Cognitive Psychology Commons^™

Simulating A Computational Biological Model, Rather Than Reading, Elicits Changes In Brain Activity During Biological Reasoning, Caron Clark, Tomáš Helikar, Joseph T. Dauer

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

The creation and analysis of models is integral to all scientific disciplines, and modeling is considered a core competency in undergraduate biology education. There remains a gap in understanding how modeling activities may support changes in students’ neural representations. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of simulating a model on undergraduates’ behavioral accuracy and neural response patterns when reasoning about biological systems. During brief tutorials, students (n = 30) either simulated a computer model or read expert analysis of a gene regulatory system. Subsequently, students underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging while responding to system-specific questions and …

Anti-Atheist Discrimination, Outness, And Psychological Distress Among Atheists Of Color, Dena M. Abbott, Michael Ternes, Caitlin Mercier, Chris Monceaux

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

Using a Concealable Stigmatized Identity (CSI) framework, the present study explored disclosure and concealment of atheist identity, anti-atheist discrimination, and psychological distress among participants (N = 87) identified as both atheists and people of color residing in the United States (US). Path analysis was utilized to examine the relationships among variables. Consistent with past CSI and outness research, the final model suggested small, significant associations between higher disclosure of atheist identity and more experiences of anti-atheist discrimination as well as between higher concealment and higher psychological distress. Unexpectedly, higher concealment of atheist identity was associated with higher anti-atheist discrimination …

Developing A Brief Behavior Rating Scale For Progress Monitoring Of Depression In School Settings, Evan H. Dart, Prerna G. Arora, Tai Collins, Kevin Stark, Clayton R. Cook, Mylien T. Duong, Carolyn A. Mccarty, Beth Doll

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

Frequent formative assessment of students’ functioning, or progress monitoring, is a critical component of multi-tiered systems of support as data inform data-driven decisions about response to treatment. Progress monitoring tools for students’ academic and behavioral functioning are readily available and widely researched; however, despite the documented prevalence of depressive disorders among youth and that schools have been put forth as an ideal location for the delivery of mental health services, there are currently no progress monitoring tools to examine students’ response to interventions that target depression. To address this gap, this study sought to develop a progress monitoring assessment of …

Mothers’ And Fathers’ Self-Regulation Capacity, Dysfunctional Attributions And Hostile Parenting During Early Adolescence: A Process-Oriented Approach, Melissa L. Sturge-Apple, Zhi Li, Meredith Martin, Hannah R. Jones-Gordils, Patrick T. Davies

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

The parent-child relationship undergoes substantial reorganization over the transition to adolescence. Navigating this change is a challenge for parents because teens desire more behavioral autonomy as well as input in decision-making processes. Although it has been demonstrated that changes in parental socialization approaches facilitates adolescent adjustment, very little work has been devoted to understanding the underlying mechanisms supporting parents’ abilities to adjust caregiving during this period. Guided by self-regulation models of parenting, the present study examined how parental physiological and cognitive regulatory capacities were associated with hostile and insensitive parent conflict behavior over time. From a process-oriented perspective, we tested …

Mothers’ And Fathers’ Self-Regulation Capacity, Dysfunctional Attributions And Hostile Parenting During Early Adolescence: A Process-Oriented Approach, Melissa L. Sturge-Apple, Zhi Li, Meredith J. Martin, Hannah R. Jones-Gordils, Patrick T. Davies

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

The parent-child relationship undergoes substantial reorganization over the transition to adolescence. Navigating this change is a challenge for parents because teens desire more behavioral autonomy as well as input in decision-making processes. Although it has been demon- strated that changes in parental socialization approaches facilitates adolescent adjustment, very little work has been devoted to understand- ing the underlying mechanisms supporting parents’ abilities to adjust caregiving during this period. Guided by self-regulation models of parenting, the present study examined how parental physiological and cognitive regulatory capacities were associated with hostile and insen- sitive parent conflict behavior over time. From a process-oriented …

The Impact Of The Covid-19 Pandemic On Marginalized Populations In The United States: A Research Agenda, Neeta Kantamneni

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

International and national crises often highlight inequalities in the labor market that disproportionately affect individuals from marginalized backgrounds. The COVID-19 pandemic, and the resulting changes in society due to social distancing measures, has showcased inequities in access to decent work and experiences of discrimination resulting in many of the vulnerable populations in the United States experiencing a much harsher impact on economic and work-related factors. The purpose of this essay is to describe how the COVID-19 pandemic may differentially affect workers of color, individuals from low-income backgrounds, and women in complex ways. First, this essay will discuss disproportionate representation of …

Does The Spiritual Values/Religion Subscale Of The Self-Description Questionnaire Iii Function Differentially Across Heterosexual And Non-Heterosexual Young Adults? A Measurement Invariance Study, Thai Q. Ong, Deborah L. Bandalos, Susan M. Swearer

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

We evaluated the dimensionality and measurement invariance of the Spiritual Values/Religion (SVR) subscale from the Self-Description Questionnaire III across heterosexual and non-heterosexual young adults. We found a one-factor model provided adequate fit to the data for each group, with the SVR items exhibiting configural, metric, and scalar invariance across the two groups. Given that we established measurement invariance, we examined the latent mean difference on the construct and found the heterosexual group reported significantly higher levels of spiritual value/ religion than the non-heterosexual group. Our results provided empirical support for the theorized factor structure of the SVR items and the …

Differential Effects Of Self- Vs. External-Regulation On Learning Approaches, Academic Achievement, And Satisfaction In Undergraduate Students, Jesús De La Fuente, Paul Sander, Douglas Kauffman, Meryem Yılmaz Soylu

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

The aim of this research was to determine the degree to which undergraduate students’ learning approach, academic achievement and satisfaction were determined by the combination of an intrapersonal factor (self-regulation) and a interpersonal factor (contextual or regulatory teaching). The hypothesis proposed that greater combined regulation (internal and external) would be accompanied by more of a deep approach to learning, more satisfaction and higher achievement, while a lower level of combined regulation would determine a surface approach, less satisfaction and lower achievement. Within an ex post facto design by selection, 1036 university students completed validated questionnaires using an online tool. Several …

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 …

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 …

Context And Regulation Of Homeschooling: Issues, Evidence, And Assessment Practices, Janet F. Carlson

Buros Center: Professional Staff Publications

The article discusses salient factors that influence the current context within which homeschooling occurs. Individual states have applied various approaches to establish regulations that both preserve the rights of homeschooling parents and fulfill the state’s obligation to ensure that its residents receive the education to which they are constitutionally entitled. Case and ethnographic studies or research involving small and selected samples often appear in outlets associated with homeschool advocacy groups or in outlets that are not mainstream. The paucity of empirical evidence derived from methodologically strong research paradigms has led to little certainty about many aspects of homeschooling including its …

Nebraska Prevention Center For Alcohol And Drug Abuse — Bibliography Of Publications, Michelle R. Maas, Ian Newman

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

Approximately 85 citations, with links, of published reseach papers by personnel of the Nebraska Prevention Center for Alcohol and Drug Abuse, 1970-2019.

An Analysis Of Performance-Based Perception In Competitive Baseball Players, Grant Schlimgen, Michael Dodd

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Abstract: The correlation between performance hitting a baseball and perceived ball size has been described in previous work (Witt & Proffitt, 2005). The article in question used recreational softball players to demonstrate that greater performance led to a perceived change in softball size, but discussed a desire to replicate their experiment with competitive professionals. Using athletes from a semi-collegiate baseball team during their summer season, we were able to find a correlation that although weaker, continues to propagate the relationship found in previous studies. The finding of a weaker relationship also sheds new insight into why elite athletes may fare …

Partners In School: An Innovative Parent-Teacher Consultation Model For Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Gazi F. Azad, Steven C. Marcus, Susan M. Sheridan, David S. Mandell

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

Little research examines the best ways to improve communication between parents and teachers of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and its effect on child outcomes. The present study tests an innovative parent-teacher consultation model, entitled Partners in School. The goal of Partners in School is to improve parent-teacher communication about evidence-based practices (EBPs), and subsequently, outcomes for children with ASD. Participants were 26 teachers and 49 parents of children with ASD from a large urban public school district. Parents and teachers completed measures of their communication and child outcomes prior to and after receiving consultation through Partners in School. …

Cinq Cles Pour Aider Vos Enfants A Developper Leurs Talents, Kenneth A. Kiewra

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

Certains pensent que le talent est inné. La légende de Mozart commençant à jouer du piano à 3 ans, puis à composer à l’âge de 5 ans, renforce de telles croyances.

Effects Of A Comprehensive Nutrition Education Programme To Change Grade 4 Primary-School Students’ Eating Behaviours In China, Lian Qian, Ian M. Newman, Lok-Wa Yuen, Weijing Du, Duane F. Shell

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

Objective: As part of a national initiative to reduce child obesity, a comprehensive school-based nutrition education intervention to change eating behaviours among grade 4 primary-school students was developed, implemented and evaluated. Design: The intervention was developed by school staff, with technical assistance from outside health education specialists. The programme included school facility upgrades, school teacher/staff training, curriculum changes and activities for parents. Student scores on nine key eating behaviours were assessed prior to and after the programme. The quality of programme implementation in the schools was monitored by technical assistance teams. Setting: Shandong Province (high household income) and Qinghai Province …

The Nebraska Prevention Center For Alcohol And Drug Abuse, 1980-2019, Michelle R. Maas, Ian M. Newman

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

The Nebraska Prevention Center for Alcohol and Drug Abuse (NPCADA) was established at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1980 with federal and state funds for substance use research. The Center operated in the UNL Teachers College (now the College of Education and Human Sciences) under the directorship of Professor Ian Newman for 39 years, until the Center closed in 2019.

Selected publications by faculty and graduate students of the NPCADA can be retrieved from UNL Digital Commons by searching on “Nebraska Prevention Center.”

Five-Minute Cognitive Test As A New Quick Screening Of Cognitive Impairment In The Elderly, Jie Zhang, Lijun Wang, Xia Deng, Guoqiang Fei, Lirong Jin, Xiaoli Pan, Liuhan Cai, Anthony D. Albano, Chunjiu Zhong

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

This study aims to develop a new evaluation method for quickly and conveniently screening cognitive impairment in the elderly. The five-minute cognitive test (FCT) was designed to capture deficits in five domains of cognitive abilities, including episodic memory, language fluency, time orientation, visuospatial function, and executive function. Subsequently, FCT efficiencies in differentiating normally cognitive ability from cognitive impairment were explored and compared with that of the Mini-Mental Status Evaluation (MMSE). Equipercentile equating method was utilized to create a crosswalk between scores of the FCT and MMSE. Further, the association of scores of the FCT and MMSE with hippocampal volumes was …

Contemporary Approaches To Qualitative Research: Andragogical Strategies For Teaching And Learning, Tiffany T. Young, Wayne A. Babchuk

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

This inquiry provides practical suggestions for teaching and learning qualitative research methodology. Important components of qualitative research design/implementation are identified and strategies to guide novice qualitative researchers are outlined.

Nebraska Prevention Center For Alcohol And Drug Abuse — Bibliography Of Publications

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

5 Ways To Develop Children's Talents, Kenneth A. Kiewra

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

Some people think talent is born. The often-told story of Mozart playing piano at 3 and composing at 5 reinforces such beliefs.

What’S Past Is Prologue: Advancing Feminist Psychological Research On Lgbtq+ Genders, Elliot A. Tebbe

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

In my introduction to the special section on LGBTQ genders in this issue of the Psychology of Women Quarterly (PWQ), I highlight and place in context the significant contributions of this special section to theory and the broader psychological literature on gender. For several years now, the Society of Psychology of Women’s Section 4 (Section on Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Concerns) of the American Psychological Association (APA) has invited authors of ground-breaking empirical research on gender and sexuality to submit papers to present at the annual APA convention. Through the years, we have seen cutting edge research presented …

A Multidimensional Examination Of Parent Involvement Across Child And Parent Characteristics, S. Andrew Garbacz, Philippa S. Mcdowall, Elizabeth Schaughency, Susan M. Sheridan, Greg W. Welch

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

The purpose of this study was to clarify equivocal findings in the parent-involvement literature and examine novel interactions in a New Zealand context. Specifically, this study tested direct effects of school year, parent education, family structure, and child gender on parent involvement in elementary school. In addition, interactions between parent, family, and child characteristics were explored as moderators on the relation of school year and parent involvement. Participants were 421 primary caregivers of children attending their first through final years of elementary school on New Zealand’s South Island. Structural equation models were used to detect direct and interaction effects. Findings …

Variables Associated With Alcohol Consumption And Abstinence Among Young Adults In Central China, Ling Qian, Ian M. Newman, Lok-Wa Yuen, Duane F. Shell, Jingdong Xu

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

This paper presents a descriptive analysis of data gathered by personal interviews from a multistage random sample of 1640 residents aged 18–34 years in Wuhan, China. First, alcohol drinkers and abstainers were compared based on demographic, attitude, and belief variables. Next, the drinkers from the sample were classified into four groups based on frequency-quantity of alcohol use, and the frequency-quantity groups were compared on the same variables. For Abstainers versus Drinkers, we found no difference by age or gender in this sample. Married people and people with children were more likely to be abstainers. University-educated, currently-employed individuals in mid-level jobs …

Rural Teacher Practices And Partnerships To Address Behavioral Challenges: The Efficacy And Mechanisms Of Conjoint Behavioral Consultation, Susan M. Sheridan Dr., Amanda Witte, Gina M. Kunz, Lorey A. Wheeler, Samantha R. Angell, Houston F. Lester

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

The efficacy of conjoint behavioral consultation (CBC), a family-school partnership intervention, for teachers’ practices and process skills was evaluated. Participants were 152 teachers of gradesK–3 in 45Midwest rural schools randomly assigned to treatment or control conditions. Treatment group teachers participated in an 8- to 10-week CBC intervention. Outcome measures were (a) self-reports of classroom practices and collaborative process skills and (b) direct observations of teachers’ use of effective behavioral strategies. Relative to control group participants, there was a significant positive intervention effect on CBC teachers’ self-report of appropriate behavioral strategies (b p .47, p ! .001), observations of their use …

Health-Related Quality Of Life In Patients With Arthritis: A Cross-Sectional Survey Among Middle-Aged Adults In Chongqing, China, Yunshuang Rao, Xianglong Xu, Dengyuan Liu, Cesar Reis, Ian M. Newman, Liqiang Qin, Manoj Sharma, Jun Shen, Yong Zhao

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

Background: Arthritis is a common disease in China, but few studies have been conducted to explore the associated health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and its influencing factors in Chongqing, China. This study aimed to explore the association of arthritis and HRQoL and probe factors affecting HRQoL among arthritis patients. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted in Chongqing, China. A total of 1224 adults were included in the analysis. Medical Outcomes Study Short Form 36 Health Survey (SF-36) was used to measure HRQoL. Multiple linear regression models (stepwise) and covariance analysis models were used to examine the association of arthritis with …

Identification And Replication Of Rna-Seq Gene Network Modules Associated With Depression Severity, Trang T. Le, Jonathan Savitz, Hideo Suzuki, Masaya Misaki, T. Kent Teague, Bill C. White, Julie H. Marino, Graham Wiley, Patrick M. Gaffney, Wayne C. Drevets, Brett A. Mckinney, Jerzy Bodurka

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

Genomic variation underlying major depressive disorder (MDD) likely involves the interaction and regulation of multiple genes in a network. Data-driven co-expression network module inference has the potential to account for variation within regulatory networks, reduce the dimensionality of RNA-Seq data, and detect significant geneexpression modules associated with depression severity. We performed an RNA-Seq gene co-expression network analysis of mRNA data obtained from the peripheral blood mononuclear cells of unmedicated MDD (n = 78) and healthy control (n = 79) subjects. Across the combined MDD and HC groups, we assigned genes into modules using hierarchical clustering with a dynamic …

The Signature Of Undetected Change: An Exploratory Electrotomographic Investigation Of Gradual Change Blindness, John E. Kiat, Michael D. Dodd, Robert F. Belli, Jacob E. Cheadle

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Neuroimaging-based investigations of change blindness, a phenomenon in which seemingly obvious changes in visual scenes fail to be detected, have significantly advanced our understanding of visual awareness. The vast majority of prior investigations, however, utilize paradigms involving visual disruptions (e.g., intervening blank screens, saccadic movements, “mudsplashes”), making it difficult to isolate neural responses toward visual changes cleanly. To address this issue in this present study, high-density EEG data (256 channel) were collected from 25 participants using a paradigm in which visual changes were progressively introduced into detailed real-world scenes without the use of visual disruption. Oscillatory activity associated with undetected …

Social Contact Patterns Can Buffer Costs Of Forgetting In The Evolution Of Cooperation, Jeffrey R. Stevens, Jan K. Woike, Lael J. Schooler, Stefan Lindner, Thorsten Pachur

Jeffrey Stevens Publications

Analyses of the evolution of cooperation often rely on two simplifying assumptions: (i) individuals interact equally frequently with all social network members and (ii) they accurately remember each partner's past cooperation or defection. Here, we examine how more realistic, skewed patterns of contact—in which individuals interact primarily with only a subset of their network's members—influence cooperation. In addition, we test whether skewed contact patterns can counteract the decrease in cooperation caused by memory errors (i.e. forgetting). Finally, we compare two types of memory error that vary in whether forgotten interactions are replaced with random actions or with actions from previous …

Mesotocin Influences Pinyon Jay Prosociality, Juan Duque, Whitney Leichner, Holly Ahmann, Jeffrey R. Stevens

Jeffrey Stevens Publications

Many species exhibit prosocial behavior, in which one individual’s actions benefit another individual, often without an immediate benefit to itself. The neuropeptide oxytocin is an important hormonal mechanism influencing prosociality in mammals, but it is unclear whether the avian homologue mesotocin plays a similar functional role in birds. Here, we experimentally tested prosociality in pinyon jays (Gymnorhinus cyanocephalus), a highly social corvid species that spontaneously shares food with others. First, we measured prosocial preferences in a prosocial choice task with two different payoff distributions: Prosocial trials delivered food to both the subject and either an empty cage or a partner …