Sentience Is The Foundation Of Animal Rights,
2019
East Tennessee State University
Sentience Is The Foundation Of Animal Rights, Michael L. Woodruff
Animal Sentience
Chapman & Huffman argue that the cognitive differences between humans and nonhuman animals do not make humans superior to animals. I suggest that humans have domain-general cognitive abilities that make them superior in causing uniquely complex changes in the world not caused by any other species. The ability to conceive of and articulate a claim of rights is an example. However, possession of superior cognitive ability does not entitle humans to superior moral status. It is sentience, not cognitive complexity, that is the basis for the assignment of rights and the protections under the law that accompany them.
Storytelling Study,
2019
University of New Hampshire, Durham
Storytelling Study, Samantha Irene Pepe
Honors Theses and Capstones
Expressive prosody (i.e., a manner of communication that is characterized by lively rhythm and tempo) and inexpressive prosody (i.e., monotone speech) present different environments for listening to a story during a read-aloud session. This study aims to assess whether there are visual attention differences for preschoolers in these varied prosodic environments and how this affects comprehension.
The Effects Of Ses Stereotypes On Hurricane Decision Making,
2019
Georgia Southern University
The Effects Of Ses Stereotypes On Hurricane Decision Making, Alexandria D. Booth
College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations
Despite the severe and often costly consequences associated with severe weather instances, there is a continuing problem with noncompliance to weather warnings. This issue is pervasive, and research has shown a number of factors that are related to weather response (Joslyn & LeClerc, 2013). Further, individuals of a low socioeconomic status (SES) are often disproportionately impacted by severe weather instances, such as hurricanes (Elliot & Pais, 2006). Past research has shown that individuals of a low education level do not understand some aspects (e.g., numerical uncertainty) of a weather warning, suggesting that weather warnings may not be accessible for all …
Evaluating False Memory, Deception, And Truth-Telling Using Fnirs,
2019
University of North Florida
Evaluating False Memory, Deception, And Truth-Telling Using Fnirs, Britni Grace Surprenant
UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations
False memories happen when someone mis-remembers a past event that occurred. The study of false memories is commonly done using the DRM paradigm which can form false memories through semantic list learning. The current study is evaluating false memory, deception, and truth-telling using the DRM paradigm while measuring cortical activation with fNIRS. Results indicated no interactions between specific condition responses and brain regions in the prefrontal cortex. A main effect of condition was found indicating that correct responses have the lowest level of activation. Additionally, there were no significant differences found between deception and false memory responses. Further research needs …
Detention As Deterrence,
2019
Duke Law School
Detention As Deterrence, Emily Ryo
Faculty Scholarship
Does immigration detention deter unauthorized migration? This is a pressing question with critical policy implications given that the U.S. government has detained tens of thousands of migrants in reliance on this deterrence rationale. Briefly described, the federal government has argued that “one particular individual may be civilly detained for the sake of sending a message” to others “who may be considering immigration. In recent times, the potential migrants to whom the federal government has sought to send such a message are, by and large, from Mexico and Central America. Emerging empirical research, however, provides little to no evidence that detention …
The Effect Of Reliability Information And Risk On Appropriate Reliance In An Autonomous Robot Teammate,
2019
University of Central Florida
The Effect Of Reliability Information And Risk On Appropriate Reliance In An Autonomous Robot Teammate, Andrew Talone
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
This research examined how information regarding a robot teammate's reliability and the consequences for mistakes made by a robot in its task influence reliance on the robot by a human teammate. Of interest in this research was the notion of appropriate reliance: relying on a robot teammate's decisions when it is performing well and not relying on its decisions when it is performing poorly. An experiment was conducted in which participants interacted with an autonomous robot teammate while performing a cordon and search operation within a virtual reality simulation environment. Participants were responsible for monitoring the perimeter of a search …
Can They Do It? A Comparison Of Teacher Candidates’ Assumptions And Preschoolers’ Actual Skills With Digital Technology And Media,
2019
University of South Dakota
Can They Do It? A Comparison Of Teacher Candidates’ Assumptions And Preschoolers’ Actual Skills With Digital Technology And Media, Daniel James Mourlam, Gabrielle Strouse, Lisa Newland
School of Education Faculty Publications
As digital technologies and media (DTM) are integrated into every facet of our lives, the knowledge and skills children bring to school is changing. It is unclear whether teacher candidates' beliefs about children's skills have kept pace with this change. To explore this issue, 43 children, ages 3–5, and 180 teacher candidates at a medium-sized Midwest research university were recruited. Teacher candidates' beliefs about preschoolers' DTM skills were compared with preschoolers' observed skills following an assessment protocol using an iPad. Findings indicated most preschoolers could complete 9 of the 12 iPad tasks without assistance, whereas teacher candidates frequently assumed that …
Where There's A Will, There's A Way: Implementing Motivational Strategies To Combat Decision Fatigue,
2019
Claremont Colleges
Where There's A Will, There's A Way: Implementing Motivational Strategies To Combat Decision Fatigue, David Huang
CMC Senior Theses
Recent research suggests we have a limited supply of willpower, termed the “ego”, which becomes depleted by undergoing cognitively demanding tasks. Any acts of volition, including decision-making, self-control, and taking responsibility, reduce this supply of “ego” (Baumeister, 1998), which impedes our ability to further perform these tasks. Decision fatigue, a specific form of ego depletion, is prevalent everywhere from judicial court cases (Danzinger, Levav, & Avnaim-Pesso, 2010) to our daily lives. There is now significant mainstream media exposure and literature on decision fatigue and the activities to which it applies. However, it remains contested how to best handle its negative …
Stress Of College Students And Memory With The Implementation Of Brief Mindfulness,
2019
Walden University
Stress Of College Students And Memory With The Implementation Of Brief Mindfulness, Rebecca Lopez
Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies
College students are faced with stressors which can negatively impact memory function, thereby, negatively affecting academic performance. This study used a field experiment design to investigate the effects of brief mindfulness on levels of distress and memory functioning between first-year community college students engaging in a brief mindfulness intervention (n = 29) and a control group (n = 28) by using ANCOVA, MANOVA, correlations, and descriptive statistics. Research questions examined whether a brief mindfulness intervention lowered levels of distress in a treatment group. Second, the study examined whether the intervention of brief mindfulness in a treatment group improved memory function. …
Attitudes About Acceptable Risk In The Context Of The Biodiversity Crisis,
2019
Michigan Technological University
Attitudes About Acceptable Risk In The Context Of The Biodiversity Crisis, Thomas Offer-Westort
Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports
Crafting and enforcing conservation policy requires making normative judgements about what levels of risk are acceptable. These judgements include crucial decisions that impact which species qualify as “endangered.” If a government’s policies are going to represent the values of the public they govern, then public attitudes should be understood. Unfortunately, essentially nothing is known about public attitudes as they pertain to acceptable risk and the biodiversity crisis.
My research aims to address this gap using data from an internet-based survey (n=1050). I focused on the Endangered Species Act of 1973 which defines an endangered species as “any species which is …
A Non-Selective Serotonin Antagonist Promotes Rapid Habituation In The Terrestrial Hermit Crab,
2019
University of Mary Washington
A Non-Selective Serotonin Antagonist Promotes Rapid Habituation In The Terrestrial Hermit Crab, Kirandeep Sumra, W. David Stahlman
Psychological Science Articles
Research has indicated that serotonin (5-HT) modulates non-associative learning in a variety of invertebrate species. Recent work has demonstrated that the terrestrial hermit crab is a suitable animal model for non-associative learning phenomena, including habituation, sensitization, and dishabituation. We examined the potential role of a non-selective 5-HT antagonist, methysergide, in non-associative learning in the hermit crab. We administered methysergide prior to delivering repeated stimulus presentations of a looming visual predator. We found evidence for more rapid habituation relative to a control condition in which crabs did not receive the drug. These results indicate a role for 5-HT in the defensive …
Speech Interfaces And Pilot Performance: A Meta-Analysis,
2019
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
Speech Interfaces And Pilot Performance: A Meta-Analysis, Kenneth A. Ward
International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace
As the aviation industry modernizes, new technology and interfaces must support growing aircraft complexity without increasing pilot workload. Natural language processing presents just such a simple and intuitive interface, yet the performance implications for use by pilots remain unknown. A meta-analysis was conducted to understand performance effects of using speech and voice interfaces in a series of pilot task analogs. The inclusion criteria selected studies that involved participants performing a demanding primary task, such as driving, while interacting with a vehicle system to enter numbers, dial radios, or enter a navigation destination. Compared to manual system interfaces, voice interfaces reduced …
Intelligence As Mental Manipulation In Humans And Nonhuman Animals,
2019
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Intelligence As Mental Manipulation In Humans And Nonhuman Animals, Moran Bar-Hen-Schweiger, Avishai Henik
Animal Sentience
Chapman & Huffman review and evaluate various aspects of the notion of human superiority. In this commentary we focus on intelligence and suggest a biologically based view of intelligence applicable to humans and non-human species alike. “Mental manipulation” (e.g., mental transformations, rotations, perspective-taking), an extension of object manipulation, provides a continuous, biologically based concept for studying intelligent behavior in humans and other species and challenges the notion of human superiority.
Reserve, Symptoms, Sex, And Outcome Following A Single Sports-Related Concussion,
2019
Humboldt State University
Reserve, Symptoms, Sex, And Outcome Following A Single Sports-Related Concussion, Summer A. Thornfeldt
Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects
Reserve refers to the biological/cognitive differences between individuals that protect against cognitive changes following a single sports-related concussion (SRC). A single SRC can lead to brain damage and a loss of reserve. The ImPACT is a neurocognitive test which was used as a proxy for reserve. The Post-Concussion Symptom Scale (PCSS), a symptom checklist, was used to examine symptoms. It was hypothesized that pre-SRC reserve would affect post-SRC reserve, so that those with higher pre-SRC reserves would demonstrate less change in their reserve after a single SRC compared to those with low pre-SRC reserves. It was also hypothesized that females …
The Impact Of Language Complexity In Weather Warnings: Does It Matter?,
2019
Georgia Southern University
The Impact Of Language Complexity In Weather Warnings: Does It Matter?, Ryan E. Arflin
College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations
This study examines how jargon and language complexity impact perceptions of tornado warnings. Protection motivation theory (PMT) asserts that as the readability and use of jargon in a warning and call to action increases, an individual’s ability to estimate threat and respond accordingly decreases. However, research had not examined how the use of complex language in a meteorological setting impact coping factors (self-efficacy, response efficacy, and response cost) and threat factors (vulnerability, fear, and severity). This study tested whether jargon in weather warnings and increased language complexity in calls to action affected PMT variables. Eighty-one participants viewed tornado warnings and …
Exploring Locus Of Control In Offender Cognition And Recidivism Paradigms,
2019
Central Washington University
Exploring Locus Of Control In Offender Cognition And Recidivism Paradigms, Anistasha Lightning, Danielle Polage
All Master's Theses
Working with four Washington State county jails to administer surveys to currently incarcerated inmates, we investigated locus of control and beliefs in the likelihood of continued legal involvement as possible antecedents to criminal recidivism. The surveys examined whether there was any connection between legal involvement frequency and the externalization of locus of control. We investigated external locus of control with specific respect to involvement with the law, the prospect of future incarceration, and feelings concerning the overall cause of original and/or sustained legal involvement utilizing the Revised Causal Dimension Scale (McAuley, Duncan, & Russell, 1992). We identified statistically significant interactions …
Bridging Act-R And Project Malmo, Developing Models Of Behavior In Complex Environments,
2019
Bucknell University
Bridging Act-R And Project Malmo, Developing Models Of Behavior In Complex Environments, David M. Schwartz
Honors Theses
Cognitive architectures such as ACT-R provide a system for simulating the mind and human behavior. On their own they model decision making of an isolated agent. However, applying a cognitive architecture to a complex environment yields more interesting results about how people make decisions in more realistic scenarios. Furthermore, cognitive architectures enable researchers to study human behavior in dangerous tasks which cannot be tested because they would harm participants. Nonetheless, these architectures aren’t commonly applied to such environments as they don’t come with one. It is left to the researcher to develop a task environment for their model. The difficulty …
Body Processing And Attentional Patterns In Infancy,
2019
University of Kentucky
Body Processing And Attentional Patterns In Infancy, Rachel Lynn Jubran
Theses and Dissertations--Psychology
Bodies provide important social information, and adults benefit from this information by recognizing and responding appropriately to bodies. Body recognition is enabled by the fact that human bodies are defined by parts, such as the limbs, torso, and head, arranged in a particular configuration. To understand the development of social cognition, it is important to analyze and document how infants come to recognize bodies. Infants are sensitive to distortions to the global configurations of bodies by 3.5 months of age, suggesting an early onset of body knowledge. It was unclear, however, whether such sensitivity indicates knowledge of the location of …
Cognitive Impacts Of Age Based Stereotype Threat In Older Adults,
2019
University of Montana, Missoula
Cognitive Impacts Of Age Based Stereotype Threat In Older Adults, Cali Caughie
Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers
The present study examined the effects of age-based stereotype threat (ABST) exposure on cognitive performance in older adults. Forty-nine community volunteers age 65 and older were stratified by age and gender and then randomly assigned to either an ABST group or a Control group. The ABST group read a paragraph describing the expected negative effects of age on cognition and the prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease in older adults. Participants in the Control group read a neutral paragraph of similar length and difficulty. It was hypothesized that individuals in the ABST group would perform worse on neuropsychological testing than individuals in …
Manipulating Belief Bias Across The Lifespan,
2019
The University of Akron
Manipulating Belief Bias Across The Lifespan, William D. Carney
Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects
In today’s political climate, when basic facts and reasoning are seemingly up for debate, it is increasingly important to be able to identify well-reasoned arguments, regardless of one’s political leanings, and to retain this skill throughout the lifespan. Research has shown, however, a persistent belief bias—a tendency to judge an argument’s validity based on its conclusion’s agreement with one’s beliefs, rather than its logical quality. Other findings suggest that belief bias can be reduced by instruction to avoid belief bias. The current project seeks to explore whether older adults, believed to be more prone to biased reasoning, respond differently to …
