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Articles 1 - 30 of 50
Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Examining The Shift In Occupational Identity After A Brain Injury, Mikelle Bryson-Campbell
Examining The Shift In Occupational Identity After A Brain Injury, Mikelle Bryson-Campbell
Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository
Occupational identity is defined by Kielhofner (2002) as a sense of who we are as an occupational being, based on our past, current, and future occupational roles. When a life disruption occurs such as a brain injury (BI) and the disruption impacts the ability to conduct an occupation deemed meaningful an important process of transition occurs (Muenchberger, Kendall, & Neal, 2008). In turn occupational identity may shift to reflect the current health and economic status of the individual and what occupations are judged as meaningful.
The current study examined the shift in occupational identity in BI survivors in a two …
Measuring The Sixth Vital Sign: A Descriptive Analysis Of Distress In Individuals With Head And Neck Cancer And Their Caregivers, Catherine C. Bornbaum
Measuring The Sixth Vital Sign: A Descriptive Analysis Of Distress In Individuals With Head And Neck Cancer And Their Caregivers, Catherine C. Bornbaum
Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository
Introduction: Distress has become so problematic in oncology that it has been recognized as the “sixth vital sign” implying that distress monitoring should occur as routinely as the monitoring of one’s temperature or blood pressure. The research reported herein investigated the impact of head and neck cancer on levels of distress, commonly reported problems, and perceptions of quality of life in individuals with head and neck cancer and their caregivers.
Method: Two distinct studies were conducted; the first explored the patient experience of distress and quality of life while the second assessed the caregiver experience of these same constructs. A …
The Roles Of Thematic Knowledge In Sentence Comprehension, Kazunaga Matsuki
The Roles Of Thematic Knowledge In Sentence Comprehension, Kazunaga Matsuki
Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository
People possess a great deal of knowledge concerning what commonly happens in various types of events. This knowledge, specifically with respect to event participants and their relations within an event (thematic knowledge), is an important component of how people understand language. A number of studies have shown a rapid influence of thematic knowledge during moment-to-moment sentence processing, in both investigations of lexical processing in sentential contexts, and temporary syntactic ambiguity resolution. The main goal of this dissertation is to further our understanding about the roles of thematic knowledge during sentence processing and sentence understanding by examining two critical unresolved issues. …
Cognitive Activity Support Tools: Design Of The Visual Interface, Paul Parsons
Cognitive Activity Support Tools: Design Of The Visual Interface, Paul Parsons
Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository
This dissertation is broadly concerned with interactive computational tools that support the performance of complex cognitive activities, examples of which are analytical reasoning, decision making, problem solving, sense making, forecasting, and learning. Examples of tools that support such activities are visualization-based tools in the areas of: education, information visualization, personal information management, statistics, and health informatics. Such tools enable access to information and data and, through interaction, enable a human-information discourse. In a more specific sense, this dissertation is concerned with the design of the visual interface of these tools. This dissertation presents a large and comprehensive theoretical framework to …
Representation Of Faces In Perirhinal Cortex, Edward B. O'Neil
Representation Of Faces In Perirhinal Cortex, Edward B. O'Neil
Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository
The prevailing view of medial temporal lobe (MTL) functioning holds that its structures are dedicated to long-term declarative memory. Recent evidence challenges this view, suggesting that perirhinal cortex (PrC), which interfaces the MTL with the ventral visual pathway, supports highly integrated object representations that contribute to both recognition memory and perceptual discrimination. Here, I used functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine PrC activity, as well as its broader functional connectivity, during perceptual and mnemonic tasks involving faces, a stimulus class proposed to rely on integrated representations for discrimination. In Chapter 2, I revealed that PrC involvement was related to task …
The Role Of Humor As A Character Strength In Positive Psychology, Kimberly R. Edwards
The Role Of Humor As A Character Strength In Positive Psychology, Kimberly R. Edwards
Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository
In positive psychology, humor has been identified as one of twenty-four character strengths considered ubiquitously important for human flourishing. Unlike the other strengths, humor was a late addition to this classification system and its status as a strength continues to be somewhat controversial. Therefore the purpose of this thesis was to explore how humor fits within positive psychology. Four studies were conducted to achieve this goal. Study 1 involved a cross-sectional design and compared the Values in Action Inventory of Strengths - Humor Scale (the humor measure used in positive psychology, which assumes that humor is a unitary and positive …
The Process Dissociation Of Moral Judgments: Clarifying The Psychology Of Deontology And Utilitarianism, Paul Conway
The Process Dissociation Of Moral Judgments: Clarifying The Psychology Of Deontology And Utilitarianism, Paul Conway
Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository
A growing body of work has examined responses to moral dilemmas where causing some degree of harm leads to a greater positive outcome; such dilemmas are said to pit deontological philosophical considerations (causing harm is never acceptable) against utilitarian philosophical considerations (causing harm is acceptable if it leads to the best possible outcome). According to dual-process theories of moral judgment, independent processes drive each judgment: affective reactions to harm drive deontological judgments, whereas cognitive evaluations of outcomes drive utilitarian judgments. Yet, theoretically both processes contribute to each judgment; therefore, it is an error to equate judgments with processes. To overcome …
The Social Life Of Metaphor, Andrea Bowes
The Social Life Of Metaphor, Andrea Bowes
Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository
The five experiments in this dissertation examine the social effects of metaphor context production and comprehension. In Studies 1 and 2, participants wrote a meaningful discourse context for metaphorical or literal sentences. Participants providing context for metaphor used more idiomatic emotional expressions, cognitive mechanism words (e.g., “think”) and adverbs. Those responding to the literal prompts used physical descriptions. These results are interpreted in light of research that shows idiomatic expressions and cognitive mechanism words are used to express emotion and signal friendship. In Study 2, use of affective content in the metaphor condition was positively correlated with scores on the …
Organization Of Human Auditory Cortex: Responses To Frequency Modulated Sounds, Diedre D. Desouza
Organization Of Human Auditory Cortex: Responses To Frequency Modulated Sounds, Diedre D. Desouza
Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository
Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) was used to investigate the extent, magnitude and patterns of brain activity in response to frequency-modulated sounds. We examined this by manipulating the direction (rise vs. fall) and the rate (fast vs. slow) of a series of iterated rippled noise (IRN) bursts. Participants were presented with auditory stimuli while functional images of the cortex were obtained. Univariate analyses revealed more widespread activation within auditory cortex in response to frequency-modulated sweeps compared to steady-state sounds. Furthermore, multivoxel pattern analysis (MVPA) was used to determine whether regions within auditory cortex were involved in feature-specific encoding. The pattern …
Attributions & Resiliency: An Analysis Of The Resiliency-Attribution Association, Aaron J. Halliday
Attributions & Resiliency: An Analysis Of The Resiliency-Attribution Association, Aaron J. Halliday
Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository
This study sought to provide support for the King-Rothstein (2010) model of resiliency and to establish an understanding of the relationship between resiliency and causal attributions. A cross-sectional study investigated these relationships using an online questionnaire battery. Some associative and predictive relationships were found between causal attributions and resiliency. Components of resiliency were predictive of job satisfaction and support and symptoms of psychological illness. Given a path analysis, the King-Rothstein model of resiliency was found to be most predictive of the outcome symptoms of psychological illness (over job satisfaction and support or wellbeing). Finally, mediation analysis revealed self-regulatory processes fully …
Cortical Representation Underlying The Semantic Processing Of Numerical Symbols: Evidence From Adult And Developmental Studies, Stephan Erich Vogel
Cortical Representation Underlying The Semantic Processing Of Numerical Symbols: Evidence From Adult And Developmental Studies, Stephan Erich Vogel
Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository
Humans possess the remarkable ability to process numerical information using numerical symbols such as Arabic digits. A growing body of neuroimaging work has provided new insights into the neural correlates associated with symbolic numerical magnitude processing. However, little is known about the cortical specialization underlying the representation of symbolic numerical magnitude in adults and children. To constrain our current knowledge, I conducted a series of functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) studies that aimed to better understand the functional specialization of symbolic numerical magnitudes representation in the human brain.
Using a number line estimation task, the first study contrasted the brain …
Timing Of Developmental Stress And Phenotypic Plasticity: Effects Of Nutritional Stress At Different Developmental Periods On Physiological And Cognitive-Behavioral Traits In The Zebra Finch (Taeniopygia Guttata), Buddhamas Kriengwatana
Timing Of Developmental Stress And Phenotypic Plasticity: Effects Of Nutritional Stress At Different Developmental Periods On Physiological And Cognitive-Behavioral Traits In The Zebra Finch (Taeniopygia Guttata), Buddhamas Kriengwatana
Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository
Developmentally plastic organisms can respond to stressful environmental conditions by altering multiple aspects of their phenotype, often in a permanent fashion. The timing of developmental stress influences these phenotypic alterations because the prioritization of resources to traits necessary to overcome the stressor may be costly for the development of other traits. Despite the importance of this timing, few studies in birds have accounted for it, and those that have usually examined the effect on a single or few variables. This dissertation addresses the outstanding issues regarding i) the effects of timing of developmental stress on developmental plasticity, and ii) the …
Parkinson's Patients' Upper And Lower Limb Motor Impairments Differentially Influence Action Verb Processing, Peter Nguyen
Parkinson's Patients' Upper And Lower Limb Motor Impairments Differentially Influence Action Verb Processing, Peter Nguyen
Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository
Theories of grounded cognition emphasize the role of sensorimotor simulation in conceptual knowledge. With regard to action concepts, the motor system is hypothesized to play a central role in their representation and processing. The present study investigates whether patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) who have greater upper versus greater lower limb impairments show different patterns of performance when processing action verbs. Patients and matched controls made action decisions on upper-limb (reach), lower-limb (kick), and psych verbs (think). The most important result was an interaction between PD dominance (PD upper vs. lower limb motor impairments) …
The Effect Of Exercise On Cravings And Ad Libitum Smoking Following Concurrent Stressors, Angela J. Fong
The Effect Of Exercise On Cravings And Ad Libitum Smoking Following Concurrent Stressors, Angela J. Fong
Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository
Quitting smoking itself is a stressor; it is likely that other stressors occur concurrently and deplete self-regulatory resources. Failure to cope leads to smoking relapse. Exercise has been shown to attenuate cravings and withdrawal symptoms in previous research and has yet to be examined following concurrent stressors. This study examined the effect of an acute bout of moderate intensity exercise on psychological withdrawal symptoms (PWS), cravings and ad lib smoking after concurrent stressors (i.e., temporary abstinence and depletion). Twenty-five smokers were randomized into exercise or passive conditions. Results showed PWS were significantly exacerbated after temporary abstinence and again after depletion …
Socialization Of Depressive Symptoms In Pre- And Early Adolescent Peer Cliques, Suzanne L. Seah
Socialization Of Depressive Symptoms In Pre- And Early Adolescent Peer Cliques, Suzanne L. Seah
Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository
This study examined socialization of depressive symptoms in pre- and early adolescent peer cliques, and clique characteristics (clique gender and friendship density) that may moderate the contribution of clique depression to the prediction of youths’ depressive symptoms over time. Social cognitive mapping identified 162 peer cliques involving 999 youths from Grades 4 through 8 (M age = 11.84; SD = 1.52) in Southwestern Ontario. As expected, multi-level modeling revealed that clique depressive symptoms in fall contributed significantly to the prediction of youths’ depressive symptoms in spring. Null findings regarding clique friendship density and gender as moderators of clique depression …
The Role Of Probe-Trial Distractors In The Production/Removal Of The Spatial Negative Priming Effect, Peter D. Haworth
The Role Of Probe-Trial Distractors In The Production/Removal Of The Spatial Negative Priming Effect, Peter D. Haworth
Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository
In spatial negative priming (SNP) tasks, trials are presented in pairs; first the ‘prime’, and then the ‘probe’. Target and/or distractor events appear on both trials and probe target reaction time is significantly lengthened when it arises at a former distractor-occupied location (ignored-repetition [IR] trial), relative to when it appears at a new location (control [CO] trial). This latency inequality, which is not inevitable, defines the SNP effect. Here, we examined the influence of prime and probe trial distractor identity similarity on restoring the SNP effect when its prevention was successfully motivated by the use of a .25 (distractor present)/.75 …
The Independence Of Burnout And Engagement: Incremental Predictive Validity And Construct Reappraisal As Different Combinations Of The Same Components (Energy And Evaluation), Joe Choi
Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository
The present investigation was conducted in response to recent concerns regarding the redundancy/independence of two related constructs in I/O Psychology: Burnout and engagement. Using students in an academic context, I first addressed this issue by investigating the incremental validity of the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES) over the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) and vice versa in the prediction of six criterion variables (academic performance, physical ill-being, positive affect, negative affect, subjective experience of growth, eudaimonic well-being) in a sample of undergraduate students. Contrary to the recent meta-analysis by Cole, Walter, Bedeian, and O’Boyle (2012), I did not find evidence for …
The Influence Of Mood And Motivation On Cognitive Flexibility, Ruby Nadler
The Influence Of Mood And Motivation On Cognitive Flexibility, Ruby Nadler
Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository
The influence of mood and motivation on cognitive processes has enjoyed a significant amount of attention in the last few decades, but due to inconsistencies in methodologies and tasks conclusions remain subject to debate. The questions addressed in this thesis are how: 1) positive mood, 2) negative mood, and 3) depressive symptoms influence or relate to cognitive flexibility using a category learning paradigm, and the final question addressed in this thesis is whether 4) regulatory focus and regulatory fit influence cognitive flexibility using a more naturalistic categorization task in which there are no correct or incorrect responses. Category learning and …
Are Visual Texture-Selective Areas Recruited During Haptic Texture Discrimination?, Samantha K. Podrebarac
Are Visual Texture-Selective Areas Recruited During Haptic Texture Discrimination?, Samantha K. Podrebarac
Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository
Shape and texture provide cues to object identity, both when objects are explored using vision and via touch (haptics). Visual shape information is processed within the lateral occipital complex (LOC), while texture is processed in medial regions of the collateral sulcus (CoS). Evidence indicates that the LOC is consistently recruited during both visual and haptic shape processing. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine whether 'visual' texture-selective areas are similarly recruited when observers discriminate texture via touch. We used a blocked design in which participants attended to either the texture or shape of a number of 3-dimensional (3D) …
Understanding The Relationship Between Perception And Production Of The Beat, Taylor W. Parrott
Understanding The Relationship Between Perception And Production Of The Beat, Taylor W. Parrott
Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository
Impaired discrimination of sequences with a ‘beat’ in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) suggests the basal ganglia are responsible for the perception, or ‘internal generation’ of the beat in addition to motor timing. As a first step, we examined how young healthy participants performed on tests assessing perception, internal generation, and motor production of the beat to determine if a common mechanism guides all three processes and how this mechanism affects timing. The results suggest that perception, internal generation and production are controlled by a common timing mechanism. In general, a strong perception of the beat was associated with good …
The Impact Of Social Integration On The Lived Experience Of Resilience Among Women Who Lived In Poverty During Childhood, Nedra R. Peter
The Impact Of Social Integration On The Lived Experience Of Resilience Among Women Who Lived In Poverty During Childhood, Nedra R. Peter
Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository
This thesis is a study of the lived experience of poverty and resilience among women who lived in poverty during childhood. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of social integration on resilience to the adverse effects of poverty. This investigation was conducted as a retrospective study. Using a hermeneutic phenomenological approach, seven women who lived in poverty during childhood were interviewed in semi-structured interviews lasting 60 to 90 minutes. These interviews, along with a member-checking meeting, were the primary method of data collection. Data was analyzed through thematic analysis informed by van Manen (1990, 1997). The …
Musical Mood And Musical Arousal Affects Different Stages Of Learning And Memory Performance, Tram Nguyen
Musical Mood And Musical Arousal Affects Different Stages Of Learning And Memory Performance, Tram Nguyen
Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository
This thesis examined whether the effect of music on memory is attributable to musical mood, musical arousal, context, or some combination of these factors. In Experiment 1, participants performed a face-name paired-association task while music was played in the background. In Experiment 2, the perceptual context (Experiment 2A) and emotional context (Experiment 2B) of music was examined more thoroughly. Experiment 3 examined whether the context effect of musical mood and musical arousal occurs in a recall task (Experiment 3A), a recognition task (Experiment 3B), and an association task (Experiment 3C). The results showed that low arousal music enhanced memory while …
He Says, She Says: A Dyadic Approach To Understanding Safer Sex Behavior In Intimate Heterosexual Relationships, Corey Isaacs
He Says, She Says: A Dyadic Approach To Understanding Safer Sex Behavior In Intimate Heterosexual Relationships, Corey Isaacs
Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository
This study examined the utility of a dyadic approach to the study of condom use in intimate relationships. The vast majority of research regarding risky or safer sexual behavior has focused on individual-level models for the prediction of behavior without considering the interpersonal context in which sexual decision-making and sexual behavior occur. A consideration of HIV/STI preventive behavior in the context of relationships is essential, as intimate relationships represent an often unrecognized source of HIV/STI risk. Traditional theories of health behavior such as the theory of reasoned action and the theory of planned behavior have proven fairly successful in predicting …
The Influence Of Proficiency And Age Of Acquisition On Second Language Processing: An Fmri Study Of Mandarin-English Bilinguals, Emily S. Nichols
The Influence Of Proficiency And Age Of Acquisition On Second Language Processing: An Fmri Study Of Mandarin-English Bilinguals, Emily S. Nichols
Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository
Research investigating the neural correlates of second language (L2) processing has usually studied age of acquisition (AoA) and proficiency separately. Presently, we examined both in parallel, treated as continuous variables. We used fMRI to study neural activity for L2 processing in adult native Mandarin speakers who are L2 English speakers. Behavioral measures of language proficiency and AoA were obtained from subjects prior to performing a picture-word matching task during an fMRI scan. Brain activity during L2 English processing was shown to be independently affected by AoA and proficiency; activity in left superior temporal gyrus and right parahippocampal gyrus was modulated …
Tough But Fair: The Moderating Effects Of Target Status On The Relation Between Social Dominance Orientation And Fairness, Joel Armstrong
Tough But Fair: The Moderating Effects Of Target Status On The Relation Between Social Dominance Orientation And Fairness, Joel Armstrong
Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository
The present research investigated the moderating effect of target status on the relation between social dominance orientation and fairness in either a positively or negatively framed limited resource allocation decision. Participants were asked to read medical case files about either a high or low status patient in need of a heart transplant, then assigned the patient a transplant priority rating based on information in the case file and rating criteria provided, before completing Sidanius and Pratto’s Social Dominance Orientation scale. In Study 1, the positively framed allocation task, we found a significant interaction, in which low SDO individuals were less …
The Effectiveness Of Gain- Versus Loss-Framed Advertisements To Minimize Hazardous Drinking Among University Students: A Test Of Regulatory Fit, Barlas Gunay
Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository
University binge drinking is a concern. Traditionally, social norms marketing campaigns have been employed. Regulatory focus theory – based on the premise that behavior is driven either by the motivation to maximize gains (promotion) or to minimize losses (prevention) – offers an alternative approach to crafting persuasive appeals in this population. This study investigated the effectiveness of gain-framed versus loss-framed advertisements in lowering drinking intentions in a university sample. It further explored whether the effects were moderated by regulatory focus – primed and dispositional – and trait reactance. Online surveys were completed by 208 Introductory Psychology students (51.7% female, mean …
Executive Functions And The Interaction Between Category Learning Systems, Sarah J. Miles
Executive Functions And The Interaction Between Category Learning Systems, Sarah J. Miles
Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository
Research on the cognitive processes underlying category learning provides evidence for two separate learning systems. A verbal system learns rule-defined (RD) categories and a nonverbal system learns non-rule-defined (NRD) categories. The objective of my dissertation is to explore the interaction between these systems. The verbal system is dominant in that adults tend to use it during initial learning but may switch to the nonverbal system when the verbal system is unsuccessful. The nonverbal system has traditionally been thought to operate independently of executive functions, but recent studies suggest that executive functions may be used to facilitate the transition away from …
Information Seeking In Rats On The Radial Maze, Chelsea R. Kirk
Information Seeking In Rats On The Radial Maze, Chelsea R. Kirk
Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository
Metacognition is awareness of what one does and does not know. Students given a choice between studying material they have learned well and material they have learned poorly prefer to study the less mastered material (Metcalfe, 2009). Recent studies suggest that primates also know about the state of their own knowledge and will seek unknown information to complete a task (Call & Carpenter, 2001; Hampton et al., 2004). Two experimental paradigms can be used to test for the presence of metacognition within a species: uncertainty tasks and information seeking tasks. Uncertainty tasks ask animals to judge their confidence in the …
An Investigation Of The Association Between Arithmetic Achievement And Symbolic And Nonsymbolic Magnitude Processing In 5-9 Year-Old Children: Evidence From A Paper-And-Pencil Test, Nadia Nosworthy
Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository
Recently, there has been a growing emphasis on basic number processing competencies (such as the ability to judge which of two numbers is larger) and their role in predicting individual differences in school-relevant math achievement. Children’s ability to compare both symbolic (e.g. Arabic numerals) and nonsymbolic (e.g. dot arrays) magnitudes has been found to correlate with their math achievement. The available evidence, however, has focused on computerized paradigms, which may not always be suitable for universal, quick application in the classroom. Furthermore, it is currently unclear whether both symbolic and nonsymbolic magnitude comparison are related to children’s performance on tests …
Understanding What Would Make Children Want To Attend A Bicycle Safety Training Program, Cassandra L. Ellis
Understanding What Would Make Children Want To Attend A Bicycle Safety Training Program, Cassandra L. Ellis
Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository
This qualitative study targeted a heterogeneous sample of 9 to 12 year olds in the London, Ontario, Canada area. The purpose of this study was to understand children's’s perspectives in regards to bicycle safety and risk perception. Gender differences of these perceptions were compared. Five semi-structured focus groups (n=14, 10 boys and 4 girls) and six interviews (n=6, 3 boys and 3 girls) were conducted (n=23; 16 boys and 7 girls). Ongoing thematic analysis was used during data collection to review and interpret the collected discussions. As a result, this study determined that girls take fewer unnecessary risks and are …