Cognitive Psychology Commons^™

A Review Of The Effects Of Dietary Restriction, Dehydration, And Caffeine Withdrawal On Cognition: Implications For A Disabled Submarine Scenario, Sarah Chabal

Journal of Human Performance in Extreme Environments

In the event that submariners become trapped aboard a disabled submarine (DISSUB), they must perform a multitude of cognitively demanding tasks in order to maximize their likelihood of survival. During this time, submariners will also be forced to endure poor living conditions, including drastic changes to their nutrition. These nutritional changes have the potential to impair submariners’ cognitive functioning and affect operational performance, which could jeopardize survival; however, the effects of DISSUB nutrition on cognitive performance are not well understood. This review first describes the unique nutritional conditions that submariners will experience in a DISSUB scenario, including the change to …

Variation In Personality Among Semi-Wild Myanmar Timber Elephants, Sateesh Venkatesh

Theses and Dissertations

This study examines two personality traits: exploration and neophobia, which could influence human-elephant conflicts. Thirty-one semi-wild elephants were tested over two trials using a custom novel puzzle tube containing three tasks and three rewards. Our studies show that elephants do vary significantly between individuals in both exploration and neophobia.

Restorative Potential And Working Memory Capacity Of Exposure To Vegetation In Indoor Built Environments, Jee Heon Rhee

Theses and Dissertations

This research seeks to understand how natural elements – specifically, vegetation in the indoor environment - influence people’s ability to restore attention and working memory capacity. Previous research demonstrates the benefits of nature on human beings in various ways. For instance, numerous studies show the positive effects of nature on stress reduction (Hartig, Mang, & Evans, 1991; Ulrich et al., 1991) and attention restoration (Staats, Kieviet, & Hartig, 2003). However, most of these studies focus on the effect of nature in outdoor settings. Relatively few studies focus on the presence of natural elements indoors. This is an important gap in …

Data-Driven Approach To Dynamic Resting State Functional Connectivity In Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Carissa Weis

Theses and Dissertations

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a heterogenous psychological disorder that may result from exposure to a traumatic event. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), symptoms of PTSD have been associated with aberrations in brain networks that emerge in the absence of a given cognitive demand or task, called resting state networks. Most previous research in resting state networks and PTSD has focused on aberrations in the static functional connectivity among specific regions of interest (ROI) in the brain and within canonical networks constrained by a priori hypotheses. However, dynamic fMRI, an approach that examines changes in brain network characteristics over …

Historical Trauma Response Scores As A Function Of Unresolved Grief And Substance Use Disorder In American Indian Populations, Andrew R. Saunders

Undergraduate Research Symposium

Abstract

Researchers are interested in the outcomes of interventions, specifically, measuring historical trauma (HT) among American Indian/Alaska Native communities and the long-term distress and substance abuse as a result of historical trauma response (HTR). Previous literature has implicated limitations in the clinical conceptualization of the relationship between intergenerational transfer of HTR and substance abuse. The aim of the current study is to examine treatment efficacy of 50 homosexual, American Indian males randomized to a culturally-adapted juxtaposition of (1) Group Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT), (2) Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT), and (3) Historical Trauma and Unresolved Grief Intervention (HTUG), or (4) waitlisted on …

Aerobic Exercise With Superimposed Virtual Reality Improves Cognitive Flexibility And Selective Attention In Young Males, Borja Sañudo, Ellie Abdo, Mario Bernardo-Filho, Redha Taiar

Publications

The literature to date is limited regarding the implantation of VR in healthy young individuals with a focus on cognitive function. Thirty healthy males aged between 22.8 and 24.3 years volunteered to participate in the study randomly and were assigned to one of two groups with alike exercises: an experimental group (GE, n = 15) that performed an exercise protocol with a VR game and a controlled group that performed the exercise protocol without the VR (CON, n = 15). A 128-card computerized version of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Task (WCST) and the Stroop test were completed before and after …

Book Review: Giuseppe T. Cirella’S (Ed.), Sustainable Human-Nature Relations: Environmental Scholarship, Economic Evaluation, Urban Strategies. (Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd., 2020), Editorial Board

The International Journal of Ecopsychology (IJE)

No abstract provided.

The Cognitive Thalamus: Source Analysis Of Scene Working Memory Delay Activity, Bernard A. Gomes

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Working Memory represents a limited-capacity store for maintaining information and manipulating the store's contents over a short period for the guidance of goal-directed behavior. Working Memory is an essential component of executive functions that are intricately associated with the prefrontal cortex (PFC). The PFC has been implicated in maintaining task-related information online for brief periods in the absence of relevant information. This active maintenance phase is called the delay period that occurs between encoding and retrieval of the stimulus. Previous studies have attempted to understand the relationship between working memory and the PFC, especially during the delay or maintenance phase …

Shared Neural Substrates Of Perception And Memory: Testing The Assumptions And Predictions Of The Representational-Hierarchical Account, D. Merika W. Sanders

Doctoral Dissertations

Proponents of the representational-hierarchical (R-H) account claim that memory and perception rely on shared neural representations. In the ventral visual stream, posterior brain areas are assumed to represent simple information (e.g. low-level image properties), but the complexity of representations increases toward more anterior areas, such as inferior temporal cortex (e.g., object-parts, objects), extending into the medial temporal lobe (MTL; e.g. scenes). This view predicts that brain structures along this continuum serve both memory and perception; a structure’s engagement is determined by the representational demands of a task, rather than the cognitive process putatively involved. In a neuroimaging study, I searched …

Comparison Of Longitudinal Changes In Resting State Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Between Alzheimer’S And Healthy Controls, Berk Can Yilmaz

Theses

Resting State Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (rs-fMRI) is a technique that is widely used for analyzing brain function using different approaches and methods. This study involves rs-fMRI analysis of Blood Oxygenation Level Dependent (BOLD) signals acquired from Alzheimer’s disease (AD) Patients and Healthy Controls (HC). Each subject in the study had both functional and anatomical images with at least one rs-fMRI scan with their Anatomical (T1) scans. Previous rs-fMRI studies have demonstrated that AD shows differences in Amplitude of Low Frequency (<0.1 Hz) Fluctuations (ALFF), and Regional Homogeneity (ReHo) measures according to HCs.

The aim of the study is to investigate individual and group level differences using ReHo and mALFF related …

Feeling-Of-Knowing Experiences Breed Curiosity, Gregory Brooks

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

It is well-established that curiosity has benefits for learning. Less is known about potential links between curiosity and memory retrieval. In theoretical work on metacognition it has been argued that retrieval experiences that occur during memory search can exert control over behaviour. States of curiosity, which can be defined as behavioural tendencies to seek out information, may play a critical role in this control function. We conducted two experiments to address this idea, focusing on links between feeling-of knowing (FOK) experiences, memory-search duration, and subsequent information-seeking behaviour. We administered an episodic FOK paradigm that probed memory for previously studied arbitrary …

How Natural Materials Affect Our Perception Of The Built Environment, Iryna Demianiuk

English Language Institute

Our daily life is shaped by the emotions we feel, and our emotions are highly dependent on the environment we live in. Those connections have been developing through the whole history of humankind, starting with the feeling of shelter near bonfires in caves. Today, we can discover neural responses to environmental conditions and even certain materials around us. Those findings have allowed architects and neuroscientists to work more closely together, and, through that collaboration, the new field of neuroarchitecture appeared. This relatively young discipline explores the way our brain responds to the environmental stimuli we are facing, and how different …

Clusters Of Individuals Experiences Form A Continuum Of Persistent Non-Symbolic Experiences In Adults, Jeffery A. Martin

CONSCIOUSNESS: Ideas and Research for the Twenty-First Century

Persistent forms of nondual awareness, enlightenment, mystical experience, and so forth (Persistent Non-Symbolic Experience) have been reported since antiquity. Though sporadic research has been performed on these experiences, the scientific literature has yet to report a large-scale cognitive psychology study of this population. Method: Assessment of the subjective experience of 319 adult participants reporting persistent non-symbolic experience was undertaken using 6-12 hour semi-structured interviews and evaluated using grounded theory and thematic analysis. Results: Five core, consistent categories of change were uncovered: sense-of-self, cognition, affect, perception, and memory. Participants’ reports formed phenomenological groups in which the types of change …

The Impact Of Task Load On Neural Entrainment To Attended Speech: A Dual-Task Magnetoencephalography (Meg) Paradigm, Michelle Tamar Kassel

Theses and Dissertations

Speech comprehension in a noisy environment requires active cognitive control mechanisms to select the relevant speech signal while filtering out irrelevant distractions. When processing speech in a multitask scenario, neural resources underlying cognitive control are considerably burdened and interfering information becomes more difficult to ignore. The present study utilized magnetoencephalography (MEG) to investigate the impact of multitasking on selective attention to speech. Twenty healthy adults performed a multitask paradigm with varying levels of both competing auditory distraction and concurrent visual working memory load. While increased visual working memory load was associated with reduced selective attention to speech in both the …

The Association Of Aerobic Fitness With Resting State Functional Connectivity And Verbal Learning And Memory In Healthy Young Adults, Kyle Joseph Jennette

Theses and Dissertations

The beneficial effects of exercise and cardiopulmonary fitness on general health, quality of life, and reduction of mortality are well known in older adults. There is evidence to support the positive effects of exercise and aerobic fitness on psychiatric and neurocognitive function in children, adults, and older adults. Indeed, many studies have explored the positive effects of aerobic fitness on slowing cognitive decline associated with normal and pathological aging. However, comparatively fewer empirical studies in the literature exist to support and understand the effects of aerobic fitness on the developing brain, particularly during adolescence and young adulthood, especially as it …

Shaped By The Environment: The Influence Of Childhood Trauma Exposure, Individual Socioeconomic Position, And Neighborhood Disadvantage On Brain Morphology, Elisabeth Kathleen Webb

Theses and Dissertations

The relationship between an individual’s socioeconomic position (SEP) and their overall physical and mental health has been well demonstrated. Far less is known about how area-level factors, such as neighborhood disadvantage, “get under the skin”. Previous research indicates lower SEP and childhood trauma negatively effects brain structure and function. The hippocampus, amygdala, and ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) are particularly vulnerable to adversity. The current study investigated how individual SEP, childhood trauma, and neighborhood disadvantage impact these structures. Two-hundred and fifteen individuals were recruited from an Emergency Department in southeastern Wisconsin. Two-weeks post-traumatic injury, participants completed a structural magnetic resonance imaging …

Development Of Prefrontal Structure And Connectivity In Typical Children And Children With Adhd: Association With Language And Executive Function, Dea Garic

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The structure and connectivity of the prefrontal cortex has been extensively studied for its contribution to language and executive function (EF) development, but many questions still remain whether its microstructural tissue properties can reliably predict behavioral outcomes in very young typically and atypically developing populations. In particular, the bilateral frontal aslant tract (FAT) has garnered increasing interest with respect to its potential association with both language and EF, but has yet to be examined in childhood attention disorders, such Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). At the same time, with advances in diffusion weighted imaging (DWI), new diffusion models offer more …

The Effects Of Self-Esteem And Motivation On Cognitive Control, Andrea Benavides

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Cognitive control describes a set of mechanisms that guide behavior towards a goal (Cohen, 2017). The successful execution of cognitive control is essential for effective learning, information processing, problem solving, and academic achievement (Visu-Petra et al., 2011). The Expected Value of Control framework (EVC; Shenhav et al., 2013) suggests that control carries an inherent cost, which is weighed against the potential benefits of expending it. This cost-benefit analysis determines the direction and intensity that a goal is pursued. Importantly, motivation plays a role in this cost-benefit analysis and may function as the factor that offsets the cost of control expenditure …

Mental Associations And Music Therapy: Including The History Of Associationism And The Neurology Of Associations, Dianna Rose

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

Associations are formed in our minds based upon three elements: sensory experience, emotions, and memories. These associations, unique to each individual, dictate thoughts, beliefs, behaviors, and actions. Some are necessary and supportive, while others can be maladaptive. Established associations can be changed, and new associations can be formed, to align with a client’s goals. The literature presents a strong history of associationism, as well as a body of research that demonstrates the neurological processes of how mental associations are formed. There are also studies showing how music activates the brain. However, there is a lack of research which draws direct …

Transdiagnostic Multimodal Neural Correlates Of Psychosis Dimensions, Dov Bernard Lerman-Sinkoff

McKelvey School of Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Psychosis refers to a debilitating set of symptoms that impacts individuals, their communities, and society at large. Current psychiatric nosology treats psychosis as a categorical construct. However, recent evidence suggests that a dimensional approach that cuts across extant nosological boundaries may more accurately represent the underlying phenomena contributing to dysfunction in psychosis. One putative domain of transdiagnostic variation is cognitive control, a construct that refers to the set of functions that enable and support goal-directed behavior and regulation of one’s thoughts and actions. Previous analyses in both healthy individuals and individuals with psychosis have led to a number of findings …

Neural Mechanisms Of Cognitive Individual Difference: An Investigation Of The Human Connectome Project, Shelly Renee Cooper

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Considering individual differences in task activation functional magnetic resonance imaging (t-fMRI) can be challenging because they may arise from variability in activity in brain regions, in the tasks themselves, or some combination thereof. Delineating sources of between-subjects variance is particularly important for cognitive control where task goals are at the forefront. Here we applied structural equation modeling (SEM) to the Human Connectome Project to examine if activity could be partitioned into separable brain and task individual difference dimensions. A series of SEMs were defined with varying numbers of latent factors, where the inputs were parcels of two cognitive control-related brain …

Using Object-Choice Tasks To Investigate Sensory Perception In Sunda Pangolins (Manis Javanica), Joshua Dipaola

Theses and Dissertations

Pangolins are one of the most heavily poached, yet least understood mammals in the world. In this study, we used an object-choice task to assess the ecological relevance and use of sensory information in Sunda pangolin foraging behavior. This is the first controlled experiment on pangolin behavior to our knowledge.

Attention Capture By Episodic Long-Term Memories: Evidence From Eye Movement Data, Allison Eleanor Nickel

Theses and Dissertations

Successfully navigating the world on a moment-to-moment basis requires the interaction of multiple cognitive processes. Therefore, studies that examine when and how these fundamental processes interact can provide important insights into how we behave. Many studies indicate that long-term memory can facilitate search for a target object (e.g., contextual cueing), however, the ways in which long-term memory might capture attention and disrupt goal-directed behavior have not been well studied. In five experiments, questions about whether encoded objects might capture attention, even when they are task-irrelevant, were addressed. Each experiment began with an encoding phase, where participants were instructed to commit …

Regional Differences In Wild North American River Otter (Lontra Canadensis) Behavior And Communication, Sarah Walkley

Dissertations

This study focuses on the vocalization repertoires of wild North American river otters (Lontra canadensis) in New York and California. Although they are the same species, these two established populations of river otters are separated by a significant distance and are distinct from one another. River otters are semi-aquatic social predators that can be found throughout North America. This is the first study to examine the vocalizations of wild river otters, and results are compared across field sites in the different regions. River otter vocalizations and behaviors in New York were recorded using Bushnell Aggressor trail cameras that …

Perceived Impact Of Non-Contact Boxing On Daily Life And Occupational Participation At Home Among Individuals With Parkinson's Disease, Kristen E. Bignal

Student Capstone Papers

The aim of this project was to determine whether individuals with Parkinson's disease perceive an impact on their daily life and occupational participation at home secondary to participation in non-contact boxing.

Semi-structured open-ended interview questions were conducted with 17 participants (3 female) who have been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease for(i.e., self-care, home and health maintenance, sleep, intimacy, social and leisure interests, etc.) in the home environment. Interviews were transcribed and analyzed utilizing thematic analysis.

Data analysis derived three overarching themes including psychological benefits, sense of community, and framework to develop routines. Subsequent research exploring how non-contact boxing directly impacts specific …

Developing A Computer-Controlled Treat Dispenser For Canine Operant Conditioning, Walker Arce, Jeffrey R. Stevens

Jeffrey Stevens Publications

When performing canine operant conditioning studies, the delivery of the reward can be a limiting factor of the study. While there are a few commercially available options for automatically delivering rewards, they generally require manual input, such as using a remote control, in accordance with the experiment script. This means that human reaction times and transmission distances can cause interruptions to the flow of the experiment. The potential for development of non-supervised conditioning studies is limited by this same factor. To remedy this, we retrofitted an off-the-shelf treat dispenser with new electronics that allow it to be remotely controllable as …

The Effects Of Parental Factors And Personal Attributes On Birth Control Use Under The Genetic Influences Of 5-Httlpr Among Adolescents, Hyun-Jin Cho

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The purpose of this study was (a) to examine relationships between parental influences and personal attributes on birth control use and (b) to identify genetic influences on such relationships by comparing the frequencies of common genetic variants—short allele vs. long allele—in 5-HTTLPR among adolescents (N = 5,852). Data from the Wave 1 and Wave 4 of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health were used to examine the birth control use of adolescents who were in 7th through 12th grade in 1994–1995. Multi-group Structural Equation Modeling analyses were used to identify the relationship among factors. Results did not find significant …

Ideology And Predictive Processing: Coordination, Bias, And Polarization In Socially Constrained Error Minimization, Nathan E. Wheeler, Suraiya Allidina, Elizabeth U. Long, Stephen P. Schneider, Ingrid J. Haas, William A. Cunningham

Department of Political Science: Faculty Publications

Recent models of cognition suggest that the brain may implement predictive processing, in which top-down expectations constrain incoming sensory data. In this perspective, expectations are updated (error minimization) only if sensory data sufficiently deviate from these expectations (prediction error). Although originally applied to perception, predictive processing is thought to generally characterize cognitive architecture, including the social cognitive processes involved in ideological thinking. Scaling up these simple computational principles to the social sphere outlines a path by which group members may adopt shared ideologies and beliefs to predict behavior and cooperate with each other. Because ideological judgments are of specific interest …