Performance relationships on various behaviorally tested modalities i.e., verbal, and visual-spatial, supported the possibility that lower-level, working memory measures might be predictive of higher-level, long-term memory performances. Experiment 1 examined these relationships as they related to modality and the type of task/test used (Visual-Spatial Working Memory Span vs. Long-Term Memory Ability Tests). Span was related to performance on a standardized test of reading comprehension but not to the ability to mentally rotate objects. Thus, Experiment 2 examined the Span Task, finding that a central executive-consuming secondary task reduced span, but incongruent loop interference did not. This supported the task as a measure of working memory, according to Alan Baddeley’s fractionated model, and its use in subsequent experiments. Experiment 3 explored higher-level self-reported memory processes for parking location. Five factors of parking memory: Internal and External Interference Susceptibility, Concern, Confidence, and Strategy, were derived. An episodic component likely underlay both working and long-term location memory processes. As such, Experiment 4 examined the difference between participant’s forced ordering and non-forced ordering of locations on the Span Task and as a function of low or high parking factor scores. Overall, inter-factor correlations, their directionality, and correlations with the Span Task logically supported the factors. Individual differences in External Interference and Concern interacted with ordering Span Task terminal and primacy locations, respectively. Lower and higher-level memory process relationships likely exist. / "May 2006." / Includes bibliographic references (leaves 95-101)

<p>Decision-making under risk has been of interest to philosophers for centuries. in Only in recent years through interdisciplinary approaches has knowledge concerning the descriptive nature of decision-making under risk increased. Although we know that risk-preference proceeds from a risk-seeking trend in childhood to risk-aversion in adulthood, little is known about the factors that contribute this development. The studies presented here take an interdisciplinary approach to identifying the factors that contribute to age-related changes in risk preference, where in the decision-making process these factors have influence, and changes in neural circuitry that could be responsible. The work presented herein finds that risk-preference is differentially modulated across development by risk level, the values of choice options, and the domain (gains or loss) in which options are presented. During valuation, many brain regions that have previously been associated with decision-making and risk were found to increase in activation with age, suggesting the maturation of a decision-making network. Activation in a few key areas were associated with greater risk-aversion in children, suggesting that maturation of the decision-making network leads to more adult-like behavior. The cognitive component of children's greater risk-seeking was not found to be a deficiency in probabilistic reasoning, the ability to learn from negative feedback, or a general optimism for winning. Rather, children's valuation of a gamble may be exaggerated by a disproportionate amount of attention given to the winning outcome of a gamble. It is further speculated that a lack of regret during outcome evaluation may also contribute to differences in children's risk preference compared to adults.</p> / Dissertation

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Miami University, Dept. of Psychology, 2003. / Title from first page of PDF document. Document formatted into pages; contains ii, 58 p. Includes bibliographical references (p. 56-58).

<p> This study sought to determine whether using video stimuli instead of traditional static stimuli would produce better recognition rates of the seven universal human emotions. In an online experiment, native English-speaking respondents were shown either photographs or video clips of actors performing these seven emotions, with particular focus on contempt, which has proven difficult for native English speakers to recognize reliably. Results showed that video did not produce better recognition rates for contempt or any other universal emotion. The results do not mean that the use of video stimuli in emotion judgment research is better or worse than using traditional still images, but it does indicate how video stimuli might be expected to perform in future studies.</p>

This study investigated the influence of age, processing speed, working memory,and associative processes on the acquisition of contingency information. Young and older adults completed positive (+.65) and negative (-.65) contingency tasks that measured their ability to discover the relationship between a symptom (e.g., FEVER) and a fictional disease (e.g., OLYALGIA). Both d' scores, i.e., contingency learning, and contingency estimates, i.e., contingency judgment, were examined. Participants were also asked to complete cognitive tasks that measure the constructs of processing speed, working memory resources, associative memory, and associative learning. Structural equation modeling was used to examine the direct and indirect relationships between processing speed, working memory resources, associative memory, associative learning, and positive and negative contingency learning and judgment for young and older adult groups. Young adults outperformed older adults on the cognitive tasks and on contingency learning and judgment tasks. However, age differences were smaller for the positive contingency than for negative contingency. A comparison of the structural equation models for young and older adults showed no relationship between any cognitive construct and negative contingency learning. However, young adults' judgment for the negative contingency was directly influenced by associative learning, while their learning and judgment for the positive contingency was directly influenced by associative memory. For older adults, working memory executive function directly influenced their judgment for the negative contingency and their learning and judgment for the positive contingency. Processing speed had an indirect effect on older adults' contingency learning and judgment that was mediated by working memory executive functioning. The differences in the young adults' models as well as the difference between the young and older adults' models for positive and negative contingencies suggest that while associative processing is important, it may not account for all of the variation in contingency learning and judgment. The young adults' models for the negative contingency task indicates that higher level processes, such as inductive reasoning, maybe involved in negative contingency judgment because the associative learning task required some level of hypothesis testing. In contrast, positive contingency learning and judgment could rely primarily on more basic associative processes. The present findings therefore suggest that an overall model of contingency learning must include both associative processes and inductive reasoning processes. Older adults' general contingency performance was most directly related to their working memory executive functioning, suggesting that the decline in their working memory has the strongest effect on their ability to acquire and use information about contingencies. In fact, the age related decline in working memory seems to affect older adults' ability to acquire both positive and negative contingencies. The similarities across the older adult models for positive and negative contingencies indicate that the underlying deficit in older adults' working memory executive functioning that affects their overall contingency learning and judgment performance. This basic working memory executive functioning deficit for older adults also explains why their models for positive and negative contingency did not exhibit direct relationships between associative tasks and contingency learning as observed for the young adult models.

<p> This thesis is a qualitative, critical inquiry, which demarcates a new era of anti- intellectualism. By using think tanks as a heuristic device, two new conceptual terms, each meant to capture prevailing iterations of anti-intellectualism in contemporary society, are offered. Once established, a case study examines changes to the University of Colorado&rsquo;s nondiscrimination policy. This provides insight into the ways this new era of anti-intellectualism and its new dimensions impact institutions of knowledge production. The corrupting influence of money and politics on the production of intellectual ideas has come to define modern anti-intellectualism, and the problematic impacts of this milieu are documented here. Ultimately, the production of politically or financially motivated ideas has contested more disinterested and intellectual knowledge production, leaving a field of perpetual inaction, as scientific controversies are settled, but politicians and citizens refuse to accept them based on partisan political grounds, a hyper-capitalist mindset, and the glaring influence of ideology.</p>

<p> Positive psychological capital (PsyCap), a second-order construct formed from optimism, hope, resilience, and self-efficacy, has predicted the performance and psychological well-being of a variety of full-time workers, and mediators of the relationships between PsyCap and performance and psychological well-being have rarely been examined. Using self-determination theory, broaden-and-build theory, and the conceptual framework of positive psychology, this study was an exploration of (a) the relationships among PsyCap, (b) basic psychological need satisfaction (i.e., autonomy, competence, relatedness), and (c) psychological well-being and performance using a sample of 103 working actors and stunt people. A serial mediation model was proposed whereby PsyCap predicted performance through need satisfaction and psychological well-being. Statistically significant bivariate correlations were found among PsyCap, autonomy, competence, relatedness, psychological well-being, and performance. Multiple regression analyses yielded indirect effects tested for statistical significance using bias-corrected bootstrapping. Results showed a total indirect effect of PsyCap on psychological well-being through need satisfaction and a specific indirect effect of PsyCap on psychological well-being through relatedness. Results showed no total indirect effect for PsyCap on performance through need satisfaction but did show a specific indirect effect of PsyCap on performance through relatedness. No statistically significant indirect effects of autonomy, competence, and relatedness on performance through psychological well-being were found. Theoretical and practical implications for future researchers, independent workers, and organizations supporting independent workers are discussed.</p>

<p> The current investigation examined the nature of the activation-competition process that is the hallmark of spoken word recognition (Luce &amp; Pisoni, 1998). The present experiments focused on acquisition of new nonword forms that are carefully designed to compete with existing lexical items (e.g., "cathedruke" &rarr; "cathedral"; "shum" &rarr; "shun"). The specific aim of the research was to examine the processing costs for recognition of established neighboring words following exposure to new items. Experiments 1a and b examined processing for both mono- and multisyllabic words for which listeners have learned a new competitor in an attempt to contrast claims about the nature of lexical competition made by two prominent models of spoken word recognition, Cohort Theory and the Neighborhood Activation Model. Experiments 2a and b delved further into an examination of the nature of the competitive environment by manipulating the number and exposure frequency of novel items in an attempt to directly assess the costs of multiple activation. In both Experiments 2a and b, effects of more training (additional novel neighbors or increased exposure frequency, respectively) were facilitative, not competitive. The results are discussed within the context of Vitevitch and Luce's (1999) two-stage model of spoken word recognition.</p>

This study was undertaken to introduce an innovative approach to cognitive rehabilitation intervention (Goal Management Training- GMT) delivery, through a web-based platform administered to adults with cerebrovascular disease (CVD) or suffering from CVD risk factors who presented with executive function impairments. The feasibility of this approach was investigated by developing a semi-quantitative-qualitative tool to measure therapist competence and group engagement adapted from the Cognitive Therapy adherence-to-protocol scale. Results from two raters analyzing random web-based GMT session recordings showed no compromise in any aspect measured. In addition, the efficacy of the intervention was established using neuropsychological and functional outcome measures, with significant results observed on the Goal Attainment Scale functional measure. To our knowledge, this study is the first of its kind to a) employ videoconferencing technology to overcome accessibility barrier to cognitive rehabilitation and b) develop an adherence to protocol tool to measure various aspects of GMT.

This study was undertaken to introduce an innovative approach to cognitive rehabilitation intervention (Goal Management Training- GMT) delivery, through a web-based platform administered to adults with cerebrovascular disease (CVD) or suffering from CVD risk factors who presented with executive function impairments. The feasibility of this approach was investigated by developing a semi-quantitative-qualitative tool to measure therapist competence and group engagement adapted from the Cognitive Therapy adherence-to-protocol scale. Results from two raters analyzing random web-based GMT session recordings showed no compromise in any aspect measured. In addition, the efficacy of the intervention was established using neuropsychological and functional outcome measures, with significant results observed on the Goal Attainment Scale functional measure. To our knowledge, this study is the first of its kind to a) employ videoconferencing technology to overcome accessibility barrier to cognitive rehabilitation and b) develop an adherence to protocol tool to measure various aspects of GMT.