The primary aim of this dissertation is to address an important issue of individual susceptibility to false memories. Specifically, what is the role inhibitory control (IC) in children’s and adult’s propensity to producing false memories? Inhibitory control within the context of the current study is defined on the basis of performance on selective attention tasks. Inhibitory control is discussed within this dissertation as it is reflected in two selective attention tasks, Stroop and Negative Priming. While the false memory effect, as reflected in the Deese/Roediger and McDermott paradigm (Roediger & McDermott, 1995), is one of the most widely studied memory phenomenon, the current study is important as it provides some insights into the relation between attention and memory. An interesting finding in the DRM false memory effect is that participants often report having a clear false memory of having seen or heard the non-presented critical lure item (CL item). Such memory illusions have been informative on how memory works. The current study adds to this body of research by providing converging evidence of how individual differences in the sensitivity to the false memory effect may occur, and how this sensitivity may reflect the same IC mechanisms involved in selective attention tasks. The basic notion examined within this dissertation is that when recognition memory is tested in the DRM paradigm, individuals have to select information that was studied and simultaneously inhibit highly activated yet non-presented information in memory, in order to correctly reject the CL item. If the notion that individual differences in sensitivity to the false memory effect is indeed related to a basic IC mechanism, then a relationship should be found between measures of IC in selective attention tasks and rates of false memories in the DRM test. The current study incorporates three experiments. Experiments 1 and 2 are broken down into parts ‘a’ and ‘b’, with each part varying in respect to the IC measure. In part a, participants were assigned to an inhibitory control group (IC group) on the basis of Stroop interference. In part b, participants are assigned to IC groups on the basis of a combined measure of inhibitory control that is, Stroop and Negative Priming. The third experiment assigned participants on the basis of a combined measure of IC, and then considered the relation between the duration of IC over a number of DRM word-lists presented simultaneously prior to the recognition test. Experiment 3 also compared the robust effect of IC on the propensity to produce false memories across all three experiments. The results of this study can be summarized as follows. In each experiment there was clear evidence of a relation between IC estimates and proportion of false memories. As predicted, individuals assigned to a Less IC group produced a higher proportion of false memories than those assigned to the More IC group. Inhibitory control differences did not modulate differences in correct or incorrect recognition in general (hits and false alarms to unrelated distractors). This second finding is important because it suggests a specific effect of IC in false memories, rather than a general breakdown in memory processes. The IC effect in false memories occurred in children (8-year olds and 10-year olds) as well as adults. Furthermore, the IC effect appeared to be additive with age; i.e., all groups produced a similar pattern across all three experiments. Last, the combined estimate of IC was found to be a more sensitive measure of false memories than a single index of IC; however, this was found in relation to adults but not for children. A number of additional manipulations and measures of interest were also included. Experiment 2 found clear evidence of an effect of IC on remember responses, not only were Less IC individuals more likely to produce false alarms to critical lure items, they were also more likely to distinctly respond they “remembered” the CL item as opposed to only “knowing” the CL had been presented. Examination of reaction times (RTs) to false alarms as a function of IC group found the Less IC group were faster to make false alarm responses to CL items, whereas the More IC group were slower to make false responses CL items. As predicted the relation between IC and the false memory effect was modulated by the random versus blocked presentation manipulation in Experiment 3. Specifically, decreased rates of false memories were found in the random presentation format compared to the blocked format. Interestingly however, a small effect of IC group in false memories was found even in the random condition. From this study it can be concluded that individual susceptibility to the false memory effect is in part modulated by inhibitory control. Individuals who demonstrate less effective IC show a greater propensity to false memories than those who demonstrate more effective IC. The IC effect of false memories was found to be robust, with converging evidence found across all three experiments. In relation to the development of inhibitory control, consistent with the research of Pritchard and Neumann (2004, 2009), and Lechuga and colleagues (2006), the results of this study suggest IC is fully developed in young children. However, their ability to accurately encode, retain and retrieve information would appear to develop at a different rate than IC. Specifically, it may be that while younger children are able to utilize IC in memory processes, they have yet to fully develop a richly interconnected semantic network. On the other hand, older children and adults would appear to have a more fully developed semantic network. This series of experiments presents a novel demonstration of the relation between inhibitory control and false memories. As such, this study has the potential to provide new insight into a cognitive mechanism that may be responsible for both developmental trends and for individual differences in the regulation of false memories. Moreover, if the mechanism responsible for mediating false memories is causally linked to performance on selective attention tasks in the systematic way that is proposed, it may be possible in the future to utilize IC measures to assist in identifying individuals who have an exaggerated propensity to form false memories, as well as those more prone to resist them.

It has been proposed that body image disturbance is a form of cognitive bias wherein schemas for self-relevant information guide the selective processing of appearancerelated information in the environment. This threatening information receives disproportionately more attention and memory, as measured by an Emotional Stroop and incidental recall task. The aim of this thesis was to expand the literature on cognitive processing biases in non-clinical males and females by incorporating a number of significant methodological refinements. To achieve this aim, three phases of research were conducted. The initial two phases of research provided preliminary data to inform the development of the main study. Phase One was a qualitative exploration of body image concerns amongst males and females recruited through the general community and from a university. Seventeen participants (eight male; nine female) provided information on their body image and what factors they saw as positively and negatively impacting on their self evaluations. The importance of self esteem, mood, health and fitness, and recognition of the social ideal were identified as key themes. These themes were incorporated as psycho-social measures and Stroop word stimuli in subsequent phases of the research. Phase Two involved the selection and testing of stimuli to be used in the Emotional Stroop task. Six experimental categories of words were developed that reflected a broad range of health and body image concerns for males and females. These categories were high and low calorie food words, positive and negative appearance words, negative emotion words, and physical activity words. Phase Three addressed the central aim of the project by examining cognitive biases for body image information in empirically defined sub-groups. A National sample of males (N = 55) and females (N = 144), recruited from the general community and universities, completed an Emotional Stroop task, incidental memory test, and a collection of psycho-social questionnaires. Sub-groups of body image disturbance were sought using a cluster analysis, which identified three sub-groups in males (Normal, Dissatisfied, and Athletic) and four sub-groups in females (Normal, Health Conscious, Dissatisfied, and Symptomatic). No differences were noted between the groups in selective attention, although time taken to colour name the words was associated with some of the psycho-social variables. Memory biases found across the whole sample for negative emotion, low calorie food, and negative appearance words were interpreted as reflecting the current focus on health and stigma against being unattractive. Collectively these results have expanded our understanding of processing biases in the general community by demonstrating that the processing biases are found within non-clinical samples and that not all processing biases are associated with negative functionality

Thèse (M.Ps.)--Université Laval, 2004. / Bibliogr.: f. 45-52. Publié aussi en version électronique.

Mindfulness exercises have been reported to increase performance for a number of different populations; however there are no reports that have investigated the effects of brief mindfulness exercises on data collection. This study will exposed participants to a brief mindfulness exercise and subsequently measure participants’ ability to accurately take data on high rate behavior. A concurrent multiple baseline design was used with three participants. During baseline phases participants recorded data on the occurrence of congruent and incongruent stimuli within a Stroop presentation. Treatment phases contained a brief mindful eating video and then participants completed the Stroop presentation. Data sheets completed by the participants were scored for overall accuracy, as well as accuracy for congruent and incongruent stimuli. Participants completed a Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS) at the end of all sessions. Results indicated that MAAS scores increased during mindfulness sessions for all participants when compared to baseline phases. Overall accuracy as well as accuracy for congruent and incongruent stimuli in the Stroop presentation increased for all three participants compared to baseline sessions. The findings from this research have potential applications for improving performance for data collection methods and increasing self-reported mindfulness.

Dissertação (mestrado)—Fundação Universidade de Brasília, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Biologia Animal, 2015. / Submitted by Ruthléa Nascimento (ruthleanascimento@bce.unb.br) on 2015-07-01T18:10:14Z No. of bitstreams: 1 2015_SorayaLagedeSa.pdf: 3041966 bytes, checksum: c8c0d3680a4f5b3c895e388495cd2006 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Raquel Viana(raquelviana@bce.unb.br) on 2015-07-17T12:42:05Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 2015_SorayaLagedeSa.pdf: 3041966 bytes, checksum: c8c0d3680a4f5b3c895e388495cd2006 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-07-17T12:42:05Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2015_SorayaLagedeSa.pdf: 3041966 bytes, checksum: c8c0d3680a4f5b3c895e388495cd2006 (MD5) / As funções executivas abrangem uma grande variedade de processos cognitivos complexos que coordenam a atividade neural de forma a produzir comportamentos orientados ao cumprimento de objetivos. O controle inibitório consiste no componente das funções executivas responsável por inibir tendências inapropriadas de respostas a estímulos irrelevantes. O presente estudo teve por objetivo comparar o desempenho comportamental, o padrão de ativação cortical e a variação da frequência cardíaca (VFC) durante a realização de dois testes de controle inibitório, verbal (teste de Stroop) e motor (teste de Tempo de Reação – TR), além de investigar possíveis diferenças entre os gêneros na realização de tais testes. Participaram do estudo 53 jovens universitários hígidos (27 mulheres, 26 homens), na faixa etária de 17 a 28 anos (média de idade: 21,5 ± 2,9). Em relação ao desempenho comportamental, houve efeito de interferência no teste de Stroop e um possível efeito teto no TR. Em ambos, foi observada uma lateralização esquerda no padrão de ativação cortical em um gradiente fronto-parietal com participação evidente de diferentes regiões do córtex pré-frontal e ainda, ativação dos córtices temporal e occipital. Os mapas topográficos de ativação cortical para o teste de Stroop evidenciaram a representação mental das palavras, a preparação da resposta verbal e o processamento visual dos estímulos. Para o TR, além do processamento visual, foram evidenciados nos mapas topográficos os mecanismos preparatórios do movimento e a execução da resposta motora. Os resultados da comparação da VFC entre os testes indicaram que houve maior atividade autonômica simpática e consequentemente, maior esforço mental para os participantes no teste de Stroop quando comparado ao TR. Resultados da comparação entre os gêneros sugeriram que esse fator não influenciou de forma consistente o desempenho comportamental nos dois testes, mas influenciou as medidas eletrofisiológicas de ativação cortical e a VFC. A potência da atividade cerebral foi maior entre as mulheres e os índices de VFC no domínio do tempo, geralmente foram maiores entre os homens. O presente estudo contribuiu para elucidar as semelhanças e diferenças existentes nos mecanismos subjacentes a esses tipos de controle inibitório, verbal e motor, do ponto de vista comportamental e eletrofisiológico. Os resultados estiveram em consonância com a literatura, com algumas ressalvas. Em primeiro lugar, para a elevação nos valores dos parâmetros comportamentais do TR, que possivelmente refletiram a complexidade do protocolo utilizado no presente estudo. Em segundo lugar, para o aumento da potência da ativação cortical entre as mulheres. Contudo, em conjunto com os resultados de VFC, esse aumento indicou que diferentes estratégias foram utilizadas pelos sujeitos em função de seu gênero para o sucesso na realização dos testes. / Executive functions involve a wide range of complex cognitive processes that coordinate neural activity in order to produce goal oriented behaviors. The inhibitory control is the component of executive functions responsible for inhibiting inappropriate responses to irrelevant stimuli. The present study aimed to compare the behavioral performance, the pattern of cortical activation, and the heart rate variability (HRV) during the performance of two types of inhibitory control tests, verbal (Stroop test) and motor (Reaction Time task - RTT), and to investigate possible gender differences in performing such tests. The study included 53 healthy undergraduate students (27 women, 26 men), aged 17-28 years (mean age, 21.5 ± 2.9). Considering the behavior, there was an interference effect in Stroop test, and a possible ceiling effect in the RTT. In both tests, left asymmetry was observed for the cortical activation pattern in a frontoparietal gradient with marked participation of different regions of the prefrontal cortex and also activation of the temporal and occipital cortices. Topographic maps of brain activity for the Stroop test revealed the mental representation of words, the preparation for the verbal response, and the visual processing of the stimuli. For RTT, besides visual processing, preparatory movement mechanisms, and the execution of the motor response were also found in topographic maps. HRV comparison between the tests suggested a higher sympathetic activity and consequently greater mental effort for Stroop test compared to RTT. The results of the comparison between genders suggested that this factor did not influence consistently the performance on the two tests, but influenced the electrophysiological measures of cortical activation and HRV. The power of brain activity was higher among women and time domain HRV indexes generally were higher among men. This study contributed to elucidate the similarities and differences on the mechanisms underlying these types of inhibitory control, verbal and motor, on the behavioral and electrophysiological aspects. The results were in agreement with the literature, with exceptions. First, for the increased RTT behavioral parameters values and this possibly reflected the complexity of the protocol used in the present study. Secondly, for the higher power of cortical activation among women. However, in conjunction with the HRV results, this increase indicated that different strategies were used by the subjects according to their gender leading to the success on the execution of the tasks.

Psicóloga / El Test de Stroop, fue creado en 1935 por J. R. Stroop, desde su creación se han publicado más de 700 artículos relacionados con el tema, convirtiéndose en un instrumento de amplio uso, tanto en el ámbito clínico como de investigación, para evaluar la capacidad inhibitoria y el control atencional de las interferencias. Sin embargo, aún no se han realizado estudios en nuestro país que nos permitan contar con normas de aplicación y corrección para interpretar los resultados obtenidos en muestras chilenas. Este trabajo tiene como principal finalidad estandarizar el Test de Stroop en la población de niños entre 8 y 12 años, de ambos sexos, escolarizados en establecimientos urbanos de la Región Metropolitana, y pertenecientes a los diferentes niveles socioeconómicos que caracterizan a nuestra población. Con este fin ha sido necesario adaptar las instrucciones y condiciones de aplicación para esta población. Tras la aplicación y el análisis estadístico se encontraron diferencias estadísticamente significativas tanto para la edad como para el nivel socioeconómico, no así según el género. Esto implicó obtener normas diferenciales por edad, para los 8, 9 -10 y 11 - 12 años y por nivel socioeconómico, para el nivel medio-alto y el nivel bajo. Siendo estos procedimientos comparables con los de otras estandarizaciones. Además se analizaron las características psicométricas de la prueba en la muestra de estandarización.

Previous research has shown that alcohol abuse may cause a deficit in frontal lobe functioning, specifically, areas of the frontal lobe that are related to executive function. Additionally, problems with executive function have been related to increased difficulty in managing cravings to addictive substances. The current study explored the relationship between alcohol use and performance on measures of executive functioning in a sample of 121 traditional college students. Students were given 5 measures of executive function designed to explore mental set shifting, updating, inhibition, sustained attention, and planning. These measures were used to examine the relationship between executive function and craving as measured by the Obsessive Compulsive Drinking Scale. Levels of alcohol use were also examined using the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test in relation to executive function performance and family history of alcohol abuse.

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