<p>Humans must integrate information to make decisions. This thesis is concerned with studying neural mechanisms of decision making, and combines tools from economics, psychology, and neuroscience. I employ a neuroeconomic approach to understand the processing of reward information and motivation in the brain, utilizing neural data from functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to make connections between cognitive neuroscience and economics.</p><p>Chapter 1 lays the groundwork for the thesis and provides background on neuroscience, fMRI, and neuroeconomics. Chapter 2 sketches the central challenges of using neuroscience to address economic questions. The first half of the chapter discusses familiar arguments against the integration of neuroscience and economics: behavioral sufficiency and emergent phenomenon. The second half constructs principles for interdisciplinary research linking mechanistic (neuroscience) data to behavioral (economic) phenomena: mechanistic convergence across experiments and biological plausibility in models.</p><p>Chapters 3 and 4 employ a nonstandard analysis technique, multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA), to identify brain regions that contain information associated with different types of economic valuation. Chapter 3 uses a combinatoric approach to evaluate how brain regions uniquely contribute to the ability to predict different types of valuation (probabilistic or intertemporal). MVPA shows that early valuation phases for these rewards differ in posterior parietal cortex and suggests computational topographies for different rewards. Chapter 4 employs within- and cross-participant MVPA, which rely on potentially different sources of neural variability, to identify brain regions that contain information about monetary rewards (cash) and social rewards (images of faces). Cross-participant analyses reveal systematic changes in predictive power across multiple brain regions, and individual differences in statistical discriminability in ventromedial prefrontal cortex relate to differences in reward preferences. MVPA thus facilitates mapping behavior to both individual-specific functional organization and general organization of the brain across individuals. </p><p>Chapter 5 employs a reward anticipation task to measure variation in relative motivation without observing choices between rewards (money and candy). A reaction-time index captures individual differences in motivation, and heterogeneity in this index maps onto variability in two brain regions: nucleus accumbens and anterior insula. Further, the nucleus accumbens activation mediates the predictive effects of anterior insula. These results show that idiosyncrasies in reward efficacy persist in the absence of a choice environment.</p><p>Chapters 6 and 7 conclude the thesis. Chapter 6 complements discussions of neuroeconomics with text analysis of an exhaustive corpus from top economics journals and references from a large set of review articles. The analysis shows a mismatch between topics of importance to economics and prominent concepts in neuroeconomics. I show how neuroeconomics can grow by employing cognitive neuroscience to identify biologically plausible and generalizable models of a broader class of behaviors.</p> / Dissertation

In the end of 1978, China started to launch reforms, especially in economy. Thus, the Chinese advertising industry brings the market back; the commercial advertisement rises again. Over twenty years, some advertisement copies have created billions of sales, however, some of the copies was judged without any creativity. This paper primarily concentrates on studying the Chinese advertisement copy. In reviewing the studies of the Chinese advertisement, this paper takes the approach of cognitive psychology as a theoretical framework. In Richard Atkinson and Richard Shiffrin¡¦s view, when the information inputs in one¡¦s eyes it will become a short-term memory which stored in human brain, by repeating the broadcast information, which will also become a long-term memory. Eventually, if consumers touch the products, no matter the brand or the advertisement, their memories will be aroused from their long-term memory. This research concluded that audiences are attracted by the advertisement because of various affective reactions /emotional response. It showed that the advertisement may focus on consumers¡¦ emotional code ¢w cultural code. So the copywriter can input the Chinese traditional culture in an advertisement copy such as piety, decorum and familism, it will arouse Chinese emotional response more easily.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2003. / Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 86-88). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--York University, 2008.. Graduate Programme in Computer Science and Engineering. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 267-287). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:NR45988

<p>The ability to re-experience the past is a defining feature of episodic memory. Yet we know that even the most detailed memories are distinct from the initial experiences to which they refer. This relationship between the initial encoding and subsequent retrieval of information is central to our understanding of memory and its capacity to connect us to the past. Past research has shown that neural signatures present during perception are reactivated during later memory, but the correspondence between this reactivation and various aspects of memory function remains unclear. This dissertation attempts to connect behavioral measures of memory to the reinstatement and modification of neural information that takes place when memories are retrieved. In the first two studies reported, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is used to assess event-specific cortical patterns from encoding that are reinstated during retrieval (encoding-retrieval similarity, ERS). Increases in this fine-grained of reinstatement are found in occipitotemporal cortex (OTC) during detailed memory for scenes (Study 1), and in the medial temporal lobes (MTL) for the recovery of relational information (Study 2). In addition to reflecting encoding-related content, retrieval is also found to strengthen previously encoded information via hippocampally-mediated mechanisms in Study 3. Together, these studies demonstrate the detailed nature of information that is recovered across varying degrees of memory and show how retrieval can also alter stored representations, emphasizing the interactive nature of memory processes.</p> / Dissertation

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<p> The purpose of this study was to examine potential effects of head-injury on individuals&rsquo; performance on the Picture Memory Interference Test (PMIT). This study examined differences in the performance of college-aged students with and without a history of head-injury on the PMIT. Data was drawn from an archival dataset of PMIT completions held at UCLA and analyzed with permission. From the total dataset of 12,227 completions, experimental groups were derived and separated based upon assumed severity of head-injury, based upon self-report data. Following exclusions, the final data sub-set for analysis consisted of 6,897 unique completions of the PMIT. Of these, 412 were assigned to the Mild head-injury group; 61 individuals were assigned to the Moderate-Severe head-injury group. Multiple one-way ANCOVA were conducted to identify difference between group performances. The results of the current study are unclear as to whether or not the PMIT may effectively detect and discriminate college student participants with a history of head-injury from those without, although significant findings were obtained which demonstrated those with a history of mild head-injury obtained higher scores on particular trials of the PMIT. </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>

<p> Mindfulness offers a wide range of benefits for teachers and students, however, less is known about the role of mindfulness in the work of principals. Current tools that assess instructional leadership, which is a major part of the principalship, omit issues of mindfulness. Further, measures of mindfulness connect little to instructional leadership to make meaningful assessment of the mindful instructional leadership of administrators. The study discusses development of the Principal Resilience for Educator and Student Success (PRESS), a 20-item self-assessment of principal instructional practices and beliefs concerned with cognitive processes shown to support mindfulness: preoccupation with failure, commitment to resilience, deference to expertise, resistance to simplify, and sensitivity to operations. Data were gathered and analyzed from a representative statewide sample of principals in Washington State. Findings reveal differing degrees of variability on specific mindful instructional leadership practices. Scores generated by PRESS are compared to respondent scores on the Cognitive and Affective Mindfulness Scale-Revised (CAMS-R); results indicate positive correlation between the PRESS Mindful Instructional Leadership (MIL) single factor score and the CAMS-R mindfulness single factor score. Use of the tool as part of principal professional growth, as well as further research to examine the relationship between mindfulness in instructional leadership and school improvement, are recommended.</p>

While the referent of a non-reflexive pronoun clearly depends on context, the nature of these contextual restrictions is controversial. The present study seeks to characterize one representation that guides pronoun resolution. In causal dependant clauses, the preferred referent of a pronoun varies systematically with the verb in the main clause (contrast Sally frightened Mary because she... with Sally feared Mary because she...), a phenomenon known as "implicit causality". A number of researchers have tried to explain and predict such biases with reference to semantic classes of verbs and linguistic structure. However, the classes and representations invoked have been partly ad hoc and fitted to the phenomenon itself. In this dissertation, evidence is presented that an independently-motivated semantic theory accounts for many known and new phenomena in implicit causality. In the first study, it is shown that verbs within syntactically-defined classes show similar implicit causality biases. In the second study, it is shown that information about the participants in an event (such as their relative social status) do not affect pronoun biases, even when they do affect event representations. In the third study, it is shown that two syntactically-defined verb classes show the same pronoun biases in eight different languages. In combination, these results suggest that implicit causality biases derive primarily from the same underlying semantic representations that determine syntactic behavior and not from general, non-linguistic event representations. / Psychology