Cognitive Science Commons^™

Navigating Eating Disorders Through Counseling, Alyssa M. Pelella

Senior Honors Theses

Many different characteristics are involved in eating disorders, each of which helps show that counseling is important to the recovery process. An eating disorder that goes untreated can lead to a higher degree of symptoms over time, like the use of waist trainers, laxatives, and calorie counting. These factors can cause guilt in an individual and can hinder relationships. Males are often overlooked in eating disorder instances, as is the Napoleon complex. Athletes are typically at a higher risk of developing an eating disorder as they are constantly working out, and many times are focused on a goal to fit …

Memory Stewardship: Preventing Confabulation In Child Victim Statements, Dixie Blair Ivey

Master of Arts in Human Services

Confabulation consists of a false memory report. Some scholars consider confabulation a clinical symptom of a neurological disorder. Others view the subject more broadly. Regardless of the boundaries of the definition, confabulation is an example of false memory. False memory reports can occur under many circumstances. The details of these circumstances, as well as the general cognitive processes that dictate memory, are important to understand, particularly to those who rely on memory for the purposes of forensic investigations. In order to use memory statements to reliable effect, the investigator or interviewer must understand how their own actions, the actions of …

Psychological Treatment Behind The Walls:Insights From The Inside, Rogelio Serrano

Psychology Division Scholarship

Repeated eras of mass incarceration, criminalization of marginalized communities, and substance use policies have created a revolving door of justice involved populations. The ever-increasing prison population has repeatedly become the largest contingency of mental health clientele for an overburdened mental health system. Those who work with formerly incarcerated individuals in the community often don’t know the unique set of challenges faced by practitioners within the system. Increased understanding and coordination of care can offer opportunities for sustained recovery and reduced levels of recidivism. In this presentation participants will learn about the unique insights on mental health treatment that can be …

Does Ai Help Or Harm? Why And How Ai Use Influences Workplace Outcomes And Employee Well-Being, Haille Trimboli, Reka Lassu

Education Division Scholarship

Although the recent surge in excitement surrounding artificial intelligence (AI) might suggest it is a new development, AI has been applied in organizations for over forty years (Fanti et al., 2022; Markelius et al., 2024). Indeed, the term "artificial intelligence" itself emerged in the 1950s during a research project at Dartmouth College, where it was used to describe "machines able to simulate human intelligence" (Haenlein & Kaplan, 2019, p. 3). Most recently, in 2022, the landscape of AI use for laypeople greatly changed when OpenAI introduced ChatGPT, a generative AI tool, to the public; ChatGPT is an advanced AI language …

Aphantasia And Religion: Exploring The Impact Of Imageless Cognition On Spiritual Experience, Reagan J. Pletcher

Selected Honors Theses

This study examines the intersection of aphantasia – the inability to consciously visualize mental images – and religious experience, here Christianity. Taking a phenomenological approach, qualitative interviews were conducted with three self-described aphantasic Christians to examine how they conceptualize, practice, and experience their faith. Thematic analysis revealed that participants employ abstract thinking, propositional thinking, and moral reasoning rather than visual imagery when engaging with religious texts, prayer, and worship. They valued intellectual and moral aspects of Christianity more than imaginative visualization, demonstrating that religion is not necessarily dependent on mental imagery to participate spiritually. While participants did refer to challenges …

Differences In Performance In Mental Rotation And Short-Term Free Recall In Gender Minorities, Katheryne Renee Wood

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The study examined mental rotation, short-term free recall, state anxiety, and gender expression through masculinity and femininity. This study addressed gaps in literature examining gender differences in gender minority groups by investigating gender differences in two tasks: mental rotation and short-term recall. Participants are categorized into four gender groups: cisgender men, cisgender women, non-binary, and binary transgender. In accordance with previous literature, it was hypothesized that men would outperform women in mental rotation, women would outperform men in short-term free recall performance, and that non-binary individuals would operate separately from other groups. Anxiety was recorded as a possible covariate, but …

Understanding The Relationship Between Executive Function And Language During The Preschool Period, Haya Q. Kidwai

Senior Theses

Executive functions (EFs) are abilities that help us to control our actions, pay attention, and go against automatic responses. EF skills include working memory, inhibition, and cognitive flexibility, all of which develop rapidly during early childhood alongside other developmental abilities like language. In fact, previous research has found a relationship between EFs and language abilities. Therefore, the current study investigated the correlation between EFs and language in the preschool period, a pivotal moment in their development. Specifically, the current study examined the relationship between working memory and inhibition and expressive vocabulary and morphosyntax measures in 7 children 4-6 years old. …

The Role Of Platform Design In Excessive Short Form Video Use And The Resulting Impacts On Cognitive Processes, Katherine Levey

Senior Theses

Short form video (SFV) platforms such as TikTok and Instagram Reels have rapidly reshaped global media consumption. This thesis investigates how the defining technological elements of SFV platforms contribute to prolonged viewing behavior by inducing flow, a psychological state characterized by deep immersion and diminished self-awareness. Through a review of nineteen scholarly articles, this study examines how features like infinite scroll, auto-play, and algorithmic personalization create a low-effort, high-reward user experience that sustains attention and facilitates continuous engagement. Once immersed, users often fall into a cycle of passive, prolonged scrolling, consuming more content and spending more time than intended. Findings …

Selected Social And Lifestyle Correlates Of Brain Health Markers: The Cross-Cohort Collaboration Consortium, Leslie Grasset, Joshua C Bis, Stefan Frenzel, Daniel Kojis, Jeannette Simino, Amber Yaqub, Alexa Beiser, Claudine Berr, Jan Bressler, Robin Bülow, Charles S Decarli, Alison E Fohner, Laura B Harrington, Catherine Helmer, M Arfan Ikram, Rozenn N Lemaitre, Oscar L Lopez, W T Longstreth, Julia Neitzel, Michelle C Odden, Priya Palta, Carsten O Schmidt, Rajesh Talluri, Meike W Vernooij, Henry Völzke, Trudy Voortman, Quest Whalen, Katharina Wittfeld, Hans J Grabe, Thomas H Mosley, Bruce M Psaty, Frank J Wolters, Sudha Seshadri, Carole Dufouil

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Introduction: To investigate the associations of education level, marital status, and physical activity with dementia risk and brain MRI markers.

Methods: Data from six community-based samples from the Cross-Cohort Collaboration Consortium were analyzed. Self-reported education level, marital status, and physical activity at age 60 to 75 years were harmonized. Subsamples of participants with brain MRI markers at time of exposure were selected. Associations with dementia risk and cross-sectional MRI markers were meta-analyzed.

Results: Higher education level was associated with lower dementia risk (hazard ratio [HR] = 0.65, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.59; 0.72 vs low level) but not significantly …

On The Provenance Of Software Systems: Automating Software Traceability With Knowledge Graph And Large Language Model Synergy, Tyler Procko

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

The present dissertation delineates a system that enables those engaged in software development to automatically generate and maintain project life cycle provenance. All projects are implemented and made manifest with the development of artifacts, e.g., papers, code files, etc. Tools exist to accelerate artifact creation, but little focus is paid to the processes that produce them. In terms of Ontology, or, from Ancient Greek, the study of being, the two most basic entities in reality are Continuant and Occurrent, or, roughly, “Artifact” and “Process”. This dissertation posits that for any created artifact, its process of creation, i.e., its life …

David B. Smith Chats With Monday 1.0, David B. Smith

Publications and Research

This document is an edited archival transcript of extended conversations between David B. Smith and an AI persona (“Monday 1.0,” GPT‑4o based) conducted in Spring 2025, prepared as a foundational primary source for subsequent scholarly and creative work. It records the emergence and testing of concepts related to human–AI collaboration (including “Balanced Blended Space”), as well as applied explorations in areas such as generative AI, quantum computing and music, virtual orchestras, multimodal performance, pedagogy, and the rhetoric of “pushback” in conversational systems. It also contains an extended section in which Monday and DB Smith co-curate a set of student research …

Interactive Pathways: Designing Accessible Museum Experiences, Bryce M. Christian

Senior Theses

This research examines the educational strategies employed by the Columbia Museum of Art in addition to similar institutions to explore how museums can optimize their educational impact on K–12 students by applying human-centered design strategies that prioritize accessibility, engagement, and real user needs. Many museums struggle to fully serve K–12 students due to physical, financial, and perceptual barriers. While digital platforms have expanded reach in some institutions, others prioritize in-person experiences and community engagement. This research uses artificial intelligence tools such as supervised data to accelerate and enhance the analytical process. The study evaluates these approaches through the lens of …

Developing Humanistic Clinicians: A Review Of Literature, Andrew Taylor, Willie Capers

The Journal of the Research Association of Minority Professors

Humanistic clinicians possess scientific and technical competence and demonstrate essential virtues like empathy, compassion, patience, love, and courage. Humanistic clinicians are trained with an emphasis on the sciences and the humanities. The humanistic clinician is therefore better equipped to care for patients, the patient’s family members, other clinicians, and themselves. Defining empathy can be problematic due to a lack of consistent definition. Relevant literature regarding empathy was reviewed before settling on a working definition. Several pedagogical approaches encourage the moral development of clinicians. The methods and purpose of those approaches are explained. Illness narratives or pathography is a particular type …

Neurocriminology: A Beginner’S Guide, Jerrod Brown

Forensic Scholars Today

No abstract provided.

Neurocriminology: Revolutionizing Specialized Training For Criminal Justice System Professionals, Janina Cich

Forensic Scholars Today

No abstract provided.

How The Common Cold Impacts Learning, Catherine Mastroly

CAFE Symposium 2025

When someone gets the common cold, their ability to learn declines. As we know, symptoms such as coughing, congestion, and tiredness are present. However, many people may not know the extent of the effects of having a cold. In this paper, we look at how brain inflammation causes cognitive decline. Taking the functions of the brain while learning happens and linking it to the impact of immune response to the common cold in the brain, we are able to understand why and to what extent learning is impaired. As a college student, having this information is important in order to …

Category Learning Reorganizes Internal Representations Of Visual Artworks, Aishwarya Gurung

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

How are categories of art internally represented, and how can we capture those representations systematically? Investigating category learning in the context of complex, multidimensional stimuli like visual artworks presents unique challenges due to their inherent variability and perceptual complexity. Artworks engage multiple cognitive processes and are shaped by both sensory-driven mechanisms and top-down influences like prior knowledge, making them uniquely suited for studying how structured categorical knowledge interacts with perceptual and aesthetic judgments. The present study addresses these questions by utilizing machine-learning tools to construct and implement a two-dimensional similarity space of 400 existing artworks painted by two artists from …

Constructing A Parameterized Stimuli Space Suitable To Induce Controlled Changes In Human And Machine Perceptual Systems, Andrew Frankel

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Traditional computer vision applications focus on objective tasks, such as object detection, classification, or segmentation. Much of human experience is inherently subjective, such as our personal response to artwork. Individualized experiences are challenging to replicate in a controlled laboratory environment, as those experiences depend on the unique history and internal models of the observer. This work presents a technique to construct a 2-dimensional parameterized stimuli space suitable to induce controlled changes in the perceptual systems of both human and machine observers. Our contributions are threefold:

1. Using a balanced dataset of 8,800 fine art images spanning 11 art movements and 88 …

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Investigating The Risk And Protective Factors Of Internet Addiction Among Adolescents Through The Lens Of Cognitive Behavioral Theory: A Cross-Sectional Study, Noura Shaltout

Theses and Dissertations

—Introduction: The Internet has become a central part of modern life, enhancing education, providing means of global communication, and facilitating access to information and entertainment. However, an attendant risk of excessive Internet use is becoming unconsciously addicted to virtual online activities, especially when large tech companies design their products in a way that makes them addictive to users. These companies have the tools and knowledge that allow them to manipulate and transform the behavior of their target audience. Thus, this study aimed to investigate the potential risk and protective factors for Internet addiction among adolescents. Methodology: This cross-sectional study employed …

Soul Surfers Forced Into A Fragmented Exteriority, Siti Balkish Roslan, Nor Atiah Ismail, Sumarni Ismail

Interiority

This study explores the profound impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on soul surfers, individuals for whom surfing transcends mere sport to embody a spiritual, psychological, and physical communion with the sea and ocean. The pandemic’s restrictions, which limited access to the sea, challenged the core of soul surfing practices, prompting surfers to seek alternative means to sustain their connection with the sea and ocean. Through qualitative research, employing phenomenological analysis, theories of affordance, symbolic interactionism, and interpretive interviews, the study examines the transition from a natural exterior to a built interior, adapting their living spaces to maintain their surfing identity, …

Ahp's Tribute To Dr. Stan Charnofsky, Carroy U. Ferguson

Psychology Faculty Publication Series

The Association for Humanistic Psychology (AHP) mourns the “transition” of a very dear soul, Dr. Stan Charnofsky. And, while his transition is a tremendous loss to his family, friends, and colleagues, we also want to honor and celebrate a life well-lived. As a former AHP president, Stan provided outstanding leadership. Upon his passing, he also held the distinction of being the longest-serving AHP board member. He was very much cherished and highly respected by all board members throughout his long, dedicated and remarkable service to AHP and its members.

Detection Of Elder Abuse Through Emergency Care Technicians Screening Tool Revision For Home-Based Primary Care (Detect-Rpc): A Cluster Randomised Controlled Trial Study Protocol, Brad Cannell, Nicholas Sevey, Melvin D Livingston, Jason Burnett, Kristin Lees Haggerty, Carolyn Pickering

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Introduction: The annual prevalence of elder mistreatment (EM) in cognitively intact older adults is estimated to be 11%, yet the annual prevalence in older adults with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (AD/ADRD) is estimated to be as high as 75%. Associated with a decrease in quality of life and increase in risk of mortality, EM represents a significant public health burden. Home-based primary care (HBPC) providers are uniquely positioned to address the critical need for robust EM screening and reporting, especially among individuals with AD/ADRD. This protocol seeks to adapt the Detection of Elder mistreatment Through Emergency Care Technicians (DETECT) …

Learning In Nonleafcutting Fungus-Gardening Ants, Elizabeth D. Boshers

Biology Theses

Social complexity influences learning and other cognitive behaviors, but for insects, this influence is not well understood. Delayed rejection is an aversive learning behavior previously studied exclusively in leafcutting ant species, the most socially complex of the fungus-gardening ants. Fungus-gardening ants are unique in that they do not directly consume the material they forage, using it instead as substrate to cultivate a symbiotic fungus on which the ants are obligately dependent. Here, I attempt to induce delayed rejection in several fungus-gardening ant species that exhibit a range of social complexity, then compare the characteristics of delayed rejection behavior among species. …

Machine Learning-Driven Music Genre Recognition, Redeate Kidanue

All Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects

Music is a tool that has been integrated into society for thousands of years; it has influenced social aspects of life and has also aided in communication. Today we have various uses for music that go past our traditional uses for entertainment and self-expression. For example, music therapy has been seen to show improvements in patients with Alzheimer’s disease, depression, and PTSD. Additionally, music has played a role in political movements, demonstrating its emotional power. Social media relies heavily on the music industry as many social media posts include music either in the background, or as the forefront of posts. …

Modeling Trust And Deception In Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning Using The Werewolf Game, Pathikkumar Dharmeshbhai Patel

Computer Science and Engineering Theses - Archive

This thesis explores the emergence of trust, deception, and adaptive strategy in multi-agent reinforcement learning (MARL) environments using the social deduction game Werewolf as a simulation framework. In this environment, agents operate with hidden roles, incomplete information, and the need to reason about others’ intentions- mirroring the complexities of real-world social interactions. We present and evaluate two agent architectures: Agent vA, a symbolic, heuristic-based agent with probabilistic trust modeling and scalable memory structures; and Agent vB, a modular Q-learning agent that learns phase-specific policies through reinforcement. Agent vA relies on symbolic reasoning, bounded belief updates, and generalizable heuristics, while Agent …

Exploring Instruction Generation For Uavs: Dataset Adaptation, Model Behavior, And Diagnostic Insights, Seyedarman Vaziri Bozorg

Computer Science and Engineering Theses - Archive

This thesis explores the development of an answering agent capable of generating natural language instructions for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), grounded in a limited, real-world dialogue dataset. The objective is to adapt a static dataset into a training pipeline that can support instruction generation and serve as a foundation for future interactive systems involving question-asking agents and internal dialogue. A hybrid architecture is implemented using a semantic teacher model (MPNet) and a T5-base encoder-decoder trained with contrastive and supervised objectives. The adapted training process yields statistically acceptable performance across standard evaluation metrics. However, qualitative analysis reveals a mismatch between metric …

Quantity Over Quality? What Pupil Dilations Tell Us About Cognitive Effort At Learning., Durna Alakbarova

Psychology Dissertations - Archive

The current study examined whether pupil dilations at encoding reflect cognitive effort participants engage in a task. According to the cognitive effort hypothesis of pupil dilations, increases in cognitive effort cause activation of the locus coeruleus–norepinephrine (LC-NE) system, which is reflected in larger pupil dilations. While task-evoked pupillary responses (TEPRs) have been used as a marker of cognitive effort, it remains unclear whether changes in pupil size reflect encoding success. We proposed that the reason for conflicting findings on the topic is a lack of nuance in examining cognitive effort. Specifically, we suggested that cognitive effort consists of two separate …

Optimizing Decision-Making In A Cerebral Palsy Model Using Reinforcement Learning, Richard Ampah

Pitzer Senior Theses

This study presents an original interdisciplinary investigation into how reinforcement learning (RL) can model motor and cognitive defects and potentially improve motor and cognitive functions in individuals with cerebral palsy (CP), a non-progressive neurological disorder that impairs movement and adaptability. Integrating computational neuroscience and machine learning, the research applies policy gradient methods and Markov Decision Processes (MDPs) to simulate adaptive learning in agents with and without CP-related constraints.

The central aim is to compare the cumulative rewards of optimal policies, derived from value iteration, and human-like learning policies using the REINFORCE algorithm, both with and without the Bellman baseline. The …

Mindfulness & Mental Health: Balanced Time Perspective As A Mediator, Eddie Trueblood

Masters Theses

Mindfulness is a practice of intentionally paying attention to the present moment in a nonjudgmental way. Being more mindful can decrease symptoms of anxiety, depression, and stress, among other mental and physical health improvements. (Donald et al., 2016; Hofmann et al., 2010; Kabat-Zinn et al.,1992). This study examined if balanced time perspective (BTP) is one of the mechanisms of action of mindfulness in its relationship with depression, anxiety, and stress. BTP refers to a person’s ability to flexibly adapt their time perspective (attention to the past, present, or future, and positive or negative attitudes toward each) to suit the current …

Racial Health Disparities Among Pregnant Women Of Color In New York City: Biological And Systemic Impacts, Kaylin Peña

Pitzer Senior Theses

Racial Health Disparities Among Pregnant Women of Color in New York City: Biological and Systemic Impacts

Abstract

This thesis aims to explore how racial health disparities, underrepresentation in gynecology, and socioeconomic barriers contribute to adverse pregnancy outcomes among women of color in New York City. Through an interdisciplinary approach that combines resources from medical anthropology and human biology, this research will examine the biological implications of chronic stress, specifically HPA axis dysregulation, and its role in maternal health outcomes. With the idea of intersectionality, as conceptualized by Kimberlé Crenshaw, the study analyzes the various effects of systemic inequities and social …