The overarching aim of this thesis was to use an experimental psychopathology approach to investigate mood, stress and mental imagery in the Broad Bipolar Phenotype (BPP), defined by the experience of elevated lifetime hypomania. Daily mood reactions to stress have been well explored in psychosis, but the limited research in BD has produced mixed findings. Holmes, Geddes, Colom and Goodwin (2008) hypothesised that mental imagery in BD may amplify emotion and worsen day to day mood extremes. This thesis investigates volunteers ranging across the continuum ofthe BPP in relation to key variables from the Holmes et al (2008) model: mood, stress and mental imagery, and brings new methodology to this area. The Mood Disorder Questionnaire (MDQ; Hirschfeld et ai, 2000) was used to identify groups with high (N=50; ~ 7 symptoms) and low (N=60; :s 6 symptoms) rates of hypomanic experience i.e. high MDQ and low MDQ. A single investigation was conducted for this thesis (N=IIO) which is divided into four studies. Study I and 2 tested the hypothesis that high MDQ volunteers would report higher levels of mental imagery compared to low MDQ volunteers. Study I (N=61) found that high MDQ volunteers had higher levels of trait mental imagery and intrusive imagery of the future, replicating patient findings. Study 2 (N=49) extended these findings to additional imagery measures. In a laboratory study, study 3 tested the hypothesis that after an experimental stressor (a traumatic film) high MDQ volunteers would experience more image-based flashback memories to the film than low MDQ volunteers. Volunteers reported any flashback memories to the film via mobile phone Short Message Service (SMS) prompts for six days, plus convergent measures at follow-up. As predicted, compared to the low MDQ group, the high MDQ group experienced significantly more flashback memories to the stressor (on all measures). Study 4 used an Experience Sampling Method (ESM; momentary assessment sampling over time) to frequently monitor mood and its event-related stress context. Thus, in the context of daily life study 4 sought to explore the role of bipolarity in exacerbating mood reactions, in comparison to other hypothesised contributors: neuroticism and intrusive imagery of the future. SMS mobile-phone messages were sent 10 times a day for 6 days to capture event-related stress ratings and mood ratings. Higher bipolarity (MDQ), neuroticism (EPQN) and intrusive imagery of the future (IFES) were each associated with increased mood reactions over six days, compared to lower levels of these characteristics. In understanding which of these characteristics best accounted for mood reactions, bipolarity (MDQ) best accounted for elated mood reactions, neuroticism did not best account for any moods, intrusive imagery of the future (lFES) best accounted for sad, depressed and anxious mood reactions and both bipolarity and intrusive imagery of the future best accounted for fearful mood reactions. In summary, the aim of this thesis was to investigate volunteers ranging across the continuum of the BPP in relation to key variables from the Holmes et al (2008) model: mood, stress and mental imagery. As predicted, compared to low MDQ volunteers, the high MDQ group had higher levels of I) self-reported use of mental imagery, 2) negative flashback memory imagery after an experimental stressor and 3) daily life negative mood reactions to stress. Critically, repeatedly imaging future scenes (lFES), which flash to mind unbidden, was found to show the greatest impact on negative mood reactions in daily life. Mental imagery offers a psychological characteristic which is elevated in volunteers at the higher end of the BPP continuum and also has the potential to be a novel cognitive treatment target in clinical BD samples. For example, targeting flashback memories after a stressor or targeting intrusive imagery of the future may help regulate mood reactions in daily life. This warrants further investigation in patients with BD.

Growth is a property that is unique to living things. Studies demonstrate that even preschool children use growth to determine whether objects are alive. However, little identifies explanations that children use to attribute growth. The goal of the present study was to investigate how people reason about growth. We hypothesized that older children would outperform younger children in understanding that growth is inevitable for living things, while adults would consistently perform at ceiling levels. Our hypothesis was partially supported. Although adults consistently outperformed children, older children rarely outperformed younger children. Still, both younger and older children performed above chance in attributing growth. Moreover, all participants were more likely to use biological explanations to explain growth. Taken together, this research qualifies the early hypotheses of Piaget (1929) and Carey (1985) that children lack a well developed biological domain before age nine, but suggests that a biological domain, though less developed, is present. Based on these findings, implications for more efficient approaches to science education are discussed. / by Aquilla D. Copeland. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2010. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2010. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

The purpose of the investigation was to determine the effects of music on self reported vividness of movement imagery. Eighty-four undergraduate kinesiology majors (42 males; 42 females) were subjects. Based on identical perceptions of precategorized music (classical and jazz), selected subjects were randomly assigned to one of three music treatment conditions (sedative, stimulative, and control) and administered the Vividness of Movement Imagery Questionnaire. A 3 x 2 x 2 (Treatment x Gender x Perspective) ANOVA with repeated measures on the last factor was employed. The results revealed that the two music conditions significantly enhanced the vividness of internal and external imagery perspectives when compared to the no music condition, and that music facilitated the vividness of males and females equally.

No description available.

Thesis (M.Sc.)--Memorial University of Newfoundland, 2005. / Bibliography: leaves 101-125.

Project (D. Min.)--Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University, 1986. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 339-346).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2001. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 64-71).

published_or_final_version / Linguistics / Master / Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics

Research has shown a possible causative link between playing the popular videogame Tetris and improvements in Mental Rotation performance. The aim of the present study was to address a question about an aspect of Tetris expertise that had not yet been factored into any of the existing work on Tetris and Mental Rotation. David Kirsh and Paul Maglio (1994) have shown that skilled Tetris players appear to use physical actions as substitutes for, or compliments to, mental operations. This is hypothesised to include physically rotating game pieces instead of Mentally Rotating them. The specific question we sought to address in the present study was whether these physical substitutes for mental operations, which Kirsh and Maglio call epistemic actions, have an effect on Tetris' efficacy as a Mental Rotation training task. In order to address this research question, three groups of subjects were administered tests of Mental Rotation ability before and after a five week training period. The training period consisted of a total of five, hour long, laboratory sessions - evenly spaced across the training period - in which each of the three groups were required to play an assigned video-game. The results showed that a group of subjects (N=13) who received Tetris training on the version of the game that made epistemic actions involving rotation impossible showed no greater Mental Rotation performance gains when their results were compared to a group of subjects (N=13) trained using a Standard version of Tetris. This suggests that the occurence of epistemic actions does not have an impact on Tetris' efficacy as a Mental Rotation training task. Further, neither of these two groups showed greater Mental Rotation performance gains than the non-Tetris control group (N=14), a result which suggests that, at least under some circumstances, Tetris training fails to impart Mental Rotation performance gains any greater than what can be expected due to retest effects. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2013.

This thesis has sought a relationship between score on an objective imagery questionnaire and performance on an objective imagery task. The Sheehan revision (1967) of the Betts QMI (1909) and the Weber Alphabet Task (1969), respectively, were the two measures used.The Sheehan revision (1967) of the original Betts (1909) was administered to 107 students and three imagery groups of 10 students each were chosen on the basis of the results: a high imagery group, a middle imagery group, and a low imagery group. These 30 subjects then performed the Weber Task. An analysis of variance was done on the two sets of scores.No relationship was found to exist between scores on the two measures. Several reasons for this failure to find a relationship were proposed, among them response bias inherent in imagery utilized by the two measures.