In this study, I conducted 17 experiments in which I begin bridging the gap between second language acquisition (SLA) theories and first language (L1) embodiment theories. The primary aim of this series of studies was to provide evidence for the grounding of semantic representation in perceptual experiences during second language (L2) processing as proposed by the grounded cognition hypothesis (Barsalou, 1999). A secondary aim was to provide evidence for the embodied grounding in a non-European language, L1 Japanese. The experiments, which all utilized reaction time methods, were split into three paradigms that tested for differing embodied semantic effects. In L1 research, a growing body of evidence lends credence to the hypothesis that perceptomotor experiences are the foundation of semantic representations. However, this hypothesis has yet to be widely adopted by SLA researchers. Embodiment researchers posit that the mind is situated within and inseparable from the experiences that arise from having a body that interacts with its environment. These researchers have demonstrated that body and perception manipulation affect the characteristics of cognition and vice versa.In Experiments 1 through 6, I attempted to replicate action compatibility effects (ACE) in which language affects motor control with methods first developed by Glenberg and Kaschak (2002). In this paradigm, participants responded to language that indicated motor activity. However, the speed at which they respond was hypothesized to be modulated by the semantic content of the primes. For instance, the prime I close the drawer was hypothesized to lead to a response delay if the participants were required to move their arm toward their body because the prime indicates a hand movement away from the body. In line with other recent ACE replications, no significant ACE was found. As such, the results of the experiments did not support the hypotheses. The lack of significant findings in these experiments was hypothesized to be due to the overwrought design of ACE experiments dependent on participants going against real world conditioning. Instead of relying on button pushes, reaction times in these experiments were dependent on participants holding and then releasing a button, which runs counter to how they interact with most electronics. In Experiments 7 through 12, I tested for visuospatial interference effects in which language affects visual perception (e.g., Bergen et al., 2007; Estes et al., 2015; Gozli et al., 2013). In these experiments, a picture priming method was employed to demonstrate that some linguistic forms are grounded in differing spatial locations relative to the human body. For instance, the written prime bird followed by a picture of a bird at an angle below the human body was hypothesized to lead to a response delay because birds are stereotypically found above humans. Significant visuospatial effects were demonstrated in L1 experiments, but not in the L2. These nonsignificant L2 findings might have been due to the greater cognitive demands of L2 processing in which intrinsic semantic features are prioritized over less intrinsic features, such as spatial location. In Experiments 13 through 17, I employed affective interference methods to test for the effects of facial mimicry on reading comprehension (Havas et al., 2007). Participants held a chopstick in their mouth while completing these experiments to block or facilitate facial mimicry during reading comprehension. Because the primes contained affective language, it was hypothesized that response time might be affected by the blocking or facilitation of this semantic effect. Significant affective interference effects were found in all experiments except for the single word L1 experiment. However, the coefficients in several of the experiments did not align with the hypotheses. These misaligned coefficients were hypothesized to be due to linguistic relativity with Japanese participants hypothesized to utilize affective processing differently than European populations. Overall, these experiments provide support for the hypothesis that embodied effects are constituent components of cognition. The lack of a significant finding in the L1 single word experiment might be attributable to L2 processing relying more heavily on affective processing than L1 processing or linguistic relativistic differences between English and Japanese. / Applied Linguistics

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<p>Over long delays between events, evidence from computational models suggests that neurogenesis may be important for reducing the potential of interference between overlapping memories. These computational models also suggest that at shorter time scales, within a single memory episode, neurogenesis may play a role in binding together elements that share a common spatiotemporal context. Empirical evidence from animal research provides support for both of these hypothesized roles. Interestingly, results from recent research also suggest that depending on the task demands, neurogenesis may either aid or hinder performance.</p> <p>In order to investigate this potential trade-o, we designed the Concentration Memory Task (CMT); a novel spatial memory task which subjected participants to trials where neurogenesis is hypothesized to aid performance and trials where neurogenesis is hypothesized to hinder performance. Furthermore, we tested undergraduates on this novel task and memory tests from the CANTAB battery, and administered neuropsychological mood inventories and a lifestyle questionnaire.</p> <p>Our results suggest that measures on the CMT hypothesized to be dependent upon neurogenesis correlate with and predict performance on putatively neurogenesis-dependent tasks. Furthermore, individuals with potentially suppressed neurogenesis display selective decits on these measures. However, our results failed to provide evidence for a working memory enhancement in these individuals.</p> <p>The results from the present study provide strong encouragement for the continued development of this novel task. We provide evidence that as predicted, individuals with potentially suppressed neurogenesis display increased sensitivity to interference on the CMT. However, we failed to provide evidence that suppressed neurogenesis may enhance working memory performance. This null result may be due to shortcomings in the design of the CMT and a revised protocol that may resolve these shortcomings is discussed. With continued development, the CMT may serve as a tool for detecting early signs of cognitive impairment associated with suppressed neurogenesis.</p> / Master of Science (MSc)

<p> Category-specific semantic deficits (CSSD) result in the inability to recognize, recall, and/or remember objects from a particular semantic category. There is a common pattern of impairments observed in CSSD patients that is reviewed in Section One. In Section Two, I used a tempo-matching speeded word verification task to investigate the early stages of semantic memory to examine the similarities between healthy participants under time pressure and the patient data. Specifically, I sought to produce in the latter the reversal of the basic level effect found in CSSD, and to examine healthy participant data for other CSSD trends. The speeded methodology generally failed to replicate the reversal of the basic level effect, except for several specific items at the shortest response deadline. The final study in Section Two examines the effect of semantic relatedness on this task. Three types of semantic relatedness each reduced the speed and accuracy of responses relative to unrelated conditions. Section Three provides an overview and discussion of the results. The failure to replicate the reversal of the basic level effect suggests that speeded classification of neuropsychologically relevant stimuli does not share a common etiology with CSSD.</p>

<p> Chronic unemployment is one of the top stressors in life that affects an individual&rsquo;s income, identity and self-worth, emotional and physical health, and personal relationships. At the extreme, the stressors are associated with an increased risk of suicide. While the damaging effects of chronic unemployment are extensive, not everyone experiences such negative consequences. The focus of research has primarily been on the negative impact rather than exploring what may account for the differences in the ways that individuals adapt, such as the intelligent use of positive emotions. Researchers using quantitative methods have identified significant correlations among emotional intelligence (EI), positive emotions, and coping. The problem is that the results have not provided an understanding of the deliberate use of positive emotions to cope with stress. The purpose of this qualitative, hermeneutic (interpretative), phenomenological study was to provide a rich, contextual understanding of the processes by which individuals activated and utilized positive emotions via EI to cope with the multiple stressors associated with chronic unemployment. A purposeful sample of six adults receiving services from the Milwaukee, Wisconsin Job Center and unemployed for a period of 6 months or more participated in the study. The researcher conducted semi-structured interviews to collect the data. The data was analyzed using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). The identified themes underscored the importance of providing support services to extend vocational interventions and can be used to inform policy makers of changes needed in unemployment programs. Second, the use of a phenomenological approach to examine the confidence in the ability to use emotions and the ability to activate and use positive emotions provided support for the proposition that the broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions (PE) facilitates the application of trait EI and the deliberate use of positive emotions to cope with stress.</p>

<p> Given that mindfulness-based training techniques (MBT) stimulates and pushes one&rsquo;s core cognitive control capacity limits, brain stimulation techniques, such as transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), can be used to facilitate the ongoing neural patterns of functional connectivity toward long-lasting neuroplastic change. The current study assessed the combined effects of MBT with right frontal tDCS on cognitive control abilities and their corresponding brain patterns of activation using electroencephalography (EEG) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). This study found an enhancement in working memory and sustained attention performance along with changes in the attention-related P3 component and its theta and alpha oscillatory profiles recorded by EEG. Furthermore, a reconfiguration in the chronnectome of large-scale resting-state networks was observed using resting-state fMRI, in addition to task-related changes in the polymodal neural architecture associated with encoding and adaptation, which may bridge the necessary connections from near to far transfer gains.</p>

<p>Phenomenologically, humans effectively label and report feeling distinct emotions, yet the extent to which emotions are represented categorically in nervous system activity is controversial. Theoretical accounts differ in this regard, some positing distinct emotional experiences emerge from a dimensional representation (e.g., along axes of valence and arousal) whereas others propose emotions are natural categories, with dedicated neural bases and associated response profiles. This dissertation aims to empirically assess these theoretical accounts by examining how emotions are represented (either as disjoint categories or as points along continuous dimensions) in autonomic and central nervous system activity by integrating psychophysiological recording and functional neuroimaging with machine-learning based analytical methods. Results demonstrate that experientially, emotional events are well-characterized both along dimensional and categorical frameworks. Measures of central and peripheral responding discriminate among emotion categories, but are largely independent of valence and arousal. These findings suggest dimensional and categorical aspects of emotional experience are driven by separable neural substrates and demonstrate that emotional states can be objectively quantified on the basis of nervous system activity.</p> / Dissertation