How Does Age Affect Our Memory? Semantic Relatedness In Proper Name Recall,
2026
James Madison University
How Does Age Affect Our Memory? Semantic Relatedness In Proper Name Recall, Art Beqiraj
Masters Theses, 2020-current
Proper names belong to a distinct class of lexical items that pose challenges for encoding and retrieval across people of all ages. Unlike common nouns, and the exception of nicknames, proper names are arbitrary relative to their referent. Forgetting someone’s name is not only seen as a social faux pas but may be particularly concerning for older adults due to its interpretation as a cognitive decline indicator. Prior research has shown that when names are physically descriptive of their referent (e.g., a giraffe called ‘Lengthy’), they are better learned and recalled; however, the extent to which descriptiveness without a visual …
Understanding Behavioral And Representational Divergences Of Humans And Machines,
2026
Dartmouth College
Understanding Behavioral And Representational Divergences Of Humans And Machines, Thomas Lasman Botch
Dartmouth College Ph.D Dissertations
Human behavior and cognition are strikingly variable: people differ from one another in their preferences and abilities, and even from themselves across situations. Yet this diversity arises from common neural machinery shaped by the complex environments humans inhabit. A central objective of cognitive neuroscience is to understand how this varied experience emerges from interactions between brains, agents, and environments. In this dissertation, I argue that comparing behavior and neural computation across humans, artificial systems, and contexts is essential for understanding the flexibility of human cognition. Across three chapters, I use this comparative approach to examine how the rich, multimodal contexts …
Estimator And System Variables On Eyewitness Identification Procedure Outcomes,
2026
Syracuse University
Estimator And System Variables On Eyewitness Identification Procedure Outcomes, Gabriella Kathryn Larson
Dissertations - ALL
Eyewitness identification is fundamentally a recognition memory task, yet the field has historically been disconnected from broader memory research. The present dissertation bridges this gap by applying foundational recognition memory principles, including list length effects, encoding strength, output interference, and retention interval, to eyewitness lineup identification across three experiments. Using signal detection theory (SDT) as a theoretical framework, discriminability was assessed through both theoretical (d′) and empirical (AUC) measures, alongside positive predictive value (PPV) and confidence-accuracy calibration analyses. Experiment 1 employed a 4 × 3 × 3 factorial design (n = 181) to examine the effects of lineup size, encoding …
Measuring The Effect Of Mindfulness On Frustration And Creativity In Preschoolers,
2026
University of Mississippi
Measuring The Effect Of Mindfulness On Frustration And Creativity In Preschoolers, Jillian A. Badeaux
Honors Theses
Emotional regulation in early childhood is very important for later social development and overall psychological functioning, but research on the impact of mindfulness in this younger age group remains limited. This study examined whether a brief mindfulness intervention could improve emotion regulation (frustration) and creative problem solving in preschoolers. Fifty children ages 4 to 5 from preschools in the Mississippi Delta region were randomly assigned to a mindfulness or a control condition. Children in the mindfulness group received a brief intervention emphasizing deep breathing, present moment attention, and nonjudgemental awareness. All participants completed a Locked Box Task (Goldsmith, 1995) to …
Neurophysiological Signatures Of Perceived Control In The Human Brain: An Electroencephalography Study,
2026
University of Mississippi
Neurophysiological Signatures Of Perceived Control In The Human Brain: An Electroencephalography Study, Megan Staehling
Honors Theses
Perceived control is defined as the belief that one’s actions can influence the outcomes in the environment. It plays an important role in decision-making, motivation, and emotional regulation. Previous studies suggest that perceived control shapes how the brain processes both reward and punishment stimuli. However, the neural mechanisms underlying this process are still unclear. The present study examined the neurophysiological correlates of perceived control during a decision-making task. Electroencephalography (EEG) was used to record the neural activity of twenty-nine undergraduate students while they completed the Choice Task. Participants associated visual cues with different levels of control over trials involving monetary …
Factors Relating To Memory,
2026
Coastal Carolina University
Factors Relating To Memory, Kyra Vanheirseele
Honors Theses
Cognitive and emotional processes are increasingly recognized as important factors influencing memory functioning. In the current study, the associations between depressive symptoms, selfcritical rumination, sleep quality, and cognitive confidence with self-referent memory recall were examined in a sample of undergraduate students (N = 60; 70.0% female, 21.7% male; M age = 19.36 years, SD = 1.21). The sample was predominantly White (73.2%), with additional representation from Black or African American (14.3%), American Indian or Alaska Native (1.8%), Asian (1.8%), and other racial groups (8.9%). Using established self-report measures, participants reported on depressive symptoms (Schmitt & Maes, 2000; Sauer et al., …
From Stranger To Self: The Role Of Familiarity In Modulating The N170 And N250 Erp Components,
2026
University of Missouri-St. Louis
From Stranger To Self: The Role Of Familiarity In Modulating The N170 And N250 Erp Components, Tabish Gul
Dissertations
This study investigated how varying levels of face familiarity modulate the N170 and N250 event-related potential (ERP) components, two neural markers of face perception and recognition. While the N250 is widely considered familiarity-sensitive, the N170 has traditionally been linked to the structural encoding stage of face perception. However, recent research suggests that face familiarity may also influence N170 amplitude and latency. While most previous studies have compared up to three familiarity levels, the present study examined five levels of familiarity: own face, friend’s face, famous face, experimentally familiar face, and unfamiliar face. Twenty-six participants viewed face images while completing a …
Story Processing Eliminates Collaborative Inhibition,
2026
University of Mississippi
Story Processing Eliminates Collaborative Inhibition, Brady Keller
Honors Theses
This present experiment investigated the encoding effect when creating or processing stories and pleasantness conditions for participants in both nominal and collaborative groups (dyads). A brief literature review explored the background on research done highlighting collaborative inhibition and story processing is included. Amongst nominal groups there was no significant difference between story processing and pleasantness conditions. However, participants in storytelling remembered more words than the participants in pleasantness conditions in collaborative groups. Furthermore, story processing dyads had no identifiable collaborative inhibition, rather supporting evidence to a robust collaborative facilitation. Potential reasons for this unique result are related to everyone’s expertise …
Storytelling As A Pedagogical Tool For Improving Memory In Lectures,
2026
University of Mississippi Main Campus
Storytelling As A Pedagogical Tool For Improving Memory In Lectures, Sydney E. Rutter
Honors Theses
The purpose of the study was to examine if utilizing storytelling in lectures caused a positive effect on students' memory over a week-long period. Storytelling has been used as a mnemonic device to improve memory, however its benefits have not been experimented much in higher education. In this study, 53 undergraduate psychology students were placed into two groups: traditional lecture or storytelling lecture. Students then watched the lecture they were assigned, both lectures discussed the ASURE model. A week later, students returned and took a 17 question memory test. Results indicated that students who watched the storytelling lecture performed significantly …
Behind The Self-Report: Cognitive Symptoms And Moderating Variables During Covid-19 Quarantine,
2026
Chapman University
Behind The Self-Report: Cognitive Symptoms And Moderating Variables During Covid-19 Quarantine, Ashley H. Jo
Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters
A lesser-known impact of the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic is the impairment of cognitive functioning among seemingly unsusceptible, healthy, and young populations. Research suggests that the circumstances of extreme social isolation, incited by the pandemic, have had significantly negative effects across various social, cognitive, and psychological dimensions, with a specific focus on adolescents who are at a unique and more extreme risk than adults and children. By applying the cognitive load theory (CLT) to the COVID-19 quarantine landscape, this study measured the effects of the COVID-19 quarantine on cognitive functioning among those who were adolescents and young adults at the time …
Estimator And Reflector Variables In Eyewitness Recall,
2026
CUNY John Jay College
Estimator And Reflector Variables In Eyewitness Recall, Sakshi Mundra
Student Theses
Eyewitnesses are frequently asked to describe culprits following a crime, but how accurate and complete are such descriptions? This study examined eyewitness description completeness and accuracy by investigating estimator variables (Race and Gender), reflector variables (Confidence and Response Time), and elicitation methods (Free Recall and Prompted Recall). Participants viewed one mock-crime video featuring a culprit who varied in race (White or Black) and gender (Female or Male), then provided free recall descriptions followed by prompted descriptions of facial features. Prompted recall improved completeness beyond free recall, though with a minor reduction in accuracy. Descriptions were more complete for same-race and …
Ticking Time Bomb: The Economic Ramifications Of Mlb's Pitch Clock,
2026
Ursinus College
Ticking Time Bomb: The Economic Ramifications Of Mlb's Pitch Clock, Katie Ciuffreda
Business and Economics Honors Papers
In recent years, Major League Baseball has been challenged with declining engagement and attendance, particularly with younger audiences, with the long duration of games most commonly cited as the reason for disinterest. In response to this, MLB implemented a pitch clock that worked its way through the minor league system until it was introduced to the majors for the 2023 season. The goal for the clock was to reduce game times by increasing pace of play. While early evidence shows that the clock has been successful in that regard, its impact on player performance remains to be explored. This study …
What Learning Benefits Can Leadership Bring To Social Dilemma Situations?,
2026
University of Louisville
What Learning Benefits Can Leadership Bring To Social Dilemma Situations?, Kyisha M. Walter
College of Arts & Sciences Senior Theses
Social dilemmas are ethical dilemmas that citizens, students and employees face every day. When faced with a social dilemma, an individual must work alone and along with others in a group. These situations create conflict between personal and group interests and can be easily mismanaged. Research has started to tackle the question of how we can teach people to best manage a social dilemma. The current exploratory study asks the same question with respect to leadership. Undergraduate students (N=20) played a social dilemma board game twice in groups of four, received a lesson on social dilemmas, and completed …
Personality Meets Possibility: Exploring Cognitive Engagement For Older Adults In A Changing World,
2026
Clemson University
Personality Meets Possibility: Exploring Cognitive Engagement For Older Adults In A Changing World, Kalvry A. Cooper
All Theses
Engagement in cognitively stimulating activities (CSAs) is critical for maintaining cognitive health in older adults. While existing research has examined the benefits of CSAs, less is known about how factors such as personality traits, education, and technology proficiency influence engagement, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aims to explore older adults' participation in online versus in-person CSAs during the pandemic and identify key predictors of engagement. Using secondary data from the EFIT and ENACT studies, this research investigates how variables like marital status, education, personality traits, and mobile device proficiency shape older adults' decisions to engage in online or …
Social Media Usage And Motives In Socially Anxious Individuals,
2026
University of Arkansas, Fayetteville
Social Media Usage And Motives In Socially Anxious Individuals, Emma Eddy
Psychological Science Undergraduate Honors Theses
Social media use (SMU) has grown rapidly in recent years, alongside the rate of social anxiety. Plenty of research has been previously conducted exploring the relationship between SMU and social anxiety, as well as potential motivations for using social media which may explain the recent incline in usage. However, this study combines the two relationships together to test the association between social anxiety and problematic SMU as well as to investigate motives of SMU as potential mediators of problematic SMU. Problematic social media usage, social anxiety, passive vs active SMU, and four different motives of SMU were all looked at. …
How Schema Knowledge Affects Memory,
2026
University of Arkansas, Fayetteville
How Schema Knowledge Affects Memory, Sarah Waller
Psychological Science Undergraduate Honors Theses
Schemas are a type of semantic knowledge that are formed from generalizations about the world. Schemas are essentially expectations about how we expect the world to be, and they are helpful for understanding and categorizing information we encounter. Prediction errors, which occur when our predictions are violated, are caused by events that are inconsistent with our schemas. Current findings on prediction error’s effects on memory are contradictory, with some studies stating that the presence of a prediction error enhances memory for a context, while other research disagrees. A popular theory proposes that prediction error causes a boost in memory for …
Emotional Working Memory Across The Visualization Spectrum,
2026
University of Northern Colorado
Emotional Working Memory Across The Visualization Spectrum, Jae Fast
Undergraduate Honors Theses
In 2015, the term “aphantasia” was coined to describe a small group of individuals who lack the ability to voluntarily produce visual mental imagery. This caused a rising interest in aphantasia and its associated neural, behavioral, cognitive, and emotional features. Understanding the role of visual mental imagery in both emotional and cognitive processes, it is reasonable to question whether aphantasia may result in importantly unique experiences that may require improved therapeutic practices to account for these differences. Previous studies have found that aphantasics experience reduced emotional responses to recalled emotional events, reduced affective processing, poor autobiographical memory, and other cognitive …
Negation And The Backfire Effect,
2026
University of Arkansas, Fayetteville
Negation And The Backfire Effect, Caden Fowler
Psychological Science Undergraduate Honors Theses
Quick! Do not think of a polar bear. Did you think of a white bear? As Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky wrote in his 1863 essay “Winter Notes on Summer Impressions,” “[when tasked to not think of a polar bear] you will see that the cursed thing will come to mind every minute.” The consequence of negation without context (i.e., unlicensed negation; Levine & Hagaman, 2008) is what has come to be referred to as the “backfire effect,” a phenomenon where correcting misinformation strengthens belief in that information rather diminishing it (Ecker, et al., 2020). Fake news and misinformation in …
A Vicious Cycle: The Interplay Between Anxiety, Perfectionism, And Indecision,
2026
University of Arkansas, Fayetteville
A Vicious Cycle: The Interplay Between Anxiety, Perfectionism, And Indecision, Kaelyn G. Moran
Psychological Science Undergraduate Honors Theses
Chronic indecisiveness is a pervasive issue that can negatively impact academic, occupational, and psychological functioning. Although prior research has identified anxiety and perfectionism as relevant correlates of indecisiveness, less is known about how these factors uniquely and jointly contribute to decision-making difficulties. The present study examined the relationships between trait anxiety, multidimensional perfectionism, and indecisiveness in a sample of 199 undergraduate students at the University of Arkansas. Participants completed self-report measures assessing anxiety (STICSA), perfectionism (Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale), and indecisiveness (Revised Indecisiveness Scale). Zero-order correlations and multiple regression analyses were conducted to evaluate both overall and dimension-specific effects. Results …
Detection Of Changes In Short Narratives,
2026
University of Arkansas, Fayetteville
Detection Of Changes In Short Narratives, Presley Priddy
Psychological Science Undergraduate Honors Theses
Narrativity and object association have been extensively researched in the past to determine how changes in a text impact reader interpretation. In this research, we attempted to establish a relationship between the relation of an object to a character situated in a particular narrative context and the detection of inconsistencies presented in the given story. Participants read texts that either associated or dissociated an object with a character, within a high or low-narrative context. Reading times were measured on critical sentences that were inconsistent with the placement of previously dissociated objects. When presented with object inconsistencies in highly narrative stories, …
