Psychology Commons^™

Wandering In Contemporary Literature: A Narrative Theory Of Cognition, Hillel E. Broder

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This study offers a theory of wandering cognition as an animating feature of western literature, in general, and of contemporary literature, in particular. Unlike existing theories of peripatetic bodies and minds in fiction that focus primarily on political critiques, cultural practices, or pleasures of digression, this theory of wandering offers an aesthetic philosophy and ethical critique of representing cognition, memory, and narrative identity that finds affinities in the political, phenomenological, and ethical thought of Walter Benjamin, Emmanuel Levinas, and Giorgio Agamben.

Unlike existing cognitive theories of literature that apply cognitive theory to literary study (or vice versa), this study develops …

The Effects Of Changing Attention And Context In An Awake Offline Processing Period On Visual Long-Term Memory, Timothy M. Ellmore, Anna Feng, Kenneth Ng, Luthfunnahar Dewan, James C. Root

Publications and Research

There is accumulating evidence that sleep as well as awake offline processing is important for the transformation of new experiences into long-term memory (LTM). Yet much remains to be understood about how various cognitive factors influence the efficiency of awake offline processing. In the present study we investigated how changes in attention and context in the immediate period after exposure to new visual information influences LTM consolidation. After presentation of multiple naturalistic scenes within a working memory paradigm, recognition was assessed 30 min and 24 h later in three groups of subjects. One group of subjects engaged in a focused …

Parents And Teachers’ Perceptions And Clinical Diagnosis Of Autism Among White And Non-White Groups, Margaret Gopaul

School of Psychology Publications

The pervasiveness of autism has significantly increased over the past 2 decades with the 2014 Center for Disease Control and Prevention report indicating 1 in 68 children are diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Early intervention is recommended as the most effective treatment approach. Nevertheless, previous research has indicated that White children are diagnosed with ASD about 1.5 years earlier than are Non-White children. A current gap remains in literature regarding ASD and different racial groups, and evidence has been inconclusive regarding disparities in identifying and diagnosing ASD. To fill this gap, this study investigated the relationship between child race, …

La Responsabilidad Social, Un Componente Esencial De La Formación En Un Programa De Química Ambiental, Liliana Caycedo Lozano, Diana Marcela Trujillo Suárez, Sara Soledad Garcia

Teacher Education

The complexity of the current environmental situation in Colombia requires professionals integrally trained with the guidelines of transformation aimed at overcoming the effects of traditional methodological paradigms of teaching and learning. The professional should have a conceptual understanding of nature as a system of systems, which include human beings. The future of the planet needs not to focus only on "good practices", such required education is to consider the interconnection of all systems of the environment; as well as a plan that includes a vision that harmonizes the balance between all the natural elements through an interdisciplinary approach to transform …

Defining A Role For Affect In Decision-Making, Pareezad Cyrus Zarolia

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Recent theories of decision-making have hinted that affect might be useful during some decision-making processes. I propose a model, the affective evaluation model, which defines the role of affect in decision-making as helpful when affect is decision-relevant and unhelpful when it is not. In three studies, I manipulate the decision-relevance of affect to test this central component of the affective evaluation model. Study 1 demonstrates that emphasizing decision-relevant affective signals facilitates optimal decision-making as compared to emphasizing purely cognitive evaluations. Study 2 tests the hypothesis that creating the expectation that affect is useful can facilitate decision-making. Finally, Study 3 tests …

Acquisition Of The Cardinal Principle Coincides With Improvement In Approximate Number System Acuity In Preschoolers, Anna Shusterman, Emily Slusser, Justin Halberda, Darko Odic

Faculty Publications

Human mathematical abilities comprise both learned, symbolic representations of number and unlearned, non-symbolic evolutionarily primitive cognitive systems for representing quantities. However, the mechanisms by which our symbolic (verbal) number system becomes integrated with the non-symbolic (non-verbal) representations of approximate magnitude (supported by the Approximate Number System, or ANS) are not well understood. To explore this connection, forty-six children participated in a 6-month longitudinal study assessing verbal number knowledge and non-verbal numerical acuity. Cross-sectional analyses revealed a strong relationship between verbal number knowledge and ANS acuity. Longitudinal analyses suggested that increases in ANS acuity were most strongly related to the acquisition …

Parents And Teachers’ Perceptions And Clinical Diagnosis Of Autism Among White And Non-White Groups, Margaret Gopaul

Walden Faculty and Staff Publications

The pervasiveness of autism has significantly increased over the past 2 decades with the 2014 Center for Disease Control and Prevention report indicating 1 in 68 children are diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Early intervention is recommended as the most effective treatment approach. Nevertheless, previous research has indicated that White children are diagnosed with ASD about 1.5 years earlier than are Non-White children. A current gap remains in literature regarding ASD and different racial groups, and evidence has been inconclusive regarding disparities in identifying and diagnosing ASD. To fill this gap, this study investigated the relationship between child race, …

Intertemporal Similarity: Discounting As A Last Resort, Jeffrey R. Stevens

Jeffrey Stevens Publications

Standard models of intertemporal choice assume that individuals discount future payoffs by integrating reward amounts and time delays to generate a discounted value. Alternative models propose that, rather than integrate across them, individuals compare within attributes (amounts and delays) to determine if differences in one attribute outweigh differences in another attribute. For instance, Leland (2002) and Rubinstein (2003) propose models that 1) compare the two reward amounts to determine whether they are similar, 2) compare the similarity of the two time delays, and then 3) make a decision based on these similarity judgments. Here, I tested discounting models against attribute-based …

Voluntary Food Sharing In Pinyon Jays: The Role Of Reciprocity And Dominance, Juan F. Duque, Jeffrey R. Stevens

Jeffrey Stevens Publications

Food sharing offers a clear example of prosocial behavior, in which one individual’s actions benefit another. Researchers have proposed a range of hypotheses that explain why food sharing may occur among unrelated individuals. Two such hypotheses, reciprocity and dominance, have been tested in many species, including fish, corvids, rats, bats, and primates, showing that (1) recipients sometimes reciprocate sharing back to previous donors and (2) dominant individuals share more than subordinates. Although primates dominate the study of prosocial behavior, active donation of food is actually quite rare in primates. In contrast, several corvid species spontaneously share food much more frequently. …

Statistical Analyses Of The Resilience Function, Joseph W. Houpt, Daniel R. Little

Psychology Faculty Publications

The extent to which distracting information influences decisions can be informative about the nature of the underlying cognitive and perceptual processes. In a recent paper, a response time-based measure for quantifying the degree of interference (or facilitation) from distracting information termed resilience was introduced. Despite using a statistical measure, the analysis was limited to qualitative comparisons between different model predictions. In this paper, we demonstrate how statistical procedures from workload capacity analysis can be applied to the new resilience functions. In particular, we present an approach to null-hypothesis testing of resilience functions and a method based on functional principal components …

A High-P/Low-P Procedure To Improve Recall Memory In Elderly Patients With Mild To Moderate Cognitive Impairment, Dawn Amber Seefeldt, Daniel Houlihan, Jeffrey Buchanan

Psychology Department Publications

The objective of this study was to demonstrate the effectiveness of implementing two types of high-probability of naming/low-probability of naming procedures to improve object recall memory in elderly individuals with cognitive impairment. The procedures involved the use of directives for recall compliance with a demonstrated high rate of compliance followed by embedded directives with a demonstrated low rate of recall. Two elderly subjects in states of cognitive decline were used in this demonstration. Results indicated positive outcomes with both procedures. Recall-based interventions were more effective than recognition-based procedures.

The Domain Specificity Of Intertemporal Choice In Pinyon Jays, Jeffrey R. Stevens, Bryce Kennedy, Dina Morales, Marianna Burks

Jeffrey Stevens Publications

When choosing between a piece of cake now versus a slimmer waistline in the future, many of us have difficulty with self-control. Food-caching species, however, regularly hide food for later recovery, sometimes waiting months before retrieving their caches. It remains unclear whether these long-term choices generalize outside of the caching domain. We hypothesized that the ability to save for the future is a general tendency that cuts across different situations. To test this hypothesis, we measured and experimentally manipulated caching to evaluate its relationship with operant measures of self-control in pinyon jays (Gymnorhinus cyanocephalus). We found no correlation …

Why Babies Do Not Feel Pain, Or: How Structure-Derived Functional Interpretations Can Go Wrong, Helmut Segner

Animal Sentience

The response to pain involves a non-conscious, reflexive action and a conscious perception. According to Key (2016), consciousness — and thus pain perception — depends on a neuronal correlate that has a “unique neural architecture” as realized in the human cortex. On the basis of the “bioengineering principle that structure determines function,” Key (2016) concludes that animal species such as fish, which lack the requisite cortex-like neuroanatomical structure, are unable to feel pain. This commentary argues that the relationship between brain structure and brain function is less straightforward than suggested in Key’s target article.

Music And Memory: A Qualitative Look At How Music Affects Episodic Memory, Jonathan A. Coad

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This study was designed to examine qualitative data regarding gender and age differences about significant life events that are recalled when music is remembered. Two groups of participants were recruited, younger adults (M = 19.78, SD = 4.99) and older adults (M = 49.31, SD = 8.72). Data were collected by creating a survey and allowing participants to choose whichever songs, from their own experience, they like and asking them to list detailed memories that are attached to the song. Using the Linguistic Inquiry Word Count (2015) software, data was coded into categories of word count, positive and negative emotions, …

Perception Of Facial Expressions In Social Anxiety And Gaze Anxiety, Aaron Necaise

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This study explored the relationship between gaze anxiety and the perception of facial expressions. The literature suggests that individuals experiencing Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) might have a fear of making direct eye contact, and that these individuals also demonstrate a hypervigilance towards the eye region. It was thought that this increased anxiety concerning eye contact might be related to the tendency of socially anxious individuals to mislabel emotion in the faces of onlookers. A better understanding of the cognitive biases common to SAD could lead to more efficient intervention and assessment methods. In the present study, the Depression Anxiety Stress …

Tempo Perception Across Cultures: The Beat Is All It Takes, Kendall L. Lyons, Jessica E. Nave-Blodgett, Erin E. Hannon

AANAPISI Poster Presentations

• Dancing to music is a human universal that relies on beat perception.
• Listeners may infer the “tempo” or speed of music from:
• the time interval between beats;
• the density of events;
• higher-level features of musical temporal organization (the meter).
• The “Gabbling Foreigner Illusion” is the observation that listeners perceive unfamiliar languages as being faster than familiar ones.
• Even when music is the same speed, listeners tap faster to unfamiliar music.
• Does culture background impact how we perceive musical tempo?

The Effect Of Social Media On Sexual Cognitions And Behaviors, Joshua Duarte

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Pop culture and social media have become a prime source of entertainment and communication. The current study focuses on the potential effects of consuming this form of media and how it affects our sexual cognitions and behaviors. A sample of nine hundred and two university students were given self-reporting questionnaires concerning demographics, sexual cognitions, and exposure to sexual content in music. An analysis of music artist’s posts on social media was also performed. It was hypothesized that artists who have sexual content published in their work will also have the same amount of sexual content on social media. However, there …

Effectiveness Of An Emergency Vehicle Operations Course Component, Visual And Perceptual Skills: Analyzing Student Response To Searching, Identifying, Predicting, Deciding, And Executing Skills, Christopher Bradley Millard

Online Theses and Dissertations

As funding for driver education declines according to the National Highway Safety Administration (NHSA) 2013 Traffic Safety Facts, there were 2,345,719 people injured or killed as a result of vehicle crashes. NHTSA reported that there were a total of 118 people killed in 2013 from accidents involving emergency vehicles. The effectiveness of an Emergency Vehicle Operations Course component of visual and perceptual skills can be measured by administering the Driver Performance Test prior to and after student participation. This study examined the population of the students who participated in the TRS 235: Emergency Vehicle Operations Course at Eastern Kentucky University …

Hebrew And Computer-Mediated Communication: The Effects Of A Language Manipulation On Perception, Identity, And Preservation, Tamar Nir

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This study aimed to explore the ways in which Hebrew is currently being manipulated online through a linguistic deviation called Fakatsa. In this study, participants were asked to rate random statements of frivolous or serious topics in either standard grammatical Hebrew or Fakatsa Hebrew conditions on specific judgment values. It was hypothesized that participants would rate the Fakatsa writer negatively on certain characteristics, such as intelligence, education, religiosity, and nationalism and positively on other characteristics, such as femininity and creativity. Twenty-four participants completed this experiment. Results showed that participants responded as expected for certain negative attributes typical of Fakatsa and …

Examining The Factors To Knowledge Sharing Within An Organisational Context, Paul Mc Manus

Conference papers

Abstract

In a global economy, knowledge may be a company’s greatest competitive advantage (Davenport & Prusak 2000). As such, competition for this resource has driven an increased demand for “a conscious strategy [by organisations] of getting the right knowledge to the right people at the right time and helping people share and put information into action in ways that strive to improve organisational performance” (O’Dell et al. 1998). Thus, it is the aim of this paper to provide an investigative look at the factors influencing the willingness of employees to knowledge share (KS) within an organisational context. Separated into two …

Do Placement And Repetition Of Information In Pictorials Affect Comprehension And Memory Of Medication Instructions?, Jessica Le

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine how text and picture pairings affected comprehension and memory for medication instructions. Participants viewed instructions on how to prepare a mock oral suspension drug. These instructions either had the picture repeat the information in the text, or complement information in the text. The text instructions were also either integrated into the pictures, or were separated from the pictures. Next, participants were assessed on their comprehension and memory including memory for the order of the steps and their belief in their ability to carry out this task effectively. The results indicated that participants …

Correlations Between Sexual Imagery And Sexual Cognitions, Jennifer L. Mcdonnell

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Analyzing the relationship between the visual imagery used in music videos, and the sexual cognition of viewers. Sexual cognition is the awareness of one's own sexual behavior, and its implications. The visual content of music videos was analyzed focusing only on the imagery used. The Heterosexual Script (Jhally, 2007) in particular is observed in most music videos, highlighting the sexual objectification of women and the dominant role of males. The direction of causality between the visual imagery and sexual cognitions can only be speculated using a number of theories, namely cognitive dissonance (Festinger, 1957), cultivation theory (Gerbner et al., 1994), …

Perceptual Grouping By Closure In Visual Working Memory, Sofia Neira

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Research on visual working memory (VWM) suggests a capacity limit of three to four objects (Luck & Vogel, 1997), but recent studies on the fidelity of VWM capacity for objects indicates that informational bandwidth, which can vary with factors like complexity and amenability to perceptual grouping, can interact with this capacity (Brady, Konkle & Alvarez, 2011). For example, individual features can be grouped into objects for an added benefit in VWM capacity (Xu, 2002). Along these lines, the Gestalt principles of proximity and connectedness have been shown to benefit VWM, although they do not influence capacity equally (Xu 2006; Woodman, …

The Effect Of Neighborhood Size And Morphology In The Chinese Language, Long Nguyen

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The Neighborhood Size Effect (NSE), characterized as the effect in word determination based on changing one orthographic aspect of that word. The amount of words that can be created through such manipulation is called a neighborhood size (NS). Number of other factors such as frequency, how often a word appears and morphology, the combination of meaningful word units, have been suggested to have an overriding effect on NSE. In addition, there is a lack of research on NSE with non-alphabetical languages such as Chinese, which uses characters comprising of a multitude of semantic or phonetic markers. In this experiment, participants …

Impacts Of Music On Sectional View Drawing Ability For Engineering Technology Students As Measured Through Technical Drawings, Petros J. Katsioloudis, Mildred Jones, Vukica Jovanovic

STEMPS Faculty Publications

Results from a number of studies indicate that the use of different types of music can influence cognition and behavior; however, research provides inconsistent results. Considering this, a quasi-experimental study was conducted to identify the existence of statistically significant effects on sectional view drawing ability due to the impacts of music. In particular, the study compared the use of three different types of music; classical, rock, heavy metal and whether a significant difference exists towards sectional view drawing ability, among engineering technology students. According to the results of this study it is suggested that the impact of music provides no …

Hermes In The Anthropocene: A Dogologue, Karen Malpede

Animal Sentience

In this dogologue, a writer and the dog who sits near her desk as she works speak. The dog is concerned about the fate of the world in the hands of humans. His urgent questions send the writer into the world of her own memories when she was a child alone with a horse in nature.

The Object Of Grief, Clark Glymour

Animal Sentience

King’s new book is a wonderful collection of diverse anecdotes illustrating the variety of animal practices that are convincing illustrations of grief. Those who want scientific arguments for that conclusion should, however, read elsewhere.

Perceptions In Predicting Actor And Partner Sexual And Relational Satisfaction In Couple Relationships, Lucia Novakova

Theses and Dissertations--Family Sciences

The present exploration of perceptual accuracy and bias in romantic relationships bridges a gap in the literature on the ability of partners to estimate one another’s level of relational and sexual satisfaction, and its impact on their own and their partner’s level of satisfaction. A sample of 50 couples, recruited internationally, in continuously monogamous relationships of at least six-months in length completed online assessments of their relationship. The degree of accuracy and bias of their perception was established by comparing actor’s estimates of their partner’s satisfaction with the partner’s actual, self-reported satisfaction scores. The actor-partner interdependence model (APIM; Kenny, Kashy, …

Getting Active With Passive Crossings: Investigating The Efficacy Of In-Vehicle Auditory Alerts For Rail Road Crossings, Steven Landry

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Train-vehicle collisions at highway-rail grade crossings continue to be a major issue in the US and across the world. Installing additional hardware at individual crossings is expensive, time consuming, and potentially ineffective. To prevent recent trends in safety improvement from plateauing, experts are turning towards novel warning devices that can be applied to all crossings with minimal cost. In-vehicle auditory alerts (IVAAs) could potentially remedy many of the human factor issues related to crossing safety in a cost effective manner.

This thesis presents a series of experiments designing and testing an IVAA system for grade level railroad (RR) crossings. Study …

An Analysis Of Stakeholders Communication In Collaborative Software Development Projects, Wei Zhang

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Software development is a multidisciplinary collaboration involving many stakeholders. However, existing software development processes exhibit many issues related to that collaboration. Because prior research on stakeholder analysis and teamwork revealed the importance of communication, this study analyzed stakeholder communication with reference to team activities as a social and cognitive process. The study’s goal was to understand the collaboration process during software development and to delineate factors that influence this process. We focused on communication between the software developers and their clients during the requirements gathering phase, the team process, and the inter-team and interdisciplinary collaboration, in particular between software engineers …