This study was undertaken to determine the role of feedforward tuning in the organization of a voluntary movement. Right-handed male college students (N = 12) volunteered to participate in the study. A finger flexion/extension choice response task with precueing was used to generate one or two finger response conditions. / It was predicted that the one limb/two choice condition would prohibit pre response biasing of the agonist/antagonist relationship of the response finger because the agonist/antagonist relationship of the muscles involved could not be determined until the response was requested by the stimulis. / A 3 x 3 x 2 x 3 x 4 ANOVA was conducted on the data collected in a complete within-subjects design. The factors were: (a) blocks, (b) movement combinations, (c) movement directions, (d) phases, and (e) fingers. The analysis revealed a block main effect. A subsequent 3 x 2 x 3 x 4 ANOVA was conducted on the block 1 data in order to appropriately test the hypotheses of this investigation. The block factor was excluded from this analysis in order to exclude the block effect. The factors for this analysis were: (a) movement combinations, (b) phases, (c) movement directions and (d) fingers. / This analysis revealed one significant main effect for phases which was indicative of an increased state of readiness during the anticipation phase. In addition, a significant direction x phases interaction indicated a biasing of the finger position toward the response direction during the tuning phase. / A separate 3 x 3 ANOVA was conducted on the reaction time data. The factors in this analysis were: (a) movement combinations, and (b) trial blocks. The analysis revealed a movement combinations main effect. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 53-11, Section: B, page: 6015. / Major Professor: Tonya Toole. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1992.

The auditory P3 response is thought to be related to stimulus evaluation time. It is typically elicited using an "oddball tonal paradigm" in which "rare" acoustic events (tones) are embedded in a stream of "frequent" tonal signals. The P3 is a cognitive response, generated when the subject consciously identifies a difference between the frequent and rare stimuli. Currently, data are available which suggest that P3 latency will vary as a function of the difficulty of the cognitive task. It is believed that the use of a more relevant stimulus (speech) may provide useful information regarding neurological functioning during speech processing. / The purpose of this study was to determine if differences exist in the P3 response (latency and amplitude) elicited by tonal and speech signals during competing and non-competing stimulus conditions. P3 responses were obtained from 61 normal hearing young adult subjects under the following conditions: tones in quiet; tones in noise; words in quiet; words in noise. Although waveform morphology was superior for the tonal conditions, eighty-five percent of the subjects who demonstrated the P3 response to tones also demonstrated the P3 to verbal stimuli. / The addition of competing noise resulted in decreases in certain wavepeak amplitudes and increases in P3 latencies. The choice of stimulus (tones versus words) had no effect on wavepeak amplitude. However, P3 latencies were significantly longer for words than for tones. P3 latency differences to tonal as compared to speech stimuli are believed to be related to longer stimulus evaluation time required for speech processing. The findings of this study demonstrate that the P3 response to speech stimuli can be reliably elicited in a large percentage of subjects who demonstrate the P3 response to tones. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 51-12, Section: B, page: 5793. / Major Professor: Lloyd Price. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1990.

This study investigated the neuropsychological basis for the attention style of the Type A behavior pattern. The purpose of the study was to determine if there were differential hemispheric/perceptual responses between Type A and Type B subjects when confronted with a visual discrimination task. Subjects were right-handed, undergraduate, male students who were divided into Type A and Type B groups of 27 subjects per group according to scores on the Jenkins Activity survey Form T. / The study had two independent variables of behavior type (A-B) and hemisphere (left-right), and there were six levels of the stimulus condition. Dependent measures of response time (msec) and correctness of response were regarded as indirect measurements of left and right hemisphere processing. The stimuli were composed of large letters (global) constructed from small letters (local) and presented for 130 msec on a computer screen in the left and right visual fields of the subjects. The subjects responded by pressing a computer key "YES" (target present) or "NO" (target absent). / The study failed to show any significant Type A-B differences. A 2$\times$2 ANOVA with six repeated measures was used to analyze the response time data. The overall ANOVA failed to reveal any significant results in the main effects or interactions, but the analysis did show significant differences in the six repeated measures. An A-posteriori ANOVA of data from conditions with the target present showed significance in the repeated measures and the hemispheres. / The study concluded that strong evidence was presented that there is no significant difference between Type A's and Type B's with regard to hemispheric/perceptual processing, and that Type A-B differences must occur at higher levels of cognitive processing. The findings gave credence to the importance of cognitive restructuring as an appropriate intervention for the prevention and treatment of negative psychophysiological effects associated with Type A behavior. Finally, the study demonstrated a creative use of the computer for research in Counseling and Rehabilitation Psychology. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 50-08, Section: B, page: 3718. / Major Professor: Gary W. Peterson. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1989.

Sixty-four trained musicians listened to four-bar excerpts of selected chorales by J. S. Bach, which were presented both in four-part texture (harmonic context) and as a single voice part (melodic context). These digitally synthesized examples were created by combining the first twelve partials, and all voice parts had the same generic timbre. A within-subjects design was used, so subjects heard each example in both contexts. Included in the thirty-two excerpts for each subject were four soprano, four alto, four tenor, and four bass parts as the target voices. The intonation of the target voice was varied such that the voice stayed in tune or changed by a half cent, two cents, or eight cents per second (a cent is 1/100 of a half step). / Although direction of the deviation (sharp or flat) was not a significant factor in intonation perception, main effects for context (melodic vs. harmonic) and rate of deviation were highly significant, as was the interaction between rate of deviation and context. Specifically, selections that stayed in tune or changed only by half cents were not perceived differently; for larger deviations, the error was detected earlier and the intonation was judged to be worse in the harmonic contexts compared to the melodic contexts. / Additionally, the direction of the error was correctly identified in the melodic context more often than the hamonic context only for the examples that mistuned at a rate of eight cents per second. Correct identification of the voice part that went out of tune in the four-part textures depended only on rate of deviation: the in tune excerpts (no voice going out of tune) and the eight cent deviations were correctly identified most often, the two cent deviations were next, and the half cent deviation excerpts were the least accurately identified. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 55-12, Section: A, page: 3775. / Major Professor: Clifford K. Madsen. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1994.

A primary purpose of this study was to investigate causal relationships among monitoring strategy, knowledge, general problem-solving strategies, and problem-solving performance. In order to achieve these purposes, a theoretical model was hypothesized. A hypothetical, theoretical causal model was constructed. / Subjects were provided with three problems, and were asked to talk aloud during problem solving. Monitoring strategy and general problem-solving strategies were measured by protocol analysis of subject's verbalization of the problem solving process. The problem-solving performance was measured by the criterion of correct solution and solving speed for each problem. The knowledge variable was measured by a test developed to measure the subject's possession of the knowledge required to solve a problem. The data were analyzed by LISREL VI, a recent version of the LISREL subprogram package. / The following findings of the study were resulted in: (1) Monitoring strategy significantly affected planning strategy, means-ends analysis, representation strategy. The monitoring strategy had indirect effects on problem-solving performance. (2) Representation strategy failed to show a direct effect on performance measures. (3) Means-ends analysis did not directly affect work problem solving, but did affect inferential problem solving. (4) The direct effect of planning strategy was the most significant determinant for problem-solving performance. (5) Knowledge was a direct cause of means-ends analysis for word problem solving. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 51-02, Section: B, page: 1019. / Major Professor: Robert M. Morgan. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1990.

Fifteen profoundly handicapped clients ages 6-46 residing in a facility for the developmentally disabled served as subjects for this study. Subjects received four music therapy treatments; two with vibrotactile stimulation and two without. Each treatment consisted of four pre-recorded music conditions composed, recorded, and performed by the researcher. These were: pentatonic mode and bells, pentatonic mode and flute, major mode and bells, and major mode and flute. / Respirations and pulse rate served as physiological measures while observations of eye movement, facial expression, vocalizations, and motor movement served as behavioral measures. Deep inhalations were shown to increase significantly during musical stimulation. The type of musical stimulation did not affect these results. Statistically significant increases in vocalizations occurred during the major flute melody as compared with the major bells melody. The major flute melody was also significantly more effective in eliciting vocalizations when not accompanied with vibrotactile stimulation. In an examination of the order of presentation of melodies, the first melody elicited significantly more vocalization than the second melody which in turn elicited significantly more vocalizations than the third melody. (Abstract shortened with permission of author.) / Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 31-01, page: 0023. / Major Professor: Jayne M. Standley. / Thesis (M.M.)--The Florida State University, 1992.

Sensitivity to the bitter acetylated sugar sucrose octaacetate (SOA) is mediated by a single locus system with three alleles in mice. Inbred strains are classified according to SOA phenotype as tasters, nontasters, or demitasters (intermediate sensitivity). I created a novel congenic strain, C3.SW-Soa$\rm \sp{a},$ from taster (SWR/J) and demitaster (C3HeB/FeJ) strains. After 11 lineal backcross generations these G3.SW mice carry a copy of the taster allele on a $\sim$99% C3 genomic background. After testing a total of 1064 mice, taster-demitaster proportions across 16 generations were consistent with expectations from a monogenic model. / The C3 inbreds provide a suitable background for investigating genetic influences on bitter taste because they are relatively insensitive to many bitter compounds. In several experiments I tested 651 C3.SW, C3, and SW mice with concentration series of SOA and various bitter substances (48-h preference tests). Variation at the Soa locus influenced sensitivity to SOA, brucine, strychnine, denatonium, quinine and propylthiouracil. Gene effects were not found for caffeine, thiamine, or cycloheximide, indicating that the Soa gene mechanism influences responsiveness to a diverse yet limited class of bitter tastants. / Additionally, I conducted recordings from the chorda tympani (CT) nerve of 25 C3.SW, C3, and SW mice. This gustatory nerve responded robustly to concentrations of strychnine, quinine, and NaCl. However, strains of mice did not significantly differ in terms of relative CT response magnitude. In summary, the Soa gene influences behavioral responsiveness to bitter tastants, but allelic differences may not be evident at the whole-nerve level. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 57-01, Section: B, page: 0732. / Major Professor: Glayde Whitney. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1995.

Thesis advisor: Elizabeth A. Kensinger / Thesis advisor: Ellen Winner / Like it or not, music is everywhere. Our lives are accompanied by an omnipresent personal soundtrack—whether we are on our way to work, at the grocery store, at a movie, watching TV, or simply relaxing at home. It seems that the only way human beings have been able to tolerate this extraneous stimulus is, simply, by not consciously attending to it. Otherwise, we would most likely crash our cars, purchase the wrong items at the store, and never quite understand what happened in that movie we had just seen. Despite the technological advances in music recording and production (and, in turn, availability), very little psychological research has focused on the effects of music processing (especially at the unconscious level) on memory consolidation and storage. What previous memory research has shown is that human beings tend to exhibit an attentional enhancement for emotional stimuli when presented alongside non-emotional stimuli (Reisberg & Heuer 2004). Specifically, this finding has demonstrated that emotional events promote memory for "central" components of an event, while having a reverse effect for an event's "periphery." In the current study, I employed the medium of film in order to apply this hypothesis to our musical world. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three groups: 1) a "no music" group, in which participants viewed a film clip in silence; 2) a "with music" group, in which participants viewed the same clip with the film's original, low-quality (and low arousal) recorded soundtrack; and 3) a "re-mastered music" group, in which participants viewed the film clip with a higher quality (and higher arousal) soundtrack. Three main results were found, all of which either aligned with or extended the findings of Reisberg & Heuer to include the domain of music as a modulatory force in the formation of emotional memories. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2008. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Psychology. / Discipline: College Honors Program. / Discipline: Psychology Honors Program.

This research study was concerned with how a testwiseness training program impacts on students' test taking behaviors and reading comprehension subtest scores on the Nelson-Denny Reading Test. The testwiseness training used test taking strategies independent of the test constructor (Millman et al., 1965) and a practice test, the Test of Adult Basic Education (TABE). / The study sample was comprised of 104 subjects of diverse backgrounds who were enrolled in a community college educational setting. The testwiseness training program was the independent variable and the dependent variables were the subjects' test taking behaviors and posttest scores on the Nelson-Denny Reading Comprehension and Rate subtest. / The control group was not given any formal test taking instruction. However, they were provided a practice-test experience identical to the experimental group. / Analysis of covariance was used to determine whether the mean scores of the experimental and control groups differed significantly on the posttest and to control for possible differences in the subjects' posttest scores by using the pretest and the Otis-Lennon School Ability Test as covariates. Keeping the alpha level at.05, the analysis of covariance did not demonstrate a statistically significant effect on the posttest scores of the experimental group, F (1,100) = 3.96. / Three methods were used to facilitate the measurement of the subjects' test taking behaviors: time used at the midpoint of the pre- and posttests, identification of guessed responses, and a survey about their test taking activities. / The experimental group demonstrated improvement in each of the fourteen test taking behaviors addressed in the study whereas the control group exhibited improvement on ten of the behaviors. The improvement in the experimental group's test taking behaviors varied from five to 59 percent on the posttest and the control group's ranged from two to 22 percent. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 52-10, Section: A, page: 3587. / Major Professor: Richard H. Kraft. / Thesis (Ed.D.)--The Florida State University, 1991.

The purpose of this research was to explore factors which may differentially attune individuals' perceptual systems to hostile information within the visual array. Specifically, I sought to ascertain the extent to which aggressive motivations would incline individuals to more easily select hostile information in ambiguous or multi-affordant Point Light Displays (PLDs). Participants either were provoked with an anticipated opportunity to retaliate (retaliatory motivation, RM condition), provoked without apparent opportunity to retaliate (mere provocation, MP condition), or treated neutrally by an experimenter (control). They then viewed three PLD clips displaying the interaction of two male actors moving at slow, medium, and fast velocities, and judged the aggressive content in each of the segments. Timed duration measures of participant responses to items asking subjects to judge the content of the PLDs were surreptitiously obtained. It was hypothesized that the state of RM would serve to attune individuals to hostile information in the multi-affordant medium velocity displays such that they would be more inclined to make hostile judgments regarding the actors' interactions in those displays than would MP and control participants and require less time to make such judgments than would MP and Control participants. Results indicated overall support for the above hypotheses on two critical items in the PLD questionnaires which assessed the perceived hostility and intimidation of the instigating actor portrayed in the PLD. RM subjects perceived the PLDs as containing greater hostility overall than MPs or controls when the PLDs were of medium velocity, and required significantly less tune than controls to respond to items at that speed / acase@tulane.edu