Cognitive Psychology Commons^™

Transdiagnostic Multimodal Neural Correlates Of Psychosis Dimensions, Dov Bernard Lerman-Sinkoff

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Psychosis refers to a debilitating set of symptoms that impacts individuals, their communities, and society at large. Current psychiatric nosology treats psychosis as a categorical construct. However, recent evidence suggests that a dimensional approach that cuts across extant nosological boundaries may more accurately represent the underlying phenomena contributing to dysfunction in psychosis. One putative domain of transdiagnostic variation is cognitive control, a construct that refers to the set of functions that enable and support goal-directed behavior and regulation of one’s thoughts and actions. Previous analyses in both healthy individuals and individuals with psychosis have led to a number of findings …

Make More, Work Less, Michael Sutton

Marriott Student Review

Although the status quo in the business world is to work long hours and supposedly produce more each workweek, studies show that working less and taking appropriately regulated breaks actually lead to more productivity in individuals and businesses as a whole. Specifically companies would be wise to implement a limit of 50 work hours per week, encourage frequent breaks (about 15 minute every hour), and encourage patterns of sufficient sleep. By reducing mental fatigue in your employees, their productivity will increase.

Investigating The Link Between Executive Function And Creativity In School Aged Children, Katherine Crenshaw

Honors Theses

The primary purpose of this research was to examine links between executive function (i.e., EF or conscious control) and creativity in school aged children. To accomplish this, participants completed measurements of creativity (i.e., Alternative Uses) and EF (i.e., the Backwards Digit Span to test working memory, the Delay of Gratification task to test inhibition). I also examined whether a creative manipulation (i.e., free coloring or coloring task-relevant materials) would impact EF performance in the Dimensional Card Change Sort (DCCS) focused on cognitive flexibility. While I did not find evidence for a relationship between my measures of EF and creativity, I …

The Effect Of Story Processing On Memory Performance, Anna Miller

Honors Theses

The purpose of the present study was to determine how recall performance following story processing compared to both survival processing and pleasantness processing. Participants were provided with a set of instructions depending on the condition they were in, narrative, survival, or pleasantness. Following this, participants rated the words one at a time, completed a brief distractor task, and then attempted to remember as many items as they could. The primary results demonstrated that narrative processing may provide a recall advantage similar to survival processing. These results suggest that similar underlying mechanisms may enhance recall in both sets of instructional conditions.

Relations Between Executive Function And Parenting Behavior, Robin Alexandra Riddick

Honors Theses

Past research focused on how harsh parenting related to EF and behavior problems in children when other factors (i.e., maternal stress, household chaos, socioeconomic risk factors) were present. However, the literature was lacking in the examination of the relationship between EF and other parenting styles. This study aimed to examine the relationship between different aspects of executive function and regulation (i.e, inhibition, working memory, cognitive flexibility, problem solving, and impulsivity) and parenting and routines (i.e., laxness, hostility, overreactivity, and sleep and routines). To study this, parents of 18 to 24 month olds were administered a battery of EF tasks and …

The Effect Of Movement On Convergent And Divergent Thinking, Simmy Vig

Honors Theses

Research within the field of embodied cognition has primarily focused on the effect of bodily movement on convergent measures such as intelligence and memory, but few studies have explored movement’s effect on convergent thinking ability and divergent creative potential. This study aimed to investigate the effect of embodiment on convergent problem-solving (i.e., vocabulary and similarities tasks) and divergent creativity (i.e., Alternative Uses Task) through the movement conditions of constrained walking (i.e., path-walking) and unconstrained walking (i.e., roaming) in undergraduate college students. Participants simultaneously walked while completing the experimental tasks, and their responses were compared to those in the control (seated) …

The Impact Of The Covid-19 Pandemic On Marginalized Populations In The United States: A Research Agenda, Neeta Kantamneni

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

International and national crises often highlight inequalities in the labor market that disproportionately affect individuals from marginalized backgrounds. The COVID-19 pandemic, and the resulting changes in society due to social distancing measures, has showcased inequities in access to decent work and experiences of discrimination resulting in many of the vulnerable populations in the United States experiencing a much harsher impact on economic and work-related factors. The purpose of this essay is to describe how the COVID-19 pandemic may differentially affect workers of color, individuals from low-income backgrounds, and women in complex ways. First, this essay will discuss disproportionate representation of …

Talking And Thinking About Animal And Artifact Kinds Via Different Types Of Generics, Lyan-Joy M. Lugay

Theses and Dissertations

Generic statements are expressions that talk about kinds or categories and there are several forms. Through the use of surveys, this study examined the way native English speakers talk and think about novel animal kinds and artifacts using two forms: the definite singular form and the bare plural form.

Using Object-Choice Tasks To Investigate Sensory Perception In Sunda Pangolins (Manis Javanica), Joshua Dipaola

Theses and Dissertations

Pangolins are one of the most heavily poached, yet least understood mammals in the world. In this study, we used an object-choice task to assess the ecological relevance and use of sensory information in Sunda pangolin foraging behavior. This is the first controlled experiment on pangolin behavior to our knowledge.

Effects Of Emotional Valence And Depth Of Processing On Memory, Lauren Tyndall, Matthew Murphy

Honors Theses

This study looks at the relationship between emotionally charged words and the depth at which information is processed and how this relationship affects memory. It is predicted that emotional stimuli make the depth of processing process easier, resulting in emotionally charged words being recalled most frequently. Participants were presented with stimuli using a word task and then took a memory test. Responses to the memory test were measured via Qualtrics. Due to small sample size, the results did not conclusively indicate whether or not emotional valence and depth of processing interact to affect memory. There was no significant interaction between …

The Effects Of Narrative Processing On False Recall, Calista Spears

Honors Theses

The purpose of this study is to test whether false memory intrusions occur at a greater rate when participants encode words in a narrative processing scenario, as compared to a survival scenario or a pleasantness condition. In each condition, the participants were presented with one list of words related to an unlisted critical word adapted from Stadler, Roediger, and McDermott’s (1999) norms. For each condition (narrative, survival, and pleasantness), participants read a set of instructions and processed words by writing things related to the condition (i.e., writing a story line using the word, listing how the word would be used …

The Academic Success And Beyond-Academic Wellbeing Of High Functioning Autistic Boys: A Policy-Professional Care-School-Parent Ecological Perspective, Evelyn Sauceda

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

High Functioning Autistic (HFA) boys have significant social, emotional, and cognitive difficulties and unique cognitive abilities that require special support from stakeholders in their ecology (policy makers, care providers, schools, and parents). The quality of such support and its ecological integration are of poor quality. The purpose of this study was to report on the perceptions of parents of HFA boys about their children’s academic and beyond-academic experiences as understood within a policy-care provider-school-parent ecological framework. This study contributes to the limited ecological literature on the topic. This exploratory, qualitative, phenomenological, non-experimental, and cross-sectional research study used a non-probability, purposive, …

Navigating "Technoference" In The Family System, Kathlynn Sergent

Educational Specialist, 2020-current

This integrative literature review explores the increase of technology use in families, with a focus on how technology is disrupting in-person social interactions within the family system. Many studies have been conducted on how technology impacts a couple’s romantic relationship, and only a few have examined the relationship between the parent and child. This review is one of the first to examine how technology may affect the entire family unit from before children to raising adolescents. Each section of the family unit is examined, beginning with before children, followed by the early bonding and attachment associated with infant/childhood, and then …

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy For Comorbid Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Traumatic Brain Injury, And Associated Sleep Disturbances, Aubretia D. Snyder

Intuition: The BYU Undergraduate Journal of Psychology

With an increasing number of veterans returning from combat with significant head injuries, research interests have begun to turn to the neuropsychological relationship between traumatic brain injury and posttraumatic stress disorder. Research has found that these dysfunctions often occur together and that both disorders may cause an exacerbation of symptoms in one another. This relationship may be negatively affected further by the presence of sleep disturbances. The complexity of this relationship requires extra consideration in regards to treatment, and cognitive behavioral therapy may be effective in treating this comorbid condition. This paper discusses the functional relationship of posttraumatic stress disorder …

Off-Topic Verbosity And Sustained Attention Among Young Adult And Older Adult Age Cohorts, Jessica H. Helphrey

Psychology and Counseling Theses

Off-topic verbosity (OTV) is tangential discourse with excessive and irrelevant information. Older adults have been historically labeled as having high OTV, and research has suggested that high OTV in older adults may be linked with cognitive decline. While past studies have utilized brief cognitive measures to further expound upon the links between cognition and OTV, studies have lacked consistency and lengthy measures. This study sought to elucidate the relationship between OTV and cognition in both older adult and young adult age cohorts utilizing a sustained attention measure. Young adults (n = 61; age range: 18-28, M = 20.57, SD = …

Measuring Intergroup Forgiveness: The Enright Group Forgiveness Inventory, Robert D. Enright, Julie Johnson, Fu Na, Tomaz Erzar, Matthew Hirshberg, Tina Huang, John Klatt, Chansoon (Danielle) Lee, Benjamin Boateng, Preston Boggs, Tung-En Hsiao, Chelsea Olson, Mei Ling Shu, Jacqueline Song, Peiying Wu, Baoyu Zhang

Peace and Conflict Studies

Until recently, researchers operationalized and measured the psychological construct of forgiveness at the individual, rather than the group, level. Social psychologists started applying forgiveness to groups and examining the role intergroup forgiveness may have in conflict resolution and peace efforts. Initial attempts to define and measure forgiveness at the group level either assumed individual and group capacities were the same, or insufficiently described what intergroup forgiveness meant. We developed a new measure of intergroup forgiveness, and a novel group administration process, that operationalized the construct in a philosophically coherent way. Our conceptualization of intergroup forgiveness was rooted in what groups, …

Relationships Among Specific Types Of Trait Mindfulness, Need For Cognitive Closure, And Affect, Kelly Parker

Psychological Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

Mindfulness has a multitude of benefits including, but not limited to, increasing one’s positive affect, decreasing stress, lowering blood pressure, protecting against depression and reducing chronic pain. The pre-existing literature on mindfulness unanimously suggests that mindfulness relies on self-regulating functions to improve overall well-being but lacks information regarding which specific emotion-regulating characteristics may play a role in determining mindfulness tendencies. The present research investigated whether or not an individual’s trait mindfulness is correlated with one’s need for cognitive closure (NFC) and how these measures relate to positive and negative affect. A total of 328 participants, recruited from the University of …

The Effects Of Disease Contamination On Memory For Touched Objects In Older Adults, Jessica M. Runnels

Honors Theses

Recently it has been shown that individuals have better memory for objects that have been touched by an individual with a contagious disease relative to an individual with a non-contagious disease or who is healthy (Gretz & Huff, 2019). This pattern has been suggested to occur due to the activation of the Behavioral Immune System (BIS)—an avoidance-based system designed to thwart sources of potential pathogens. The BIS has been suggested to operate through an evolutionary-based mechanism in which avoidance of pathogens increases the likelihood of survival, increasing reproductive success. Given this approach, an important question is how the activation of …

Teen Stress And The High School Experience: Fostering The Adaptive Abilities To Survive And Advance, William P. Dewitt

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose if this study is to examine the stress experience of teenagers during their high school years. The study uses existing research to identify causes of stress and stress- management techniques and then gathers students’ perceptions through surveys and a group interview to provide student voice on the issue of stress.

Recent nation-wide efforts have been made in schools to provide more supports for the social and emotional well-being of students, but despite these efforts, stress levels of high school students remain elevated. Understanding the ways in which students identify stress and the adaptive abilities they use to manage …

Memories Of Emotions Of First Consensual Sexual Encounters, Mario Herrera

Dissertations

Are people’s memories of their most intimate moments prone to memory distortions? There is some limited research that has found that to be the case—memories of past consensual sexual encounters have been prone to memory biases. However, no past research has looked into whether memory of emotions toward a person’s first consensual sexual encounter are malleable. A combination of reconstructive memory and appraisal theories would predict that memory for emotions are prone to distortions based on the changes in current appraisals of the event and/or person. In the current experiment, we investigated the effects of current reappraisals of participants’ first …