Cognitive Psychology Commons^™

Estimate Of Undergraduate University Student Alcohol Use In China: A Systematic Review And Meta-Analysis, Ian Newman, Lanyan Ding, Yonghua Feng

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

Objective: To develop an estimate of self-reported last 30 day alcohol use by university students in China.

Methods: A search of papers published in English and Chinese between 2006 and 2015, following pre-established selection criteria, identified 30 papers that were included in this meta-analysis. Nine moderator variables were preselected for this analysis.

Results: A total of 749 papers were identified in the keyword search, and 30 studies (28 in Chinese, 2 in English) met all selection criteria and were included in the meta-analysis. The self-reported last-30-day alcohol use for undergraduate university students was 66.8% for males and 31.7% …

Debunking The 'Gaydar' Myth, William Cox, Alyssa Bischmann, Janet Hyde, Patricia Devine

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

Kids are often told that you can’t judge a book by its cover. Even so, people often believe they can rely on their gut to intuit things about other people. Stereotypes often influence these impressions, whether it’s that a black man is dangerous, a woman won’t be a good leader or a fashionable man is gay.

Comparing Sexual Cognition And Risk By Gender, Jacquelynne Dauk

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The ways in which sexuality is perceived among members of society has substantial effects in regards to overall health and well-being. The current study investigates not only the nature of sexual cognition but also the differences in cognition in regards to participant genders. More specifically, this study seeks to investigate the differences in sexual attitudes and thoughts among different genders that may lead to different forms of sexual risk. In order to identify these differences, societal influences such as social roles, parenting styles, and sexual education are all examined in regards to gender. Factors such as age and demographics were …

The Role Of Accounts And Apologies In Mitigating Blame Toward Human And Machine Agents, Kimberly Stowers

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Would you trust a machine to make life-or-death decisions about your health and safety? Machines today are capable of achieving much more than they could 30 years ago—and the same will be said for machines that exist 30 years from now. The rise of intelligence in machines has resulted in humans entrusting them with ever-increasing responsibility. With this has arisen the question of whether machines should be given equal responsibility to humans—or if humans will ever perceive machines as being accountable for such responsibility. For example, if an intelligent machine accidentally harms a person, should it be blamed for its …

Cognitive And Emotional Processes Involved In The Experience Of Objects As Holy Or Transcendent, Lotte J. Pummerer

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

In recent years, attitudes about religion/spirituality have become more pluralistic (Pew Research Center, 2015a). At the same time, the number of individuals who identify themselves as nonreligious, atheist or agnostic are growing (Pew Research Center, 2015b), yet we are lacking words and research to describe their attributions of transcendence in language not bound to religious concepts. This study aims at examining both concepts – holiness and transcendence – in their similarities and differences through assessing cognitive and emotional processes involved in experiences of objects.

The study consisted of two parts with a total of 206 Christian and 52 nonreligious/atheistic/agnostic participants. …

Intertemporal Choice And Delayed Gratification, Jeffrey R. Stevens

Jeffrey Stevens Publications

A parasitoid wasp has deposited half of her eggs in a host. She now faces the choice between depositing her remaining eggs in the same host or searching for another. Continuing to deposit in the current host provides the immediate payoff of completing her reproductive duties, allowing her to move on to other activities such as foraging or searching for another mate. Searching for another host, in contrast, delays the payoffs of reproducing until a suitable host is found. This wasp faces an intertemporal choice—that is, a choice between options that involve payoffs available at different times (Read, 2004; Stevens, …

That Note Sounds Wrong! Age-Related Effects In Processing Of Musical Expectation, Andrea R. Halpern, Ioanna Zioga, Martin Shankleman, Job Lindsen, Marcus T. Pearce, Joydeep Bhattacharya

Faculty Journal Articles

Part of musical understanding and enjoyment stems from the ability to accurately predict what note (or one of a small set of notes) is likely to follow after hearing the first part of a melody. Selective violation of expectations can add to aesthetic response but radical or frequent violations are likely to be disliked or not comprehended. In this study we investigated whether a lifetime of exposure to music among untrained older adults would enhance their reaction to unexpected endings of unfamiliar melodies. Older and younger adults listened to melodies that had expected or unexpected ending notes, according to Western …

Audience Reactions To Repeating A Piece On A Concert Programme, Andrea R. Halpern, Chloe H.K. Chan, Daniel Müllensiefen, John Sloboda

Faculty Journal Articles

Repetition of a piece on a concert programme is a well-established, but uncommon performance practice. Musicians have presumed that repetition benefits audience enjoyment and understanding but no research has examined this. In two naturalistic and one lab study, we examined audience reaction to repeated live performances of contemporary pieces played by the same ensemble. In all studies, we asked listeners to rate their enjoyment and willingness to hear the piece again (Affective), and perceived understanding and predicted memory of the piece (Cognitive). In Study 3, we assessed immediate recognition memory of each excerpt. In all studies, Cognitive variables increased significantly. …

Are Musical Autobiographical Memories Special? It Ain’T Necessarily So, Andrea R. Halpern, Jennifer M. Talarico, Nura Gouda, Victoria J. Williamson

Faculty Journal Articles

We compared young adults' autobiographical (AB) memories involving Music to memories concerning other specific categories and to Everyday AB memories with no specific cue. In all cases, participants reported both their most vivid memory and another AB memory from approximately the same time. We analyzed responses via quantitative ratings scales on aspects such as vividness and importance, as well as via qualitative thematic coding. In the initial phase, comparison of Music-related to Everyday memories suggested all Musical memories had high emotional and vividness characteristics whereas Everyday memories elicited emotion and other heightened responses only in the ‘‘vivid’’ instruction condition. However, …

Executive Control Mechanisms In Bilingualism: Beyond Speed Of Processing, Klara Marton, Mira Goral, Luca Campanelli, Jungmee Yoon, Loraine K. Obler

Publications and Research

The question of interest in this study was whether bilingual individuals show superior executive control compared to monolingual participants. Findings are mixed, with studies showing advantage, disadvantage, or no difference between bilingual and monolingual speakers. In this study, we used different experimental conditions to examine implicit learning, resistance to interference, monitoring, and switching, independently. In addition, we matched our monolingual and bilingual participants on baseline response time. Bilingual participants demonstrated faster implicit learning, greater resistance to interference, more efficient switching compared to monolingual participants. The groups did not differ in monitoring. In conclusion, depending on task complexity and on the …

Designing And Using Digital Books For Learning: The Informative Case Of Young Children And Video, Georgene Troseth, Gabrielle Strouse

School of Education Faculty Publications

To promote young children’s learning from screen-based digital books, parents, educators, researchers, and designers might productively consult research about very young children’s learning from another screen-based medium: video. This extensive literature reveals challenges to young children’s learning from digital screens that extend from infancy throughout the preschool years. The youngest viewers learn better watching real events “face to face” than they do watching video, and have trouble transferring information from a screen to the real world. Supports for learning include particular experiences, active mediation by social partners, and select built-in features. Each support is reviewed in regard to its potential …

Toddlers’ Word Learning And Transfer From Electronic And Print Books. Journal Of Experimental Child Psychology, Gabrielle Strouse, Patricia Ganea

School of Education Faculty Publications

Transfer from symbolic media to the real world can be difficult for young children. A sample of 73 toddlers aged 17 to 23 months were read either an electronic book displayed on a touchscreen device or a traditional print book in which a novel object was paired with a novel label. Toddlers in both conditions learned the label within the context of the book. However, only those who read the traditional format book generalized and transferred the label to other contexts. An older group of 28 toddlers aged 24 to 30 months did generalize and transfer from the electronic book. …

Comprehension Models Of Audiovisual Discourse Processing, Courtney Anderegg, Fashina Alade, David R. Ewoldsen, Zheng Wang

Faculty Publications - Department of Communication and Cinematic Arts

Comprehension is integral to enjoyment of media narratives, yet our understanding of how viewers create the situation models that underlie comprehension is limited.This study utilizes two models of comprehension that had previously been tested with factual texts/videos to predict viewers’ recall of entertainment media. Across five television/film clips, the landscape model explained at least 29% of the variance in recall. A dual coding version that assumed separate verbal and visual representations of the story significantly improved the model fit in four of the clips, accounting for an additional 15–29% of the variance. The dimensions of the event-indexingmodel (time, space, protagonist, …

Collective Memory And History: An Examination Of Perceptions Of Accuracy And Preference For Biased “History” Passages, Stephanie Doi

CMC Senior Theses

Collective memory is a socially shared representation of the past. History, contrastingly, strives to be an unbiased, objective, and critical account of the past. Many researchers have argued that the so-called “history” found in school textbooks and curriculums align more with collective memory; however, many individuals do not know of the pervasiveness of collective memory in supposed “history” texts. To examine perceptions of accuracy and preference of American “history” textbook passages, individuals from Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (n= 404) participated in an online study where they were randomly assigned to read one passage that was either negatively biased, neutral, or positively …

Exploring Metacognition, Multitasking And Test Performance In A Lecture Context, Fatma Arslantas

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Multitasking has become more prevalent with recent advancements in technology (Judd, 2014; Junco & Cotten, 2012). Many self-report studies, and the few available experimental manipulations, consistently indicate that media multitasking is related to decrements in learning. The present study extends the current literature by explicitly documenting students’ responses to media-based interruptions to learning. The current study also documents other behaviours students engage in that may or may not be related to multitasking when technology is available during lectures. In addition, the study explores the role of metacognition as a contributor to learning in a media-rich educational setting. In total, 118 …

Hope Is A 4-Legged Word: How Service Dogs Can Help Veterans Suffering From Combat-Related Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Holly Katherine Robinson

Undergraduate Honors Theses

As the rate of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) continues to increase among our veterans returning from the War on Terror, the need for alternative treatment options is becoming more critical. One such alternative is the use of psychiatric service dogs specially trained to assist those living with PTSD. However, little empirical research has been conducted to support the legitimacy of this treatment option. This present study sought to explore the benefits that could be gained from the use of a service dog to treat PTSD by exploring relevant literature. The training the dogs receive as well as the possible problems …

A Print Book Preference: Caregivers Report Higher Child Enjoyment And More Adult-Child Interactions When Reading Print Than Electronic Books, Gabrielle Strouse, Patricia Ganea

School of Education Faculty Publications

Prior research has indicated that parents of young children prefer their children read print over electronic books. In this study we addressed whether this preference is associated with differences in child enjoyment and engagement or joint caregiver–child interactions during reading. Caregivers of children ages 1–4 years reported their children not only read traditional books more than electronic books, but enjoyed them more and paid more attention to them. Caregivers also reported participating in more adult–child interactions when reading print than electronic books. This research is important because it indicates that caregivers and children may not tend to engage with electronic …

Testing Of Wrist-Worn-Fitness-Tracking Devices During Cognitive Stress: A Validation Study, Nicole S. Chudy

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The intent of this thesis was to test if one of the many fitness-tracking devices, Microsoft’s Band 2 (MSB2), is accurate and reliable in detecting changes in Heart Rate (HR) and R-R intervals, during the repeated trial of two conditions of a working-memory test known as the N-Back. A 2 (devices: ECG, MSB2) × 4 (epochs: baseline 1, 1-back task, baseline 2, 3-back task) repeated measures factorial design was conducted. The participants were simultaneously equipped to the MSB2 and an electrocardiogram (ECG). The results of this study validated the MSB2 for the use in a cognitive task. The study suggests …

Beyond Compliance: Examining The Role Of Motivation In Vigilance Performance, Alexis Neigel

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Vigilance, or sustained attention, is the capacity to attend to information for a prolonged period of time (Davies & Parasuraman, 1982; Jerison, 1970; Warm, 1977). Due to limitations of the human nervous system, as well as the environmental context, attention can begin to wane over time. This results in a phenomenon referred to as the vigilance decrement, or a decline in vigilance performance as a function of time. The vigilance decrement can manifest as poorer attention and is thusly associated with poor performance, which is defined behaviorally as more lapses in the detection of critical signals and an increase in …

The Relationship Between Physical Exercise And Cognition In Children With Typical Development And Neurodevelopmental Disorders, Beron Wei Zhong Tan

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This research project sought to investigate the relationship between physical exercise and cognition in children with and without a neurodevelopmental condition. To achieve this aim, three approaches were undertaken to explore the exercise and cognition relationship. The first approach sought to understand the efficacy of exercise interventions on cognition in individuals with a neurodevelopmental disorder. The second approach was to understand the effectiveness of an exercise activity when compared to a cognitively-engaging tablet game activity on measures of implicit learning and attention in children with and without a neurodevelopmental condition. The third approach was to investigate if psychophysiological measures could …