Cognitive Psychology Commons^™

Benefits Of Acceptance And Commitment Therapy (Act) For Chronic Pain, Maria Kleinstaeuber, Ashley Yaugher, Emily Roundy, Michael Levin

All Current Publications

Chronic pain is a common experience for people and can be difficult to manage. However, there are many evidence-based and effective psychological treatments for chronic pain to help people improve their lives. One of these is acceptance and commitment therapy, or ACT. ACT teaches how to accept pain and live a life full of meaning and quality, with pain. It helps individuals increase their quality of life through mindfulness-based methods, experiential processing, and a focus on values, goals, and actions. ACT has been shown to be effective in reducing pain and improving pain management and personal well-being. Consult the resources …

Theory Of Mind Acquisition In Children Who Are Deaf: The Importance Of Early Identification And Communication Access, Kimberly A. Peters, Jessica Beer, David Pisoni, Ethan Remmell

Journal of Early Hearing Detection and Intervention

Objectives: The aim of this study was to compare Theory of Mind (ToM) acquisition in typically-hearing preschool-age children (TH), and deaf children of hearing parents (DCHP) who received a cochlear implant by 18 months of age, to determine if early access to spoken language via a cochlear implant affected ToM acquisition.

Methods: Participants included 25 children with cochlear implants ages 3.0 to 6.5 years and 25 age-matched children with TH all of whom were enrolled in preschools with typical peer models. The test battery included measures of expressive and receptive language and ToM.

Results: There were no …

Motor Preparation For Compensatory Reach-To-Grasp Responses When Viewing A Wall-Mounted Safety Handle, David A. E. Bolton, David M. Cole, Blake Butler, Mahmoud Mansour, Garrett Rydalch, Doug Mcdannald, Sarah Schwartz

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The present study explored how motor cortical activity was influenced by visual perception of complex environments that either afforded or obstructed arm and leg reactions in young, healthy adults. Most importantly, we focused on compensatory balance reactions where the arms were required to regain stability following unexpected postural perturbation. Our first question was if motor cortical activity from the hand area automatically corresponds to the visual environment. Affordance-based priming of the motor system was assessed using single-pulse Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) to determine if visual access to a wall-mounted support handle influenced corticospinal excitability. We evaluated if hand actions were …

Gene-Environment Interaction: Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (Bdnf) As A Moderating Factor For The Effects Of Exercise And Diet On Cognitive And Mental Health: The Cache County Study On Memory In Aging, Chelsea L. Sanders

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The Cache County Study on Memory in Aging, funded by the National Institute on Aging, studied longitudinal changes in memory and aging over 12 years’ follow-up in a population-based sample of 5,092 older adults in semirural Cache County, UT. Among the extensive interview procedures, researchers collected information regarding the participants’ demographics, health, genetic factors, diet, physical activity, and cognitive abilities. This study has allowed researchers to investigate how genetic and modifiable lifestyle factors interact to predict health, cognitive function, and psychological wellbeing in older adults.

Diet and exercise are important lifestyle factors in maintaining cognitive health and psychological wellbeing throughout …

Concurrent Neurological And Behavioral Assessment Of Number Line Estimation Performance In Children And Adults, Joseph Michael Baker

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Understanding the brain’s response to common math-learning activities may help improve math education. For example, by imaging the brains of typically developing children and adults throughout a number line estimation task, it is possible to establish a baseline of what “typical” brains do in such situations. Thus, comparisons may be made to determine the degree to which brain functioning differs between typical and atypical math learners. Moreover, by identifying methods that may increase the brain’s response to real-world math activities, it may be possible to improve the math learning process for typical and atypical learners alike.

Brain imaging devices such …

Some Assembly Required: How Scientific Explanations Are Constructed During Clinical Interviews, Bruce L. Sherin, Moshe Krakowski, Victor R. Lee

Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences Faculty Publications

This article is concerned with commonsense science knowledge, the informally-gained knowledge of the natural world that students possess prior to formal instruction in a scientific discipline. Although commonsense science has been the focus of substantial study for more than two decades, there are still profound disagreements about its nature and origin, and its role in science learning. What is the reason that it has been so difficult to reach consensus? We believe that the problems run deep; there are difficulties both with how the field has framed questions and the way that it has gone about seeking answers. In order …

Framing In Cognitive Clinical Interviews About Intuitive Science Knowledge: Dynamic Student Understandings Of The Discourse Interaction, Rosemary S. Russ, Victor R. Lee, Bruce L. Sherin

Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences Faculty Publications

Researchers in the science education community make extensive use of cognitive clinical interviews as windows into student knowledge and thinking. Despite our familiarity with the interviews, there has been very limited research addressing the ways that students understand these interactions. In this work we examine students’ behaviors and speech patterns in a set of clinical interviews about chemistry for evidence of their tacit understandings and underlying expectations about the activity in which they are engaged. We draw on the construct of framing from anthropology and sociolinguistics and identify clusters of behaviors that indicate that students may alternatively frame the interview …

Maladaptive Schemas As A Predictor Of Residential Treatment Outcomes In Females With Eating Disorders, Jodi Leigh Cullum

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The present study aimed to examine the relationship between maladaptive schemas and treatment outcomes of adolescent and adult women with an eating disorder receiving residential treatment. Existing data were obtained from 67 females aged 11 to 47 years (m =18.61) that had entered residential treatment for anorexia nervosa (AN), bulimia nervosa (BN), or eating disorder not otherwise specified (EDNOS) at a Western United States residential eating disorder treatment facility. Pre- and posttreatment data were collected by the personnel at the facility on eating disorder symptomatology, mood, and core beliefs. Three hypotheses were tested: (a) that maladaptive schemas would be …

Methodological Challenges For Identifying And Coding Diverse Knowledge Elements In Interview Data, Victor R. Lee, Moshe Krakowski, Bruce Sherin, Megan Bang, Gregory Dam

Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences Faculty Publications

This paper, as part of a symposium on the analysis of clinical interview data and the development of a framework for analyzing students' intuitive science knowledge, identifies and discusses methodological challenges encountered when specifying the knowledge elements and resources are invoked dynamically during a clinical interview. Drawing from interviews with middle school students about the seasons and an analysis of knowledge in terms of 'nodes', two classes of problems are identified: those associated with identification of nodes and those associated with their application as codes to a transcript-based data corpus. We posit that these challenges are common ones associated with …

A Reliability Measurement Of The Transactional Analysis Checklist, Robert B. Kahn

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The purpose of the study was to measure the reliability of a checklist created and standardized for the study. The development of the checklist, referred to in the study as the Transactional Analysis Checklist (TAC), finds its basis in Transactional Analysis theory.

The literature available pertaining to Transactional Analysis was reviewed. No literature, prior to the study, existed which directed itself specifically to the examination of an instrument that could be used during the diagnostic phase of treatment.by .Transactional Analysts. The lack of literature was a partial motivator for the study. It was suggested that informally constructed devices are being …

Spatial Reasoning As Related To Solving "Story Type" Problems, James R. Holder

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

In this study it was hypothesized that the ability to mentally solve II story type" problems, those presented in the form of sentences, is significantly related to one's spatial reasoning ability and that a weakness in this ability, when tested by the "story type" problems, could be compensated for by training in and utilization of overt "paper and pencil" manipulations.

To test the hypothesis, three measures were used. These were the DAT Verbal Reasoning test--used to control the factor of verbal reasoning, the DAT Space Relations test--used to measure spatial reasoning ability, and two forms of a test composed of …

A Study Of The Difference In Short-Term Memory Between Seventh Grade Students Rated High And Low In The Ability To Acquire Sport Skills, Vera Jeppesen Watkins

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This study investigated the possibility that the short-term memory factor may be one of the variables involved in the learning of motor skills.

The subjects of the study were all of the seventh grade gym students at Logan Junior High School who were rated by their teachers as being in the upper or lower one-fourth of their class in respect to their abilities in sport skills. After a short-term memory (STM) test developed by the researcher was administered to this group, their scores were compared to determine whether there was a significant difference between the upper and lower one-fourth.

An …