Cognitive Science Commons^™

Individual Concepts And Personal Identity Judgement, Molly M. Ye

Theses and Dissertations

Previous research into personal identity judgments has yielded conflicting outcomes. This paper introduces an alternative argument, proposing that the concept PERSON and HUMAN BEING provide different ways of thinking about the identity of people. Two experiments in this study provide evidence for this claim.

The Relationship Between Low Self-Control And Life Goals Over The Life Course, Margaryta Munday

Theses and Dissertations--Family Sciences

The present study aimed to test the relationships between low self-control and five different measures of life goals (educational, career, personal, relationship, and health) as well as the relationship between low self-control and the amount of commitment and progress made towards each of these goals across developmental periods (18-25, 26-35, 36-45, 46-55, 56+ years old). It was expected that low self-control would be negatively associated with life goals across all domains as well as with both measures of commitment and progress towards each. No differences in these links were expected across developmental periods or by sex. Data were collected from …

Cognitive Functioning In Well-Controlled Asthma, Erin Walsh

West Chester University Doctoral Projects

Asthma is a common lung disease that impacts lung functioning through inflammatory based mechanisms. Past research suggests that decreased blood oxygenation due to asthma attacks may impair cognitive capabilities (Irani et al., 2017). Moreover, the observed differences in cognition between those with and without asthma may be associated with disease severity or asthma control respectively in asthma populations. The current study explored differences in cognitive functioning between college students with and without self-reported asthma. Sociodemographic data, self-reported asthma severity, and measures of asthma control were collected. The current study did not find significant differences in measures of cognitive efficiency between …

Empowering Caregivers In The Prevention Of Clinical Delirium For At Risk Older Adults Boarding In The Emergency Department Setting, Danielle Brewer

DNP Projects

Background: Emergency Department (ED) overcrowding is a global healthcare crisis documented in the literature for more than a decade, impacting patient outcomes and resource availability. While awaiting delayed transfer to an inpatient room, older adults in the ED remain vulnerable to developing acute delirium. Boarding potentiates the risk for worsening health outcomes, which are further compounded by delirium. Scarcity of resources and time constraints delay delirium detection and increase risk for down-stream hospital-acquired complications, higher cost, and prolonged length of stay. Current ED models do not prioritize caregiver partnership or involvement in delirium-conscious care, which is a holistic approach to …

Caregiving For A Formally Abusive Or Neglectful Parent: A Qualitative Interview Study Of Caregiver Motivations, Hannah Radcliff-Hoy

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

The research on caregiving for a formerly abusive or neglectful parent has been largely quantitative and does not explain caregiver motivations or daily experiences of caregiving. This research project seeks to explore what motivates caregivers to provide care to a formerly abusive or neglectful parent and what these experiences are like for caregivers. Using in-depth interviews with caregivers of formerly abusive or neglectful parents and autoethnographic data from my own experience of caregiving for my abusive mother, which were transcribed and analyzed using thematic analysis to identify patterns. This project found that these individuals express feeling a pressure to remain …

Identifying Youth Appeals In Alcohol Alternative Social Media Content Through Framing, Melina Oneal

West Chester University Master’s Theses

Proposed regulations for alcohol advertising prevent beverage companies from targeting people under the legal drinking age. However, similar regulations for alcohol alternative beverages are less explored, which could allow alcohol alternative products to create awareness for alcoholic beverages among youth. Alcohol alternatives beverages, including no-alcohol and low-alcohol products, are increasing in popularity and can function as compliments to alcoholic products to decrease the total alcohol volume consumed or as substitutes for alcoholic products. Framing theory can be operationalized through the Content Appealing to Youth Index, an index of content elements found in research literature to be appealing to youth, to …

Subjectivity As A Predictor Of Adjective Ordering Preferences For Heritage Spanish Speakers, Louise Anne Schiele

Scripps Senior Theses

Adults, as well as children, tend to present adjective ordering preferences in their use of multi-adjective strings. For example, the ordering of “big blue bird” rather than “blue big bird” is reliably preferred for speakers of English. Subjectivity has been shown to be a robust predictor of these adjective ordering preferences, where less subjective adjectives are preferred closer to the noun. Still, much of the previous work on adjective ordering preferences has centered a monolingual experience, and has not considered if multilingual speakers differ in their presentation of these preferences, in any of the languages they speak. This study focused …

Unveiling Spanish Language Attitudes In A Los Angeles School And A Third-Generation Multigenerational Mexican-American Family, Eric Alvarez

International Journal of the Linguistic Association of the Southwest

This chapter unearths some of the diverse attitudes towards Spanish of a third-generation child in Los Angeles (L.A.), California, her family members, and school personnel. L.A. is a tension-ridden contact zone (Pratt, 1991) where Spanish has traditionally been subjugated and is still a lesser-taught language (LTL) despite decades of research showing that bilingual education positively impacts student attitudes (Potowski & Muñoz-Basols, 2020). Lack of continuity (Caloi & Torregrossa, 2021) in formal instruction and inconsistent heritage Spanish use in the home may entail divergent attitudes towards Spanish, possibly hindering multigenerational transmission. Decades-long turbulent California language policies (CLP) (Macias, 2001) have consistently …

Mapping The Older User’S Journey: Building Ux With Theories Of Cognitive Aging, Aichatou Diaw

CMC Senior Theses

The aging global population represents a pressing consideration for user experience (UX) designers. The field of cognitive aging research focuses on characterizing and explaining changes in cognitive functions, such as memory, attention, perception, and problem-solving that occur as people age. Understanding these changes is vital for crafting interfaces that cater to a broader demographic. With the hope of creating more inclusive digital interfaces, this thesis explores the application of three cognitive aging theories, Cognitive Reserve, Cognitive Load Theory, and Controlled Processing, in order to examine their implications for UX design. By integrating insights from these theories, designers can make digital …

The Influence Of Visual Perspective On The Cognitive Effort Required For Mental Representation, Jeffrey P. Hong

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Mental representation is the process by which an individual simulates an event in their mind’s eye. This process is the foundation of the ability to remember the past, engage in prospective thinking, or imagine fictitious scenarios. An individual can mentally represent any event through their own eyes—the first-person perspective or from the viewpoint of an external observer—the third-person perspective. The perspective of representation influences outcomes related to memory, visuospatial processing, affect, social cognition, clinical diagnoses, and language processing. In turn, an individual’s tendency to favour either perspective is shaped by related factors.

The current research consists of four experiments, designed …

An Investigation Of Empathy In Hcd, Zoey Lofgren

Scripps Senior Theses

Abstract

In this study, we investigated empathy within a human-centered design context. While empathy is a well-researched subject within the field of psychology, there is little experimental research on its application in design. As such, the term “empathy” is often thrown around with a lack of clarity about what it actually means in design courses. Empathy is a complex psychological phenomenon that allows us to respond to and understand others’ emotions, but it is unable to be “turned on.” This study specifically aims to address the question of whether or not empathy is actually used within design. Participants completed two …

Bayesian Inference In Reinforcement Learning Neural Networks During A Markov Decision Processes?, Katherine Graham

Scripps Senior Theses

The predictive mind theory proposes that brains work in a way that makes predictions about future stimuli to process information efficiently and accurately. Bayesian brain theory suggests that the brain utilizes Bayesian probability models to make predictions, while the free-energy minimization hypothesis proposes that these predictions are made to minimize energy or uncertainty, ensuring accurate perceptions. Vertechi et al. (2020) explored animal participants’ utilization of stimulus-bound strategy versus inference-based strategy to solve a Markov decision process with a 2-state environment, one of which is always active. These sites have a certain probability of switching to a different site and the …

Effect Of Cross-Modal Odor-Color Associations In Stroop-Like Paradigm, Anadel Ahlvin

Scripps Senior Theses

The investigation into synesthesia and its underlying mechanisms prompts inquiry into the prevalence of cross-modal associations within the general population and their influence on our lives, yet this domain remains relatively unexplored. This study aims to elucidate the impact of odor-color associations on odor recognition utilizing a Stroop-like paradigm. Participants were tasked with establishing odor-color associations, then subsequently recalling the odors paired with congruent, incongruent, or neutral colors. Reaction times and accuracy of odor recognition were recorded, and analysis revealed a significant effect of congruent versus incongruent color condition on odor recognition accuracy, with congruent color and odor having a …

The Sketchy Science Of Memory: Exploring The Benefits Of Integrating Drawing Into Learning, Eve Smith

Scripps Senior Theses

The drawing effect, wherein drawing enhances information recall compared to writing, has been established for words and short phrases. Previous research has emphasized the efficacy of the drawing effect, particularly for long-term memory, and previous research has shown the enjoyable nature of arts integration into education. This study investigates the applicability of the drawing effect to lecture-based information and assesses the impact of arts integration, like drawing, on learning. Participants in the experimental condition learned and utilized a visual note-taking technique known as sketchnoting, while those in the control group took standard written notes. Participants' recall was evaluated immediately and …

Enhancing Students’ User Experience With A Code Critiquer, Laura E. Albrant

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

This thesis explores the role of human factors in the realm of code critiquers and students’ experiences with them. Across three studies, the work utilized Design Thinking to improve the user experience of WebTA for introductory engineering students learning MATLAB. The first two studies gathered observational and interview data to empathize, define, and ideate a new user interface (UI). Said UI was prototyped and then tested with the third study. Overall, the surveys’ data suggests that most students found the new design to be more appealing, useful, and purposeful; however, there is still plenty of room for improvement. Additionally, analysis …

Investigating A Potential Protein-Protein Interaction Between Transcription Factor Pax6 And Ribosomal Protein S20 (Rps20), Modupe Oladayo

All Master's Theses

The neocortex is the largest region of mammalian brains and is responsible for the complex cognitive abilities and behaviors of mammals. The neocortex of mature mammals is divided into concise areas, which process sensory information from ears, eyes, and touch receptors, and regulate conscious movement of muscles. The combined graded expressions of several transcription factors over the embryonic neocortical ventricular zone regulates the sizes of these functional areas in the adult neocortex. Although progress has been made in understanding how transcription factors affect neocortical patterning, additional research is required to fully understand the underlying molecular mechanism(s), which will contribute to …

Catching Up To Yesterday: An Argument For A Practical Application Of Creativity For Inspiring Change From A Content-Based Course Delivery To A 21st-Century Skills-Based Delivery, Darren Chapman

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

This project is a creative vision for how college-level courses could be changed to deliver the most important skills students need in the 21st century—moving toward an essential employability skills-based delivery process while training vocational (content) skills. Technology is outpacing humans' ability to adapt and adopt to it, making it increasingly difficult to keep pace with technological change. This has wide-ranging effects on each of us – productively, emotionally, and perhaps physically. Colleges are at the forefront of educating citizens about the working world to improve their productivity, incomes and their sense of intrinsic motivation. However, these same colleges are …

Music Density: A Novel Measurement Of Music Perception, Tyler Ussery

All Master's Theses

Empirical research in fields such as music perception, cognition, and therapy has developed considerably in recent decades. While many studies implement musical stimuli, there are few expeditious metrics for identifying the objective characteristics of music itself. The current study proposed and developed a tool for measuring perception of the theoretical concept of music density. Music density can be defined as the compactness of auditory information that comprises a piece of music. For this study, five musical factors were explored (tempo, texture, timbre, dynamics, and predictability) via a 5-point Likert scale. It is well established that personality is an important …

Perception, Attention, And Action! A New Perspective On The Associations Found In Educational Expertise And Visual Search, Ashley Sawyer

Honors Program Theses

Expertise as defined in literature is the peak or otherwise exceptionally high levels of performance on a particular task or within a given domain (Papesh et al., 2021). In this study, expertise is defined as the time length the individual has spent in their field. For the purpose of this research, an expert can exist in a plethora of fields ranging from history and music to mathematics or science. Becoming an expert requires for the individual to not only have the mental and cognitive concepts that come with acquiring this type of knowledge, but it also incorporates skills they know …

Empowering Children With Special Needs (Cwsn) In Computer Science: An Interactive Hand Gestures Approach To Number Conversion Teaching, Renjith P.R., Jeeva Jose

Journal of Educational Technology Development and Exchange (JETDE)

It is essential for teachers to effectively address the diverse needs of students within the classroom environment, encompassing variations in IQ, communication skills, problem-solving abilities, and mathematical proficiency. Ensuring the inclusion of CwSN (Children with Special Needs) is imperative to prevent social division in the classroom. While the department offers accommodations such as scribes, interpreters, or extra time for examinations, these measures may not fully address the specific needs of CwSN. This study explores the efficacy of employing hand gestures as a teaching tool for CwSN in computer science, particularly in the realm of number conversions. A machine learning-based tool …