Adaptive Memory And Social Influences,
2011
University of North Florida
Adaptive Memory And Social Influences, Aaron D. Leedy
UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations
Recently, cognitive psychologists have focused their research on the survival aspects of human memory, showing advantages for remembering information encoded for adaptive qualities. When participants rated words related to survival relevance (stranded in grasslands), Nairne et al. (2007) and others found survival processing’s retention superior to many semantic encoding techniques, however, we questioned the global application of survival processing. In the present adaptive memory experiment we used the thematic word list paradigm pioneered by Deese, Rodeiger and McDermott, allowing us to measure false recall of critical items from sets of word lists. To investigate recall differences based on the material …
Effects Of Embodiment On Perceptual And Affective Responses To Infant Crying,
2010
University of Connecticut
Effects Of Embodiment On Perceptual And Affective Responses To Infant Crying, Jennifer B. Bisson
Master's Theses
Three experiments were conducted to investigate how changes in bodily states might be related to perceptions of infant vocalizations. In Study 1, participants were asked to hold a pencil between their lips, mimicking a smile, while listening to infant crying. Although there were no embodied effects for perceptual ratings, results indicated that this manipulation decreased participants’ self-reported, negative affect. In Study 2, participants were played both infant crying and birdsong while exposed to similar embodied manipulations, including activation of muscles related to approach and withdrawal behavior. There were no embodied effects for ratings of crying or for affect. Comparing Study …
Learned Attention In Younger And Older Adults,
2010
Western Kentucky University
Learned Attention In Younger And Older Adults, Jared M. Holder
Masters Theses & Specialist Projects
A relatively new phenomenon in learning research called highlighting occurs when participants show a seemingly irrational preference to attribute a stronger cue-outcome association to a later presented perfect predictor when it is paired with an imperfect predictor than that of an earlier presented perfect predictor paired with the same imperfect predictor (Kruschke, 1996). Current research suggests that the highlighting effect depends on the ability to learn to shift attention away from an irrelevant cue toward a more relevant cue in order to reduce errors in causal judgment and preserve an earlier formed association (Kruschke, 2003). Much research has suggested that …
Essences And Transformations In Objects, Animals, And Humans,
2010
Western Kentucky University
Essences And Transformations In Objects, Animals, And Humans, Alicia Brooke Smith
Masters Theses & Specialist Projects
Research as to how humans group natural kinds, such as animals, is essential to understanding categorization processes. However, it lacks conventional application and generalization to everyday life. Humans are social beings that encounter a wide array of individuals on a daily basis. In these situations, we are required to consider various properties that make up these people. As Keller (2005) suggests, the way we categorize is shaped by our theories about the world. Therefore, when we determine the rationale behind people’s social categorization processes, we are better able to understand people’s perceptions of their social environment. Moreover, when we conduct …
The Effects Of Action, Normality, And Decision Carefulness On Anticipated Regret: Evidence For A Broad Mediating Role Of Decision Justifiability.,
2010
Singapore Management University
The Effects Of Action, Normality, And Decision Carefulness On Anticipated Regret: Evidence For A Broad Mediating Role Of Decision Justifiability., Jochen Reb, Terry Connolly
Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business
Two distinct theoretical views explain the effects of action/inaction and social normality on anticipated regret. Norm theory (Kahneman & Miller, 1986) emphasises the role of decision mutability, the ease with which one can imagine having made a different choice. Decision justification theory (Connolly & Zeelenberg, 2002) highlights the role of decision justifiability, the perception that the choice was made on a defensible basis, supported by convincing arguments or using a thoughtful, comprehensive decision process. The present paper tests several contrasting predictions from the two theoretical approaches in a series of four studies. Study 1 replicated earlier findings showing greater anticipated …
Altering Explicit And Implicit Racial Prejudice Towards African American Males,
2010
University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Altering Explicit And Implicit Racial Prejudice Towards African American Males, Veronica A. Glover
UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones
Researchers tested 281 undergraduates to determine if positive behavior messages about African American males presented during a learning task affected scores on explicit and implicit racial prejudice measures. During the learning task, we manipulated how many positive messages the participant viewed (100 vs. 150 or none) and the amount of African American males these messages applied to (1 vs. 3). Participants who viewed 150 positive messages about one African American male displayed more explicit prejudice than participants in control groups or participants learning 100 messages about one person. Results for the implicit measure indicated that participants who learned about three …
Predictors Of Recall And Reading Time For Seductive And Nonseductive Text Segments,
2010
University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Predictors Of Recall And Reading Time For Seductive And Nonseductive Text Segments, Ivan V. Ivanov
UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones
This correlational study explored how concreteness, relevance, importance, and interestingness related to the recall of seductive details and base text, while controlling for text coherence, and student background knowledge. Previous research has provided evidence for the significant relationship between these variables and the seductive details effect in particular and text recall in general. However, this is the first study to consider all these variables simultaneously. A group of 68 undergraduates read an expository text on lightning formation, performed an immediate test on free recall, and rated each text sentence for concreteness, relevance, importance, and interestingness. A simple regression analysis revealed …
Situating Spatial Templates For Human-Robot Interaction,
2010
Technological University Dublin
Situating Spatial Templates For Human-Robot Interaction, John D. Kelleher, Robert J. Ross, Brian Mac Namee, Colm Sloan
Conference papers
People often refer to objects by describing the object's spatial location relative to another object. Due to their ubiquity in situated discourse, the ability to use 'locative expressions' is fundamental to human-robot dialogue systems. A key component of this ability are computational models of spatial term semantics. These models bridge the grounding gap between spatial language and sensor data. Within the Artificial Intelligence and Robotics communities, spatial template based accounts, such as the Attention Vector Sum model (Regier and Carlson, 2001), have found considerable application in mediating situated human-machine communication (Gorniak, 2004; Brenner et a., 2007; Kelleher and Costello, 2009). …
Memory And True Lies,
2010
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
Memory And True Lies, Ibpp Editor
International Bulletin of Political Psychology
This article discusses the concept of memory, its relation to culture, and three hypothetical phenomena associated with it.
The Statistical Properties Of The Survivor Interaction Contrast,
2010
Wright State University - Main Campus
The Statistical Properties Of The Survivor Interaction Contrast, Joseph W. Houpt, James T. Townsend
Psychology Faculty Publications
The Survivor Interaction Contrast (SIC) is a powerful tool for assessing the architecture and stopping rule of a model of mental processes. Despite its demonstrated utility, the methodology has lacked a method for statistical testing until now. In this paper we briefly describe the SIC then develop some basic statistical properties of the measure. These developments lead to a statistical test for rejecting certain classes of models based on the SIC. We verify these tests using simulated data, then demonstrate their use on data from a simple cognitive task.
Anger, Fear, And Escalation Of Commitment,
2010
Singapore Management University
Anger, Fear, And Escalation Of Commitment, Ming-Hong Tsai, Maia J. Young
Research Collection School of Social Sciences
Two studies examined how discrete emotions influence escalation of commitment. Study 1 demonstrated that anger was associated with more escalation of commitment than fear in a personnel hiring-appraisal context. In addition, it revealed the mediating effect of risk perception; angry compared to fearful individuals perceived lower risk in their initial decision, which in turn increased the tendency to escalate commitment. Study 2 replicated the pattern of results of Study 1 in a financial decision-making situation. Contrary to conclusions drawn from the results of prior research, the current studies suggest that not all negative emotions alleviate escalation of commitment.
Associations Between Mindfulness And Symptoms Of Anxiety.,
2010
East Tennessee State University
Associations Between Mindfulness And Symptoms Of Anxiety., Leisa L. Wells
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
This cross-sectional exploratory study considered the associations between mindfulness and symptoms of anxiety. The participants in this study were 183 undergraduate students at a regional university in the southeastern United States. The general hypothesis was that higher levels of mindfulness would be associated with lower levels of anxiety. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were used to examine the association between a variety of aspects of mindfulness and symptoms of anxiety while controlling for a variety of demographic and historical variables, including previous experience with meditation. Results suggest that not all aspects of mindfulness were related to anxiety. Of the 12 specific …
Exploration Of The Relationship Between Moral Judgment Development And Attention,
2010
Western Kentucky University
Exploration Of The Relationship Between Moral Judgment Development And Attention, Lauren I. Clark
Masters Theses & Specialist Projects
Research in moral psychology has focused on understanding what factors assist in the development of moral action and decision making. The purpose of this study was to address whether variability in attention relates to moral judgment development. The reason for exploring moral judgment development was to further explore the research of Thoma and Bebeau (2008) who documented that the moral development scores of college and graduate students has been declining over time, with more college-aged students scoring in the lower levels of moral reasoning. Attention was chosen as a viable topic of research, based on the writings of Carr (2008a) …
An Examination Of Student-Ahtletes' Perceptions Of Their Academic Abilities,
2010
Western Kentucky University
An Examination Of Student-Ahtletes' Perceptions Of Their Academic Abilities, Tiffany Ann White
Masters Theses & Specialist Projects
A common stereotype in our society is that athletes are not as capable of performing well academically as their non-athlete counterparts; they are “dumb jocks”. Do athletes feel that others have lower expectations of them academically? This is important because previous research in education has shown that expectations play a role in academic achievement (for example, Rosenthal and Jacobson’s Pygmalion effect (1968) and self-fulfilling prophecy research). The current study examined student-athletes’ perceptions of this stereotype. Three areas were addressed: athletes’ perceptions of their peers’ awareness that the student is a student-athlete, perceptions of their instructors and peers academic expectations of …
Examining The Relationship Between Body Work And Muscle Dysmorphia Symptoms,
2010
Western Kentucky University
Examining The Relationship Between Body Work And Muscle Dysmorphia Symptoms, Katharine J. Reynolds
Masters Theses & Specialist Projects
The purpose of this study was to investigate whether men with a large amount of Muscle Dysmorphia symptoms had a more favorable outlook and opinion of body work. Participants in the current study were a convenience sample of men recruited from undergraduate classes at Western Kentucky University and the community of Bowling Green Kentucky and Somerset Kentucky. A total of 215 men completed the study. Participants completed the Muscle Dysmorphia Inventory (MDI) and the Attitude-Behavior Questionnaire (ABQ). Results indicate scores on the MDI were significant predictors of scores on the ABQ. This suggests that men with a high number of …
Knowledge Of Nonsuicidal Self-Injury In Populations That Self-Injure,
2010
Western Kentucky University
Knowledge Of Nonsuicidal Self-Injury In Populations That Self-Injure, Darcy Leanne Cates
Masters Theses & Specialist Projects
Archived data was utilized for the present study which examined knowledge about non-suicidal self-injury, or NSSI, in individuals who engage in various degrees of the behavior and those who do not self-injure. Knowledge about NSSI was measured in three groups of respondents: those with no history of self-injurious behavior (no NSSI group), those with more limited experience with NSSI who reported 1-30 incidences of NSSI (limited NSSI group), and those with an extensive history (extensive NSSI group) who reported over 30 incidences of NSSI. To measure knowledge, participants were asked level of agreement with myths and facts about NSSI using …
Addressing Relationships Among Moral Judgment Development, Narcissism, And Electronic Media And Communication Devices,
2010
Western Kentucky University
Addressing Relationships Among Moral Judgment Development, Narcissism, And Electronic Media And Communication Devices, Meghan M. Saculla
Masters Theses & Specialist Projects
Recently, Thoma and Bebeau (2008) reported moral judgment developmental trends among various samples of undergraduates and graduates where increases in Personal Interests reasoning and decreases in Postconventional reasoning were observed. In an attempt to explain such trends, they cited recent trends in increased narcissism among college students (Twenge, Konrath, Foster, Campbell, & Bushman, 2008) and also noted that certain types of technological devices (i.e. social networking websites, cell phones, etc.) may have adverse effects social decision-making and self-presentation. The current study, therefore, addresses the relationships among moral judgment development, narcissism, and electronic media and communication devices (EMCD's). Analyses support that …
Exploring The Phenomena Of Inner Experience With Descriptive Experience Sampling,
2010
University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Exploring The Phenomena Of Inner Experience With Descriptive Experience Sampling, Janell M. Mihelic
UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones
This study provides a survey of the phenomena of normal, everyday inner experience using the Descriptive Experience Sampling (DES) method. Results demonstrated that five types of inner experience (sensory awareness, feeling, unsymbolized thinking, inner seeing, and inner speech) occurred in approximately one-quarter of sampled moments and that there were significant individual differences regarding the frequency with which subjects experienced these phenomena. Three new dimensions (richness of inner experience, the number of experiences present, and the overall valence of the experience) along which inner experience could be characterized were identified and used reliably to characterize moments of experience. Finally, although there …
The Effects Of Cultural Experience And Subdivision On Tapping To Slow Tempi,
2010
University of Nevada, Las Vegas
The Effects Of Cultural Experience And Subdivision On Tapping To Slow Tempi, Sangeeta Ullal
UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones
Our ability to accurately synchronize with rhythmic patterns is constrained by two factors: temporal length and interval structure. By using strategies such as subdivision, we can improve synchronization accuracy at slow tempos, but our ability to utilize subdivisions is constrained by the nature of interval ratios contained in culture-specific subdivision types. Western music falls within a restricted temporal range and its metrical subdivisions contain simple ratios, but Indian music violates these constraints. The present study examines the effects of culture-specific experience on these constraints. American and Indian listeners were asked to perform synchronous tapping to a stimulus with a slow …
Topology In Composite Spatial Terms,
2010
Technological University Dublin
Topology In Composite Spatial Terms, John D. Kelleher, Robert J. Ross
Conference papers
People often refer to objects by describing the object's spatial location relative to another object, e.g. the book on the right of the table. This type of referring expression is called a spatial locative expression. Spatial locatives have three major components: (1) the target object that is being located (the book), (2) the landmark object relative to which the target is being located (the table), and (3) the description of the spatial relationship that exists between the target and the landmark (on the right of ). In English spatial relationships are often described using spatial prepositions. The set of English …
