Cognition and Perception Commons^™

Destined Failure, Chengjun Pan

Masters Theses

I attempt to examine the complex structure of human communication, explaining why it is bound to fail. By reproducing experienceable phenomena, I demonstrate how they can expose communication structure and reveal the limitations of our perception and symbolization.I divide the process of communication into six stages: input, detection, symbolization, dictionary, interpretation, and output. In this thesis, I examine the flaws and challenges that arise in the first five stages. I argue that reception acts as a filter and that understanding relies on a symbolic system that is full of redundancies. Therefore, every interpretation is destined to be a deviation.

The Benefits Of Art Therapy On Stress And Anxiety Of Oncology Patients During Treatment, Helen Shiepe

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

Within the last ten years research on art therapy and its positive impact on oncology patients’ stress and anxiety during treatment has been minimal. Oncology patients whether they are children or adults when diagnosed experience similar reactions due to their diagnosis, treatment, and in some cases end of life care. The current question is whether or not art therapy does have a positive impact on decreasing the stress and anxiety with oncology patients while undergoing treatment. Deane, Fitch & Carmen (2000), discussed art therapy as a healing art that is “intended to integrate physical, emotional, and spiritual care by facilitating …

Cognitive Dissonance: Analysis Of The Theory, Marcus Crespo

Themis: Research Journal of Justice Studies and Forensic Science

Cognitive dissonance arises as a person experiences discomfort when their belief does not align with their behavior. Cognitive dissonance can be divided into three categories: irrelevance, dissonance, and consonance; it also can viewed in terms of what it is and what effects it produces for an individual. Studies have shown the struggles and inconsistencies that arise when people experience conflict between who they want to be and who they actually are. This paper examines cognitive dissonance at length and assesses the current theoretical models that exist to describe cognitive dissonance.

Efficient Perception Of Physical Object Properties With Visual Heuristics, Vivian C. Paulun, Florian S. Bayer, Joshua B. Tenenbaum, Roland W. Fleming

MODVIS Workshop

No abstract provided.

Sleep Duration Is Associated With Caudate Volume And Executive Function, Nicole Jones

Honors Theses

The ineligible role of the caudate nucleus in sleep has been implicated throughout multiple scientific studies. Previous literature has shown that greater caudate volume is associated with longer habitual sleep duration in older adults- ranging from 55 years of age and up. However, the association between sleep duration and caudate volume remains unknown in the younger population. In this study, we examined the caudate volume in youth to older adults (10 to 85 years old) with a greater sample size (N=464) to increase statistical power. The volumetric size of the caudate nucleus showed significantly positive association with habitual sleep duration, …

Using Imagery Practice To Improve Airline Pilot Situational Awareness, Brian Christopher Sajdak

Dissertations

Pilot error remains the primary cause of airline airplane accidents (Federal Aviation Administration, n.d.). Airline pilots have relied on Crew Resource Management and Threat Error Management to reduce or eliminate errors (Helmreich & Foushee, 2019). Unfortunately, the worldwide accident rate continues to increase (International Air Transport Association, 2021), demonstrating the need for further research into improving aviation safety. Current regulations do not require imagery training for airline pilots to improve situational awareness (Federal Aviation Administration, 2017a). Athletes and other professionals, such as musicians and medical professionals, use imagery to improve performance (Munzert et al., 2009). Imagery practice may improve the …

Visual Working Memory Encoding And Action: An Investigation Using Fnirs And Mouse-Tracking, Kaleb Thomas Kinder

Doctoral Dissertations

Visual working memory (VWM) guides the motor system by temporarily keeping relevant information in mind. As an interface between perception and action, VWM plays a critical role in supporting goal-directed behavior. Research on the relationship between VWM and action has primarily focused on the effect of VWM on motor output. Traditional approaches index outcome responses, such as accuracy, but this practice provides limited information on underlying VWM processes. Conversely, the influence of action on VWM processes has received less attention and its neural correlates are not well understood. In this thesis, I examined VWM-action links using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) …

Steps Toward Healing From The Possessive Other: The Vital Role Of Fantastical Literature In Trauma Theory, Rebekah Izard

English (MA) Theses

Fantastical narratives such as fairy tales and magical realist literature utilizes fantastic and intangible spaces to unpack that which is often beyond the limitations imposed on our understanding by reality: the stunting experience of individual and generational traumas. This study aims to contribute to the current literary discourse’s understandings of fantastic literature and its subgenres as a tool for healing from trauma through the application of ontological notions of Selfhood and Otherness supplied by 20th century philosopher, Paul Ricoeur, and the notion of Orientalism by postcolonial scholar, Edward Said. The dialogue generated by these schools of thought provide a space …

The Origins Of The Iraq War: The Role Of Anthrax In The Weapons Of Mass Destruction Claims, John P. Koenig

Student Theses and Dissertations

The 2001 Anthrax Attacks were a critical factor in the Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) claims that sparked the Iraq War. Despite its significance, little systematic work has been done regarding the topic. Existing studies primarily focus on the role of the Military Industrial Complex and intelligence failures as the primary explanations for the origins of the Iraq War. These explanations are limited, as they rely on hindsight biases. This thesis contends that anthrax was the catalyst for WMD claims that sparked the Iraq War. The 2001 Anthrax Attacks reinforced the belief that Iraq harbored WMDs and posed a threat …

Stimulus–Response Congruency Effects Depend On Quality Of Perceptual Evidence: A Diffusion Model Account, Blaine Tomkins

Psychology Faculty Publications

Individuals often need to make quick decisions based on incomplete or “noisy” information. This requires the coordination of attentional, perceptual, cognitive, and behavioral mechanisms. This poses a challenge for isolating the unique effects of each subprocess from behavioral data, which reflect the summation of all subprocesses combined. Sequential sampling models offer a more detailed examination of behavioral data, enabling us to separate decisional and non-decisional processes at play in a task. Participants were required to identify briefly presented shapes while perceptual (duration, size, location) and response features (location-congruent/-incongruent/-neutral) of the task were manipulated. The diffusion model (Ratcliff, 1978) was used …

Cognitive Decline And Contact Sports: The Relationship Between P3 Amplitude And Sub-Concussive Head Impact, Elizabeth Kerman

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The present study sought to explore the effect of repetitive sub-concussive head impacts on the P3 event-related potential (ERP) amplitude and measures of movement kinematics. University students participating in collision, contact, and non-contact sports at the club and varsity level completed a cued visuomotor adaptation task. Results indicated that participants who estimated experiencing four or more sub-concussive head impacts per week display a significantly reduced P3 amplitude across both normal and adaptive trials. Additionally, participants who estimated experiencing less than four sub-concussive head impacts per week displayed no significant changes in P300 amplitude between “switch” and “stay” trials. This research …

The Dynamics Of Emotion-Related Impulsivity: An Analysis Of Emotional Control And Daily Emotion-Driven Urges And Actions Via Ecological Momentary Assessment, Jeremy B. Clift

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Emotion-related impulsivity, or the engagement in impulsive reactions specifically in response to emotions, has been identified as a crucial transdiagnostic factor. Mixed evidence from ecological momentary assessments (EMA) underscores a potential discrepancy between the existing measurements of emotion-related impulsivity at trait and state levels. Unlike previous EMA studies examining emotion-related impulsivity through measures of urgency, the current study tested Carver and colleagues’ (2008) reflexive responding to emotion framework by investigating the relationship between emotional control and emotion-related impulsivity. Participants (N = 197) with varying levels of emotional control completed one week of EMA to investigate two central questions. First, we …

Examining Measures Of Eeg As Biomarkers For Autism Spectrum Disorder, Shuhan Liang

Undergraduate Honors Theses

A central aim of this study was to determine whether there are consistent differences in a variety of ERPs and/or resting state measures of EEG between children diagnosed with ASD and psychiatric controls. Additionally, we aimed to determine whether any of those differences would generalize to the neural correlates of continuous measures of autistic tendencies in the general population. We classified EEG data into three categories: basic sensory responses, cognitive/perceptual ERPs, and resting state measures. Our study indicated that basic sensory responses and cognitive/perceptual event-related potentials (ERPs) did not differentiate autistic individuals from controls. For resting-state measures, the high gamma …

Building Resilience With Creativity: A Reflective Card Deck Prototype, Lakshmi Sithambaram

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

The increasing complexity and adversity in today's world emphasize the need for resilience as a critical skill to navigate these challenges. The World Economic Forum identifies resilience, stress tolerance, and flexibility as essential skills for thriving in the 21st century. But how can we intentionally develop resilience? Through this project, I explore the relationship between creativity and resilience and how creativity skills can be deliberately cultivated to build resilience. To achieve this, I developed a prototype of a reflective card deck that offers a unique approach to help individuals gain knowledge, make connections, explore their relationship with the skill, and …

Perceiving The Poster: How Suspicion Of Motives May Impact Perceptions Of Potential Allies Engaging In Online Activism, Kathrina Z. Durante

Honors Theses

Social media posts signaling support for various social and racial justice movements have emerged as an important aspect of social media use. However, little research has investigated how these posts and the social media users behind them are perceived by members of disadvantaged groups﹘those the messages are presumably intended to “help.” Though the post’s content and poster’s identity are likely important, the primary aim of this study is to investigate an individual difference variable in the perceiver, specifically disadvantaged group members’ Suspicion of Motives Index (SOMI) scores, which measure a general tendency to perceive White individuals’ attempts at non-prejudice to …

Why Diversity Is Not Enough: Perceptions Of University Diversity, Equity, And Inclusion Initiatives Predict Institutional Belonging, Mckennah Lauber

Honors Theses

Belonging, including feelings of being valued in a larger institutional space, is important to student overall well-being. For students of color attending Primarily White Institutions (PWIs) (and other historically marginalized group members), institutional belonging maybe partially dependent on how they perceive diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. This study aims to assess individual differences in how DEI initiatives are experienced by students at PWIs in order to better understand how experiences of DEI initiatives on campuses may differentially impact students of color compared to White students. Belonging for students of color was found to be contingent on their perceptions of …

The Promise Of Media Literacy Education When “Everything Is At Stake” And “Everything Is Expected”, Monica Bulger, Gina Baleria, Renee Hobbs, Kimberly R. Moffitt

Journal of Media Literacy Education

In the midst of a tumultuous time in American and global history, the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication Annual Conference 2021 hosted a panel to explore the promise and limits of media literacy. Panelists discussed the vital role of media literacy education in responding to challenges to democracy, social justice, and public health. With “everything at stake,” the panelists moved through responses to current crises while grounding in a historical context and offering recommendations for the future. Curated transcripts share a pivotal moment when much was expected of media literacy and media literacy experts explored promise and …

Consciousness-Centered Education: An Innovative Approach To Art And Design Curriculum

Journal of Conscious Evolution

This paper introduces and discusses a consciousness-centered, integrated education model, implemented at the College for Creative Studies. Consciousness, Creativity, and Identity, a liberal-arts course offering, is designed to offer students a greater understanding of human connectivity and empowerment through empathy for themselves and others. This result is achieved in part through the inclusion of meditation training as a core component of the course. By integrating the skills of introspection, silence, and reflection with intellectual engagement, consciousness-centered education initiatives encourage the relationship between compassion, connectivity, inclusion, and wellness as key pedagogic themes in art and design curriculum. This paper offers evidence …

Consciousness, Evolution, And The Self-Organizing Brain, Karen Seymour

Journal of Conscious Evolution

While evolution is guided by natural selection, it is internally driven by self-organizing processes. The brain encompasses these complementary forces and dynamics of evolution in both its structure and dynamics by embodying a historical record of the factors that have shaped it throughout its evolutionary past, as well as by being shaped by selective parameters in real time. Self-organization is evident in not only the brain’s structure and form, but also in the processes that support consciousness. From the convergence of complex structure and the novelty-generating dynamics of chaos that both characterize the brain arises the experience of explicit consciousness, …

Remembering The Future: Wild Time And The Cosmic Imagination, Arabella Thaïs

Journal of Conscious Evolution

Entropy – the Second Law of Thermodynamics – is generally held to prove “time’s arrow”: that time is linear and unidirectional, and that the universe is following this trajectory. This paper presents a preliminary exposition into a new, integral ontology of time in which time is hyper-dimensional, non-linear and flows in both directions. This is supported through trans-disciplinary praxis at the intersection of aesthetics, cosmology, quantum mechanics, and chaos theory. The metaphysical implications of reverse causality are investigated, and confer a teleological universe that is coherent with the paradigm of an intelligent, self-realising cosmos in which beauty is a fundamental …

What Will Happen If Science Will Develop A Theory Of Consciousness? Negative Ramifications., Sam S.. Rakover

Journal of Conscious Evolution

For a long time, philosophers and scientists have attempted without success to develop a mind-body theory, a consciousness theory (T_c) to explain the exact relation between the mind and the body, a solution which is based on an assumed connection between consciousness and the activity of the neurophysiological processes in the brain. An important concern of the present paper, then, is to address the question of why, despite the great research effort on the subject, no successful T_c has ever been developed. In response, McGinn (1989) proposes that the human being’s cognitive system is not equipped to …

Psychic Cartography: A Review Of Tantric Psychophysics: A Structural Map Of Altered States And The Dynamics Of Consciousness, Michael Pdryzdia

Journal of Conscious Evolution

In 1920 Rudolf Steiner gave a lecture entitled Healing of the Social Organism which is collected in a small and fairly obscure book (Oswald Spengler: Prophet of World Chaos). The lecture was given after Spengler’s The Decline of the West had become a best-seller. In the lecture, Rudolf Steiner takes it upon himself to “deconstruct” his fellow German scholar/intellectual. In the piece, Steiner attacks Spengler’s opposition between “the man of blood” – the man who gets things done, the man of action -- versus “the man of contemplation” -- the theologian, the priest, the scientist with his concept …

A Quieter Ocean: Experimentally Derived Differences In Attentive Responses Of Tursiops Truncatus To Anthropogenic Noise Playbacks Before And During The Covid-19-Related Anthropause, Paige E. Stevens, Veda Allen, Jason N. Bruck

Faculty Publications

The effects of anthropogenic noise continue to threaten marine fauna, yet the impacts of human-produced sound on the broad aspects of cognition in marine mammals remain relatively understudied. The shutdown of non-essential activities due to the COVID-19-related anthropause created an opportunity to determine if reducing levels of oceanic anthropogenic noise on cetaceans affected processes of sensitization and habituation for common human-made sounds in an experimental setting. Dolphins at Dolphin Quest Bermuda were presented with three noises related to human activities (cruise ship, personal watercraft, and Navy low-frequency active sonar) both in 2018 and again during the anthropause in 2021 via …

Investigating The Relationship Between N2pc And Rapid Saccadic Eye Movements, Kezhen Qi

Undergraduate Honors Theses

In this study, we investigated the impact of temporal variability on the N2pc component during overt and covert visual search tasks, with a focus on potential differences in the efficiency of search strategies. Employing an eye tracker and a modified algorithm for saccade detection, our analysis considered the potential influence of eye tracker performance and data cleaning methods on the interpretation of results. Additionally, we adopted ERPimage analysis to enhance the rigor of our statistical examination. Our findings confirmed the temporal relationship between the N2pc and first saccade onset, with the N2pc occurring after the saccade. Furthermore, we identified a …

Understanding Disordered Eating Attitudes And Patterns In University Students And The Relationship To Campus Dining Services, Benjamin A. Bartling

Honors Thesis

University students are particularly vulnerable to disordered eating behaviors and attitudes. This study seeks to expand upon the knowledge base of disordered eating attitudes and behaviors in university students by employing a netnography as a precursor to the main study to establish the following research questions: What is the relationship between the perceived quality of campus dining services and disordered eating attitudes in university students? What is the relationship between the perceived availability of campus dining services and disordered eating attitudes in university students? And, lastly, how does prior experience with campus dining services affect university students eating patterns and …

Chatgpt As Metamorphosis Designer For The Future Of Artificial Intelligence (Ai): A Conceptual Investigation, Amarjit Kumar Singh (Library Assistant), Dr. Pankaj Mathur (Deputy Librarian)

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this research paper is to explore ChatGPT’s potential as an innovative designer tool for the future development of artificial intelligence. Specifically, this conceptual investigation aims to analyze ChatGPT’s capabilities as a tool for designing and developing near about human intelligent systems for futuristic used and developed in the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Also with the helps of this paper, researchers are analyzed the strengths and weaknesses of ChatGPT as a tool, and identify possible areas for improvement in its development and implementation. This investigation focused on the various features and functions of ChatGPT that …

Reference Frames In Human Sensory, Motor, And Cognitive Processing, Dongcheng He

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Reference-frames, or coordinate systems, are used to express properties and relationships of objects in the environment. While the use of reference-frames is well understood in physical sciences, how the brain uses reference-frames remains a fundamental question. The goal of this dissertation is to reach a better understanding of reference-frames in human perceptual, motor, and cognitive processing. In the first project, we study reference-frames in perception and develop a model to explain the transition from egocentric (based on the observer) to exocentric (based outside the observer) reference-frames to account for the perception of relative motion. In a second project, we focus …

Exploring How Student Athletes Balance Athletic, Academic, And Personal Needs Through Learned Needs Theory., Michael E. Rutledge Ii

Journal of Research Initiatives

The attempt to balance the requirements of athletic and academic demands prompts extensive research agendas from higher education and athletic stakeholders to examine how extrinsic and socio-environmental factors affect the desired outcomes of student athletes. Reputable motivation literature describes needs as the starting point of motivation and influences behaviors embedded within cultural and systematic structures. Thus, the purpose of this study is to understand how sport participation influences athletic and academic performance through Learned Needs Theory (LNT). This study provides insight to processes of motivation that contribute to knowledge, practical implications, and research that translates to research-based approaches to increase …

Working Memory Performance: Is Subjective Measurement A Better Predictor Than Cognitive Load?, Megan Mccray

Dissertations and Theses

We rely on our capacity for rapid attention switching to conduct multiple tasks simultaneously. Leading working memory models assume that memory maintenance and attention-demanding secondary task processing cannot coincide. Any reduction in memory maintenance activities occurring due to secondary task processing leads to impaired recall. This temporal relationship is typically characterized through the proportion of time spent attending to the concurrent processing task, also called cognitive load. Although the primary determinant of forgetting in leading models, recent findings show limitations to cognitive load effects in multitasking. We investigated whether the effects of cognitive load are a byproduct of subjective task …

Must Be Music On The Brain: The Effects Of Music On Performance Accuracy, Hannah Wright, Jillian Graham, Cameron Smith, Ephreme Megenta

Belmont University Research Symposium (BURS)

Music is present during a large portion of our day-to-day lives. Previous research has shown varying results on the effects of music on an array of cognitive-based task performance. Much of the previous literature has solely focused on the effects of one type of music or the effects of music on one specific task; furthermore, many of the tasks used to measure cognitive performance have been lab-based and unnatural from what would be encountered in the real world. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to explore the effects of multiple types of music on multiple relevant, naturalistic cognitive tasks. …