Cognitive Psychology Commons^™

Consumer Neuroscience: A Multi-Disciplinary Approach To Marketing Leveraging Advances In Neuroscience, Psychology And Economics, Bridget E. Blum

CMC Senior Theses

For decades, neuroscience has greatly contributed to our foundational understanding of human behavior. More recently, the findings and methods of neuroscience have been applied to study the process of decision-making in order to offer advanced insights into the neural mechanisms that influence economic and consumer choices. In this thesis, I will address how customized marketing strategies can be enriched through the integration of consumer neuroscience, an integrative field anchored in the biological, cognitive and affective mechanisms of consumer behavior. By recognizing and utilizing these multidisciplinary interdependencies, marketers can enhance their advertising and promotional mix to elicit desired neural and affective …

Designing Better Symbols: An Attentional Approach To Match Symbols To Performance Goals, Hannah North

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Effective displays require symbol sets that are customized to specific tasks and performance goals. In order to create such sets, designers must account for the effects of top-down and bottom-up attention. The current work presents a pair of experiments that examined the effects of salience and cueing in a change detection tasks within the flicker paradigm (Rensink, O’Regan and Clark, 1997). Each trial, participants either received no cue or a cue indicating which symbol would be the target. This cueing manipulation isolated top-down effects to the cued condition. Consistent with previous studies (Orchard, 2012; Steelman, Orchard, Fletcher, Cockshell, Williamson & …

The Role Of Chronic Sugar Consumption As A Moderating Variable On Acute Sugar Consumption And Aspects Of Executive Function, Caroline M. Joyce

Scripps Senior Theses

This study explores the relationship between acute sugar consumption and its effect on executive function (EF). Specifically, this study examines the effect of both acute and chronic sugar consumption on EF. An epidemiological survey was given on an online work distribution platform, where participants finished cognitive tasks of EF after completing questionnaires assessing sugar consumption both in the last year and last 24 hours (n = 273). It was hypothesized that acute and chronic sugar intake would significantly predict scores on measures of aspects of EF. Additionally, it was hypothesized that chronic sugar intake would significantly moderate the relationship …

The Effect Of More And Less Relevant Details And Teacher Voice On Student Retention And Problem-Solving Transfer In Teacher-Created Multimedia, Colette Roche

Doctoral Dissertations

Many teachers create multimedia resources for their students, but most are uncertain as to what factors to consider regarding the design of multimedia instructional materials. Prior research identified instructional design principles for multimedia including the coherence principle and voice principle.

The purpose of this study was to test the coherence principle in a realistic setting using a heterogeneous group of ninth grade students in a humanities course to determine the effect of seductive details on retention and problem-solving transfer. To extend understanding of the voice principle, this study examined the effect of the teacher’s voice on student learning as measured …

Play In Immature Tibetan Macaques (Macaca Thibetana): Location, Use Of Play Signals, And Play Bout Termination At Mt. Huangshan, China, Kaitlin R. Wright

All Master's Theses

In this study, I examined the relationship between play behaviors, play location, the frequency of selected play signals, and play bout termination in Tibetan macaques (Macaca thibetana) during immature social play. I gathered video data at the Valley of the Wild Monkeys, Mt. Huangshan, China, and focused on 21 juvenile and infant macaques (zero to five years of age). I used an all occurrence sampling method to score play behaviors and play signals with an ethogram. I hypothesized that play groups would use play signals in functionally appropriate ways based on the location of the play bout, the …

Animal Welfare And Animal Rights, M.E. Rolle

Animal Sentience

This overview of Broom’s book, Sentience and Animal Welfare (2014), considers the role the book could play in the animal rights debate. In a thoroughly researched and objectively presented text, Broom lays out information that could place doubt in the minds of decision-makers. By highlighting not just the ways animals resemble humans, but also the ways humans resemble animals, Broom shines a light on a solidly grey area in the animal rights debate.

Evidence For Animal Grief?, Carolyn Ristau

Animal Sentience

The nature of evidence appropriate to the study of animal emotion (and cognition) is discussed in this review with reference to Barbara King’s book. How Animals Grieve is beautifully written, but it intermixes examples meeting King’s criteria for evidence of grief with other poignant but far less convincing examples. Yet, as noted earlier by Griffin (1958/1974), “Excessive caution can sometimes lead one as far astray as rash enthusiasm.” King cites strong evidence from long-term scientific field studies, often involving known individuals; from videotapes; from convergent evidence in neurophysiological studies; and, notwithstanding possible emotional bias, from animals living closely with humans. …

The Influence Of Emotion On Memory For A Crime, Taylor Langley

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Researchers have reported errors in recall or recognition of witnessed events, accounting for the most common cause of false convictions of innocent people. Tiwari (2010) indicated that 25% of suspects who were identified in a line-up were actually innocent. Jurors are strongly influenced by eyewitness testimony and this can lead to false convictions. The validity of eyewitness identification is critical in cases in which it is used as evidence. In the current study we examined specific emotion states by inducing fear, surprise, and neutral moods. We hypothesized that participants in the Fear group would be least susceptible to the effects …

Perceptions In Predicting Actor And Partner Sexual And Relational Satisfaction In Couple Relationships, Lucia Novakova

Theses and Dissertations--Family Sciences

The present exploration of perceptual accuracy and bias in romantic relationships bridges a gap in the literature on the ability of partners to estimate one another’s level of relational and sexual satisfaction, and its impact on their own and their partner’s level of satisfaction. A sample of 50 couples, recruited internationally, in continuously monogamous relationships of at least six-months in length completed online assessments of their relationship. The degree of accuracy and bias of their perception was established by comparing actor’s estimates of their partner’s satisfaction with the partner’s actual, self-reported satisfaction scores. The actor-partner interdependence model (APIM; Kenny, Kashy, …

Examining The Relationship Between Emotional Intelligence And Interpersonal Forgiveness Among Internet Users, Noelle Lowry

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Emotional Intelligence (EI) and forgiveness both involve interpreting emotional content. Empirical study of a relationship between these two constructs is lacking. This is a problem as many psychological studies infer a relationship between these two constructs. The purposes of this study were to explore whether EI and forgiveness are correlated and to identify whether predictor variables (empathy, life satisfaction, emotional management, and emotional understanding) contribute to the probability of forgiveness within an interpersonal relationship. A quantitative, nonexperimental research design, based on the theory of mind, was used to answer two research questions: Does a correlational relationship exist between the two …

Effects Of A Positive Psychological Intervention On Happiness In At-Risk Students, Pamela Harlan

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Researchers have suggested an increased focus on positive psychological interventions to enhance college students' happiness levels; however, few studies have addressed positive interventions on at-risk college students. Based on the theoretical framework of positive psychology and impact of positive exercises on happiness, this study addressed whether a positive intervention would increase happiness as evidenced by scores on the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) and the Positive and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS). The experimental design included random group assignment and pre- and posttest surveys to collect data from 135 at-risk community college students in Southeast Texas. The experimental group participated in …

Getting Active With Passive Crossings: Investigating The Efficacy Of In-Vehicle Auditory Alerts For Rail Road Crossings, Steven Landry

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Train-vehicle collisions at highway-rail grade crossings continue to be a major issue in the US and across the world. Installing additional hardware at individual crossings is expensive, time consuming, and potentially ineffective. To prevent recent trends in safety improvement from plateauing, experts are turning towards novel warning devices that can be applied to all crossings with minimal cost. In-vehicle auditory alerts (IVAAs) could potentially remedy many of the human factor issues related to crossing safety in a cost effective manner.

This thesis presents a series of experiments designing and testing an IVAA system for grade level railroad (RR) crossings. Study …

Mothers' Cognitive Empathy Towards Their Biracial Children, Atika M. Gupta

Scripps Senior Theses

Limited research has been conducted on biracial people. Of the current research that examines mother’s cognitive empathy towards her child, there is little focus on how the differences in perceived racialization of the child (child is perceived as racially similar, dissimilar, or mixed in comparison to his or her mother) may influence mother’s cognitive empathy towards her child. The current study will question whether perceived phenotypic racialization of the child, race of the mother, gender of the child, and diversity of the neighborhood that the mother and child live in influence mothers’ cognitive empathy towards their children. The participants will …

Dreaming Big: Understanding The Current Context Of Academic And Career Decision-Making For Undocumented Students, Neeta Kantamneni, Kavitha Dharmalingam, Jessica Tate, Beth Perlman, Chaitasi R. Majmudar, Nichole Shada

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

Undocumented student immigrants in the United States face substantial challenges in higher education including systemic, institutional, and cultural barriers that often impede access to and success in higher education. These barriers directly influence academic and work opportunities. The purpose of this article is to discuss the myriad of factors that affect the academic, career, and work development of undocumented college students. The three main objectives of this article are to (1) examine legislation that directly impacts access to higher education, (2) explore common barriers and systemic challenges undocumented college students face, and (3) review culturally sensitive interventions and resources for …

Review Of Ordinary Magic: Resilience In Development By Ann S. Masten, Eric S. Buhs, Kathleen Moritz Rudasill

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

The notion of risk has been a mainstay of research in child development for decades. Studying and understanding risk have led to important discoveries that have informed policy and practice, particularly for children living in situations where risk is abundant. More recently, there has been attention to cumulative risk, or the idea that single indicators of risk – for example, poverty, hunger, and home insecurity – tend to co-occur. Individuals and families facing higher levels of cumulative risk are thought to have compounded problems, regardless of the risks themselves, because these multiple stressors together wear down a family’s resources and …

Toward A Human Rights Agenda: Social Issues That Have Shaped Psychology In The United States, Dena Abbott, Noelany Pelc, Debra Mollen

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

The history of psychology is comparably brief relative to many other fields of study. Within this brief history, beginning in the late 19th century, there have been tremendous, impactful shifts and the coalescence of multiple events that have shaped the development of psychology, which has likewise impacted society. Rapid social, political, cultural, and technological changes have dramatically altered the experience of each successive generation, and the science of psychology has adapted to each change to remain relevant, effective, and innovative. The impact of these widespread changes has affected the ways in which psychologists study human behavior and practice psychotherapy. In …

Practical Implications Of Learning From Unsuccessful Retrieval Attempts, Ann C. Rossmiller, James R. Houston

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Recent findings suggest that retesting oneself facilitates better learning than studying alone. Building off previous experiments where correcting participants has significantly increased correctness, the current study furthers our understanding about learning from unsuccessful retrieval attempts by manipulating the frequency of correction. Using a set of 42 associated word pairings, each participant was exposed to two blocks where they would memorize the word pairs. This was followed by two quizzing blocks and a final exam block where participants were asked to write down the associate to the stimulus presented on screen. Frequency of correction was manipulated during the quizzing blocks where …

Self-Directed Learning And The Development Of Self-Efficacy In Basic Writing, Amy Ann Latawiec

Wayne State University Dissertations

This dissertation examines and analyzes the work of two sections of basic writing over the course of one semester. I explore relevant research in Writing Studies, Cognitive Psychology, and Educational Psychology to build a framework within which to discuss pedagogical strategies implemented to support student’s self-directed learning behaviors and to positively affect their efficacy beliefs. Through an analysis of students’ written work, I determined whether and how this pedagogy facilitated students’ articulation of efficacy beliefs as evidence through the language of their reflective writing assignments. Analysis of the data suggests three major arguments: first, that while self-efficacy is a complex …

Effects Of Chronic Mild Stress On Clinically Relevant Endpoints In A Rat Ntg Migraine Model, Mary Katherine Jourdan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

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., & ... …