Psychology Commons^™

Cellphone Separation Modulates The Effects Of Working Memory Load On Ex-Gaussian Parameters Of Choice Reaction Time, Michael Gazzanigo, Alexa Quesnel, Catalina Roldan, Xiao Yang

Psychology Faculty Publications

Cognitive effects of cellphone dependency among young adults have garnered increasing research attention. While cellphones have been identified as a distractor in daily tasks, related psychological processes remain unclear. As a potential mechanism underlying those effects of cellphones, excessive working memory (WM) load has not yet been well examined. Our study investigated the effects of the mental representation of cellphone separation on WM. Seventy-five participants (M(age) = 21.3 years; 55 females, 20 males) were assigned into three groups: the cued separation, natural separation, or control group, and completed a block of choice reaction time (CRT) task, and a dual-task block: …

Weighted Family History Density Of Substance Use: Influence On Participant Substance Use Onset, Escalation, And Duration, Carleigh A. Litteral

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Substance use disorders impose a staggering toll on the United States (U.S.), straining healthcare systems, destabilizing communities, and profoundly impacting both individuals and families. Approximately one in six Americans aged 12 and older had a past-year substance use disorder in 2022 (Key Substance Use, 2022), and nearly one-third of adults experience a substance use disorder in their lifetime (Wu, 2010), contributing to an economic burden exceeding $400 billion annually (National Drug Threat Assessment, 2011). Family history of substance use disorders is a key predictor of vulnerability, with individuals who have affected relatives being 2–8 times more …

Exploring The Effects Of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Of The Right Inferior Frontal Gyrus On Inhibitory Control In Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Colton Rippey

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Background: The right inferior frontal gyrus (rIFG) is implicated in stop signal reaction time (SSRT) performance – a common measure of inhibitory control – and emotional expression and control. Individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) exhibit poorer stop SSRT performance, which is associated with rIFG hypoactivity. Neuromodulation of the rIFG with transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) can significantly improve inhibitory control and reduce fearful responding to threatening stimuli. Research has yet to test the effects of multifocal tDCS targeting the rIFG on inhibitory control or emotional reactivity in individuals with PTSD.

Methods: The current study aims to examine the impact …

Précis Of The Edge Of Sentience: Risk And Precaution In Humans, Other Animals, And Ai, Jonathan Birch

Animal Sentience

We often face grave practical decisions that seem to hinge on whether a system is sentient. This family of cases includes invertebrate animals, people who are unresponsive after brain injury, fetuses, neural organoids, and now AI technologies. We must decide what to do despite ongoing disagreement about the nature of sentience. In our state of uncertainty, we should pragmatically transform the question from “Is it sentient?” to “Is it a sentience candidate, an investigation priority, or neither?”. When a system is a sentience candidate, it is negligent to fail to consider precautions. We should instead evaluate precautions for their proportionality …

Severe Aggression Among Zoo-Housed Coconut (Trichoglossus Haematodus) And Rainbow (Trichoglossus Moluccanus) Lorikeets: Wellbeing Considerations For Free-Flight Aviaries, Emily Simkins

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As conservation and education institutions, modern zoos balance the needs of animals with the interests of visitors through several strategies which can increase animal wellbeing and improve visitor experience. Environmental enrichment is frequently employed to increase the suitability of anthropogenic environments for zoo-housed animals, such as through walkthrough habitats and free-flight aviaries. While habitats such as these are important for visitor experience and can be enriching to animals, there are also wellbeing considerations for these spaces. Walkthrough habitats can be a potential source of fear and stress for animals, as shown by increased frequencies of vigilance, undesirable behavior, and aggression. …

Griffin's Slow Burn Revolution In Philosophy And Comparative Cognition, Kristin Andrews

Animal Sentience

Ristau presents Griffin as launching a scientific revolution supported by philosophical insights. This commentary focuses on two points: Griffin as a scientific revolutionary, although the cognitive ethology revolution is not yet complete; and on the immense influence Griffin had, and continues to have, on philosophy.

What Is It Like To Be A Diplomat? Reflections On Donald Griffin And Emotion, Oliver H. Turnbull

Animal Sentience

This commentary addresses three aspects of Donald Griffin’s work: (1) his thoughts beyond cognition, on emotion; (2) his views on the earliest origins of mind, including primitive forms of consciousness; and (3) his diplomatic use of memorable phrases to facilitate change.

Can Animal Consciousness Be Resolved Scientifically?, Yoram Gutfreund

Animal Sentience

Carolyn Ristau's biography of Donald Griffin is a comprehensive work that sheds light on a seminal chapter in the history of ethology—the ambitious attempt to establish a research field dedicated to animal consciousness. Although Donald Griffin's endeavor ultimately fell short of its revolutionary goals, it catalyzed significant progress in understanding evolution and mechanisms of animal cognition.

Beyond Human Perception: The Remarkable Science Of Donald R. Griffin, Gareth Jones

Animal Sentience

Carolyn Ristau shows how Donald Griffin’s revolutionary science sometimes progressed from ridicule, to opposition, to being self-evident. Griffin’s work involved phenomena beyond human perception, making it sometimes difficult for others to fathom. His work on ultrasonic echolocation, navigation and animal cognition has shifted established paradigms. His ‘zoomorphic’ approach provides a realistic framework for understanding how other animals perceive the world.

Factors Affecting Sport-Related Concussion Non-Disclosure In Women's Rugby-A Multi-Country Qualitative Analysis, Lisa Ryan, Ed Daly, Katherine Hunzinger

Department of Exercise Science Faculty Papers

Background and Objectives: Collision-sport athletes, such as rugby players, are at risk of sport-related concussion (SRC). Women are known to be at higher risk of SRC and may experience more severe and chronic symptomology than men. Knowledge of the factors that affect a player’s disclosure of their concussive symptoms could help to inform strategies to improve compliance with reporting and management of head injuries. The aim of this study was to investigate the factors that may impact women rugby players’ disclosure of a concussion. Methods: Twenty-eight adult (≥18 years of age) elite and semi-elite women rugby players from the UK …

Social Learning And Cultural Enrichment For Fish Welfare, Chiawen Chiang, Becca Franks

Animal Sentience

This commentary examines how understanding animal culture—shared behaviors and knowledge transmitted through social learning—plays a role in advancing welfare practices for captive fishes. Despite extensive evidence of fishes' complex sociocultural capacities, their psycho-social needs remain underestimated and unmet in zoos and aquaria. We explore what considering fish culture might mean for welfare practices: diverse social learning opportunities, cultural development, and thoughtful group management. More knowledge about wild fishes' lives will help bridge the gap between their full, complex lives and current captive welfare practices.

How Do Anxiety, Stress, Impulsiveness, And Sleep Quality Affect Memory, Hodavia Tshiya Kaseya

Online Theses and Dissertations

Memory is a critical cognitive function that enables individuals to retain, recall, and apply knowledge across various contexts. Different memory systems, including working memory and long-term memory, collaborate to process and store information. Factors such as stress, sleep disturbances, anxiety, and impulsiveness can impact memory encoding and retrieval, especially in college students, whose academic success depends heavily on memory performance. This study examined the relationship between these everyday factors and memory performance by analyzing brain activity during memory encoding using Electroencephalography (EEG) and the Difference due to memory (DM) event-related potential (ERP) effect, to understand how stress, sleep, anxiety, and …

Exploring Family Mealtime Environment, Screens, And Mental Health Among School-Aged Children In Japan, Ami Nishimori Alnouri

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This qualitative phenomenological study explored the lived experiences of family mealtimes during breakfast and the mental health of school-aged children (6-18 years) in Japan, comparing those who used and did not use screens during breakfast. This study involved two research questions: How did parents of Japanese school-aged (6 to 18 years) children who used screens (electronic devices) at mealtime experience family mealtime during breakfast? How did parents of Japanese school-aged (6 to 18 years) children who did not use screens (electronic devices) at mealtime experience family mealtime during breakfast? In this study, a qualitative phenomenological approach employed semi-structured interviews with …

Donald Griffin: A Visionary In Science And Consciousness, Brock Fenton

Animal Sentience

I share some reflections on a sabbatical with Donald Griffin a half-century ago, with fieldwork on bats and echolocating swiftlets in Australia and our discussions of animal behavior and consciousness. Griffin's influence has been vast, from recent advances in bat research, including learning, navigation, and longevity, to his enduring legacy as a pioneer in animal cognition.

The Neural Mechanisms Of Visual Art Expertise During Different Stages Of The Creative Process: An Eeg Study, Kim N. Awa

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Generating and drafting ideas are creative processes linked to internal neural mechanisms, such as directed attentional states, reflected in alpha band synchronization patterns. Previous research has demonstrated that these mechanisms vary based on levels of expertise during creative tasks. However, few studies have examined the multifaceted nature of ideation and externalization across multiple stages of the creative process, particularly when accounting for domain-specific expertise in imagery and figural tasks. The present study investigates alpha band synchronicity (lower and upper) across visual art backgrounds, specifically among artists, intermediates, and non-artists, during three distinct stages of the creative process: thinking of ideas, …

Examination Of The Role Of Ovarian Hormones On Nicotine Withdrawal Severity In Females, Priscilla Giner

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Women are more susceptible to the long-term consequences of chronic nicotine exposure, and clinical evidence has shown that abstinence from nicotine exposure produces a withdrawal syndrome that is intensified by estrogen (E2 in rats) and progesterone (PR) in females. The goal of this Masterâ??s thesis was to determine the mechanisms by which E2 and PR promote withdrawal from nicotine vapor inhalation in female rats. Prior work in male rodents has revealed that nicotine withdrawal is modulated in the medial habenula-interpeduncular nucleus (MHb-IPN) pathway. Our hypothesis is that females experience greater inhibition of the IPN via local interneurons that release the …

Cognitive Differences In Parkinson’S Disease With Amyloid Positivity And Negativity, Kenya Luna

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

In Parkinson’s Disease (PD), research has shifted to investigate how biomarkers commonly seen in Alzheimer’s Disease (AD), such as amyloid beta (AB), may be associated with cognitive functioning in PD. AB is considered a reliable biomarker for AD pathology, however in PD there is a lacking biomarker that can accurately reflect severity of cognitive impairment. AD research has shown an association between low AB and cognitive decline, but the data in PD has mixed results. Most studies that analyze cognitive decline and biomarkers do not use a cutoff level and the few that do have a threshold vary greatly in …

The Informal, Non-Prescribed Use Of Antiretroviral Medications For Prep Among A National Us-Based Sample Of Gay, Bisexual, And Other Men Who Have Sex With Men: A Cross-Sectional Study, Mance E. Buttram, Matthew S. Ellis, Krishen D. Samuel, Matthew Hayhurst

Health, Human Performance and Recreation Faculty Publications and Presentations

This brief report presents findings on informal, non-prescribed PrEP use among an online sample of gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men (n = 196). Mean age was 33.4. Participants were Hispanic (13.3%), African American (15.8%), white (63.8%), and other race/ethnicity (6.6%). Informal PrEP users (11%) more frequently reported past year sexually transmitted infections (p < 0.001), group sex (p < 0.001), sex in public (p < 0.01), transactional sex (p < 0.001), ever receiving a formal PrEP prescription (p < 0.05), and ease of finding diverted HIV medications on gay dating/sex apps (p < 0.05). Formal PrEP uptake should be encouraged to mitigate potential negative consequences of informal use.

Artificial Intelligence And Machine Learning In Cancer Pain: A Systematic Review, Vivian Salama, Brandon Godinich, Yimin Geng, Laia Humbert-Vidan, Laura Maule, Kareem A Wahid, Mohamed A Naser, Renjie He, Abdallah S R Mohamed, Clifton D Fuller, Amy C Moreno

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background/objectives: Pain is a challenging multifaceted symptom reported by most cancer patients. This systematic review aims to explore applications of artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML) in predicting pain-related outcomes and pain management in cancer.

Methods: A comprehensive search of Ovid MEDLINE, EMBASE and Web of Science databases was conducted using terms: "Cancer," "Pain," "Pain Management," "Analgesics," "Artificial Intelligence," "Machine Learning," and "Neural Networks" published up to September 7, 2023. AI/ML models, their validation and performance were summarized. Quality assessment was conducted using PROBAST risk-of-bias andadherence to TRIPOD guidelines.

Results: Forty four studies from 2006 to 2023 were included. Nineteen studies used …

Why Is Fish Welfare Still So Neglected?, Caroline M. Maia

Animal Sentience

Oldfield & Bonano (O&B) address an important problem in the field of fish welfare, one that calls for greater attention from scientists and practitioners. O&B show that fish welfare, particularly at the psychological level, is under-investigated. They focus mainly on zoos and aquaria, but their concerns extend also to other domains, including fish farming. Fish are sentient animals; priority should be given to their welfare in all environments where they are under human care.

Objective Bat Phenomenology, Thomas Nagel

Animal Sentience

Our discussions prompted Donald Griffin to campaign for the recognition of animal consciousness as a subject for scientific investigation. Ristau shows how much has since been discovered about the experiences of bats and other creatures, by Griffin and others, in spite of the limits to full knowledge imposed by our biological differences. But Ristau seriously misrepresents me as holding that we can know nothing about what it is like to be a bat, whereas these results are precisely of the kind I envisioned in proposing an “objective phenomenology.”

The Utilization Of String Pulling To Determine Female Rats' Dual Cognitive Motor Task Performance Following Space Flight Stressor Exposure, Doc-Haden Rodgers, Nicole M. Atttallah, Teresa L. Garcia, Nuhamine A. Moges, N. A. Moges, K. D. Omengan, J. F. Cortez, K. S. Dhede, A. A. Blackwell

Undergraduate Research Symposium Posters

During deep space exploration, astronauts depend on mission-essential performance in Dual Cognitive Motor Tasks (DCMT), such as receiving information from ground control to assemble and configure wires during a spacewalk. DCMT relies upon processing cognitive and motor information simultaneously. Previous research on rodent models has shown various impairments in cognition and motor function in separate tasks after exposure to deep space radiation and sleep fragmentation (SF). However, an assessment of DCMT performance in rodents has not been established. Rats and humans use similar hand-over-hand movements to pull a string, and task demands may be varied to assess cognition and motor …

The Characterization Of Cooperative String-Pullung Behavior In Rats After Exposure To Space Flight Stressors, Teresa L. Garcia, Nuhamine A. Moges, Sierra Ordonez, Nicole M. Attallah, D. H. Rodgers, A. Adhikari, K. D. Omengan, D. Lloyd, S. L. Gleed, A. A. Blackwell

Undergraduate Research Symposium Posters

Astronauts work cooperatively to complete tasks on missions through deep space where they will experience stressors, including radiation and sleep fragmentation, that may impair performance. Animals work together to achieve a common goal during cooperative tasks using string-pulling behaviors. While string-pulling behavior has revealed deficits in rat sensorimotor function after exposure to space flight stressors, it has yet to be determined if rats will engage in cooperative string-pulling or if these stressors will influence cooperation. Thus, to explore how space flight stressors impact cooperative behavior, female Wistar rats were exposed to either sham (n = 8) or 10 centi-grays of …

Examining Influences On Cotton And Peanut Farmers’ Intentions To Adopt Agricultural Best Management Practices In Southeast Georgia, William R. Taylor, Abigail Borron, Jessica Holt, Walter Scott Monfort

Journal of Extension

Various factors have been found to influence farmers’ adoption of best management practices. This study examines the influences on farmers’ intentions to adopt best management practices by using an extended model of the theory of planned behavior. This descriptive exploratory study surveyed Georgia cotton and peanut farmers (N = 41). Findings revealed farmers had positive attitudes toward best management practices and showed that the use of best management practices is aligned with farmers’ intrinsic motivations. Agricultural practitioners may enhance educational and outreach efforts by leveraging farmers’ motivations and necessary capacities as outlined in this study.

The Effect Of Exercise Type On Working Memory, Ariana Gonzalez, William R. Kochen

Journal for Sports Neuroscience

Martial arts encompass a wide range of sports and techniques that have been practiced for self-defense and combat for thousands of years. It has expanded to include various styles such as Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Taekwondo, judo, and karate. It has also been practiced as a form of exercise and entertainment. Martial arts have been associated to discipline, integrity, improved stamina, and increased mental and problem-solving capabilities. Unlike other exercise methods, most martial arts require focus, skill, and technique, which have been hypothesized to improve memory. The purpose of the study was to determine if there was a significant improvement in the …

Hans Holbein's Portrait Of Henry Viii: England's Own Personal Jesus, Amy Pitsor

Best Integrated Writing

Pitsor explores the possibility that Holbein’s late-stage change in the composition of the portrait from a three-quarter view of Henry to a frontal view held a motive to present Henry as the head of the newly established Church of England and as equal to the pope, and possibly to Christ himself.

La Falta De Los Supermercados En El Oeste De Dayton: Cómo Obtienen Los Estudiantes Comida Fresca En Los Desiertos Alimentarios (Un Ensayo Expositivo-Argumentativo, Catherine Iacobacci

Best Integrated Writing

After having learned about how poverty can affect children’s educational outcomes in one of her classes, Iacobacci wanted to learn more about how the issue affected the area where she lived and went to school. What she found out was incredibly shocking, and only furthered the idea that students are struggling with opportunity gaps, not achievement ones. Unfortunately, due to discriminatory loan practices from long ago, children from the 21st century are suffering physically, emotionally, and academically.

The Journey Within: My Travel Journel, Devonique Jones

Best Integrated Writing

This project is a multigenre research exploration that delves into Jones's personal journey of self discovery and growth during her first solo trip.

Investigation Of Ndv In Southern African Waterfowl Reveal Insightful Geographic And Biodiversity Trends To Help Contain The Virus, Lauren Goodwill

Best Integrated Writing

This study assesses the infection rates and trends of Newcastle disease in southern African waterfowl, a project carried out by Emily Murphy in Dr. Jeffrey Peters’ laboratory

Analysis Of The Integration Of Race And Cultural Concordant Doulas Into The Birth Experience Of African American Women, Cherissa Garcia

Best Integrated Writing

Garcia's study looks at how integrating race and cultural-concordant doulas into the birth experience of African American women would impact outcomes. She found similar studies that provided strong evidence to support doula integration. However, most did not select study populations that appropriately reflected the African American women at increased risk of poor outcomes. As a result, Garcia designed a study that looked at race and cultural concordance between doulas and patients from a wide range of SES backgrounds and varying degrees of pregnancy risk.