<p> The purpose of the study is to investigate accuracy of the Arnold et al. Finger Tapping cut-offs in a new, large sample of &ldquo;real world&rdquo; credible and non-credible male and female patients. The purpose of the research is to cross-validate cut-offs for use of the Finger Tapping Test as a performance validity measure. The original cut-offs were published by Arnold et al. (2005) and it is important to cross-validate cut-offs on new populations to show that specificity/sensitivity data are stable and replicable. The data used from the archival data set are finger tapping test scores, age, educational level, gender, ethnicity, diagnosis, compensation-seeking status (whether or not the person is in a lawsuit or attempting to obtain disability), and scores on other performance validity tests used for assigning subjects to credible and noncredible groups.</p><p>

<p> Visual perception depends fundamentally on statistical regularities in the environment to make sense of the world. One such regularity is the orientation anisotropy typical of natural scenes; most natural scenes contain slightly more horizontal and vertical information than oblique information. This property is likely a primary cause of the &ldquo;oblique effect&rdquo; in visual perception, in which subjects experience greater perceptual fluently with horizontally and vertically oriented content than oblique. However, recent changes in the visual environment, including the &ldquo;carpentered&rdquo; content in urban scenes and the framed, caricatured content in digital screen media presentations, may have altered the level of orientation anisotropy typical in natural scenes. Over a series of three experiments, the current work aims to evaluate whether &ldquo;digital&rdquo; visual experience, or visual experience with framed digital content, has the potential to alter the magnitude of the oblique effect in visual perception. Experiment 1 established a novel eye tracking method developed to index the visual oblique effect quickly and reliably using no overt responding other than eye movements. Results indicated that canonical (horizontal and vertical) contours embedded in visual noise were detected more accurately and quickly than oblique contours. For Experiment 2, the orientation anisotropy of natural, urban, and digital scenes was analyzed, in order to compare the magnitude of this anisotropic pattern across each image type. Results indicate that urban scenes contain exaggerated orientation anisotropy relative to natural scenes, and digital scenes possess this pattern to an even greater extent. Building off these two results, Experiment 3 adopts the eye tracking method of Experiment 1 as a pre- post-test measure of the oblique effect. Participants were eye tracked in the contour detection task several times before and after either a &ldquo;training&rdquo; session, in which they played Minecraft (Mojang, 2011) for four hours uninterrupted in a darkened room, or a &ldquo;control&rdquo; session, in which they simply did not interact with screens for four hours. It was predicted, based on the results of Experiment 2, that several hours of exposure to the caricatured orientation statistics of the digital stimulus would suffice to alter the magnitude of participants&rsquo; oblique effect, as indexed by the difference in the post-test relative to the pre-test. While no accuracy differences were observed in this primary manipulation, detection speed for canonical contours did alter significantly in the Minecraft subjects relative to controls. These results indicate that the oblique effect is quite robust at the level of visual contours and is measurable using eye tracking, that digital scenes contain caricatured orientation anisotropy relative to other types of scenes, and that exposure to naturalistic but caricatured scene statistics for only a few hours can alter certain aspects of visual perception.</p>

<p> People often become disoriented when navigating in complex, multi-level buildings. To efficiently find destinations located on different floors, navigators must refer to a globally coherent mental representation of the multi-level environment, which is termed a multi-level cognitive map. However, there is a surprising dearth of research into underlying theories of why integrating multi-level spatial knowledge into a multi-level cognitive map is so challenging and error-prone for humans. This overarching problem is the core motivation of this dissertation.</p><p> We address this vexing problem in a two-pronged approach combining study of both basic and applied research questions. Of theoretical interest, we investigate questions about how multi-level built environments are learned and structured in memory. The concept of multi-level cognitive maps and a framework of multi-level cognitive map development are provided. We then conducted a set of empirical experiments to evaluate the effects of several environmental factors on users' development of multi-level cognitive maps. The findings of these studies provide important design guidelines that can be used by architects and help to better understand the research question of why people get lost in buildings. Related to application, we investigate questions about how to design user-friendly visualization interfaces that augment users' capability to form multi-level cognitive maps. An important finding of this dissertation is that increasing visual access with an X-ray-like visualization interface is effective for overcoming the disadvantage of limited visual access in built environments and assists the development of multi-level cognitive maps. These findings provide important human-computer interaction (HCI) guidelines for visualization techniques to be used in future indoor navigation systems. </p><p> In sum, this dissertation adopts an interdisciplinary approach, combining theories from the fields of spatial cognition, information visualization, and HCI, addressing a long-standing and ubiquitous problem faced by anyone who navigates indoors: why do people get lost inside multi-level buildings. Results provide both theoretical and applied levels of knowledge generation and explanation, as well as contribute to the growing field of real-time indoor navigation systems.</p>

<p> Obesity has risen at a significant rate over the last 20 years. By 2015, an estimated 2.3 billion adults will be categorized as overweight, and over 700 million will be considered obese. Obesity is recognized as a global health epidemic and is associated with many negative consequences to physical health, emotional health, and psychological well-being. The negative emotional impact of obesity is greater for adolescent girls than for boys, although the research into the impact on boys is scarce. Prior to this study, little was known about the experiences of previously obese men who achieved and maintained weight loss through self-guided approaches. The problem this phenomenological study addressed were the experiences of obese men who had successfully employed self-guided weight loss approaches. Understanding male dieters&rsquo; experiences with self-guided weight loss methods and how they relate to self-blame and self-efficacy may help to inform future research and weight loss interventions. The lived experiences of seven men, aged 35 to 60 were investigated for this phenomenological study. The confidential, one-on-one interviews revealed the following 14 themes: childhood weight issues, hiding and social withdrawal, developing new habits and routines, healthier food and nutrition, Weight Watchers, exercise and physical activity, motivation, determination, personal responsibility and self-reliance, self-efficacy, self-reliance, self-control, self-image, negative affect, unhealthy eating habits, denial, family history of weight issues, past failures, and lack of support. Data indicated male participants preferred self-guided weight loss interventions, but success was contingent upon their self-efficacy. Study results provide weight loss specialists with practical recommendations and important direction for future research. </p>