Biological Psychology Commons^™

Effects Of Auditory Vection Speed And Directional Congruence On Perceptions Of Visual Vection, Isabella Alexis Gagliano

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Spatial disorientation is a major contributor to aircraft mishaps. One potential contributing factor is vection, an illusion of self-motion. Although vection is commonly thought of as a visual illusion, it can also be produced through audition. The purpose of the current experiment was to explore interactions between conflicting visual and auditory vection cues, specifically with regard to the speed and direction of rotation. The ultimate goal was to explore the extent to which aural vection could diminish or enhance the perception of visual vection. The study used a 3 × 2 within-groups factorial design. Participants were exposed to three levels …

Initiation And Retention In Couples Outpatient Treatment For Parents With Drug And Alcohol Use Disorders, Abbly L. Braitman, Michelle L. Kelley

Psychology Faculty Publications

The focus of the current study was to identity mental health, relationship factors, substance use related problems, and individual factors as predictors of couples-based substance abuse treatment initiation and attendance. Heterosexual couples with children that met study criteria were invited to attend 12 sessions of outpatient behavioral couples therapy. Men were more likely to initiate treatment if they had a higher income, had greater relationship satisfaction, were initiating treatment for alcohol use disorder only, were younger when they first suspected a problem, and had higher depression but lower hostility or phobic anxiety. Men attended more treatment sessions if they reported …

Effects Of Vibrotactile Display Position And Shape On Extrapersonal Localization, Adam D. Sitz

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Vibrotactile displays are capable of conveying extrapersonal spatial information to users navigating or operating within a three-dimensional environment (e.g., aircraft pilots). Although vibrotactile displays can be applied to many parts of the body, recent applications have focused on torso-based displays that egocentrically reference distal targets. However, these displays may be poorly suited to convey elevation because of the generally cylindrical shape of the human torso. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the relative effectiveness of handheld vibrotactile displays configured either in a cylindrical or spherical-shape as compared to a torso-based display. Due to its shape, the spherical …

The Effects Of An Online Sleep Hygiene Intervention On Students' Sleep Quality, Giuliana Farias

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Students in college or in their first year of medical school undergo increased educational and social pressure. To cope, students may sacrifice sleep to meet demands. Poor sleep affects learning, performance, and health. Studies have been successful at improving sleep quality through the use of in-person recruitment or cognitive-behavioral therapy delivered over the internet (Trockel, Manber, Chang, Thurston, & Tailor, 2011). The purpose of the current study was to investigate whether an online sleep hygiene intervention could improve sleep quality. One hundred thirty-eight students from one undergraduate institution in Southeast Virginia completed this study. Students were divided into groups; one …

The Impact Of Sleepiness And Sleep Constructs On Driving Performance, Jennifer Freeman May

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Sleepiness causes performance decrements that lead to thousands of crashes and fatalities annually. Research supports the conclusions that sleep duration and circadian rhythms impact sleepiness and affect driving performance. Conflicting in the literature is whether severity of sleep disorders, sleep quality and subjective sleepiness affect driving performance. The correlation between a driver's perception of their sleepiness and their driving performance is also unclear. The primary goal of this study was to create an in-depth model demonstrating which measures of sleepiness influence driving performance. It was hypothesized that sleep quality, sleep apnea severity and subjective sleepiness add to a model of …

The Association Of Cognitive Function With Autonomic-Cardiovascular Reactivity To And Recovery From Stress, Sanjay Mehta

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The contribution of stress in the development of chronic and terminal disease has garnered significant interest in contemporary research. The current study aims to look at how performance in domains of cognitive function may affect autonomic-cardiovascular reactivity and recovery to psychologically stressful tasks as such reactions, over time, may contribute to the development of cardiovascular disease.

The current study analyzed data from 209 healthy middle-age adults. This included four neuropsychological tests utilized here to represent abilities in four different cognitive domains: response inhibition, mental flexibility, verbal memory, and nonverbal memory. The participants were also introduced to three psychologically stressful tasks …

The Effects Of Rumination, Hostility, And Distraction On Cardiovascular Reactivity And Recovery From Anger Recall In Healthy Women, Meghan K. Mclain

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Cardiovascular reactivity and recovery following an emotional stressor may play a crucial role in mediating the relation between psychosocial factors (e.g. hostility and anger) and cardiovascular disease. Hostility has been associated with trait rumination. Trait rumination, a tendency to focus attention on negative thoughts and emotions and be prone to feelings of revenge, is not adequately captured in current measures of hostility. The current study examined whether trait rumination, indexed by the Dissipation-Rumination Scale, has an independent effect of increasing cardiovascular reactivity and prolonging cardiovascular recovery from angry events above and beyond hostility as measured by the Cook-Medley Hostility Scale. …

Pavlivian Conditioning To Insulin-Induced Hypoglycemia As Indicated By Glycemic Response Motor Activity And Anxiety, Jermaine Dionte Jones

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this experiment was to demonstrate the responses to stimuli predicting the onset of hypoglycemia {HG), specifically the overt behavioral and glycemic conditioned responses to insulin-produced HG. When drug-opposite compensatory responses become associated with situational and environmental cues that predict drug administration, compensatory mechanisms can be elicited solely by drugassociated cues. Several studies have been conducted to determine the conditioned bloodglucose responses as elicited by stimuli predicting hypoglycemia. However, only a few studies have examined the behavioral conditioned responses associated with hypoglycemia. Insulin-induced HG and the elevated plus maze (EPM) procedure were utilized to determine the direction of …

Comparisons Among Parent Reports And Self-Reports Of Sleep In Adhd And Normal School-Aged Children, Diana M. Turner-Eadie

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The objective of the study was to investigate whether school-aged children diagnosed with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) experience greater sleep disturbance than do normally-developing children. Participants included 33 parents and their children with ADHD (mean age = 10.7 ± 1.7 years) and 33 parents and their children without ADHD (mean age = 10.7 ± 1.6 years). Both parents and their children completed sleep questionnaires developed to assess a number of sleep variables. Based on parental report, the Total Sleep Disturbance score was significantly greater for the ADHD group than for the comparison group. Parents indicated that children with ADHD had …

Psychophysiological Measures And Performance Effects In An Adaptive Sustained Attention Task, Gerald Alan Hadley

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

This experiment examined the effect of a biocybernetic system that had been successfully used to control an adaptive automation compensatory tracking task (Freeman, Mikulka, Prinzel, & Scerbo, 1999; Pope, Bogart, & Bartolome, 1995). The present study applied this adaptive automation system to a vigilance task. Recordings of EEG activity were used to derive an index of task engagement, beta/(alpha+ theta). A training session was used to establish a baseline level of this index. Index levels above baseline reflected an increase in arousal, while levels below baseline indicated decreased arousal. Three groups (production, reception, and control) performed the task which presented …

A Psychophysiological Assessment Of The Efficacy Of Event-Related Potentials And Electroencephalogram For Adaptive Task Allocation, Lawrence J. Prinzel Iii

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The present study was designed to test the efficacy of using Electroencephalogram (EEG) and Event-Related Potentials (ERPs) for making task allocations decisions. Thirty-six participants were randomly assigned to an experimental, yoked, or control group condition. Under the experimental condition, a compensatory tracking task was switched between manual and automatic task modes based upon the participant's EEG. ERPs were also gathered to an auditory, oddball task. Participants in the yoked condition performed the same tasks under the exact sequence of task allocations that participants in the experimental group experienced. The control condition consisted of a random sequence of task allocations that …

The Effect Of Ethanol And Hypoglycemia On Rat Performance In The Radial Arm Maze, Monica Ann Gaffney

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Both hypoglycemia (HG) and ethanol (ETH) intoxication can cause serious impairment in physiological and psychological functioning. Their combination could cause more severe cognitive impairment than either condition alone. This experiment investigated the effects of hypoglycemia, ethanol intoxication, and their combination on rat radial arm maze performance. Eleven male rats were trained to a stable, low error rate performance in achieving food rewards in an eight arm radial arm-maze. Rats were then given either insulin (2 units/kg) or saline in combination with ETH doses of 250, 500, 1000, or 1500 mg/kg 20 minutes prior to the maze run. Treatment order was …

Electrocortical Output And Hemispheric Contributions To The Alert State During A Sustained Attention Task, Treven Curtis Pickett

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

This study investigated the relative electrocortical contributions of specified cerebral locations and the potential motoric influence of handedness in a biocybernetic feedback environment. Thirty six right-handed subjects engaged in two sixteen minute trials of a compensatory tracking task by guiding (via a joystick) a circle over a stationary target presented on a computer screen, performing one trial with their preferred (right) and one using their non-preferred (left) hand.

For each subject, a Macintosh computer interpreted electrocortical activity through an engagement index (20*beta/(alpha+theta)) and changed the task mode, i.e. manual (subject guides the task) or automatic (computer guides the task) as …

African-American Males' Perception Of Law Enforcement: A Psychophysiological Perspective, Adolph Brown Iii

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

This study compared the psychophysiological reactivity of African American and European American males to authority. Nineteen African American males and 23 European American males were randomly assigned to either be interrogated by a police officer, or see a police officer interrogate that experimenter or view a videotape of police activity. Participants' physiological reactivity, acceptance of authority, fear of negative evaluation or social anxiety, and apprehension and anxiety in stressful situations as well as EMG, SCR, heart rate, respiration, and blood pressure were measured. African American males were hypothesized to show greater physiological response than European American males and participants who …

The Effects Of Stroke On The Comprehension Of Affective And Nonaffective Prosody, Mona Matheney Tiernan

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of the present study was to examine the effects of stroke on the comprehension of prosody. Thirty two inpatient volunteers (16 with right hemisphere and 16 with left hemisphere stroke) and 16 controls participated in the study. A 3(Group) x 2(Gender) x 2(Task) mixed design was used. The independent variables were the subject group, gender and the prosody task (affective or nonaffective). The dependent variables were the percentage of correct responses to the affective and nonaffective prosody tasks. A 3(Group) x 2(Gender) x 2(Task) AN0VA revealed a significant main effect for group, E

Interaction Between Amphetamine And Ethanol On Amphetamine-Produced Conditioned Place Preference, Cheryl Pelphrey-Weigand

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Male Long-Evans rats were conditioned 6 days, alternating drug and non-drug conditions, using injections of .6 mg/kg d-amphetamine, amphetamine plus 60mg/kg ethanol, or amphetamine plus 120 mg/kg ethanol. These injections were given in a specific side of the shuttlebox to assess the development of a place preference or aversion. The amount of time spent in the drug-paired side was analyzed on 2 non-drugged test days. Rats spent significantly more time in the drug-paired side on Test Day 1 than on Test Day 2. When the ethanol groups were combined, these rats spent significantly more time in the drug-paired side than …

Gender Differences In The Relation Between Locus Of Control And Physiological Responses, Monique C. Grelot

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The relationship between locus of control and the physiological responses of heart rate (HR) and electrodermal activity (EDA) was investigated in 30 males and 31 females during an arithmetic task. The Levenson's Internal, Powerful Others and Chance (IPC) scales (Levenson, 1974) were used to assess the various degrees of internality for each subject. Additionally, to determine each subject's physiological Lability or Stability (LS), EDA was measured by recording spontaneous skin conductance responses during a ten minute rest period and to a tone (an Orienting Response (OR) task). A simple difficulty effect was found on the performance scores across the three …

The Effects Of Task Load On Heart Rate And Heart Rate Variability, Paula Jeanne Guerette

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The relationship between task load and cardiovascular measures was investigated during single- and dual-task performance. The results showed significant reductions in Heart Rate Variability and the Blood pressure component of the Power Spectral Density function during task performance. No significant changes in HR were seen from baseline to task. However, differences in directional responding between subjects seemed to have obscured these effects. When direction of the HR response was disregarded and absolute magnitude of response was analyzed, significant differences from baseline to task were seen. There was no difference in physiological responding from single- to dual-task trials. Future research examining …

The Effects Of Amphetamine And Ethanol On Habituation Of Exploratory Responses Of Rats In Novel And Familiar Environments, Kuen-Teng Kao

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

To study the relationship between level of arousal and rate of habituation in rats, the current research manipulated arousal level using sedatives (ethanol 200 and 600 mg/kg) and stimulants(d-amphetamine 0.6 and 2.4 mg/kg). Furthermore, in order to investigate the possible contributions of differences in familiarity of the subjects with the test environment in producing discrepant reports about arousal-habituation relationships, half of the rats were tested in a completely novel cage without saline- pre-injection, while the other half were repeatedly given salinepreinjections and exposures to the test cage. Habituation was measured mainly as rate of change of responding level; i.e. slope …

Lithium Chlorine-Induced Food Aversions In The Toad (Bufo Americanus), Paul R. Vaughan

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

This research established that a strong and persistent food aversion can be produced in the toad (Bufo americanus), using lithium chloride­ prey pairings. No previous study has reported taste-illness aversions in amphibians. The first of three experiments established this aversion learning and also suggested that prior "safe" exposures to a prey had little effect on subsequent aversive conditioning to that food (mealworm). No effect on general eating behavior as measured by response to another prey object (cricket) was observed in the initial study. The second experiment tested the effectiveness of five different dosages of a hypertonic LiCl solution (.5 M …

Effects Of Sleep Loss On Information-Processing In An Absolute Judgment Task As A Function Of Task Difficulty, Frieda O'Steen Carlton

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The effects of 36 hours of sleep loss on information-processing were assessed in an absolute judgment task. Of the 24 subjects employed, 12 served in the sleep-loss (experimental) and control conditions, respectively. All subjects were tested individually for a total of ten sessions; the control group was tested on ten consecutive days, whereas the experimental subjects were tested every four hours over a 36-hour period of sleep loss, and at a recovery session following approximately 12 hours of rest and recovery. The task required subjects to make absolute judgments of the size of two small circles of light and to …

The Effect Of Pre-Exposure To Sucrose On The Acquisition And Extinction Of A Conditioned Aversion, Shirlee Fenwick

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Twenty-eight female, water deprived rats were given 5 minutes access to sucrose for either 1,7,14, or 21 days. They were then given LiC1 injections every third day until an aversion to the sucrose developed. The results indicated that as amount of pre-exposure to sucrose increased, the number of illnesses required to develop an aversion increased. Also, the rate of extinction of the conditioned aversion was inversely related to the number of exposures required. to establish the aversion.

An Investigation Into The Incidence Of Psychogenic Factors Underlying The Temporomandibular Joint Pain/Dysfunction Syndrome, Ernest William Small

Human Movement Studies & Special Education Theses & Dissertations

No abstract.