While it is now understood that long-standing hypertension is predictive of later cognitive decline and risk for dementia, little research attention to date has focused on whether the short-term dynamics of blood pressure exert immediate influence on cognitive functioning. The present study contributes to this growing field with a conceptual replication and extension of work by Gamaldo, Weatherbee and Allaire (2008). A sample of 27 older adults (M=70.2 years) completed daily assessments of blood pressure, psychological stress and cognitive functioning for 14 consecutive days. Multilevel models conditional on demographic factors were applied to simultaneously estimate between- and within-person effects across three metrics of blood pressure (systolic, diastolic and pulse pressure) and five measures of cognitive functioning. To follow a suggestion proposed by Gamaldo et al., the model was extended to include main effect and blood pressure interaction terms for stress at both levels. In secondary analyses, within-person mediation models were applied to explore blood pressure as a mediator between stress and cognition. Results from the first model demonstrated a direct, positive association between occasion diastolic pressure and episodic memory. A cross-level interaction term revealed that processing speed was impaired on high-diastolic pressure days for those with high diastolic pressure on average. We found no evidence that occasion blood pressure mediated the association between stress and cognition. Overall, our results align with the hypothesis that age-related changes to vascular structures impair the carrying capacity of blood vessels and that occasions of increased blood pressure provide additional force to overcome these limitations, delivering larger quantities of blood and oxygen to cerebral tissue. We conclude that upward fluctuations in diastolic pressure may be cognitively beneficial for older adults; diastolic pressure is the most sensitive metric for detection of within-person associations with cognition; and episodic memory and processing speed exhibit sensitivity to occasion blood pressure levels. / Graduate

The current investigation is framed within variationist sociolinguistics, an area of study that examines how language varies and is influenced by linguistic and extralinguistic factors. Variationist research has reported that the use of verbal moods (the subjunctive and indicative) in Spanish is variable. One of the reasons for this variation appears to be a centuries-long process of language change, during which the subjunctive mood seemed to show a decline in favor of the indicative mood. Considering this gradual process of change, various investigations have examined how sociolinguistic factors condition variability in Spanish, focusing their analyses on different Spanish-speaking regions. To contribute to the understanding of mood variation in Spanish, this study explored a range of sociolinguistic factors across three Spanish-speaking regions (Rosario, Argentina; Barcelona, Spain; and Seville, Spain) by means of a conceptual replication of Gudmestad (2021), which studied variable mood use in Spanish across three regions (Quito, Ecuador; Mérida, Mexico; and Seville, Spain). The current study's participant pool (N = 107) consisted of Spanish speakers—men and women over 18 years old—residing in the three aforementioned metropolitan areas, who had lived in the same location for at least 15 years at the moment of the data collection. The data were collected via a written clause-elicitation task, with the purpose of having enough verbal-mood contexts to analyze, and a background questionnaire with basic demographic information. The results suggested that there was geographical variation of mood use, which reinforced the original study's findings on regional variation of mood use. Like Gudmestad (2021), the patterns of verbal moods with individual governors (e.g., preferir que 'to prefer that'), semantic category, and time reference diverged across the regions. The examination of gender and individual participants also pointed to a possible connection between these factors and variable mood use across regions. These findings indicate that the envelopes of variation of mood use may be diverse across the regions under investigation, which suggests that different geographical regions may have slightly distinct grammars. / Master of Arts / The current investigation is framed within variationist sociolinguistics, an area of study that examines how language varies, and which factors may condition this variation. Research within this field has found that Spanish speakers use subjunctive and indicative moods in a variable way. This variability in mood use may be connected to a long process of language change, over which speakers seem to be using the indicative mood in instances in which, in the past, they would have used the subjunctive mood. Taking this into account, various investigations have studied how the use of verbal moods in Spanish varies by analyzing different locations where Spanish is spoken. To contribute to this body of knowledge, the present investigation studied variable mood use in three regions (Rosario, Argentina; Barcelona, Spain; and Seville, Spain), by partially replicating an original investigation conducted by Gudmestad (2021) on variable mood use in Spanish across the regions of Quito, Ecuador; Mérida, Mexico; and Seville, Spain. Participants of the replication study (a total of 107) were three geographical groups of Spanish speakers. They were men and women over 18 years old who were residing in the three aforementioned urban areas and who had lived in the same location for at least 15 years. The participants completed a story with blanks that elicited the use of verbal moods and a questionnaire with basic demographic information. The findings indicated that Spanish speakers may use the subjunctive and indicative moods variably, according to different linguistic contexts and extralinguistic characteristics. Regarding geographical variation, the results showed that mood use was variable across the different locations analyzed, which reinforced the original study's findings on the presence of regional variation of mood use in Spanish.