Cognitive Psychology Commons^™

Does Cleft Repair Surgery Restore Normal Visual And Neural Responses To Infant Faces?, Rachael Leanne Kee

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Infant faces readily capture our attention and elicit enhanced neural processing, likely due to their evolutionary importance in facilitating bonds with caregivers. Infant facial malformations are associated with a lower degree of parental investment and have been shown to negatively impact early infant-caregiver interactions. Cleft lip or cleft palate is a common facial malformation, estimated to affect 1 in 700 live births worldwide, that is associated with altered visual and neural processing as compared to normal infant faces. Importantly, it is not yet known how craniofacial repair surgery impacts responses to these faces. The current study uses eye tracking and …

Current Practices For Forensic Assessments Of Offenders, Garet Bradford

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

AbstractCurrent Practices for Forensic Assessments of Offenders by Garet Bradford MA, University of Cincinnati, 2017 BA, University of Nevada, 2014 Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Forensic Psychology Walden University August 2023

A Phenomenological Exploration Of Academic Mediation And Modifiability: The Progression From Ged® To Phd, Heather E. Hoyt

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Researchers have identified the importance of academic mediation and modification within a student’s thought process as it encourages academic achievement in early education, college, and advanced degrees. However, there is a gap in the research regarding the academic mediation and modification in individuals who have progressed from GED to PhD. The purpose of this study was to (a) explore the personal experiences of doctoral alumni on their achievement during the progression from GED to PhD; (b) to understand what experiences, if any, related to receiving academic mediation and modification which led to doctoral success; and (c) to contribute to the …

Precision Medicine Approach To Alzheimer’S Disease: Rationale And Implications, Dale E. Bredesen, Kat Toups, Ann Hathaway, Deborha Gordon, Henrianna Chung, Cyrus Raji, Alan Boyd, Benjamin D. Hill, Sharon Hausman-Cohen, Mouna Attarha, Won Jong Chwa, Alexei Kurakin, Michael Jarrett

University Faculty and Staff Publications

The neurodegenerative disease field has enjoyed extremely limited success in the development of effective therapeutics. One potential reason is the lack of disease models that yield accurate predictions and optimal therapeutic targets. Standard clinical trials have pre-determined a single treatment modality, which may be unrelated to the primary drivers of neurodegeneration. Recent proof-of-concept clinical trials using a precision medicine approach suggest a new model of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) as a chronic innate encephalitis that creates a network insufficiency. Identifying and addressing the multiple potential contributors to cognitive decline for each patient may represent a more effective strategy. Here we review …

Sexuality Training In Counseling Psychology: A Mixed-Methods Study Of Student Perspectives, Dena Abbott, Jacob E. Vargas, Hali J. Santiago

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

Counseling psychologists are a cogent fit to lead the movement toward a sex-positive professional psychology (Burnes et al., 2017a). Though centralizing training in human sexuality (HS; Mollen & Abbott, 2021) and sexual and reproductive health (Grzanka & Frantell, 2017) is congruent with counseling psychologists’ values, training programs rarely require or integrate comprehensive sexuality training for their students (Mollen et al., 2020). We employed a critical mixed-methods design in the interest of centering the missing voices of doctoral-level graduate students in counseling psychology in the discussion of the importance of human sexuality competence for counseling psychologists. Using focus groups to ascertain …

The Us In Uterus: A Collaborative Autoethnography Of Psychologists Advocating For Reproductive Justice, Dena Abbott, Rin Nguyen, Carrie Bohmer, Millie L. Myers, Jessica A. Boyles, Caitlin M. Mercier

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

In light of the recent Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, millions of people with uteruses have been forced to navigate precarious access to reproductive care. Although health service psychologists have an ethical responsibility to engage in reproductive justice advocacy, training programs often do not adequately address sexual and reproductive health. Therefore, we sought to better understand how health service psychologists’ personal and professional experiences influence each other and explore the ways in which we as reproductive beings and advocates sustain ourselves amidst tremendous sociopolitical uncertainty. In order to do so, we employed a feminist collaborative autoethnography approach …

Enhancing Nonverbal Communication Through Virtual Human Technology: Protocol For A Mixed Methods Study, Analay Perez, Michael D. Fetters, John W. Creswell, Mark Scerbo, Frederick W. Kron, Richard Gonzalez, Lawrence An, Masahito Jimbo, Predrag Klasnja, Timothy C. Guetterman

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

Background: Communication is a critical component of the patient-provider relationship; however, limited research exists on the role of nonverbal communication. Virtual human training is an informatics-based educational strategy that offers various benefits in communication skill training directed at providers. Recent informatics-based interventions aimed at improving communication have mainly focused on verbal communication, yet research is needed to better understand how virtual humans can improve verbal and nonverbal communication and further elucidate the patient-provider dyad.

Objective: The purpose of this study is to enhance a conceptual model that incorporates technology to examine verbal and nonverbal components of communication and develop a …

Indigenous Cultural Identity Protects Against Intergenerational Transmission Of Aces Among Indigenous Caregivers And Their Children, Katie Edwards, Emily A. Waterman, Natira Mullet, Ramona Herrington, Sloane Cornelius, Skyler Hopfauf, Preciouse Trujillo, Lorey A. Wheeler, Arielle R. Deutsch

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

A large body of empirical research has demonstrated that caregiver adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) predict ACEs in one’s child, a phenomenon known as the intergenerational transmission of ACEs. Little of this empirical research, however, has focused specifically on Indigenous peoples despite a growing body of theoretical literature and the wisdom of Elders and Traditional Knowledge Keepers that speaks to the presence of this phenomenon within Indigenous communities as well as the protective role of Indigenous cultural identity in preventing the intergenerational transmission of ACEs. The purpose of the current study was to conduct an empirical evaluation of this hypothesis, specifically …

Mapping The Malleable Self: How Self-Views Are Represented And Learned Within The Social Brain, Sasha Carmela Brietzke

Dartmouth College Ph.D Dissertations

Humans possess a unique and wide-ranging ability to self-reflect that takes center stage in our everyday cognition. While many people believe their own self to be immutable, different contexts may warp how we perceive the self. The goal of this dissertation is to investigate two lenses through which we may view the self: (1) across time in the past and future, and (2) through the eyes of others via evaluative feedback. In Studies 1-3, I demonstrate that people’s ratings of their own personality become increasingly less differentiated as they consider more distant past and future selves. This effect was preferential …

A Test Of Subjective Versus Objective Language Proficiency: An Investigation Of Age Of Acquisition And Exposure In Multilinguals, Anastina B. Steiber

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

This research used the BEST dataset gathered in 2017 by de Bruin and colleagues, which contains information gathered from 650 multilingual participants (435 female, Mage = 25.02) from the Basque Country at the Basque Center on Cognition, Brain and Language (BCBL). Multilingual individuals may have different levels of proficiency in each language they speak, and there are various factors that can influence proficiency. Such factors include the age at which they begin learning a language and how much exposure they have to the language. Proficiency can be assessed both subjectively (personal perception of proficiency) and objectively (observed and/or measured …

College Students' Autonomy, Self-Regulation, And Academic Self-Efficacy During Covid-19, Madelynne J. Avila

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) forced college students to endure challenges that were unusual in the typical university environment. As self-determination theory, self-regulated learning theory, and social cognitive theory would suggest, college students’ need for satisfaction of autonomy and the ability to apply self-regulation may have been neglected due to COVID-related stressors (SDT; Ryan & Deci, 2000; SRLT; Zimmerman, 2012; SCT; Bandura, 2005). College students from a university (N = 94) participated in an online survey regarding their autonomy, self-regulated learning abilities, academic self-efficacy, and COVID-related stress. Using a moderated mediation model, the current study predicted that self-regulated learning …

The Role Of Suspect Development Practices In Eyewitness Identification Accuracy And Racial Disparities In Wrongful Conviction, Margaret Bull Kovera

Publications and Research

This article reviews the three previously studied categories of variables that are related to eyewitness identification accuracy: estimator (characteristics of the witnessing conditions), system (characteristics of the identification procedure that are under the control of the criminal legal system), and reflector (variables that reflect the likely accuracy of a witness). Although eyewitness scholars frequently turn to these variables and models of memory to explain why eyewitnesses make mistakes, none of these variables provides a reasonable explanation for the large racial disparities in wrongful convictions based on mistaken identifications, yet problematic policing practices might. The policies and practices guiding police efforts …

Potential Causes Of Racial Disparities In Wrongful Convictions Based On Mistaken Identifications: Own-Race Bias And Differences In Evidence-Based Suspicion., Jacqueline Katzman, Margaret Bull Kovera

Publications and Research

Objective: We explored whether racial disparities in evidence-based suspicion (i.e., evidence of guilt prior to placement in a lineup) provide a better explanation of racial disparities in exonerations based on eyewitness misidentification than the own-race bias in eyewitness identifications. Hypotheses: We predicted that the own-race bias in identification accuracy would be insufficiently large to fully explain the racial disparities in wrongful convictions in cases with mistaken identification. We also predicted that possible racial disparities in the prior probability of suspect guilt before subjecting suspects to the risk of misidentification might better explain racial disparities in wrongful convictions. Method …

That’S Why We Drink: Effects Of Undergraduate Stress During The Covid-19 Pandemic On Alcohol Behaviors, Skylar St Clair

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Previous literature has shown that undergraduates’ alcohol use is often affected by their perceived stress, especially when there is a significant disruption to their typical college lifestyle. The primary goal of the study was to demonstrate that there is a relationship between perceived undergraduate stress and alcohol behaviors mediated by anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic. The secondary goal was to determine if there were any significant moderating variables on the aforementioned mediation, specifically characteristics of personality. A self-report Qualtrics survey was conducted to assess perceived stress, anxiety, alcohol use, and personality domains along the Big Five Inventory for 244 students. …

The Effect Of Testing On New Learning Of Related And Unrelated Text Sections, Katie Ingram

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

When individuals are presented with a variety of materials, including word lists, face-name pairs, text passages, and more, the presence of a test between sections can enhance future section learning, a phenomenon called the forward testing effect (FTE). In addition to the FTE, studies have suggested that a decrease in the relatedness of the subject matter units can increase learning of the material. The current study examined the interaction between the presence of a test and the relatedness of material using text sections and cued-recall questions. Participants were 119 individuals assigned to a related test, related no-test, unrelated test, or …

Types Of Questions Teachers Ask To Engage Students In Making Sense Of A Student Contribution, Nishat B. Alam

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

In the student-centered classroom, a teacher’s interpretation and response to student mathematical contributions plays an important role to shape and direct students’ opportunities for sense-making. This research used a scenario-based survey questionnaire to examine what types of questions middle and high school mathematics teachers indicate they would ask to engage students in making sense of a high-leverage student mathematical contribution and their reasoning about why particular questions are or are not productive. From the results, it could be concluded that teachers asked more productive questions after seeing a set of possible questions. Their beliefs about the productivity of the questions …

Explicit Rule Learning: A Cognitive Tutorial Method To Train Users Of Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning Systems, Anne Linja

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Today’s intelligent software systems, such as Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning systems, are sophisticated, complicated, sometimes complex systems. In order to effectively interact with these systems, novice users need to have a certain level of understanding. An awareness of a system’s underlying principles, rationale, logic, and goals can enhance the synergistic human-machine interaction. It also benefits the user to know when they can trust the systems’ output, and to discern boundary conditions that might change the output. The purpose of this research is to empirically test the viability of a Cognitive Tutorial approach, called Explicit Rule Learning. Several approaches have been used …

The Impact Of Pre-Experiment Walking On Distance Perception In Vr, Soheil Sepahyar

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

While individuals can accurately estimate distances in the real world, this ability is often diminished in virtual reality (VR) simulations, hampering performance across training, entertainment, prototyping, and education domains. To assess distance judgments, the direct blind walking method—having participants walk blindfolded to targets—is frequently used. Typically, direct blind walking measurements are performed after an initial practice phase, where people become comfortable with walking while blindfolded. Surprisingly, little research has explored how such pre-experiment walking impacts subsequent VR distance judgments. Our initial investigation revealed increased pre-experiment blind walking reduced distance underestimations, underscoring the importance of detailing these preparatory procedures in research—details …

Supporting Team Innovation With Design Thinking Cognitive Strategies, Lisa M. Casper

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Innovation is a 21st-century skill needed to design new systems, solve challenging problems, and develop novel solutions. Design Thinking (DT) is a tool used to support team innovation. In this experiment, 145 students (47 teams) used one of two DT methods during a semester-long project to come up with an innovative solution to one of the UNESCO 17 sustainable development goals. The key experimental manipulation was during the DT Ideate phase where teams brainstormed potential solutions. Teams either used a baseline DT Ideate strategy or an expanded one with additional prompts during a 10-minute period. Results indicated that teams using …

Making Scientific Information Usable: Development And Assessment Of A Novel Intervention To Boost Healthy Lifestyle Decision-Making, Brittany Nelson

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Context—Improving diet can reduce the risk of chronic health conditions such as cancer and heart disease. However, people continue to make poor dietary health decisions. A novel intervention based on the science of behavior change and incorporating Human-Centered Design (HCD) methodology is needed to boost informed dietary decision-making.

Objective—This research presents a Behavior Change Wheel (BCW), Human-Centered Design (HCD) approach to develop a novel high-usability video intervention that will increase informed decision-making for whole-grain dietary decisions. The intervention will target college students, improving habits that can carry on throughout later adulthood.

Design—Study 1 consisted of preliminary data …