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2025

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Articles 121 - 150 of 254

Full-Text Articles in Cognitive Psychology

Surviving Their Stripes: Quality Of Life And Coping For Individuals With Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, Julianna L. Breazeale May 2025

Surviving Their Stripes: Quality Of Life And Coping For Individuals With Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, Julianna L. Breazeale

Health, Human Performance and Recreation Undergraduate Honors Theses

Hypermobile type Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (hEDS) is a subtype of Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, a genetic connective tissue disorder with complexities involving joint hypermobility, tissue fragility and severe pain. Patients with hEDS often experience misdiagnosis, medical dismissal and years of waiting for a diagnosis. This study aims to evaluate the quality of life and diagnostic journey for patients living with hEDS. Qualitative, cross-sectional and semi-structured interviews were conducted in this study using a descriptive, phenomenological methodological approach. The specific phenomenon is the experience of the hEDS diagnosis and how that diagnosis further impacts patient life. The two primary research questions that we aimed …


When 'Weird' Means 'Dangerous': Viruses And Firewalls In Affective Polarization, Nathan J. Locke May 2025

When 'Weird' Means 'Dangerous': Viruses And Firewalls In Affective Polarization, Nathan J. Locke

All Theses

As traditional sources of epistemic authority face declining trust, alternative narratives have gained prominence - often leveraging the emotional and cultural resonance of seemingly simple terms. In the 2024 election cycle, the term “weird” emerged as a potent meme in American political discourse. Using a memetic perspective that incorporates elements of framing theory and Social Judgment Theory, this thesis investigates the use and reaction to “weird” and its role in shaping perception of Donald Trump, his political allies, his followers, and his opposition during and immediately after the 2024 Presidential election. The memetic perspective, which views ideas as units of …


A Review Of Studies Assessing Modifiable Risk Factors For Dementia Among Family Caregivers In The United States Based On Behavioral Risk Factorsurveillance System (Brfss), Shruthi Ranjithkumar May 2025

A Review Of Studies Assessing Modifiable Risk Factors For Dementia Among Family Caregivers In The United States Based On Behavioral Risk Factorsurveillance System (Brfss), Shruthi Ranjithkumar

2025 Spring Honors Capstone Projects - Archive

Caregivers of individuals with Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementia (ADRD) face an increased risk of developing dementia due to advanced age and modifiable risk factors. The 2024 Lancet Commission Report identified 14 such risk factors, whose mitigation could reduce dementia cases by 45%. Despite this, research on modifiable dementia risk factors among ADRD caregivers remains limited. This study investigates whether peer-reviewed studies utilizing Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) data assess modifiable dementia risk factors among ADRD caregivers. A PubMed search retrieved 27 relevant articles, which were analyzed for risk factors identified by the Lancet Commission, including traumatic brain injury, …


Tidal Waves Of Mental Health Damage: Effects Of The 2024 U.S. Election, Mary Anne Layden May 2025

Tidal Waves Of Mental Health Damage: Effects Of The 2024 U.S. Election, Mary Anne Layden

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

No abstract provided.


The Role Of Endogenous Estrogen In Effects Of Non-Invasive Brain Stimulation On Cognitive Performance, Samantha Walsh May 2025

The Role Of Endogenous Estrogen In Effects Of Non-Invasive Brain Stimulation On Cognitive Performance, Samantha Walsh

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

High-definition transcranial direct current stimulation (HD-tDCS) directly modulates brain activity, allowing the study of brain-behavior relationships in cognitive processes. However, cognitive effects of tDCS vary widely, partly due to individual differences in baseline brain activity. Estrogen levels, which fluctuate during the menstrual cycle, are known to affect cortical excitability and impact neural response to tDCS, but no research to date has examined the potential moderating role of endogenous estrogen in tDCS effects on cognition. In this study, N = 16 healthy female adults completed four sessions of a working memory (WM) task while receiving tDCS (two active sessions, two sham) …


Predicting Cognitive Bias Susceptibility In Simulated Business Management Decisions: Exploring The Impact Of Group Size, Process Accountability, And Member Experiences, Jacob Breaux May 2025

Predicting Cognitive Bias Susceptibility In Simulated Business Management Decisions: Exploring The Impact Of Group Size, Process Accountability, And Member Experiences, Jacob Breaux

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

This dissertation explored systematic susceptibility to four cognitive biases among individuals, dyads, triads, and tetrads in a series of tasks designed to simulate real-world business management scenarios. This included measuring representativeness bias, sunk costs, anchoring effects, and framing effects, each of which with historical and empirical prevalence in various managerial contexts. Using experimental data from undergraduate students, participants were prompted to act as surrogate members of a top management team simulation. Participants first completed each of the decision scenarios on their own and were subsequently brought together to collaborate and converge on a single decision preference on the same set …


Do Readers Keep Track Of Protagonist Identity In Narratives?, Sophia Skrivanos May 2025

Do Readers Keep Track Of Protagonist Identity In Narratives?, Sophia Skrivanos

Psychological Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

The purpose of this research was to further investigate conflicting findings in the literature regarding the processes readers use to maintain and update their mental representation of contextual information in text. Previous research suggests that the relevance of information to a protagonist’s goals in a story influences whether that information will later be validated (Levine & Kim, 2019; Levine & Klin, 2001; Lutz & Radvansky, 1997). Studies showing that readers overlook inconsistencies in contextual information (Albrecht & Myers, 1995; Smith et al., 2020; Smith & O’Brien, 2012) often involve materials where the inconsistent details are irrelevant to the protagonist’s goals. …


Using Eeg To Measure Attentional Spreading Across Objects, Dawson L. Green, Michael Pratte May 2025

Using Eeg To Measure Attentional Spreading Across Objects, Dawson L. Green, Michael Pratte

Honors Theses

Abstract: Attention may not solely be restricted to a spatial area or a feature of an object, but rather can “spread” across all parts of an object in space, enhancing the processing of its features collectively (Duncan, 1984). This phenomenon suggests that attention operates at the level of whole objects, enhancing the representation of all features associated with the attended object while suppressing competing stimuli. Building on this object-based framework, the present thesis examines the functional and neural dissociation between attention and awareness using steady-state visually evoked potentials (SSVEPs) as a frequency-tagging method in EEG. Leveraging the high temporal resolution …


Penny For Your Thoughts: Exploring Mechanisms Linking Socioeconomic Status And Cognition, Colton Hunter May 2025

Penny For Your Thoughts: Exploring Mechanisms Linking Socioeconomic Status And Cognition, Colton Hunter

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Socioeconomic status is a complex psychological construct linked to a number of professional and personal barriers, including cognitive deficits. Throughout this dissertation, I seek to examine the mechanisms that link socioeconomic status and cognition. First, I explore potential mediators in the link between adolescent family income and cognition in adulthood, identifying education, stressful life events, inflammation, and family education expectations as significant mediators. Next, I examine the effects of writing-based stress manipulations on long-term memory and working memory, as these effects may mimic stress from financial worry. In doing so, I identify potential effects on working memory parameters. Finally, in …


Does An Impaired Sense Of Smell Make It Harder To Think About Things Like Garlic?, Ishrat N. Khan May 2025

Does An Impaired Sense Of Smell Make It Harder To Think About Things Like Garlic?, Ishrat N. Khan

Honors Scholar Theses

According to sensorimotor-based (also called "embodied" or "grounded") theories of semantic memory, accessing conceptual knowledge about things involves reactivating—or “simulating”—the sensory and motor experiences that we have had with them. For instance, thinking about things for which olfactory experience is dominant (e.g., garlic or a rose) would involve simulating their smell. However, evidence for olfactory simulation when thinking about "smelly” things is sparse and mixed. We tested smell-impaired (“anosmic”) and control participants (N=130 in the anosmic group and N=190 in the control group) on three tasks (1) Picture-Word Verification, (2) Semantic Property Verification, and (3) Free Recall. We predicted that …


A Comparative Analysis Of The Intersection Between Sex Trafficking And Domestic Violence: A Cross-Cultural Study Of The United States And India, Rachel A. Napier May 2025

A Comparative Analysis Of The Intersection Between Sex Trafficking And Domestic Violence: A Cross-Cultural Study Of The United States And India, Rachel A. Napier

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

Domestic violence survivors are affected by long-term trauma from abuse, which can lead to them being more vulnerable and susceptible to sex trafficking tactics. Sex trafficking survivors are also at risk of becoming involved in an abusive relationship because they may have been previously exposed or due to a normalization of abuse. Both domestic violence and sex trafficking are prevalent issues within the world that continue to be ongoing due to their hidden nature. This study highlights the connections between domestic violence and sex trafficking and how each can be portrayed differently based on the environment and cultural norms within …


Influence Of Smartphone Notifications On Behavior And Eye Movement Parameters Of Emotional Attention, Joshua Daniel Upshaw May 2025

Influence Of Smartphone Notifications On Behavior And Eye Movement Parameters Of Emotional Attention, Joshua Daniel Upshaw

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study examined how smartphone notifications interact with emotional facial expressions to influence behavioral and physiological eye movement parameters of attentional orientation. Using a dot-probe paradigm, participants viewed mixed emotional face pairs (angry, happy, or neutral) following an auditory stimulus (smartphone notifications, control tones, or silence). Angry faces elicited greater behavioral accuracy and delayed initial fixations, consistent with heightened threat-related attentional engagement. Notifications disrupted attentional stability, reflected in increased fixations and pupil size variability. The combined effect of smartphone notifications preceding angry faces intensified attentional modulation—evidenced by slower responses, increased blinking, greater pupil constriction, less pupil variability, and faster initial …


Emotion Regulation, Reasoning, And Procedural Safeguards In Politically-Polarized Moral Dilemmas., Alanea Graci May 2025

Emotion Regulation, Reasoning, And Procedural Safeguards In Politically-Polarized Moral Dilemmas., Alanea Graci

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Societal disputes often stem from polarized moral dilemmas. Procedural justice and self-determination (PJSD) afforded by societal decision-making processes may influence cooperation and acceptance in these dilemmas. However, moral conviction can sometimes overshadow PJSD, causing morally-opposed individuals to avoid deliberation, become uncooperative, or reject decision outcomes. I conducted two experiments to explore the role emotions (emotion regulation) and procedural safeguards for democratic deliberation (e.g., equal discussion time, rules for civility) play in these situations. I examined the topic of abortion in the U.S. after the Supreme Court’s June 2022 reversal of Roe v. Wade. Undergraduates at a large, urban Midwestern university …


Useful Measures Of Adult Attachment And Object Relations In Psychotherapy, Matilde A. Torallas Huerta May 2025

Useful Measures Of Adult Attachment And Object Relations In Psychotherapy, Matilde A. Torallas Huerta

Dissertations

This is a literature review of objective and projective measures of attachment and object relations in adults, with the objective of reviewing outstanding research to identify the key factors for adult attachment assessment considered within attachment and object relations theories, what measures of adult attachment styles and dysfunction work best, and to provide key themes of assistance in the measurement of attachment and object relations in adult clients in psychotherapy. Theoretical foundations of attachment and object relations theory are reviewed as well as objective and projective instruments grouped by format. The 10 themes found to be useful in the assessment …


Cognitive Advantages Of Dual Language: Bilingualism And Its Relationship With Working Memory And Controlled Attention, Ellison Alexander May 2025

Cognitive Advantages Of Dual Language: Bilingualism And Its Relationship With Working Memory And Controlled Attention, Ellison Alexander

Honors College Theses

This study investigates language familiarity and executive function within individuals who are fluent in or actively learning a second language, demonstrating whether bilingualism influences working memory performance and controlled attention. The study population consisted of undergraduate students attending Murray State University. Three groups were evaluated: students with a low-experience level in a second language (100 level classes), a high-experience group (200 level classes and beyond), and a separate control group of monolingual students without college-level language experience. All groups completed assessments of working memory performance and controlled attention by engaging in the Symmetry Span task and the Simon task. In …


The Drawing Effect: Evaluating Drawing Method And Strategic Implementation On Recall Accuracy, Jacob M. Namias May 2025

The Drawing Effect: Evaluating Drawing Method And Strategic Implementation On Recall Accuracy, Jacob M. Namias

Dissertations

Drawing images of to-be-remembered word’s reference often improves memory for the word relative to a control in which the word is written or read silently, a pattern dubbed the drawing effect. Drawing effects have been recorded in a variety of contexts and are generally more beneficial than other deep/elaborative encoding tasks. My dissertation compared recall for words that are drawn by copying a given image versus generating a drawn image without copying, and in study contexts in which the proportion of drawn items is disproportionally skewed. Experiment 1 gauged whether drawing effects differ relative to writing when participants draw an …


Sleep Restriction And Its Effects On Mood, April M. Rummery Lamb May 2025

Sleep Restriction And Its Effects On Mood, April M. Rummery Lamb

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Sleep plays a fundamental role in the human body being able to function effectively, in particular it plays an essential role in mood regulation. Previous research on sleep and mood has found that there is a correlation between receiving an inadequate amount of sleep and having a negative mood. However, the current field has mostly looked at the relationship between disordered sleep and mood disorders as opposed to everyday sleep patterns and daily mood. The present study aims to look at how sleep restrictions which occur naturally (not caused by sleep disorders such as insomnia) effect daily mood. To conduct …


Parkinson’S Disease And Processing Speed Theory Does Processing Speed Mediate Higher-Order Cognitive Functioning?, Priscilla Cuellar-Rocha May 2025

Parkinson’S Disease And Processing Speed Theory Does Processing Speed Mediate Higher-Order Cognitive Functioning?, Priscilla Cuellar-Rocha

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder resulting in both motor and cognitive deficits. Salthouse (1990) proposed the Information Processing Speed (IPS) Theory that a reduced cognitive processing speed is a significant factor that accounts for the negative relationship between age-related variance and cognition. Parkinson’s is an idiopathic disorder, meaning that the cause is unknown, with most patients being 60 years and older. If the IPS theory suggests that an increased age affects the slowing of IPS, which then impairs cognition, PD, a disorder involving older adults, should also follow this pattern. However, no studies have assessed the IPS theory …


Structuring The Sustainability Of Happiness In Critical Postmodernity: A Metadata, Mixed-Methods Study In Education, Roxanne Renee Rodriguez May 2025

Structuring The Sustainability Of Happiness In Critical Postmodernity: A Metadata, Mixed-Methods Study In Education, Roxanne Renee Rodriguez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation study is built upon a pilot study that uses a meta-theoretical analysis on the culture of education. The purpose of it is to examine [un]happiness, a phenomenon influenced by the social, political, and economic systems in Western paradigms within a critical postmodern view, looking at the intricacies of schooling, as no studies have taken a bottom-up approach to investigate the voices of the main stakeholders: students, teachers, and administrators. My study questions whether a holistic, liberating, and socially responsive curriculum could engender a positive learning environment wherein happiness is sustainable. Within happiness studies, hope is essential, so much …


Investigating The Impact Of Bilingual Experience And Language Use Context On Cognitive Control In An Auditory Stroop Task, Christian Ruiz-Ortiz May 2025

Investigating The Impact Of Bilingual Experience And Language Use Context On Cognitive Control In An Auditory Stroop Task, Christian Ruiz-Ortiz

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Bilinguals are often reported to outperform monolinguals on executive control tasks, yet recent work suggests that any bilingual adaptations depend on how, and in which contexts, individuals use their two languages. The present dissertation tested whether specific dimensions of bilingual experiences (proficiency balance and daily interaction situations) predict the way listeners engage proactive (anticipatory) versus reactive (stimulus-driven) control when resolving non-linguistic conflict. Sixty young adults completed a non-linguistic auditory Stroop task that manipulated conflict expectancy both list-wide and item-specifically. Group-level analysis replicated classic proportion-congruency effects, but not the predicted proactive control signature, and transfer cost indexing reactive control was not …


Empowering Mental Support Health Through Ai Chatbot, Anish Ilapaka Apr 2025

Empowering Mental Support Health Through Ai Chatbot, Anish Ilapaka

ATU Scholars Symposium

The growing prevalence of mental health concerns worldwide underscores the urgent need for accessible, scalable, and supportive solutions. Artificial Intelligence (AI) has emerged as a promising tool in this domain, capable of delivering immediate and empathetic interactions to complement traditional methods of mental health care. This project introduces a conversational AI system to assist individuals experiencing mental health challenges. The proposed system is built on a LLaMA model fine-tuned with a dataset of 10,000 mental health-related dialogues; the system leverages advanced natural language processing and machine learning techniques for meaningful engagement. The core functionality of this tool lies in its …


Expediting Tool-Use Learning: Effects Of Non-Invasive Neurostimulation Of The Left Anterior Supramarginal Gyrus, Kamila Haliru Apr 2025

Expediting Tool-Use Learning: Effects Of Non-Invasive Neurostimulation Of The Left Anterior Supramarginal Gyrus, Kamila Haliru

Honors Thesis

The left anterior supramarginal gyrus (aSMG) has been implicated as an important brain region in tool use. While anodal transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (atDCS) over the primary motor cortex (M1) has been shown to facilitate skilled tool use, the effects of aSMG stimulation remain largely unexplored. Using a chopstick-marble paradigm, this thesis examined whether atDCS to the left aSMG would enhance tool-use learning. Electroencephalography (EEG) was concurrently recorded to assess atDCS-dependent changes to the beta and gamma frequency bands. Our results demonstrated that atDCS over the left aSMG significantly expedited tool-use learning and was associated with increased gamma band activity …


Understanding The Needs Of The Intellectually And Developmentally Disabled And Autistic Population In The Criminal Justice System, Emily Sateary Apr 2025

Understanding The Needs Of The Intellectually And Developmentally Disabled And Autistic Population In The Criminal Justice System, Emily Sateary

Master of Arts in Human Services

This paper explores the inequitable treatment of the Intellectually and Developmentally Disabled and Autistic (IDD/A) population in the criminal justice system. Although progress has been made over the past century with understanding the unique needs of this population, they still face challenges at all stages of the criminal justice system. Behavioral, social skills, and sensory challenges make it difficult for the IDD/A population to avoid criminal justice contact and to understand the criminal justice process. Insufficient training for police and attorneys harms both persons with IDD/A and criminal justice professionals. This paper examines current practices in place that are barriers …


Dissolving Sand Into Fog - Portraying Long Term Temporal Illusions Through Music, Kyle Bergler Apr 2025

Dissolving Sand Into Fog - Portraying Long Term Temporal Illusions Through Music, Kyle Bergler

Honors Projects

Long-term temporal illusions permeate our day-to-day lives, but due to their highly subjective nature, few are familiar with them. To help introduce these topics in a way that lets a wider audience connect individually with them, I composed three works for percussion ensembles, each in a different style, and each portraying one or multiple long-term temporal illusions. All of these pieces were composed and rehearsed throughout the spring 2025 semester and premiered at my senior recital on April 19, 2025.


Andrew N. Meltzoff: Social Cognition, Imitation, Cross-Modal Perception, Infant Development, Jeffrey H. Cornelius-White, Joan E. Test Apr 2025

Andrew N. Meltzoff: Social Cognition, Imitation, Cross-Modal Perception, Infant Development, Jeffrey H. Cornelius-White, Joan E. Test

Essays in Developmental Psychology

Andreas Demetriou was born August 15th, 1950 in Stongylo, Famagusta, Cyprus. Demetriou attended the University of Thessaloniki and obtained a Ph.D. in psychology in 1983. After completing his doctoral degree he was a professor of developmental and educational psychology at the University of Thessaloniki until 1996. Demetriou then became a professor at the University of Cyprus, serving in various leadership positions from 1996 to 2008, including chairing the Department of Educational Science and serving as dean for the School of Humanities and Social Sciences and dean of the School of Social Sciences and Sciences of Education. He also became the …


Metacognition, Erika Fulton, Tina Miyake Apr 2025

Metacognition, Erika Fulton, Tina Miyake

Essays in Developmental Psychology

Metacognition is thinking about cognition or thinking about thinking. It includes what you know about how your own cognition and cognition in general work. Metacognition also involves the judgments we make about our cognition and how accurate those judgments are. Metamemory and metacomprehension are the most studied areas of metacognition and refer to the judgments we make about our memory and about our reading comprehension, respectively.


Infant Memory, Jenna Beffel, Naomi J. Aldrich Apr 2025

Infant Memory, Jenna Beffel, Naomi J. Aldrich

Essays in Developmental Psychology

Until the second half of the 20th century, the ability to recall information was thought to emerge between 2- and 10-years-of-age. Resulting from repression of our earliest sexual urges, immature neural mechanisms, or an impoverished sense of self and linguistic skills, infantile amnesia represents the predominant view of infancy at the time; a period in which the child possessed remarkably limited mental abilities, thus experiencing the world as nothing more than “one great blooming, buzzing confusion” (James, 1890). The research contributions of Dr. Carolyn Rovee-Collier over the next seventy years succeeded in altering this perspective.


Perception, Chris Burley, Lisa K. Lashley, Charles J. Golden Apr 2025

Perception, Chris Burley, Lisa K. Lashley, Charles J. Golden

Essays in Developmental Psychology

Perception is the process through which humans are able to select, organize, and interpret sensory input from the external environment. This process of selection, organization, and interpretation of external sensory stimulation results in our internal representation of the outside world, as well as our conscious experience. Through the process of perception, we are able to gain information and knowledge about our environment, allowing us to safely and effectively navigate in the world.


Craik & Lockhart: Levels Of Processing, Macey Cartwright, Heidi Kloos Apr 2025

Craik & Lockhart: Levels Of Processing, Macey Cartwright, Heidi Kloos

Essays in Developmental Psychology

What is the nature of mental activity that allows a child to remember a past experience? Traditionally, the question of memory was answered with an exclusively static model: The mind was said to have storage bins to which represented experiences are added. Depending on the exact nature of the storage bin, the experience is remembered either for a short time (i.e., shortterm memory) or for a long time (i.e., long-term memory). Though widely familiar, this model of static storage bins falls notoriously short on explaining the nuance of memory findings. For example, short-term memory appears to have strict capacity limits …


Attention, Brianna Mcgee, Rachel Wu Apr 2025

Attention, Brianna Mcgee, Rachel Wu

Essays in Developmental Psychology

Attention is a particularly tricky concept to study because it encompasses many different aspects. For example, attention can refer to general arousal, such as when someone is experiencing a scary event. Attention also can refer to prioritizing one event over another event, such as paying attention to your friend talking to you, and ignoring a stranger in the background. This type of attention is studied extensively in cognitive psychology. Attention also can refer to multi-tasking, when the focus of your attention is split among different events, such as when you are driving and fiddling with the radio.  This entry provides …