Applied Behavior Analysis Commons^™

Content Validity Of Aba Language Assessments In The Totality Of Skinner's Verbal Operant Theory, Taylor Marie Lauer

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

Content validity describes the degree of which a measure represents all the components of the overall construct being measured. Behavior analytic language assessments are largely based on Skinner’s verbal operant theory (1957). Three behavior analytic language assessments were utilized to measure the coverage of Skinner’s verbal behavior theory: the VB-MAPP, ABLLS-R, and PEAK. The purpose of the current study was to examine the content validity of each of these assessments coverage on the totality of Skinner’s verbal operant theory. Expressive items on each of the three assessments were compared to definitions of Skinner’s verbal operants and were coded as the …

Assessing Rat Behavioral Response To Novelty, Neha Mathew

Honors Scholar Theses

The hippocampus is the part of the brain that is involved in memory and navigation. Neurons in the hippocampus, known as place cells, fire in specific locations within this region of the brain as the subject navigates through their environment. As these cells fire, they create a map-like representation of this environment. However if the environment is altered in any way, the place cell firing pattern is adjusted to incorporate this new information. This adjustment will inevitably cause subjects to take more time to complete their task. The goal of our testing was to assess how various manipulations, both spatial …

Viability Of Physiologically Timed Relaxation Interventions In Children With Asd, Nicholas Mendez

CMC Senior Theses

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is an increasingly common developmental disorder that changes how people experience the world and affects individuals’ social interactions and often leads to many adverse behaviors. Current literature dictates that a primary contributor to these adverse behaviors is that those with ASD have difficulty determining their own emotional states and determining the physiological signals that their body sends them. A study by Dr. Sarabadani et al. determined that it was possible to monitor the physiology of an individual with ASD and correlate certain signals to emotions, such as stress. These findings indicate the feasibility of establishing a …

Smart Homes For Smart Health: Developing An Interactive System To Reduce In-Home Secondhand Smoke, Christie Kika, Janice Han, Vincent Berardi

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Smoke from any source is potentially harmful because it contains fine particulate matter that is associated with acute and chronic conditions. Second-hand smoke (SHS) is particularly unsafe for children due to biological characteristics (higher breathing rates, immature lungs and underdeveloped immune systems) that make it difficult to filter toxins.To address this concern, we recently completed Project Fresh Air (PFA), an NIH-funded R01 intervention that installed air particle sensors in the households of tobacco smokers who lived with children. The purpose of our research is to investigate and develop efficient smart home devices that monitor SHS in various living spaces to …

We All Feel Feelings, Ben Ohene

Theses and Dissertations

Consisting of three illustrated books, We All Feel Feelings is designed as a vehicle for the discussion of emotional and mental health with young boys. These books will help foster a mindset of openness and acceptance through different methods of displaying and understanding emotions.

Student Wellbeing And Open Studio Process In The School Curriculum, Maria Kim

Expressive Therapies Dissertations

This study aimed to explore whether Open Studio Process (OSP) increased wellbeing of middle and high school students when facilitated by teachers as a part of the regular art curriculum. It was hypothesized that OSP might increase the sense of wellbeing among middle and high school students as well as facilitating teachers. The research was conducted as a mixed methods study in South Korea where students need preventative interventions for their wellbeing. The researcher trained eight teachers to facilitate OSP and five of them implemented it with their classes for seven sessions. Quantitative data (K-YSR; pre- and posttest) were collected …

The Impact Of Stress On Diet, Sleep, And Exercise Amongst College Students, Jessica Rizzo

Senior Honors Projects

Stress is something that everyone faces in their lifetime and has an everlasting impact on their health. College students face high levels of stress throughout the semester, but how is that impacting their behavior? I conducted a survey alongside Dr. Melanson, a professor in the Department of Nutrition and Food Sciences, to see just how college students are reacting to stress. The survey was circulated to different departments and classes to achieve a widespread collection of data. The survey remained completely anonymous and posed questions about eating, exercise, and sleep habits, along with questions on demographics and stress levels. Our …

The Relationship Between Social Functioning And Anxiety Symptoms In Preschoolers With Autism, Kaylee L. Cox

Senior Theses

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by impairments in social functioning. Furthermore, children with ASD have been found to have high rates of comorbid anxiety. Understanding the relationship between ASD and comorbid anxiety is essential in raising awareness of anxiety symptomology in children with ASD in hopes of better informing treatment and support. The present study examines the relationship between social functioning and general anxiety in children with ASD compared to typically developing (TD) children. The first objective of this study was to examine group differences in social impairments and anxiety symptoms between children diagnosed with ASD and TD children. …

Components Of Mindfulness Training: Impacts On Attention And Affect, Maximilian Fey

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The literature on mindfulness supports a distinction between two components of non-judgmental acceptance and directed attention. The present research analyzed whether there are distinct differences in attentional capabilities or affect between mindfulness inductions which differed in either including only directed attention or directed attention and non-judgmental acceptance. I hypothesized that the acceptance component of mindfulness would increase participants sustained attentional capabilities relative to a control condition; furthermore, I hypothesized that the non-judgmental acceptance component of mindfulness would lead to significant increases in positive affect and decreases in negative affect relative to control. Lastly, I hypothesized that an individual difference measure …

Turn That Frown Upside-Down! The Effectiveness Of Opposite Action In Changing Emotion, Kaitlyn Diane Chamberlain

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

While research demonstrates that opposite action (OA) impacts emotion (Rizvi & Linehan, 2005), we lack an understanding of the mechanisms by which it produces opposite emotions. The current study dismantled emotion regulation skill components by comparing tasks with different combinations of cognitive, emotive and behavioral components. I predicted that the OA condition would be the most effective in altering negative emotion. University students (n = 194) completed a sadness induction and were randomly assigned to either a (1) control, (2) low arousal positive imagery (3) high arousal positive imagery, or (4) OA plus high arousal positive imagery condition. The control …

The Effects Of Criminal Embeddedness On School Violence In Brazil, Braulio Figueiredo Alves Da Silva, Silvio Segundo Salej Higgins, Elenice Desouza Oliveira

Department of Justice Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

This study examines the influence of criminal embeddedness on the intensity of criminal behavior among primary and secondary school students in a large Brazilian city. A database conceived by the Center for the Study of Crime and Public Security at the Federal University in Minas Gerais is used to analyze the involvement of youths displaying delinquent behavior at home or at school and how school performance and peer relationships are effected. Based on differential association and learning theories, the main hypotheses are (1) the greater the criminal embeddedness, the lower the degree of school satisfaction as well as future expectation …

Recent Trends, Current Research In Cyberpsychology: A Literature Review, Amarjit Kumar Singh, Pawan Kumar Singh

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Cyberpsychology refers to the study of the mind and behavior in the context of interactions with technology. It is an emerging branch, which has focused on the psychological aspects connected to the increasing presence and usages of technology in modern lives. This paper traces recent advancement and trends of Cyberpsychology is an emerging domain of knowledge and goes on the give a literature review of the same. An analysis of the recent research and literature covering 300 most relevant research papers from the period of 2012 to 15, August 2019 was conducted to determine and shape the research pattern based …

Dynamics Of Momentary Perceived Self-Regulation Abilities As Novel Predictors Of Overeating In Daily Life, Kayla Dawn Skinner

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Despite an increase of research in the realm of overeating - a well-known contributor to obesity - the psychological mechanisms that maintain overeating behaviors across time and context are still poorly understood. It may be that people’s perceptions of their self-regulation abilities fluctuate over time, and overeating results from momentary increases in negative mood eliciting negative perceptions of their self-efficacy and current willpower, stronger beliefs that cravings can be controlled and a greater ability to tolerate distress. The current study examined the dynamics of and momentary predictors of overeating using a 7-day EMA protocol to study unsuccessful restrained eaters (n …

An Integration-To-Bound Model Of Decision-Making That Accounts For The Spectral Properties Of Neural Data, Ramón Guevara Erra, Marco Arbotto, Aaron Schurger

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Integration-to-bound models are among the most widely used models of perceptual decision-making due to their simplicity and power in accounting for behavioral and neurophysiological data. They involve temporal integration over an input signal (“evidence”) plus Gaussian white noise. However, brain data shows that noise in the brain is long-term correlated, with a spectral density of the form 1/fα (with typically 1 < α < 2), also known as pink noise or ‘1/f’ noise. Surprisingly, the adequacy of the spectral properties of drift-diffusion models to electrophysiological data has received little attention in the literature. Here we propose a model of accumulation of evidence for decision-making that takes into consideration the spectral properties of brain signals. We develop a generalization of the leaky stochastic accumulator model using a Langevin equation whose non-linear noise term allows for varying levels of autocorrelation in the time course of the decision variable. We derive this equation directly from magnetoencephalographic data recorded while subjects performed a spontaneous movement initiation task. We then propose a nonlinear model of accumulation of evidence that accounts for the ‘1/f’ spectral properties of brain signals, and the observed variability in the power spectral properties of brain signals. Furthermore, our model outperforms the standard drift-diffusion model at approximating the empirical waiting time distribution.

Dance/Movement Therapy As A Tool To Improve Social Skills In Children And Adolescents With Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Literature Review, Holly Berlandy

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

Abstract

Autism spectrum disorder is a neurodevelopmental disorder diagnosed by the presence of social communication and interaction deficits present in their day to day. The deficits present in this disorder appear within the first three years of life and lead to problems with connecting and interacting with other individuals including their own family members. As a result, children and adolescents with Autism spectrum disorder often experience negative self-image and lack the proper skills to interact with others. Autism spectrum disorder is becoming more commonly diagnosed and yet there remains a gap in interventions and treatment due to the individualized appearance …

What Is An Extinction Burst?, Kristal Huffman

Capstone Projects

Abstract

This paper will explore the effects of extinction, specifically the extinction burst. Extinction is known to be an effective and necessary process in decreasing specific behaviors (Iwata, Pace, Kalsher, Cowdery, & Cataldo, 1990). During this process, side effects might occur and the extinction burst is one of those side effects. Extinction bursts might be a problematic side effect, especially during treatment of severe behavior. This paper will explore the extinction burst in detail as well as how the term is used in both the basic and applied literature. Next, an investigation of the extinction burst as a technical term …

Longitudinal Effects Of Maternal Love Withdrawal And Guilt Induction On Chinese American Preschoolers’ Bullying Aggressive Behavior, Jing Yu, Charissa S.L. Cheah, Craig H. Hart, Chongming Yang, Joseph A. Olsen

Faculty Publications

Bullying has been understudied among preschool children, especially those from Chinese American families. Previous research has also neglected the dimensional effects of psychological control on child bullying development. This study examined two psychological control dimensions, love withdrawal and guilt induction, and their effects on children’s bullying aggressive behavior using a longitudinal design. Participants were first generation Chinese American mothers (N = 133;mean age [Mage] = 37.82) and their preschool children (Mage = 4.48). Chinese immigrant mothers reported their psychologically controlling parenting and teachers rated children’s bullying aggressive behaviors in the school setting. Confirmatory factor analyses were conducted to establish the …

Relations Among Maternal And Paternal Behavior And Children's Stress Biology, S.K. Jiaming Lin, Stacey N. Doan, John Milton

Scripps Senior Theses

Parenting behavior has been shown to have a wide range of effects, influencing children’s psychological and biological stress outcomes. Most research focuses on maternal parenting behaviors, with few studies observing the effects of paternal behaviors or the influence of both parents on their children. In this study, the relationship between maternal and paternal parenting behaviors was examined in its association to predict children’s cortisol levels. Cultural differences in parenting styles was also observed. American (N=86) and Chinese (N=97) families participated in the study, with parents reporting their behaviors. Children’s cortisol was collected during a stressor task and correlational analysis was …

Effects Of A Group-Deposit Prize Draw On The Step Counts Of Adults, Alex J. Mccurdy

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

The World Health Organization (WHO, 2016) reports that 3.2 million deaths per year are attributable to physical inactivity, making it the fourth leading risk factor for global mortality. Physical inactivity is also a key risk factor for noncommunicable diseases such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, and diabetes (WHO, 2018). Globally, 1 in 4 adults is not active enough and, therefore, foregoes a myriad of health benefits associated with Physical Activity (PA; WHO, 2018). In the United States, only about 1 in 5 (21%) adults meet the 2008 Physical Activity Guidelines set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, 2018). …

Spatio-Temporal Distribution Of Negative Emotions In New York City After A Natural Disaster As Seen In Social Media, Oliver Gruebner, Sarah R. Lowe, Martin Sykora, Ketan Shankardass, Sv Subramanian, Sandro Galea

Department of Psychology Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Disasters have substantial consequences for population mental health. We used Twitter to (1) extract negative emotions indicating discomfort in New York City (NYC) before, during, and after Superstorm Sandy in 2012. We further aimed to (2) identify whether pre- or peri-disaster discomfort were associated with peri- or post-disaster discomfort, respectively, and to (3) assess geographic variation in discomfort across NYC census tracts over time. Our sample consisted of 1,018,140 geo-located tweets that were analyzed with an advanced sentiment analysis called ”Extracting the Meaning Of Terse Information in a Visualization of Emotion” (EMOTIVE). We calculated discomfort rates for 2137 NYC census …

A Multimodal Assessment Of Disgust In Response To Traumatic Event Reminders Among Adolescents, Teah-Marie R. Bynion

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The majority of youth will report traumatic event exposure by the time they reach adulthood. Research suggests exposure to such events is linked to myriad negative outcomes. Not all traumatic events are alike, however; evidence suggests that, compared to non-interpersonal events, interpersonal events in which another person intentionally perpetrates harm are linked to elevations in the likelihood of negative outcomes, including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). One reason for this discrepancy is that interpersonal traumatic events may elicit greater levels of disgust. However, this is a very under-developed research base, no study has examined this question among youth. The current study …

Identifying Clinical Distinctions Between Nonsuicidal Self-Injury And Eating Disorders In Adolescents, Natalie Marie Perkins

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Eating disorders and non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) are pervasive behaviors that typically begin in early to mid-adolescence. They commonly co-occur, resulting in increasingly negative psychological and physical outcomes than either behavior alone. Emotion reactivity and family functioning have been studied in relation to both eating disorders and NSSI. Both constructs have demonstrated strong relationships to these behaviors, but emotion reactivity appears to be more strongly associated with NSSI, while family functioning appears to be more strongly related to eating disorders. The current study sought to determine whether emotion reactivity and family functioning could differentiate between adolescents with only an eating disorder, …

Dancing, Mindfulness, And Our Emotions: Embracing The Mind, Body, And Sole, Alisha M. Collins

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This capstone project examines dance, as an intervention and mindfulness practice that assists with managing our emotions. There is a need for dance therapy in social institutions such as, healthcare facilities, schools, and community centers. Dance therapy has the potential to reduce negative emotions, create mindfulness, improve self-expression, and promote a healthy well-being. I am proposing that dance therapy is applied as a regular practice in social institutions to develop mindfulness and promote emotional stability.

In this study, I argue that dance therapy can contribute to our well-being long term. In addition to this written thesis, a visual component of …

The Predictors Of Juvenile Recidivism: Testimonies Of Adult Students 18 Years And Older Exiting From Alternative Education, La Toshia Palmer

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this descriptive, qualitative study was to identify and describe the importance of the predictors of juvenile recidivism and the effectiveness of efforts to prevent/avoid juvenile recidivism as perceived by previously detained, arrested, convicted, and/or incarcerated adult students 18 years of age and older exiting from alternative education in Northern California. A second purpose was to explore the types of support provided by alternative schools and the perceived importance of the support to avoid recidivism according to adult students 18 years of age and older exiting from alternative education.

Methodology: This qualitative, descriptive research design identified …

Black Males, Trauma, And Mental Health Service Use: A Systematic Review., Robert Motley, Andrae Banks

Brown School Faculty Publications

Objective: To systematically review the evidence of and synthesize results from relevant studies that have examined barriers and facilitators to professional mental health service use for Black male trauma survivors ages 18 and older.

Methods: A thorough search of selected databases that included EBSCO, ProQuest, and Web of Science Core Collection and careful consideration of inclusion and exclusion criteria yielded a final six studies for detailed review.

Results: Black male trauma survivors were significantly less likely to be utilizing mental health services than other sex-ethnic groups. High levels of daily crises, a lack of knowledge of steps to …

Computational Model For Behavior Shaping As An Adaptive Health Intervention Strategy, Vincent Berardi, Ricardo Carretero-González, Neil E. Klepeis, Sahar Ghanipoor Machiani, Arash Jahangiri, John Bellettiere, Melbourne Hovell

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Adaptive behavioral interventions that automatically adjust in real-time to participants’ changing behavior, environmental contexts, and individual history are becoming more feasible as the use of real-time sensing technology expands. This development is expected to improve shortcomings associated with traditional behavioral interventions, such as the reliance on imprecise intervention procedures and limited/short-lived effects. JITAI adaptation strategies often lack a theoretical foundation. Increasing the theoretical fidelity of a trial has been shown to increase effectiveness. This research explores the use of shaping, a well-known process from behavioral theory for engendering or maintaining a target behavior, as a JITAI adaptation strategy. A computational …

Liking, Craving, And Attentional Bias In Non-Dependent Drinkers, David Lovett

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the present study was to better understand alcohol use problems by examining the effect of alcohol liking on alcohol attentional bias among non-dependent drinkers. An adapted model of Robinson and Berridge’s (1993) incentive-sensitization theory of addiction was proposed which theorized that manipulation of alcohol liking would produce alcohol attentional bias (assessed via visual probe task) among non-dependent drinkers. To test this adapted model, alcohol liking was manipulated and the effect on alcohol attentional bias was examined. Participants were 53 legal-age, college drinkers (Mage = 23.49; 32.1% female; 67.9% White Non-Hispanic). Participants completed measures of alcohol drink preference, …

Volition And Action In The Human Brain: Processes, Pathologies, And Reasons, Itzhak Fried, Patrick Haggard, Biyu J. He, Aaron Schurger

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Humans seem to decide for themselves what to do, and when to do it. This distinctive capacity may emerge from an ability, shared with other animals, to make decisions for action that are related to future goals, or at least free from the constraints of immediate environmental inputs. Studying such volitional acts proves a major challenge for neuroscience. This review highlights key mechanisms in the generation of voluntary, as opposed to stimulus-driven actions, and highlights three issues. The first part focuses on the apparent spontaneity of voluntary action. The second part focuses on one of the most distinctive, but elusive, …

Entrainment Of Voluntary Movement To Undetected Auditory Regularities, Aaron Schurger, Nathan Faivre, Leila Cammoun, Bianca Trovó, Olaf Blanke

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

In physics “entrainment” refers to the synchronization of two coupled oscillators with similar fundamental frequencies. In behavioral science, entrainment refers to the tendency of humans to synchronize their movements with rhythmic stimuli. Here, we asked whether human subjects performing a tapping task would entrain their tapping to an undetected auditory rhythm surreptitiously introduced in the guise of ambient background noise in the room. Subjects performed two different tasks, one in which they tapped their finger at a steady rate of their own choosing and one in which they performed a single abrupt finger tap on each trial after a delay …

An Evaluation Of The Effects Of Intensity And Duration On Outcomes Across Treatment Domains For Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Erik J. Linstead, D. R. Dixon, E. Hong, C. O. Burns, Ryan French, M. N. Novack, D. Granpeesheh

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Applied behavior analysis (ABA) is considered an effective treatment for individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and many researchers have further investigated factors associated with treatment outcomes. However, few studies have focused on whether treatment intensity and duration have differential influences on separate skills. The aim of the current study was to investigate how treatment intensity and duration impact learning across different treatment domains, including academic, adaptive, cognitive, executive function, language, motor, play, and social. Separate multiple linear regression analyses were used to evaluate these relationships. Participants included 1468 children with ASD, ages 18 months to 12 years old, M= …