Experimental Analysis of Behavior Commons^™

Adult Human Perception Of Distress In The Cries Of Bonobo, Chimpanzee And Human Infants, Taylor Kelly

Theses and Dissertations

Adult human listeners rated their perceived distress based on the recorded vocalizations of bonobo, chimpanzee and human infants. Results found that bonobos were rated highest, chimpanzee and human infants in the high arousal context were rated as lower distress, and human babies in low arousal rated lowest.

The Roles Of Race And Empathy On Contagious Yawning, Daroon M. Jalil

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

Social Psychologists often consider race to be a marker of in-group or out-group status. When looking at race, implicit bias can take forms that are more subtle than outwards racism. Two research questions were asked in this study to better understand the psychology behind racial issues. The first question was if the number of contagious yawns (CY) a person experiences depends on the race of the stimuli being viewed. Contagiously yawning more to in-group members is a phenomena seen in chimpanzees, but has not been studied in humans in a racial context. Black and white males and females were recruited …

Sleep Deprivation And Voluntary Alcohol Consumption In Adult Rats, Charles M. Cowan Ii

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

Alcohol is a psychoactive drug with a large userbase among adults across the globe. However, alcohol use also reduces the quality of sleep in the user. Historically, research has focused on the effects of alcohol on sleep architecture, but recent research has started to examine the effects of sleep deprivation on alcohol consumption. This research examines the effects of sleep deprivation on voluntary alcohol consumption in adult rats. Twelve Sprague Dawley rats were given ad libitum access to food, alcohol (7% solution), and water for the duration of this study. Subjects were then placed into non-moving forced exercise wheels to …

Impact Of Social Contact On Predator-Induced Fear Responses In Young Male Chicks, Jessica Czarnecki, Kristina Humphreys, Danielle Hurmis Ms., Colin Kalmes, Lauren Pasetes, Megan Steinhoff, Steven Todorov, Shara Stough

Celebration of Learning

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is thought to involve unusually strong associative memories between the intense fear felt during a traumatic experience and other environmental cues present at the time of the trauma. Our study uses an animal model to investigate social contact, one of the factors that can impact fear responses, to learn more about possible risk factors or interventions that may be relevant to humans who may experience PTSD. Freezing, or the cessation of movement, is a common fear response observed in laboratory animals in the presence of a perceived threat. We tested whether or not the degree of …

The Effects Of Pointing Gestures On Visual Attention, Samaria J. Hamilton

Honors College Theses

Visual attention is a process that involves concentrating on select features, such as sensory cues, within the complex environment. Sensory cues within the visual field capture and redirect our attention. Previous research on eye gaze revealed that direct gaze captures attention. In the present study, pointing gestures and motion cues were tested together in a visual search task to examine their effects on attention. Participants were instructed to identify a target letter presented on one of four hands. Initially, two hands displayed a pointing gesture while the other two displayed an open gesture. Next, a target letter appeared, one open …

Narcissism And Short-Term Mating Attempts, Rebecca E. Burchette

Honors College Theses

The purpose of this research is to measure the behavioral choice of narcissists when presented with an opportunity for short-term or long-term mating in an online simulation. Participants were randomly assigned to either a short-term mating (STM) or long-term mating (LTM) condition in which they saw women that were interested in “casual” or “lasting, loving” relationships. Participants had the option of emailing as many women as they liked. However, there was no significant moderation found.

A Replication/Extension Of The Presence Of Others On Judgments Of Desirability, John E. Scofield

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

Mate-choice copying is a mating strategy where females rely on contextual information to assist in securing accurate assessments of potential mates. Mate-choice copying has been extensively studied in non-human species, and has begun to be examined in humans as well. The desirability enhancement effect occurs when women judge men surrounded by opposite-sex females as more attractive than those same men alone or with same-sex males. The desirability diminution effect occurs when men judge women surrounded by opposite-sex males as less desirable than those same women alone or with same-sex females. The current project replicated previous findings concerning the desirability enhancement …

A Qualitative Study Of The Healthcare Experiences Of Hispanic/Latino Persons Of Limited English Proficiency In The Rural Midwest, Emily Pauli

Honors Thesis

The U.S. population is becoming more diverse, and this diversity calls for adaptations that allow our healthcare system to adequately care for all individuals. The group that is currently growing the most quickly in the United States is Hispanics/Latinos (United States Census Bureau, 2016). This group faces additional challenges when it comes to receiving healthcare services, particularly when it comes to rural settings. For those Hispanics/Latinos with limited English proficiency (LEP) residing in rural settings, it can be quite difficult to access healthcare in Spanish, creating for less-than-ideal healthcare experiences.

In the following pages, we will examine some of the …

The Relationship Between Mood And Implicit Learning, Kathleen Larson

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This dissertation investigates whether a person’s current mood state influences their ability to learn implicitly. Implicit learning refers to learning about regularities in the environment without having conscious access to the information (e.g., Reber, 1967). According to the affect-as-information hypothesis, a positive mood increases global processing of incoming information and negative mood leads to local processing (e.g., Clore & Storbeck, 2006); however, most previous studies that investigated mood and cognition have focused on more explicit types of learning and decision making, but few have examined implicit processes. Thus, the current experiments examined how varying levels of mood and arousal affect …

The Psychophysiological Correlates Of Personality, Trauma, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder And Social Support, Meghan E. Pierce

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Theories considering the etiology of psychopathy suggest that trauma exposure, specifically childhood maltreatment and sexual abuse, is related to the development of callous-unemotional traits in children and adolescents, which are precursors to psychopathic traits in adulthood. Furthermore, posttraumatic stress disorder has an opposite relationship with many of the emotional and behavioral components of the two-factor model of psychopathy. Specifically, PTSD is positively associated to IA and traits associated with it and negatively associated with FD. Thus, this study sought to expand upon the current theories of a trauma-based etiology of psychopathy by investigating the relationship between trauma, PTSD, and psychopathic …

The Relationship Between Social Status Motivation And The Detection Of Trustworthy And Affiliative Cues In Faces, Christopher J. Lustgraaf

Dissertations

A prominent feature of human (and non-human primate) social group structure involves the establishment and maintenance of a social hierarchy; that is, social groups are arranged hierarchically, based on individuals’ level of status, and conspecifics who more effectively ascend this status hierarchy accrue more reproductive and resource benefits (Hawley, 1999). Thus, for any individual, other group members could be either a threat to one’s status, or an ally to assist status goals, and accurate identification of these various social targets would have adaptive utility in status maintenance or status hierarchy ascension. The current study tested the hypotheses that activation of …

Neuroticism And Ego Depletion Patterns, Parker A. Dreves

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Self-control has been defined as the ability to override or alter an automatic response. Past research has suggested that those who are higher in the personality trait neuroticism display poorer self-control. Based on theory suggesting that self-control is a limited resource, the present study attempts to explain the relationship between neuroticism and self-control. Understanding that neuroticism is characterized by emotional instability, it follows that individuals high in neuroticism must exert more self-control in managing their negative moods, thus leaving them depleted for future acts of self-control. Participants (n = 84) completed measures of trait self-control, engaged in an emotional regulation …

The Effect Of Boat Type On Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops Trucatus) Behavior In The Mississippi Sound, Maria Zapetis

Master's Theses

Increases in oceanic shipping are a global phenomenon, and a leading cause of concern for marine animal welfare. While it may be difficult to assess the effect of boat traffic on all species in all contexts, it is vital to report anthropogenic impacts where longitudinal data is available, and doubly so where a dearth of information exists. The purpose of this study is to describe how dolphin behavior changed in the presence of boats in the Mississippi Sound between 2006 and 2012, and more specifically, to detail how different boat types impacted dolphins’ behavioral states. This study is unique in …

A Study Of The Effects Of Methylene Blue, Scopolamine, And Stress On Learning And Memory In The Zebrafish, Erika Marie Caramillo

Dissertations

With the ever-increasing aging population, neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease are becoming more prevalent. Owing to such increases in age related cognitive decline, the need for research into new, effective treatments is more imperative now than ever. The zebrafish is an excellent animal model that can be used to study the potential pharmacological effects of novel cognition-centric treatments. However, more needs to be known about the species and its ability to learn, remember, and the effects certain drugs have on behavior. In this dissertation, I aimed to better understand zebrafish cognition through the testing of three conditions: a known …

Anxiety-Like Behaviors And C-Fos Expression In Adult Zebrafish: Effects Of Housing Conditions, Alcohol And Caffeine, Adam Douglas Collier

Dissertations

Alcohol abuse is the third largest risk factor for disease world, responsible for an estimated 3.3 million deaths each year. The concomitant ingestion of alcohol and caffeine is hypothesized to increase risk factors associated with alcohol use alone by reducing subjective effects of intoxication. The zebrafish (Danio rerio) has recently garnered attention from researchers as an effective pre-clinical in-vivo animal model in behavioral pharmacology research, largely due to small size, low-cost and ease of drug delivery. A number of studies have reported the effects of alcohol and caffeine on zebrafish behavior at a variety of doses. However, the …

Efficacy Of Cognitive Enrichment For Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops Truncatus): Evaluation Of Planning Abilities Through The Use Of A Novel Problem Solving Task, Lisa Kay Lauderdale

Dissertations

Environmental enrichment is a key component to improving the psychological and physiological well being of animals in human care. Enrichment can be achieved through a variety of modalities, including the addition of objects and scents, or by providing the animals with additional challenges. The effectiveness of specific enrichment should be evaluated on a case-by-case basis to determine if the desired result is achieved. Environmental enrichment devices (EED’s) can be utilized to present novel problems to animals in human care. When confronted with a novel problem, dolphins can plan their behavior to create a more efficient strategy then previously modeled.

The …

Towards A Better Understanding Of Zebrafish Sleep Behavior, Kanza Musarrat Khan

Master's Theses

Sleep serves many vital functions in humans, ranging from energy restoration to memory consolidation and information integration. Sleep deprivation is linked to worsened physiological states and psychological conditions. Zebrafish are an emerging model in neurobehavioral research and have recently demonstrated great utility in the study of sleep. This teleost species possesses several of the same neurotransmitter and neuropeptide systems that are involved in the regulation of sleep and waking rhythms in higher order mammals. Previous study of these animals has revealed a differential gene and proteomic expression following sleep deprivation through changes in environmental stimuli. The present study sought to …

Grooming As An Agonistic Behavior In Garnett’S Small-Eared Bushbaby (Otolemur Garnettii), Jennie L. Christopher

Master's Theses

Social behaviors are a necessary component of group living and interactions between organisms. To correctly assess social interactions, researchers must be able to observe behaviors and interpret their function based on the behavior or the behavioral context. In primate species, grooming is often used to assess affiliations between group members and the consensus has been to always interpret grooming as an affiliative behavior. However, a number of avian, rodent and feline species have been shown to groom conspecifics aggressively. These instances of aggressive grooming appear most often when individuals are required to maintain close proximity to one another, such as …

Effects Of System Reliability And Time Pressure On Autonomous Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Operator Performance And Mental Workload, Dahai Liu, Rania Ghatas, Christina Frederick-Recascino, Dennis Vincenzi Ph.D.

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are in the midst of aviation’s next generation. UAVs are being utilized at an increasing rate by military and security operations and are becoming widely popular in usage for activities such as search and rescue and weather research to homeland security and border patrol. In order for a safer integration of UAV’s within the National Airspace System (NAS), many research questions need to be addressed. This study examined the effects of system reliability and time pressure on UAV operator performance and mental workload. Twenty-four undergraduate and graduate students, male and female, from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University participated …

Within-Session Progressive Gestural-Prompt Delay To Teach Receptive Identification, Breanne Stiemsma

Honors Theses

Receptive identification skills are important for any child to learn. Without these skills, various aspects of development can become impaired. There are many ways to teach receptive identification. This project pulled ideas from previous studies on within-session progressive gestural-prompt delays as well as the different methods of teaching receptive identification skills, simple-conditional method and the condition-only method. The student was not acquiring receptive identification skills with the traditional methods used in the classroom. Within-session progressive gestural-prompt delay was used in this project to teach receptive identification of objects. An AB single-subject design was used in this project. The student responded …