Cognition and Perception Commons^™

Heuristics From Statistics—Modeling The Behavior And Perception Of Non-Rigid Materials, Vivian C. Paulun, Roland W. Fleming

MODVIS Workshop

No abstract provided.

Modeling The Neural Circuitry Underlying The Behavioral And Eeg Correlates Of Attentional Capture, Chloe Callahan-Flintoft, Brad Wyble

MODVIS Workshop

The Reactive-Convergent Gradient Field model (R-CGF) is a unique approach to modeling spatial attention in that it links neural mechanisms to event related potentials (ERPs) from scalp EEG. This model was developed with the aim of explaining different, sometimes conflicting, findings in the attention literature. Specifically, this model address conflicting findings showing both simultaneous and serial deployment of attention. Another argument addressed by the model is whether attention to a location invokes a suppression of the spatial surround, or the selective inhibition of distractors. With the R-CGF, we have found that these results are not as incompatible as they appear …

Spatial-Temporal Visible Contrast Energy Predictions Of Detection Thresholds, Albert Ahumada, Andrew B. Watson, Jihyun Yeonan-Kim

MODVIS Workshop

The Barten (1994) spatial-temporal model was used to predict the Gabor stimulus contrast energy thresholds reported by Carney et al. (2013). The RMS error of fit was 1.6 dB, corrected for the number of parameters (6) estimated. The model has two lowpass spatial-temporal channels, combined by inhibition as in our spatial models (Watson & Ahumada, 2005; Ahumada & Watson, 2013). Computation of models predictions were greatly simplified by the spatial-temporal separability of the stimuli and the simplifications that result from using Gaussian filters in the spatial domain. The best fitting spatial filter frequency cutoffs are 11.4 and 0.88 cpd. The …

Computational Modeling Of Contrast Sensitivity And Orientation Tuning In Schizophrenia, Steven M. Silverstein, Docia L. Demmin, James A. Bednar

MODVIS Workshop

Computational modeling is being increasingly used to understand schizophrenia, but, to date, it has not been used to account for the common perceptual disturbances in the disorder. We manipulated schizophrenia-relevant parameters in the GCAL (gain control, adaptation, laterally connected) model (Stevens et al., 2013), run using the Topographica simulator (Bednar, 2012), to model low-level visual processing changes in the disorder. Our models incorporated: separate sheets for retinal, LGN, and V1 activity; gain control in the LGN; homeostatic adaptation in V1 based on a weighted sum of all inputs and limited by a logistic (sigmoid) nonlinearity; lateral excitation and inhibition in …

Social Saliency Of The Cue Slows Attention Shifts, Vassiki Chauhan, Matteo Visconti Di Oleggio Castello, Alireza Soltani, Maria I. Gobbini

Dartmouth Scholarship

Eye gaze is a powerful cue that indicates where another person's attention is directed in the environment. Seeing another person's eye gaze shift spontaneously and reflexively elicits a shift of one's own attention to the same region in space. Here, we investigated whether reallocation of attention in the direction of eye gaze is modulated by personal familiarity with faces. On the one hand, the eye gaze of a close friend should be more effective in redirecting our attention as compared to the eye gaze of a stranger. On the other hand, the social relevance of a familiar face might itself …

Weight Stigma, Cognitions, And Disordered Eating, Sarah E. Pelfrey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Weight stigma experiences affect people of all weights and have many negative consequences; despite this, weight stigma is still an acceptable prejudice in our society. Research has established that weight stigma is predictive of disordered eating (DE) cognitions, which are, in turn, predictive of DE behaviors. The current study explored the unique contribution DE cognitions make to DE behaviors while controlling for other DE cognitions. The DE cognitions examined in the current study were drive for thinness, weight bias internalization, and perfectionism. The DE behaviors examined were emotional eating, restrained eating, inappropriate compensatory behaviors, and binge-eating. Weight bias internalization and …

The Impact Of Stereotype Threat On Deaf Individuals, Jessica Kales

Undergraduate University Honors Capstones

Misconceptions and stereotypes about Deaf people’s verbal intelligence may lead to a social phenomenon known as stereotype threat. When a person is conscious of a stereotype about their group, they may experience stereotype threat, whereby apprehension related to a negative stereotype undermines performance (Steele, 2010). Participants for the study were 27 Deaf undergraduate students. Participants were randomly assigned to high threat or low threat conditions. Regardless of the condition, all participants were then asked to solve seven anagrams and five questions from the verbal portion of the Graduate Record Exam. Participants were asked to evaluate their performance on the anagrams …

Individual And Group Differences In Sound Category Learning, Ben Carlstrom

Student Research Symposium

Abstract: We examined the role of procedural-, declarative-, and working-memory systems in adults learning novel sound categories. Adults have fully developed declarative-memory skills that sometimes inhibit their ability to learn implicitly/procedurally (Filoteo, Lauritzen, & Maddox, 2010). Models of impaired language like the Procedural Deficit Hypothesis suggest that procedural-memory deficits are predictive of language-learning outcomes (Lum, Conti-Ramsden, Page, & Ullman, 2011). This study tested the hypothesis that language structure is best learned implicitly/procedurally, which has implications for L2 learning and language impairment. The novel sound categories presented to participants varied along a phonologically non-native dimension, pitch, and a native dimension, vowel …

Curiosity: Emergent Behavior Through Interacting Multi-Level Predictions, Douglas S. Blank, Lisa Meeden, James Marshall

Computer Science Faculty Research and Scholarship

Over the past 15 years our research group has been exploring models of developmental robotics and curiosity. Our research is based on the premise that intelligent behavior arises through emergent interactions between opposing forces in an open-ended, task-independent environment. In an initial experiment we constructed a recurrent neural network model where self-motivation was "an emergent property generated by the competing pressures that arise in attempting to balance predictability and novelty". The system first focused on its error, then learned to successfully predict its error, and finally became habituated to what caused the error. This process of focusing, learning, and habituating …

Does Genotype Correlate With Phenotype? Evaluating Ruffed Lemur (Varecia Spp.) Color Vision Using Subject Mediated Automatic Remote Testing Apparatus (Smarta), Raymond Vagell

Theses and Dissertations

Ruffed lemur (Varecia spp.) color vision research was conducted using a multidisciplinary approach: psychophysics, genetic analysis, technology, and animal training. The behavioral manifestation of Varecia spp. trichromacy was shown using a touchscreen apparatus (SMARTA). Trichromats performed better than dichromats when discriminating red from green (G₂ = 78.10, p < 0.001).

The Influences Of Musical Training And Spectral Centroid On Perceptual Interactions Of Pitch And Timbre, Heather Daly

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

Perceptual interactions of pitch and timbre have frequently been observed, and the nature of these interactions differs between musicians and nonmusicians. Yet, few researchers have investigated which aspects of timbre or musical training contribute to such interactions. Recently, Becker and Hall (2014) demonstrated that the spectral centroid contributed to pitch-timbre interactions in missing-F0 experiments, particularly for nonmusicians. The present experiment investigated whether the centroid also accounted for previously observed interactions between pitch and timbre (see Pitt, 1994) in a Garner speeded classification task designed to evaluate the perceptual independence of dimensions. There were two sets of synthetic stimuli involving orthogonal …

The Effect Of Font Type On Sight Word Reading Performance Of 4th And 5th Grade Students With Reading Disabilities, Denton S. Warburton

Educational Specialist, 2009-2019

Reading interventions are a crucial component to combat barriers associated with reading difficulties. Within the education realm, nearly 50% of students who receive special education supports have a Specific Learning Disability (Gargiulo, 2006). As a result, the development and implementation of effective and targeted interventions is critical. Christian Boer developed a font called Dyslexie to help remediate reading difficulties of individuals with Dyslexia (Boer, 2011). However, studies by de Leeuw (2010) and Pjipker (2013) provide inconsistent supportive evidence, regarding the effectiveness of Dyslexie. The current study sought to examine the effectiveness of Dyslexie as compared to Arial on sight word …

The Effects Of Pointing Gestures On Visual Attention, Samaria J. Hamilton

Honors College Theses

Visual attention is a process that involves concentrating on select features, such as sensory cues, within the complex environment. Sensory cues within the visual field capture and redirect our attention. Previous research on eye gaze revealed that direct gaze captures attention. In the present study, pointing gestures and motion cues were tested together in a visual search task to examine their effects on attention. Participants were instructed to identify a target letter presented on one of four hands. Initially, two hands displayed a pointing gesture while the other two displayed an open gesture. Next, a target letter appeared, one open …

Literacy Revolution: How The New Tools Of Communication Change The Stories We Tell, Molly Gamble

Dissertations, Masters Theses, Capstones, and Culminating Projects

The transmission of culture depends upon every generation reconsidering what it means to be literate. The way we consider ourselves to be a literate species is changing, which puts us at a unique turning point in human history. Verbal literacy, or the ability to read and write, is slowly being replaced by visual literacy as a primary tool for human communication. As a culture, we tend to underestimate the creative ferment of our increasingly visual world. The linear, structured pathways of traditional literacy are shifting towards a creative and participatory pursuit of unstructured information that emphasize dimensional thinking. The acceleration …

The Influence Of Self-Compassion On Conflict Resolution Processes In Marriages, Joyce Cha

Doctor of Psychology (PsyD)

Increasing attention is given to third-wave cognitive-behavioral concepts such as selfcompassion. This study seeks to explore the impact of self-compassion on conflict resolution in marital relationships. While recent research highlights the influence of self-compassion on relationship satisfaction as a whole, little exploration has been done on the impact of selfcompassion on relational conflict, a significant component of marital relationships or the impact of the bi-directional impact relationship satisfaction has on levels of self-compassion.

The goal of this study was to understand the relationship between levels of selfcompassion and conflict processes in married couples. It was hypothesized that levels of selfcompassion …

Sparking A Dolphin's Curiosity: Individual Differences In Dolphins' Reactions To Surprising And Expectation-Violating Events, Malin Katarina Lilley

Master's Theses

Non-scientific literature consistently describes dolphins as “curious animals,” but there has been little systematic research on curiosity in dolphins. Curiosity in humans and certain non-human animal species, including birds and non-human primates, has been studied by examining individual differences in exploration and reactions to novel stimuli. Additionally, research has explored how human infants and non-human animals react when an event violates their expectations. The present study explored dolphins’ reactions to spontaneously surprising and expectation-violating stimuli. The reactions of dolphins, 15 bottlenose (Tursiops truncatus) and 6 rough-toothed (Steno bredanensis), at Gulf World Marine Park were analyzed in …

Retrieval-Induced Forgetting Via Social Media: The Mnemonic Consequences Of Posting Pictures On Instagram, Chi Lap Wong

Student Theses

Social media has become a common tool for individuals to selectively offload personal memories to the internet. Such selectivity may reinforce the posted “memory” but induce forgetting for related “memories” (Anderson, Bjork, & Bjork, 1994). To explore this possibility, the present study adopted the retrieval-induced forgetting paradigm to the context of social media, Instagram. Participants were required to write a diary attached with pictures relevant to the events and then post pictures to the Instagram, followed by the final recall test. The results indicated that posting personal pictures online induced forgetting in related memories but not pictures, and posting …

Video Game Engagement, Gender, And Age: Examining Similarities And Differences In Motivation Between Those Who May Or May Not Play Video Games, Joseph Camarata

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research aims to fill a research gap by examining video games to explore whether gender, age, or hours played per week would exert any influence on the information of those who may or may not play video games. Mood Management Theory and Uses and Gratification Theory were used as the theoretical foundation for this study. Four-hundred-three East Tennessee State University students who received the survey via email were asked to voluntarily participate in a survey about their motivations behind playing video games. Results from MANOVA showed that the motivations of male participants on video games were significantly higher than …

Assessing The Relationship Between Change Blindness And The Anchoring Effect, Melissa Schoenlein

Honors Projects

A lack of consideration for all aspects of a question prompts fragmented decision making. These decisions, as they leave out fundamental information, repeatedly then lead to a potentially problematic reaction to the target question or stimuli. The anchoring heuristic propels one to make a decision, usually an estimate, based on a presented “fact”, often ignoring additional background and environmental clues. Reducing the rate of occurrence of the anchoring bias is thought to lead to an increase in holistic decision making. To promote this reduction, the purpose of this research was to affirmexamine the relationship between the susceptibility to change blindness …

A Replication/Extension Of The Presence Of Others On Judgments Of Desirability, John E. Scofield

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

Mate-choice copying is a mating strategy where females rely on contextual information to assist in securing accurate assessments of potential mates. Mate-choice copying has been extensively studied in non-human species, and has begun to be examined in humans as well. The desirability enhancement effect occurs when women judge men surrounded by opposite-sex females as more attractive than those same men alone or with same-sex males. The desirability diminution effect occurs when men judge women surrounded by opposite-sex males as less desirable than those same women alone or with same-sex females. The current project replicated previous findings concerning the desirability enhancement …

The Effects Of Goal Systems On Performance In Youth Baseball, Joshua A. Leet

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

This thesis explores the relationship of multiple goals set by youth baseball players with past and present performance. Core to this investigation was the complexity, content, and number of distal and proximal goals reported by players who wrote their goals for an upcoming season. Results showed that players with a greater number of process goals (compared to performance or outcomes goals) and individual goals (compared to team goals) received higher ratings of performance by their coaches. Analyses also revealed that age significantly influenced aspects of goal structure and content for goal reported by players. That is, older players reported having …

The Effects Of Familiarity On Visual Search Performance Of Typically Developing Toddlers And Toddlers With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Laura Keegan

Honors College Theses

Visual Search is an attention task that measures how efficiently a person is able to find a target among distractors. It has been found before that children diagnosed with ASD can perform better at visual search when compared to age-matched typically developing children (Kaldy et al., 2011, 2013). Our team conducted a follow-up study with slightly different stimulus parameters (Smith et al., 2015) and two different potential target objects (in this task, an apple vs. a carrot). The results showed that the identity of the target object influenced toddlers’ search performance: they were slightly faster at finding the target when …

“Good Guys Do Rape”: An Examination Of College Student Perceptions Of Sexual Assault Perpetrators, Taylor Blythe Martinez

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

When people think of a typical sexual assault, they rely heavily on preconceived notions of sexual violence, which often represents stereotypical rape scenarios. Many stereotypical depictions of perpetrators tend to be centered around individuals who are strangers, mentally ill, lonely, with poor or impoverished upbringing. How perpetrators and victims are depicted impact the likelihood of others believing victims and attributing guilt to perpetrators. This may contribute to societal endorsement of acquaintance rape as not real compared to stereotypical rape scenarios. The current study examines how college students, and in particular fraternity men and sorority women, view perpetrators of sexual assault. …

The Influence Of Perceptions On Entrepreneurial Success, Josiah P. Peterson

Selected Honors Theses

The purpose of this work is to investigate and identify the influence of perceptions on entrepreneurial success. Entrepreneurs have been identified as instrumental to the economic survival of society and have therefore become the focus of an increasingly large number of studies. This thesis will expound upon those studies by focusing on aspects of the studies that pertain to entrepreneurial perceptions and success. This work will focus on three types of perceptions and how they influence success. It will focus on the perceptions the entrepreneurs have of themselves, the perceptions they have of their environments and the perceptions others have …

A Mixed-Methods Study: Self-Efficacy And Barriers To Participation In Workplace Wellness Programs, Massiel Perez-Calhoon

Dissertations

America needs a healthy workforce to sustain the country. The scourge of obesity continues to plague Americans despite government initiatives such as the Affordable Care Act and wellness programs in the workplace to combat this epidemic. However, despite initiatives to make America healthy, barriers continued to impede the nation’s health. Lack of awareness and sensitivity to what motivates individual participants versus group participants built formidable barriers to accessing all workplace employees equitably. The purpose of this study was twofold. First, the intent of this study was to explore the relationship between self-efficacy and the impact on participation and engagement when …

Explicit Programming For Icon Rings: Visual-Based Discrimination, Samantha Borowski

Honors Theses

Instructional icons are helpful as basic direction following is the basis for complex skills needed later in life. These instructions should have a good training so that children can get the basic skills and can move on to the complex skills. The goal of the project was to increase the correct responses to instructional icons. Visuals are a good tool for learning because it attaches a picture with the event that is happening or will happen. Children with autism sometimes struggle when they are introduced to a new environment so having a system in place to help make instruction following …

Culture Of Gentleness: A Behavioral Approach, Stevie Parcell

Honors Theses

The purpose of this paper is to explain the fundamentals of an ideological framework for caregivers providing services to people with disabilities called a Culture of Gentleness. The material is traditionally taught within the two-day Working with People training, and the efforts to spread this theory is headed by the Center for Positive Living Supports located in Clinton Township, Michigan. The material is then analyzed through a behavior analytic perspective. Each segment of the initial training will be discussed through both a Culture of Gentleness and behavioral perspective, rooted in Applied Behavior Analysis. Although established in the practice of Positive …

Boundary Conditions Of Font Size Effects On Predicted And Actual Performance, Amanda Reyer, Laura Kelley, Emma Huber, Holli Waldon, Alan Harrison, Breanna Crane, Hillary Erwin

Research Horizons Day Posters

No abstract provided.

Fluency And Font Size's Impact On Predicted And Actual Recognition Performance, Hillary Erwin, Kenneth Hammett, Alan Harrison, Christina Yu, Wilson Lester

Research Horizons Day Posters

No abstract provided.

Volume, Implied Volume, And Gender's Impact On Judgments And Performance, Wilson Lester, Alan Harrison, Kenneth Hammett, Hillary Erwin, Donald Skinner, Michael Waldon

Research Horizons Day Posters

No abstract provided.