Cognitive Psychology Commons^™

The Effects Anxiety Has On Attentional Bias And Working Memory, Breana Mcswain

USC Aiken Psychology Theses

Research has shown that anxiety impairs attention and working memory, especially when it comes to completing a mentally demanding cognitive task such as the emotional Stroop paradigm or the n-back task. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether state anxiety affects behavioral performance on executive function tasks. State anxiety was induced using negatively valenced images from the International Affective Picture System, while neutral images served as the control. We compared behavioral performance between individuals in the negative mood induction against those in the neutral mood induction. Trait anxiety was used as a covariate for both groups. This allowed …

Can Coloring Reduce Stress And Increase Working Memory In The Elderly?, Alexus Lepere

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study explores whether the observed effects of coloring on anxiety and stress apply to the elderly. Two coloring activities were administered to elderly participants to evaluate the effects on stress, anxiety, and working memory. The Mini Mental State Examination was used to establish cognitive level. The Perceived Stress Scale and Brief State Trait Anxiety Inventory were administered to obtain pretest and posttest scores on stress and anxiety levels. Working memory was measured using the Backward Digit Recall to test if the potential calming effects improve working memory. A near significant increase in stress scores was demonstrated in the mandala …

Is The Smartphone A Smart Choice? The Effect Of Smartphone Separation On Executive Functions, Andree Hartanto, Hwajin Yang

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Despite a huge spike in smartphone overuse, the cognitive and emotional consequences of smartphone overuse have rarely been examined empirically. In two studies, we investigated whether separation from a smartphone influences state anxiety and impairs higher-order cognitive processes, such as executive functions. We found that smartphone separation causes heightened anxiety, which in turn mediates the adverse effect of smartphone separation on all core aspects of executive functions, including shifting (Experiment 1) and inhibitory control and working-memory capacity (Experiment 2). Interestingly, impaired mental shifting was evident regardless of the extent of smartphone addiction, whereas smartphone addiction significantly moderated the negative effect …

The Nerve: Associations Between Perceived Parenting Style And Coping With Stress, Lauren Mcgrew

Undergraduate Theses

Throughout a lifetime, women are twice as likely as men to develop an anxiety disorder. Several factors – biological, psychological, and social/environmental – are involved in the mechanisms of anxiety. The present study was designed with particular interest in the association between parents’ parenting styles and daughter anxiety, specifically paternal influences in correlation with how daughters cope with stress. Previous studies suggest that anxious tendencies in parents can be transferred to their children (Ballash, Leyfer, Buckley, & Woodruff-Borden, 2006). Studies have also identified three main parenting styles – authoritarian, authoritative, and permissive – which may also play a role in …

Cognitive Bias Modification-Attention: Training At Home With Multiple Sessions, Priscilla Fauth

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

"Anxiety disorders are the most frequently occurring psychiatric disorder in the United States (Beard, 2011). One type of treatment, Cognitive Bias Modification for Attention (CBM-A), has been shown to be an effective alternative for those who do not benifit other popular treatments (Ballinger, 2004). People with high levels of anxiety have a higher attention bias towards threatening information in the environment and CBM-A training works to reduce that attention bias towards threat, and in turn, reduce anxiety (Bar-Haim, 2010; Browning, Holmes, & Harmer, 2010; Hakamata, Y., Lissek, S., Bar-Haim, Y., Britton, J. C., Fox, N. A., Leibenluft, E., & ... …

Evidence-Based Alternative Therapy To Reduce Anxiety In Ambulatory Mental Health Patients, Renee Ann Denobrega

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Evidence-Based Alternative Therapy to Reduce Anxiety in Ambulatory Mental Health Patients

by

Renee Denobrega

MS, Widener University, 2013

BS, Alvernia University, 2007

Project Submitted in Partial Fulfillment

of the Requirements for the Degree of

Doctor of Nursing Practice

Walden University

January 2016

An Examination Of The Relationship Between Psychological Distress And Risky Sexual Behaviors Among A Treatment-Seeking Opioid-Dependent Population, Hayley M. Smith

USC Aiken Psychology Theses

Substance abusing populations are at an increased risk for disease transmission and have higher rates of psychological comorbidity compared to the general population (e.g., Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2012a; Chaudhury & Singh, 2009; Des Jarlais, Semaan, & Arasteh, 2011; Goodwin & Stein, 2013). Numerous studies have implicated the interaction of psychological distress and risky sexual behaviors in the increased risk of disease transmission, however, several studies have not found this association. It has been suggested that there may be curvilinear relationship between psychological distress and risky sexual behaviors but this theory has yet to be tested. The …

The Relationship Between Competitive Trait Anxiety And Optimism In College Aged Individuals, Allison M. Heiskell

Honors College Theses

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between competitive trait-anxiety and optimism in college students. A sample of 112 undergraduate students from a university in the Southeast completed three questionnaires: a demographics survey, a Life Orientation Test and a Sport Competition Anxiety Test. The data werethen analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics to determine if a relationship exists. The hypothesis was that there would be a negative correlation between competitive trait anxiety and optimism levels in college students. This meant that as trait-anxiety in an individual increased, the optimism level decreased. It was found that a statistically …

The Impact Of Mindfulness And Test Anxiety On Academic Performance., Mariam A. Altairi

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Theses

No abstract provided.

Hostile Attributional Bias In Aggression And Anxiety: The Role Of Perceived Provocateur Motivation, Melissa M. Kunimatsu

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Although internalizing and externalizing problems are often considered in isolation from one another, the frequently co-occur in individuals leading to unique behavior profiles. The current study examined the associations between the forms, functions, and subtypes of aggression, anxiety, hostile attributional bias (HAB), and perceived (proactive or reactive) provocateur motivation in a sample of youth (mean age = 13.84 years, 51% male, 37.5% Caucasian). Results indicated that only reactive relational aggression significantly predicted anxiety, while relational and reactive aggression did not. HAB was not significantly associated with either anxiety or any type of aggression. Perceived proactive provocateur motivation was significantly associated …

Analysis Of Gender Differences In Self-Statements And Mood Disorders, Robert Devore

McNair Scholars Research Journal

Over 25% of adult Americans suffer from a mental disorder each year, with depression and anxiety being some of the most commonly reported issues. Researchers estimate that between 10% and 50% of adult Americans will suffer from a depressive episode at some point in their life, and cognitive theorists argue that mental states, including disorders, are generated and maintained by personal, subjective beliefs, and that events can only be appropriately labeled by the individual experiencing them. Thus, cognitive theorists suggest a strong link between self-talk (ST) and behavior and note that the automatic use of ST is associated with disordered …

Attentional Processes Associated With Victimization History And Posttraumatic Symptomatology In Women Exposed To Intimate Partner Violence, Ryan B. Matlow

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Exposure to intimate partner violence (IPV) puts women at risk for severe and chronic physical and mental health consequences, including elevations in IPV-related psychopathology and increased risk for future victimization. Previous research has examined attention as one of the key information processing mechanisms associated with elevated psychopathology and risk for victimization; however, the nature of attentional processing in response to IPV-related information in women exposed to IPV is poorly understood. Therefore, the current study aimed to further understanding of associations between attentional processing, IPV exposure, and related distress using measures of eye movement and subjective interpretations of IPV-related information. A …

Habituation Effect In Attention Modification Training For Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Olivia E. Bogucki

Honors Scholar Theses

Attention biases influence the type of information that captures an individual’s attention. Cognitive theories of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) state that attention biases cause an increased amount of attention to personally relevant threatening information. Previous studies support this connection, and have examined attention modification training (AMT) as a means to direct attention away from threatening information for various anxiety disorders, including OCD. Results show that attention biases toward threatening information decrease during a single training session of AMT, which may be a result of habituation to threat. However, there is a lack of longitudinal data investigating the number of AMT sessions …