Cognitive Psychology Commons^™

Reviewing Research On Down Syndrome To Then Inform And Create A Children’S Book With A Child Protagonist Who Has Down Syndrome, Trey Williams

Honors Projects

Children's literature continually evolves, requiring a steadfast commitment to align with new insights into various disabilities for genuine and accurate portrayal. This project delves into leveraging research to craft a children's book featuring Bonnie Lynn, a protagonist with Down Syndrome, recognizing the growing presence of individuals with Down Syndrome in today's society and the imperative for empathetic understanding within this community.

New Perspectives: How A Dancefloor Of Paradigms Can Save The World, Gill R. Hall

Journal of Conscious Evolution

This paper explores how the consciousness of Indigenous peoples can facilitate the development of new paradigms to address global issues like climate change and adaptation to global warming. It explores how Indigenous and Western notions of consciousness differ and cannot be reconciled in contemporary models of consciousness without colonising Indigenous ways of knowing. It differentiates maternal and patriarchal consciousnesses and contrasts the body/heart pathway found in many Indigenous cultures with the mental field activity of the Western psyche. Using the concept of a multi-paradigmatic dancefloor, I propose a new model for developing global thinking on complex problems, inviting academics and …

Measurement Invariance And The Influence Of Psychosocial Factors In Reporting Subjective Cognition Across Race/Ethnicity, Erika A. Pugh

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The detection of cognitive decline is crucial for early intervention and management. However, there is a lack of research on detecting early cognitive decline and measuring bias in instruments among African Americans (AAs), who are at a heightened risk for dementia development. Additionally, the impact of psychosocial factors on perceived cognitive efficacy in this population is not well understood. Therefore, this study aimed to assess measurement bias in a measure of subjective memory concerns (SMC) among older AA adults, examine ethnoracial differences in the relationship between mood-related factors and SMC, and explore the impact of psychosocial variables on the report …

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 …

Is A Test The Best?, Giulia Ronnette Mcdonald

Theses and Dissertations

The test effect (Roediger & Karpicke, 2006) demonstrates that performance on a final test is better when an immediate test is taken after reading a passage rather than rereading. Although transfer appropriate processing has been suggested as a theoretical explanation, the results could be due to elaborative retrieval processes during the immediate test that are not available during restudy. We compared testing to three other strategies using elaborative retrieval—Generating Questions, Read-Recite-Review, Teaching—to determine whether they would be as beneficial as testing. Results showed that each of the alternative strategies produced final test performance equal to that of testing, suggesting not …

Seasonal Crop Foraging Habits Of Asian Elephants And The Response Of Farmers Near The Salakpra Wildlife Sanctuary, Kanchanaburi, Thailand, Scott J. Gulizio

Theses and Dissertations

The consequences of human-elephant-conflict are of concern to a range of interests, including conservation, animal welfare, and socio-economic initiatives. Loss of crops due to elephants is a particularly contentious issue and a multitude of elephant deterrents have been tried to help prevent or diminish crop-foraging. This study examines the seasonal crop-foraging habits of Asian elephants just outside of Salakpra Wildlife Sanctuary, Thailand. Specifically, we sought to analyze when the elephants would forage crops, for how long, and how farmer presence affected this behavior. Additionally, to better understand patterns of deterrent use, we cataloged which deterrents were deployed by the farmers …

Risky Behavior As Motivated Emotion Regulation: A Mixed-Method Approach, Lyneé A. Herrera

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Engaging in risky health behaviors is a ubiquitous human experience that often marks developmental progression from adolescence into adulthood. While much previous research has framed risky behaviors in terms of negative legal, social, and public health consequences, less empirical work has been done on potential benefits of their engagement. A growing body of research has identified emotion regulation deficits as a significant driver of risky behavior engagement, suggesting that these behaviors may offer perceived emotional benefits when other regulation strategies are less accessible. Previous research has shown that emotional outcomes can be influenced by the regulation strategies one chooses to …

Interactive Computer-Based Simulations As Exploratory Learning Activities., Derek Mcclellan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Typical college lectures follow a direct instruction framework, where instructors deliver a lecture, followed by an activity. Exploratory learning flips this routine by providing students with an activity prior to instruction. Research suggests that this inversion benefits students’ conceptual understanding and ability to transfer their knowledge. The majority of exploratory learning tasks in the literature are problem-solving activities. The current work investigates the use of computer-based simulations during exploratory learning, and whether manipulating the cognitive load of the activity impacts learning. In Experiment 1, undergraduate students (N=66) were randomly assigned to explore a simulation-based circuit construction activity prior …

False Memories Are Impacted By Semantic Pairing Of Drm Lists., Ryan Coleman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In the DRM paradigm, experience of semantically related words leads to false memories of related words called critical lures. These false memories serve as evidence that the relationship between items in a DRM list contribute to an overall gist or central concept for the experience. The present studies aim to investigate whether the higher-order semantic relationship that exists between different DRM lists can also influence recognition memory. Study 1 compared memory confidence ratings for list items and critical lures to two metrics: “Temporal Contiguity”, how closely in time lists appeared to each other at encoding, and “Semantic Distance”, the semantic …

Voluntary Action And Conscious Intention, Jake Gavenas

Computational and Data Sciences (PhD) Dissertations

Traditional experimental methodology in neuroscience involves comparing responses to different stimuli to make inferences about the human brain. However, human volition entails making decisions and acting in a manner that is underdetermined by the external environment. Investigations of the neuronal basis of volition have led to new controversies regarding the existence of free will, and offer potential directions for medical treatments of disorders such as addiction, akinetic mutism, and locked-in syndrome. However, because volition experiments leave aspects of responses “up to” participants, neuroscientists must utilize computational techniques such as modeling, simulation, and advanced analyses to progress our understanding of human …

Mediumship And Mental Health: Investigating Spirit Communication And The Importance Of Integration, Daniel A. Seda Ph.D.

Journal of Conscious Evolution

Sensitivity to paranormal phenomena can be a source of emotional, mental and psychospiritual stress for individuals demonstrating verified mediumistic abilities, yet integrating these anomalous experiences in a healthy, affirming manner can reduce distress and potentially deflect egodystonic diagnoses of pathology. Because mediums can relay information which appear to be otherworldly from meditation, during trance, or by automatic writing and painting, health professionals have diagnosed mediums with mental disorders such as dissociative identity disorder and schizophrenia. This overreliance on pathology to explain anomalous experiences is troublesome and can cause severe distress to individuals demonstrating extrasensory capabilities. This paper was written to …

Reflections On Panpsychism, Pantheism, Panentheism And The Hard Problem Of Consciousness, Barbara Engelhardt

Journal of Conscious Evolution

This article discusses the concepts of panpsychism, pantheism, and panentheism with the intention of formulating a theory and response to what is referred to as the Hard Problem of Consciousness, the question put forth in the latter 20th century by the philosopher David Chalmers (and by many others historically) concerning why and how we have phenomenal experiences. Panpsychism is the view that the ubiquitous presence of consciousness is an elemental principium of the natural world. Pantheism is defined as a philosophy which equates divinity with all reality. Panentheism asserts that God is intrinsic in all things in the known universe, …

Evolution Of Women’S Consciousness: Toward Integral Consciousness, Katherine T. Ziemke

Journal of Conscious Evolution

This article presents research materials which demonstrate historical consciousness for women of ancient European descent, the cultural heritage of the author. Awareness is examined from various historical angles in a transdisciplinary approach to the work. I explore the possibility that women’s historical and continued oppression may be a sign of the disintegration of the mental and a re-emergence of the integral structure of consciousness. A broad examination of women’s historical roles and corresponding thought shows how ancient consciousness may be used to accelerate a path toward integral consciousness today. Finally, this essay proposes that women’s historical consciousness and primordial memories …

(A Lack Of) Effects Of Acute Social Stress On Attentional Bias To Threat, Colton L. Hunter, Grant Shields

Psychological Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Attentional biases toward or away from emotionally evocative stimuli have been well documented and are known to be clinically relevant, making it important to understand how various factors contribute to them. Some work has suggested that acute stress modulates attentional biases, but this work has produced inconsistent results. For example, many studies have found that stress enhances attentional bias, others that stress decreases attentional bias, and others still that there is no effect of stress at all. Methodological differences may explain these inconsistencies. For example, discrepancies exist between studies in participant sex (e.g., mixed sample vs. all men) and in …

Gender-Neutral Bathrooms On Campus: A Multicampus Study Of Cisgender And Transgender And Gender Diverse College Students, Merle Huff, Katie Edwards, Victoria Mauer, Heather Littleton, Stephanie Lim, Kayla E. Sall

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

Objective: This study examined cisgender and transgender and gender diverse (TGD) college students’ perceptions of gender-neutral bathroom availability across eight U.S. campuses, TGD students’ fear of harassment related to (lack of) availability of gender-neutral bathrooms, and the relation between fear of harassment and TGD students’ psychological distress.

Methods: Participants were 4,328 college students (4,195 cisgender, 30 binary transgender, 103 gender diverse) from eight U.S. institutions of higher education.

Results: The majority (84.2%) of TGD students and 34.6% of cisgender students perceived there were too few gender-neutral bathrooms on their campus. Further, TGD students’ fear of harassment related to a lack …

Operational Hazard Anticipation: Examination Of Overt Anticipatory Behaviors In Latent Hazard Scenarios Using A High-Fidelity Driving Simulator, Sarah Elizabeth Yahoodik

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Young drivers are more likely to be involved in fatal crashes compared to more experienced drivers. Perceptual-cognitive skills such as anticipating and mitigating hazards may contribute to this risk. However, the connection between anticipating a hazard and successfully mitigating said hazard is not clear. One novel concept that may bridge hazard anticipation and mitigation is operational hazard anticipation. Operational hazard anticipation is the act of engaging in anticipatory actions in preparation for the possibility of eventual hazard mitigation. This study examined a possible measure of operational hazard anticipation, hovering one’s foot over the brake and accelerator, and the relationship between …

How Systematically Increasing Estimator Variables Affects The Confidence-Accuracy Relationship, Amber M. Giacona

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Researchers have used signal-detection theory-based approach to show that when police use proper practices with eyewitnesses, highly confident witnesses will be highly accurate even when viewing conditions may be suboptimal (Wixted & Wells, 2017). This is referred to as the pristine conditions hypothesis. There have been multiple, and often contradictory, studies that have investigated the relationship between viewing conditions and memory degradation (Giacona et al., 2021; Grabman et al., 2019; Lockamyeir et al, 2020; Semmler et al., 2018). In the current study, I systematically manipulated five estimator variables (lighting, distance, retention interval, exposure duration, and race) as either suboptimal or …

Relative Impact Of Human & Natural Trauma On Psychological Functioning, Javeen Beard Psyd, Rodger K. Bufford, Kenneth Logan Psyd, Aundrea Paxton Psyd

Faculty Publications - Doctor of Psychology (PsyD) Program

The purpose of this study is to compare the long-term quality of life of individuals who undergo human and natural trauma. We hypothesize that with perceived social support held constant, individuals will have a better quality of life following natural trauma than human trauma.

Adverse Childhood Experiences Effects On Hot And Cool Executive Functioning, Miriam Gabrielle Fenton

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Previous research has shown that adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are related to executive functioning (EF). However, researchers have yet to explore the differences in hot and cool EF in participants who have experienced ACEs. This current study aims to measure ACEs' effects on EF while distinguishing between hot and cool EF. We did this by administering the WCST, Stroop task, and the Visual Digit Span (backward) to capture cool EF from an undergraduate sample. Additionally, we used the IGT, the emotional Stroop, and Go/No Go (EGNG) tasks to measure hot EF in the same participants. We predicted that participants who …

On The Topology Of The Noosphere, Julie A. Yusupova

Journal of Conscious Evolution

As a young child I had a certain set of dreams, the enigma of which remained mysteriously hovering in my memories to this day. In one of these earliest dreams of my life, I am playing hide-and-seek with my friends, but am observing myself from an external third-person perspective, just as all my dreams had regularly been until then. I remember that the next morning, my waking conscious mind had noticed this split between self and observer and judged it unusual, and so in the following night’s dream, I somehow willed my observer self to merge into the body of …

Sports, Family, And Leadership In Youth: Impacts Of Family Environments And Sport Participation On Youth Leadership Development, Michael Stout

Theses and Graduate Projects

This study investigated the effects of family relationships/environment and sport participation on youth leadership development using the 2016 Minnesota Student Survey (MSS) questionnaire. Responses from 9^th and 11^th graders were used, resulting in 81,885 total participants between the ages of 13 and 19 for this archival, cross-sectional study. This study had two aims: One, to investigate the relationship between family relationships/environment and sport participation, and their impact on youth leadership skills and development; and two, to investigate whether participation in youth sports provides enough scaffolding to foster the development of youth leadership skills despite poor family relationships/environments. Scales …

The Processing Of Task-Relevant And Task-Irrelevant Information In Working Memory, Stephanie M. Saltzmann

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Researchers have aimed to better understand the capacity limits and boundaries of working memory (WM) for decades. With a growing body of literature, researchers have started to direct their focus to identifying and understanding specific processes of WM. Information enters WM and is processed differently based on bottom-up (i.e., feature-driven) and top-down (i.e., task-driven) processes. Specifically, the current dissertation aimed to better understand how task-relevant and irrelevant information is maintained, selection, and prioritized in WM. In Chapter 1, we explored how the maintenance of task-relevant information in WM impacts the maintenance of task-irrelevant information. During a hybrid search task, participants …

Effects Of Physical Exercise On Cognitive Performance, Arina Bratamidjaja

Student Academic Conference

The effects of physical exercise on cognitive performance were examined in this study. Thirty-eight students of Minnesota State University Moorhead (18-24 years old), from low-level psychology classes, completed a physical exercise questionnaire to determine their exercise group (less exercise or more exercise). Participants also completed a set of 30 questions adapted from the Wonderlic Personnel Test to determine their current cognitive performance score. The current cumulative GPA of participants was also collected. It was predicted that participants with more physical exercise participation would earn higher scores on the cognitive performance test compared to participants with lower participation. Furthermore, participants with …

Multiracial Identity Integration: Components, Antecedents, And Consequences, Sheila Xi Rui Wee

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Existing research on multiracials has examined how multiracials develop different racial identities. However, empirical research on how multiracial manage and integrate their identities as well as its impact are limited. This dissertation examined key antecedents and consequences associated with the unique process that multiracials undergo to achieve a positive identity via Multiracial Identity Integration (MII). In Study 1, we examined the link between MII, psychological well-being, and cognitive capacity. Results revealed a positive association between MII and psychological well-being as well as some cognitive capacity outcomes. Study 2 replicated the same relationship between MII and psychological well-being/cognitive capacity outcomes. Additionally, …

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 …

Rethinking Attention Control: An Individual Differences Approach, Vincent A. Medina

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

While there is extensive literature on visual spatial attention, less is known about auditory spatial attention, especially in terms of attention control. There is also a growing literature highlighting the importance of considering individual differences in attention control ability. Given these points, the purpose of this study was twofold. The first was to understand how auditory attention control is influenced by spatial location as well as vision. The second was to examine whether individual differences in attention control ability can predict task performance in that context. We utilized two tasks for these purposes. Experiment 1a consisted of a cross-modal Stroop …

Gender Roles, Sexual Cognitions, And History Of Victimization: A Preliminary Model Of Reporting Behavior Among College Students, Randi Spiker, Eu Gene Chin

Journal of Social, Behavioral, and Health Sciences

Sexual cognitions that flow from gender roles and previous history of victimization are strong predictors of sexual assault victimization. Because these cognitions reside within the individual themselves, we hypothesized that these same cognitions will also be predictors of subsequent reporting behavior to formal campus supports. An online self-report survey for assessing student awareness and perception of sexual safety was administered in a random stratified sample of college students (N = 98; 78% female). Participants were shown a hypothetical vignette involving a quid pro quo sexual harassment incident involving a student and were asked to rate their likelihood of making …

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 …

The Combination Of Cooling Techniques In A Tropical Environment Improves Precision Performance In Young International Fencers, Aurélie Collado, Nicolas Robin, Stéphane Sinnapah, Elisabeth Rosnet, Olivier Hue, Guillaume R. Coudevylle

Journal of Human Performance in Extreme Environments

The performance of intense exercise in a tropical climate is associated with limited exercise capacity due to thermal strain. This limitation is exacerbated in sports requiring full protective equipment. Research evidence suggests disturbances in cognitive function due to thermal discomfort and/or protective equipment (e.g., helmets), and thus sports that require skills in decision-making, fast reaction times, precision, and/or inhibition can be greatly affected. The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of countermeasures on the psychological and physiological responses in young international fencers wearing full protective equipment during an ecological fencing task. Nine young international fencers performed an …

Using An Approach-Avoidance Framework To Understand The Relationship Between Non-Lethal Weapons And Performance, Andrew J. Mojica, Christopher P. Bartak, Joseph N. Mitchell, Alan Ashworth

Journal of Human Performance in Extreme Environments

It is proposed that performance degradation from exposure to non-lethal technology is mediated by impulsive and reflective approachavoidance motivation. An approach-avoidance motivational framework was used to specify a four-stage information processing model that predicts performance degradation. The first stage is Evaluation: it processes physiological, sensory, perceptual, and cognitive information. The second stage is Comparison: it processes the content of the Evaluation into avoidance and approach motivational indices. The third stage is Probability: it processes information from previous stages into a probability of choosing to continue or abandon goal-directed behavior. Finally, the fourth stage is Performance: it processes performance accuracy on …