Albonico

Psychology ETDs

Spirituality is generally found to have a significant but small positive association with well-being; however, the associations between spirituality and well-being vary greatly. One organizing framework for understanding the varying associations may be the degree to which spirituality and well-being measures capture connection, the pinnacle of which may be conceptualized as Oneness. The purpose of this paper is twofold: to begin exploring this hypothesis by examining the associations between beliefs in Oneness and dimensions of subjective well-being and to test possible conflating and contributing factors in the associations between beliefs in Oneness and subjective well-being. Results indicated preliminary support for …

Neurobiology Of Human Navigation Strategies In The Virtual Morris Water Task, Monica Goncalves-Garcia

Psychology ETDs

Strategies of navigation is a topic that has been investigated for decades and is still not well-understood. Organisms learn to navigate by using self-generated cues, distal cues, and proximal cues, however, how the different frames of reference are interpreted by different areas of the brain and translated into behavior is not clear. Animal studies have provided evidence for a preference for navigation by following a direction in the environment over place learning. This study investigated the performance of adolescents (mean age: 13.89) in a virtual version of the Morris Water Task with a probe trial manipulation attempting to categorize people …

Antagonizing Serotonin 2a (5-Ht2a) Receptors Does Not Attenuate Methamphetamine-Induced Expression Of Conditioned Place Preference In Female And Male Rats, Nicole C. Reyna

Psychology ETDs

Despite the need, there are currently no FDA-approved pharmacological treatments for methamphetamine use disorders. Cue-induced craving during drug withdrawal remains a significant contributor to high relapse rates. Thus, understanding the neurobiological mechanisms of cue-induced drug-seeking behavior is critical. Previous research indicates that the selective 5-HT_2A antagonist M100907 attenuates the acquisition of methamphetamine-induced conditioned place preference (CPP) in male and female adult rats. The present study examines the effects of M100907 on expression of methamphetamine-induced drug-seeking behavior using a biased CPP design in adult male and female Long Evans rats (PND 95-112). During conditioning, rats were administered either saline or …

Mental Toughness And Athletic Performance: A Meta-Analysis, Dax Mitchell Crum

Health, Exercise, and Sports Sciences ETDs

This investigation employed meta-analysis techniques to examine the relationship between mental toughness and athletic performance. A total of 76 studies were systematically analyzed with 470 correlation coefficients (r_xy) calculated to determine the mean effect. Fifty-five subject and study variables (age, gender, sport, psychometric instrument, and theoretical definition, etc.) were coded for each correlation to assess changes in the magnitude according to these key characteristics noted within the literature. Overall, the total average correlation produced a small effect size of r_xy =.218. However, the effect size varied significantly depending on the definition, measurement, quality of the investigation, …

The Role Of Affect And The Autonomic Nervous System (Ans) In Visuospatial Learning And Set-Shifting: Modulating Cardiac Vagal Tone Through Heart Rate Variability (Hrv) Biofeedback To Improve Cognitive Performance, Breannan C. Howell

Psychology ETDs

The fields of psychology and neuroscience have found an interconnection between the autonomic nervous system (ANS), affect, and cognitive performance. Heart rate variability (HRV) may be a useful index of this relationship, representing the regulatory processes that facilitate adapting to emotions and environments to modulate mood and executive function. The current project consists of a series of experiments to investigate the relationship between trait affect, HRV, learning, and set-shifting performance. In the first experiment associations are found between negative affectivity, HRV, and set-shifting performance during an attentional set-shifting variant of the Virtual Morris Water Task (VMWT). Participants that exhibited both …