Cognitive Psychology Commons^™

Neural Hyperactivity During Value-Based Decision-Making In People With Daily/Near Daily Cannabis Use, Miranda Ramirez

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Value-based decision-making involves the coordinated effort of multiple brain regions to guide future choices based on past experiences. These processes are disrupted in cannabis use disorder, where individuals continue to use cannabis despite negative consequences. Reinforcement learning (RL) paradigms can be used to capture changes in the value of available options and may inform how the brain is impacted by frequent cannabis use. This study combined fMRI with behavioral modeling of probabilistic choice task data to compare value-based choices between young adults reporting daily/near daily cannabis use (CAN) and controls (CTRL). Participants selected one of two options reinforced ($0.25) at …

Establishing The Feasibility Of Crowdsourcing To Study Value-Based Decision-Making In Substance Use Disorders, Thomas Shellenberg

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Substance use disorders (SUDs) are characterized by repeated choices to use drugs despite adverse consequences. Value-based decision-making theory posits that choices are guided by predicted values of available options which are updated based on outcomes. Computational modeling of reinforcement learning (RL) during choice tasks has shown promise for uncovering latent mechanisms of decision-making. Recruiting people with SUD is difficult, but crowdsourcing offers an alternative for accelerating data collection. However, the validity of computational modeling using online choice task data has not been well-established. This thesis aimed to use the online crowdsourcing platform Prolific to 1) compare online and in-person choice …

Formalizing The Faustian Bargain Within The Healthcare Domain: An End-Of-Life Approach., Rachel Appel

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A Faustian Bargain refers to an individual making a “deal with the devil,” exchanging something moral or sacred for an unattainable earthly good. The Faustian Bargain has been used to describe a ubiquitous social dilemma inherent to human civilization: exchanging individual liberty for public goods (e.g., security) provided by societal leaders and governments (Ostrom, 1980). Research on Faustian Bargains often examines tradeoffs between outcome utility (i.e., value derived from the outcomes of a decision) and procedural utility (i.e., value derived from being involved in the decision process (e.g., Frey et al., 2004). Much of the research on Faustian Bargains has …

Functional And Anatomical Connectivity Predict Brain Stimulation’S Mnemonic Effects, Youssef Ezzyat, James E> Kragel, Ethan A. Solomon, Bradley C. Lega, Joshua P. Aronson, Barbara C. Jobst, Robert E. Gross, Michael R. Sperling, Gregory A. Worrell, Sameer A. Sheth, Paul A. Wanda, Daniel S. Rizzuto, Michael J. Kahana

Department of Neurology Faculty Papers

Closed-loop direct brain stimulation is a promising tool for modulating neural activity and behavior. However, it remains unclear how to optimally target stimulation to modulate brain activity in particular brain networks that underlie particular cognitive functions. Here, we test the hypothesis that stimulation's behavioral and physiological effects depend on the stimulation target's anatomical and functional network properties. We delivered closed-loop stimulation as 47 neurosurgical patients studied and recalled word lists. Multivariate classifiers, trained to predict momentary lapses in memory function, triggered the stimulation of the lateral temporal cortex (LTC) during the study phase of the task. We found that LTC …

Sex Differences In Stress Reactivity, Brain Morphology, And Oxytocin In The Hypothalamus Of The Gray Short-Tailed Opossum (Monodelphis Domestica), Esperanza I. Zacarias, Daniela Rodriguez, Alexandra Chalons, Sasawan Heingraj, Nicole Altamirano, Joseph Rafac, John L. Vandeberg, Mario Gil

Research Colloquium

Understanding the effects of stress on behavior and cognition is important due to its impact on mental health and wellbeing (Schneiderman et al. 2005). Translational animal research can contribute to the development of new treatments that can improve therapeutic outcomes and our understanding of the neurobiology of stress. In the present study, we complement behavioral stress reactivity with immunohistochemical localization of oxytocin in the hypothalamus, a neuropeptide that regulates stress (Neumann & Slattery, 2016). Oxytocin has potential therapeutic use for mental health disorders (Neumann & Slattery, 2016), and the effects of oxytocin seem to be sexually dimorphic (Love, 2018). Using …

Making Decisions "In The Dark": Learning Through Uncertainty In Clinical Practice During Covid-19, Urvashi Vaid, Henriette Lundgren, Karen E. Watkins, Deborah Ziring, Grace A. Alcid, Victoria J. Marsick, Dimitrios Papanagnou

Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care Medicine Faculty Papers

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to explore how decision making and informal and incidental learning (IIL) emerged in the clinical learning environment (CLE) during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. The authors' specific interest was to better understand the IIL that took place among frontline physicians who had to navigate a CLE replete with uncertainty and complexity with the future goal of creating experiences for medical students that would simulate IIL and use uncertainty as a catalyst for learning.

METHOD: Using a modified constructivist, grounded theory approach, we describe physicians' IIL while working during times of heightened uncertainty. …

Mind, Body And Race: A Look Into How Implicit Biases Influence The Perception Of Emotion, Faiza Ahmad, Adam Anderson, James Dalton Rounds, Christina Chick, Alize Hill

Research Symposium

Background: Most research examining the effects of implicit race-based biases in emotion perception has focused on the perception of Black faces as being angry. Limited work has been done examining the perception of “approach” emotions such as fear. Furthermore, most studies have predominantly used White subjects. Our study examined the role of implicit racial biases in shaping the perception of both anger and fear in White, Black and Asian participants.

Methods: 78 participants completed a Go/NoGo task in which they were asked to categorize different race faces as portraying either anger or fear. Participants would be asked to press the …

Attenuated Typicality Effect In Category-Based Inferences: Implications For Autism Spectrum Disorder, Janani Rajagopalan

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Individuals diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) often encounter challenges in assimilating atypical exemplars into their categorical prototypes, a cognitive hurdle that can impact their interpretative and integrative capacities. Addressing this problem, the present research sought to develop a robust methodological approach to reduce the effect of this disparity. We examined the elements embedded within the category's internal structure, with the intention of experimentally attenuating the pronounced typicality effect, which is often exaggerated in ASD.

Across four experiments, the thesis investigated the cognitive and neural underpinnings that shape the access to the typicality gradient intrinsic to a category's structure. The …

Oleoylethanolamide Facilitates Pparα And Tfeb Signaling And Attenuates Aβ Pathology In A Mouse Model Of Alzheimer’S Disease, Michele M Comerota, Manasee Gedam, Wen Xiong, Feng Jin, Lisheng Deng, Meng C Wang, Jin Wang, Hui Zheng

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND: Age is the strongest risk factor for the development of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Besides the pathological hallmarks of β-amyloid (Aβ) plaques and neurofibrillary tangles, emerging evidence demonstrates a critical role of microglia and neuroinflammation in AD pathogenesis. Oleoylethanolamide (OEA) is an endogenous lipid amide that has been shown to promote lifespan and healthspan in C. elegans through regulation of lysosome-to-nucleus signaling and cellular metabolism. The goal of our study was to determine the role of OEA in the mediation of microglial activity and AD pathology using its stable analog, KDS-5104.

METHODS: We used primary microglial cultures and genetic and …

Comparison Between The Effects Of Acute Physical And Psychosocial Stress On Feedback-Based Learning, Xiao Yang, Brittany Nackley, Bruce H. Friedman

Psychology Faculty Publications

Stress modulates feedback-based learning, a process that has been implicated in declining mental function in aging and mental disorders. While acute physical and psychosocial stressors have been used interchangeably in studies on feedback-based learning, the two types of stressors involve distinct physiological and psychological processes. Whether the two types of stressors differentially influence feedback processing remains unclear. The present study compared the effects of physical and psychosocial stressors on feedback-based learning. Ninety-six subjects (Mage = 19.11 years; 50 female) completed either a cold pressor task (CPT) or mental arithmetic task (MAT), as the physical or psychosocial stressor, while electrocardiography and …

Assessing The Correlation Between The Socioeconomic Level And Cognitive Function Among Older Adults In Egypt, Macy Abougabal

Theses and Dissertations

The number of older adults is increasing worldwide at an unprecedented rate. Some countries began to understand the challenges of aging, while others are still at the stage of comprehending the true dimensions of the situation. There is a global focus on aging research to appropriately mitigate the negative impact of aging and cognitive decline. Not only that dementia add economic pressure on governments, it also increase the psychological and physical burden of the caregivers. Scholars have previously studied socioeconomic level in three variables, namely work, education, and income, and their relationship with cognitive function. It was concluded that the …

An Erp Measure Of Non-Conscious Memory Reveals Dissociable Implicit Processes In Human Recognition Using An Open-Source Automated Analytic Pipeline, Richard J. Addante, Javier Lopez-Calderon, Nathan Allen, Carter Luck, Alana Muller, Lindsey Sirianni, Cory S. Inman, Daniel L. Drake

Psychology Student Publications

Non-conscious processing of human memory has traditionally been difficult to objectively measure and thus understand. A prior study on a group of hippocampal amnesia (N = 3) patients and healthy controls (N = 6) used a novel procedure for capturing neural correlates of implicit memory using event-related potentials (ERPs): old and new items were equated for varying levels of memory awareness, with ERP differences observed from 400 to 800 ms in bilateral parietal regions that were hippocampal-dependent. The current investigation sought to address the limitations of that study by increasing the sample of healthy subjects (N = …

Effects Of Daylight On College Students’ Physical And Mental Well-Being, Sathya Thenappan

Quantitative Social Science Undergraduate Senior Theses

While existing literature predominantly deals with the impact of daylight on adults in general and more specifically at the workplace, less is known about its impact on the college student demographic and daylight exposure levels at college residences. Given its considerable impact on both the physical and mental well-being of individuals, daylight has been used in the treatment of an assortment of diseases from seasonal affective disorder to depression. With college students constituting the majority of today’s people who suffer from mental health issues in society, uncovering the link between daylight exposure and its impact on the physical and mental …

The Lived Experience Of Using Opiates Among Young Adults, Catherine Mbewe

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The purpose of this research study is to explore the lived experience of using opiates, as described by young adults aged 18 to 25 years. Over the last 2 decades, opioid use disorders (OUDs) and opiate overdose deaths have increased dramatically in the United States. What used to be a problem primarily contained to minority groups in poor inner-city areas is now increasingly common in all races, genders, ages, and classes. There has also been an alarming increase in opiate use—including fentanyl, both legal and illegal—among young adults. While much of the literature has been focused on the opiate use …

Table Of Contents Vol 6 (1) May 2023

The International Journal of Ecopsychology (IJE)

No abstract provided.

Phenomenographic Interpretation Of The Spanish Universalist School: Part I/Iii

The International Journal of Ecopsychology (IJE)

Since the beginning of the XX Century, it exists as anti-Spanish propaganda, a stable narrative promoted since the XVI Century: The black legend (Leyenda Negra). This is one of the main reasons why, frequently, the Spanish pensamiento has been reconstructed in a half-hazard and incomplete manner. Paradoxically, this is the result of a past with high relevancy, developing as it did as imperial Catholic culture, integrating and civilizing different peoples as humanly and morally equals. More deservedly, a modern sense of a “self,” rightfully examined, is the idea of a “self” created by the School of Salamanca (see …

Editorial Introduction Vol 6 (1) 2023

The International Journal of Ecopsychology (IJE)

No abstract provided.

New Coyote (Qomu'tsau) Stories: Death

The International Journal of Ecopsychology (IJE)

No abstract provided.

Death Cafés As A Strategy To Foster Compassionate Communities: Contributions For Death And Grief Literacy

The International Journal of Ecopsychology (IJE)

The death-positive movement, the most recent manifestation of the death awareness movement, contends that modern society is suffering from a “death taboo” and that people should talk more openly about death. This movement is striving to shift the dialogue about (and place of) death and dying into community spaces. Death literacy is defined as a set of skills and knowledge enabling people to learn about, understand, and act on end-of-life and death-care options. People and groups with a high level of death literacy have a context-specific comprehension of the death system and can more easily adapt to it, becoming better …

Interview: Implementing A “Sense Of Place” Pedagogy In The Valley Of Alagón, Spain

The International Journal of Ecopsychology (IJE)

No abstract provided.

Exordium: Lost Words, Lost Worlds

The International Journal of Ecopsychology (IJE)

Brunold-Conesa, C. (2022). Lost Words, Lost Nature: A Dictionary's Controversial Choices. Montessori Life: The Official Blog and Magazine of the American Montessori Society, Wednesday, September 07, 2022. https://amshq.org/Blog/2022-09-07-Lost-Words-Lost-Nature

Book Review: Jared Farmer's (2022) Elderflora: A Modern History Of Ancient Trees. Ny: Basic Books.

The International Journal of Ecopsychology (IJE)

No abstract provided.

Poem: Adrienne Rich's (1955) "Ideal Landscape"

The International Journal of Ecopsychology (IJE)

No abstract provided.

Dirt, Ground And Groundedness: Material Semiotics And Social Anchors Of The Real And Truth In The Modernist Imaginary

The International Journal of Ecopsychology (IJE)

What makes the ground (earth, dirt, soil) the axial point of reference for modern subjectivity? In this paper, I explore the semiotics of the ground and the complex ways modern subjectivity sets a performative frame around association/disassociation with dirt. From the hygiene hypothesis and the problematic of modern existence and the lack of understanding of the good of dirt for the immune system to the ontology of being real in grounded theory, how we posit our connection to the ground can inform us of the way that we seek to anchor our place in the world. In this anchoring to …

Psychenatur: Selfing And Naturing

The International Journal of Ecopsychology (IJE)

Insofar as our sense of and appreciation of “nature aesthetics” is both culturally biased and subjectively determined (given our agentic proclivities and/or actual degrees of freedom), and while taking the more inclusive perspective that, objectively so, ‘nature’ are all the processes seen and unseen that existed, now exist, and will exist, from the infinitesimally small to those of cosmic proportions, and, that whatever we mean by a singular “self” stands, in reality, for a multiplicity of self-other and self-otherness references (i.e., intersectionality during the entire life of a given individual—see Fig. 3), then all characterizations easily or convolutely described …

Artist's Corner: Isabel Cidoncha

The International Journal of Ecopsychology (IJE)

No abstract provided.

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 …

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, …

Adverse Effects Of Early Exposure To Pornography And The Utilization Of Art Therapy, Meghan Potts

Art Therapy Counseling Final Research Projects

Pornography is not a new phenomenon in our culture or world. With the expansion of the affordability, accessibility, and anonymity of pornography, demand and consumption rates have also escalated, along with the adverse impact associated with this growth (Coopersmith, 2006 as cited by Dines, 2017). This two-year grant proposal seeks to focus its efforts on serving children, the population being exposed to this widespread phenomenon (Wright, Paul, et al., 2021). The full-time art therapist will carry out trauma-informed prevention and intervention methods to advocate for the mental and physical health of children in individual, relational, and community contexts. This will …

Zoom Fatigue: Case Presentation And Brief Review, Alan Lucerna, James Espinosa, Risha Hertz, Robin Lahr, James Lee

Rowan-Virtua Research Day

In this review, we discuss the phenomenon of what has been called Zoom Fatigue—a sense of fatigue as well as physical and emotional stress that can be associated with teleconferencing (especially long teleconferences with minimal breaks). The Zoom Fatigue Scale is discussed as well as various theories to explain the phenomenon. Some preventive strategies are discussed.