Cognitive Psychology Commons^™

Foreign Language Comprehension: Understanding The Centrality Deficit, Amanda C. Miller

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this study was to determine how reading in a foreign language (L2) affects one's mental representation of the text and the ability to recognize and recall the text's important information. Using a within-participants design, the proportion of central and peripheral ideas recalled by participants reading in their L2 was compared to that when reading in their native language (L1). Readers recalled a greater proportion of central than peripheral ideas when reading in both their L2 and L1, but when their L2 and L1 recalls were directly compared, a very interesting, yet counterintuitive, result emerged. The greatest deficit …

The Effect Of Word Sociality On Word Recognition, Sean Seaman

Wayne State University Dissertations

While research into the role of semantic structure in the recognition of written and spoken words has grown, it has not looked specifically at the role of conversational context on the recognition of isolated words. This study was a corpus-based and behavioral exploration of a new semantic variable - sociality - and used on-line behavioral testing to obtain new word recognition data using the visual and auditory lexical decision tasks. The results consistently demonstrated that sociality is one of the most robust predictors of lexical decision performance. Overall, it appears that the visual lexical decision task is quite sensitive to …

C-Reactive Protein, Homocysteine, And Cognitive Performance In Healthy Adults, Cheryl Dahle

Wayne State University Dissertations

Elevated blood levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) and homocysteine (Hcy) have received a great deal of attention as biomarkers for the development of cardiovascular disease. Their utility in predicting cognitive function has also been assessed, though the findings are equivocal. The current study examined the relationship between elevated blood levels of CRP and Hcy and their effect on cognition across several cognitive domains. As baseline blood levels of CRP and Hcy and cognition are in part regulated by genetic factors, the impact of T carrier status for variants in the CRP -286 C>T>A and the MTHFR 677C>T …

Feeling Of Knowing And Retrieval Failure: Tip-Of-The-Tongue State Is Not The Only Option, Amanda C. Gingerich

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

We investigated whether individuals are able to differentiate being in a tip-of-the-tongue state from the metacognitive experience of knowing information, but being unable to recall it. Results indicate that being unable to recall known information is separate from, and more common than, experiencing a tip-of-the-tongue state.

Planteamientos Colaborativos En La Didáctica De La Composición Desde Modelos Procesuales, David Sánchez-Jiménez

Publications and Research

El presente artículo parte de una revisión del modelo tradicional de la enseñanza de la escritura en la clase de LE entendida como producto. Desde este punto de partida, se evidencian las ventajas de adoptar una escritura colaborativa basada en la consideración del texto como un proceso en construcción que pasa por diferentes fases creativas y en un modelo pedagógico que centra su atención en el alumno dentro de la práctica escrita.

SUMMARY: In the initial part of this article, we begin with a review of the traditional model of teaching composition in a foreign language class in which writing …

A Conceptual Guide To Natural History Museum Visitors’ Understanding Of Evolution, E. Margaret Evans, Amy N. Spiegel, Wendy Gram, Brandy N. Frazier, Medha Tare, Sarah Thompson, Judy Diamond

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

Museum visitors are an ideal population for assessing the persistence of the conceptual barriers that make it difficult to grasp Darwinian evolutionary theory. In comparison with other members of the public, they are more likely to be interested in natural history, have higher education levels, and be exposed to the relevant content. If museum visitors do not grasp evolutionary principles, it seems unlikely that other members of the general public would do so. In the current study, 32 systematically selected visitors to three Midwest museums of natural history provided detailed open-ended explanations of biological change in seven diverse organisms. They …

Grounded Theory As A “Family Of Methods”: A Genealogical Analysis To Guide Research, Wayne A. Babchuk

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

This inquiry traces the evolution of grounded theory from a nuclear to an extended family of methods and considers the implications that decision-making based on informed choices throughout all phases of the research process has for realizing the potential of grounded theory for advancing adult education theory and practice.

Book Review: Psychoanalyzing Prejudice, David Moshman

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

The classic psychological work on prejudice is Gordon Allport’s 1954 The Nature of Prejudice. Half a century later, its definitive modern counterpart must surely be On the Nature of Prejudice: Fifty Years after Allport (2005). Systematically reconsidering Allport’s work in light of subsequent research and theorizing, On the Nature of Prejudice provides, in one carefully edited volume, the most comprehensive statement on the psychology of prejudice currently available. The Future of Prejudice: Psychoanalysis and the Prevention of Prejudice, in contrast, is simply a collection of sixteen chapters that, although generally psychoanalytic in orientation, vary greatly in form, content, …

The Neuropsychological Deficits In Cannabis Users : Does Motivation Play A Role?, Rayna Beth Ericson

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Prior research of the neuropsychological functioning of cannabis users has yielded mixed results, in that some studies identified differences compared to non-users, while others found no group differences at all. A meta-analysis revealed a small effect of cannabis use on the cognitive domains of learning and forgetting, while domains such as attention and processing speed yielded no effect (Grant et al., 2003). However, none of the previous studies assessed the participants' motivation to perform well on the assessment, which may have influenced the results. The present study sought to determine whether motivation is differentially demonstrated in cannabis users compared to …

The Influence Of Emotion On Attention : Examining The Processing Of Negative And Positive Emotion Words In The Dot Probe Task, Tina Sutton

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The influence of emotion on attention has been examined more closely in recent years using a variety of paradigms. Öhman (1993) suggested that participants more readily pay attention to negative information than neutral information. The current work was designed to expand upon these findings by examining both negative and positive emotion word processing in a non-clinical population using the dot probe task. Experiments 1a and 1b examined the supraliminal and subliminal processing of negative and positive emotion words presented in separate blocks. The results revealed that participants responded faster to the probe when it appeared in the same location as …

Resolving Incomparability, David Pinkowski

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

When confronted with an important choice between two very different options, an agent often will be at a loss as to how to decide between them. This is often true even if the agent has a good understanding of the pros and cons of each option, and even if she is committed to something like "the best overall decision for me." One way to analyze this situation is to assert that the options are incomparable for the agent. Incomparability arises when, for two options, it seems that one is neither better nor worse than, nor equal to, the other. If …

Word Concreteness And Word Frequency As Moderators Of The Tip-Of-The-Tongue Effect, Jennifer Lynn Gianico

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) experience is a universal experience in which a speaker cannot fully produce a word that he or she believes will eventually be recalled and could easily be recognized. The purpose of the current set of experiments is to determine how different variables affect the rate of TOTs. Specifically, a series of three experiments investigates the roles of word concreteness and word frequency on TOT rates. A new finding, the concreteness effect on TOT rates, emerged and was replicated across all three experiments. This never-before investigated concreteness effect is discussed in terms of a general two-stage model of …

Pharmacological Reversal Of Cognitive Bias In The Chick Anxiety-Depression Continuum Model, Kristen Anne Hymel

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Cognitive bias is a phenomenon that presents in clinical populations where anxious individuals tend to adopt a more pessimistic interpretation of ambiguous aversive stimuli and depressed individuals not only tend to adopt a more pessimistic interpretation of ambiguous aversive stimuli, but also a less optimistic interpretation of ambiguous appetitive stimuli. Such biases have also been pharmacologically reversed in clinical trials. To measure cognitive bias in the chick anxiety-depression continuum model, chicks exposed to an isolation stressor of 5 min to induce an anxiety-like or 60 min to induce a depressive-like state were then tested in a straight alley maze to …

Threat By Association: Minimal Group Affiliation And Its Outcome For Stereotype Threat, Eric W. Fuller

Wayne State University Theses

Stereotype threat has been shown to be an important cause of performance detriments in various social groups. It has also been theorized that stereotype threat could be applicable to any group so long as the individual believes their performance may reinforce the negative stereotype. The current work attempts to induce stereotype threat in participants believing they belong to an experimentally created and negatively stereotyped group using a minimal group paradigm. Across two studies there did not appear to be significant performance changes typically observed in stereotype threat research. Various cognitive measures and post-performance inquiries did generally support claims that participants …

Lateral Cognitive Processing And Belief Updating, Erin Marie Holcomb

Wayne State University Theses

Bias in mental representations and belief systems has been linked to asymmetries in information processing by the two hemispheres in research that uses wide variety of methodologies and participant samples. Also, associations have been drawn between such biases in belief systems and sociopolitical orientation leading to the hypothesis that links can be drawn from lateral processing through cognitive style to social and political orientation. This study sought to examine individual differences in laterality - as assessed via a lateralized semantic priming methodology - and manifestations of rigidity and flexibility in belief updating within a sociopolitical context. Analyses revealed that a …

Investigation Of Working Memory Across Behavioral And Executive Function Variables In Adolescents With Emotional Disturbance, Eleazar Cruz Eusebio

PCOM Psychology Dissertations

Newer insights into working memory may have important implications for understanding varying cognitive abilities in adolescents and their corresponding degrees of success and efforts to accomplish real-world goals. It is important to investigate the construct of working memory in relation to academic, behavioral, and emotional success at school for students classified with an Emotionally Disturbance (ED). In the educational system, students are classified as ED, based upon IDEA regulations present within a multiplicity of these cognitive, behavioral, socio-emotional, and academic difficulties. The associated cognitive deficits often involve poor working memory skills thought to be related to frontal lobe processes. Considering …

Inspiring Art And Science, Andrea R. Halpern

Other Faculty Research and Publications

I read Ralf Dahm's article "Finding Alzheimer's Disease" (March-April) with interest for two reasons. First, as a cognitive neuroscientist, I have studied the effect of early-stage Alzheimer's disease on memory and on the appreciation of music and art. In addition, I am a member of a community chorus here in Pennsylvania, the Susquehanna Valley Chorale, which recently commissioned and premiered a choral work on the topic of the ailment, called Alzheimer's Stories.

Spirituality And Organised Religion In Supporting Parents Of Children With Down Syndrome And Intellectual Disability, Divia Pillay

Theses : Honours

Background: Raising a child with an intellectual disability can present parents with many challenges. Factors that have been demonstrated to positively impact on the mental and physical health of parents of children with an intellectual disability include greater clinical, family and social supports. One avenue of support that has been rarely explored is the role of spirituality and organised religion in supporting parents of children with an intellectual disability. Aim: The aim of this literature review was to investigate the role of spirituality and organised religion in the lives of parents of children with intellectual disability, specifically Down syndrome. Methods: …

The Role Of Auditory Feedback On The Control Of Voice Fundamental Frequency (F0) While Singing, Dwayne Nicholas Keough

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Whether we are learning how to play a new instrument, song, or even learn a second language, the nervous system relies on various forms of sensory feedback to establish task-specific sensorimotor representations. Over time, the plasticity of the nervous system permits neural reorganization and the formation of an ‘internal model’. It has been suggested that internal models represent neural maps of skilled movement that store the relationship between the motor commands, environment and sensory feedback responsible for their production. These internal representations are often investigated by altering a particular aspect of the sensory feedback associated with a given task. Arguably …

A New Perspective On Visual Word Processing Efficiency, Joseph W. Houpt, James T. Townsend

Psychology Faculty Publications

As a fundamental part of our daily lives, visual word processing has received much attention in the psychological literature. Despite the well established perceptual advantages of word and pseudoword context using accuracy, a comparable effect using response times has been elusive. Some researchers continue to question whether the advantage due to word context is perceptual. We use the capacity coefficient, a well established, response time based measure of efficiency to provide evidence of word processing as a particularly efficient perceptual process to complement those results from the accuracy domain.