The present investigation involved the development of a psychobiologic profile of individuals who experience exercise-related mood-enhancement and those who do not. The sample (N=301) consisted of students participating in 10-week exercise classes at North Texas State University. All subjects completed pre-test inventories assessing various psychological (i.e., trait anxiety and depression, attitude toward physical activity, self-estimation of physical ability and attraction to physical activity, expectancies of health benefits from exercise, and self-motivation) and biological (i.e., aerobic capacity and body fat percentage) variables. Trait anxiety and depression were also assessed before and after the 10-week exercise program and state anxiety and depression were assessed on an acute basis on two separate occasions during the program. Multivariate analysis of variance and discriminant function analysis were employed to determine which variables maximally discriminated between individuals who experienced mood-elevations following exercise and those who did not enjoy such rewards. The hypothesis that these two groups of individuals differ significantly from each other was not upheld by the results; thus, an overall psychobiologic profile could not be developed. However, the data did reveal that individuals who held a more positive attitude toward physical activity for the purpose of health and fitness reduced their state anxiety and depression following exercise significantly more than individuals who held more neutral attitudes. The results also confirmed previous research that individuals initially high in trait anxiety and depression showed a significantly greater decrease in these traits than subjects scoring in the low-moderate range at the outset of the exercise class. Recommendations for future research are discussed.

The present investigation examined the relationship between elated and depressed moods and dissociation, association, and positive self-talk strategies on endurance performance. Results showed a significant mood main effect with elated subjects performing longer than depressed subjects. Results also revealed a significant cognitive strategy main effect with positive self-talk and dissociation groups producing longer endurance times than association and control groups. A significant interaction between mood and cognitive strategy found that subjects in the positive self-talk and dissociation groups increased their performance time to a greater extent from the depressed to the elated condition than did subjects in the association and control groups. Results are discussed in terms of previous investigations of mood and cognitive strategies on physical performance.

The affect and decision literature has established that incidental moods affect our decisions and choices. Yet few studies have gathered process data to examine the role of affect on the cognitive processes underlying decision-making. The primary purpose of this dissertation is to investigate the effects of induced moods on the process and outcomes of decisions under risk, using mixed-domain financial problems. In two empirical studies, an eye tracker was used to record decision-makers’ distribution of attention across specific aspects of the decision problems, and transitions in attention. Both studies tested for possible mood congruency effects and mood effects on depth of processing in the decision-making task. In Study 1, viewing of short movie clips was used to induce either happy or sad mood in participants, who then made choices between pairs of mixed-domain options consisting of a probabilistic gain coupled with a probabilistic loss. Data were also gathered in a control condition, where participants were instructed to use an EV-calculation strategy, a prototypical integrative compensatory strategy. In Study 2, instead of movie clips, the mood induction task involved reading a sad or neutral news story. Inclusion of a neutral condition enabled inferences about the specific effect of the induced sad mood condition. Also, the decision task in Study 2 was modified in structure by always pairing a sure option with a mixed-domain risky option. Study 1 results showed significant differences in choices and in attention transitions between the EV-instruction and the induced mood conditions, but no significant differences between the happy and sad induced mood conditions. Participants with induced moods showed relatively more evidence of heuristic strategy use, but analytic strategies remained the modal strategy in all conditions. Importantly, key types of attention transitions were shown to reliably predict the frequency of observed choices consistent with optimal (EV- maximizing) and heuristic strategies. Study 2 found significant effects of problem structure (domain) on choices and distribution of attention. Participants in general had longer fixations and showed more EV-maximizing choices for problem structure 2 (sure loss versus mixed risky option) than for problem structure 1 (sure gain versus mixed risky option) problems. Across both studies, however, the results did not demonstrate any effect of specific induced incidental mood on decision-making. Limitations of the findings and future research directions are discussed.

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Approved for public release, distribution is unlimited / This study investigates the effects of reversing sleep-wake cycles on mood, sleep, and fatigue of the crewmembers and Air Wing 9 of the USS JOHN C. STENNIS (CVN-74). It also reviews the research conducted in sleep deprivation, circadian rhythms, shiftwork, fatigue, and mood. The effects of reversing sleep-wake cycle on mood of the crewmembers were analyzed by assessing a repeated administration of the Profile of Mood States (POMS). Mood states were monitored at three time points associated with the current work schedule (night shift vs. day shift) of the crewmembers. The results showed that younger participants were angrier than older participants on night shiftwork. The results also indicated that there was a significant interaction between repeated measures of mood states and gender. In addition, female participants reported significantly higher mood scale scores than the male participants, and topside participants were getting significantly less sleep than belowdecks participants. Given these findings, this area of research warrants further exploration. There is a significant need to educate military personnel of the effects of sleep deprivation and shiftwork on their job performance and individual health and safety. / Ensign, United States Navy

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Although age-related differences in the correspondence bias are often attributed to cognitive decline, the present study found that age-related differences in the correspondence bias were differentially influenced by the participants mood states. Young and older participants completed an attitude-attribution task after having been induced to experience a positive, neutral, or negative mood. Whereas older adults demonstrated the correspondence bias more strongly in the negative mood condition relative to the positive mood condition, young adults exhibited the exact opposite pattern of results. Interestingly, the positive mood manipulation led older adults to be no more dispositionally biased than their younger counterparts. Further, mood and age-related differences in attributional confidence were not eliminated after controlling for individual differences in cognitive functioning.

Depression is a major mental health problem for women. Several lines of evidence suggest that fluctuating levels of estrogen associated with various reproductive events are related to changes in mood. It has been hypothesized that estrogen may exert its influence on mood via its effect on the serotonergic system---a system frequently implicated in the regulation of mood. The major goal of the following study was to elucidate further the role of estrogen in mood regulation. To this end, we examined the role of estrogen in the mood-lowering effect of Acute Tryptohpan Deption (ATD), a technique designed to cause a marked lowering of plasma and brain tryptophan, and therefore brain serotonin levels, so that the effects of decreased serotonin on mood can be studied directly. We hypothesized that (1) exogenous estrogen may protect against the mood-lowering effects of ATD in postmenopausal women and that (2) a history of affective disturbance, particularly reproduction-related affective disturbance, would be associated with greater vulnerability to ATD as predicted by the kindling model of depression. Fifty-eight postmenopausal women were randomly assigned to treatment with estrogen (0.625 mg Premarin) or placebo in the context of prospective, double-blind, cross-over design. During the final two week sof the 12-week treatment phase, all participants completed one ATD test session and one nutritionally balanced amino acid control session. We found that: (1) treatment with exogenous estrogen significantly improved mood and menopausal symptoms as compared to placebo treatment, (2) ATD was associated with a significant lowering of mood in both groups, (3) treatment with estrogen did not protect women from ATD effects unless they responded to 11 weeks of treatment with exogenous estrogen with enhanced mood, and (4) a history of reproduction-related affective disturbance was associated with more dysphoric mood in response to ATD. In conclusion, these data provide further evi

Thesis (Ph. D.)--State University of New York at Binghamton, Department of Psychology, Clinical Psychology, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references.

Please read the abstract in the section 00front of this document / Dissertation (MA (Psychology))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Psychology / unrestricted