The infraorbital nerve (ION) transmits sensory information from mechanoreceptors of the upper lip and vibrissae (whiskers) to the brain via the infraorbital foramen (IOF). Vibrissae are special sensory hairs used by mammals to explore their surroundings. Researchers have used the size of the IOF to infer vibrissa count, which in turn has been incorporated into phylogenetic and ecological interpretations of fossil taxa. However, these interpretations are based on untested assumptions linking IOF size, ION size, vibrissae, and ecology. The purpose of this dissertation is to determine the functional significance of IOF size and to apply the results to the fossil record. It is hypothesized that ecological differences among mammals affects maxillary mechanoreceptivity (touch sensitivity of the rostrum), and that IOF area may be used as a measure of maxillary mechanoreceptivity. Three questions are posed to appraise this hypothesis: (1) Does IOF area correlate with ION area and vibrissa count? (2) How do the IOFs of primates differ from those of other mammals? (3) How do diet, substrate preference, and activity pattern affect IOF size? IOF area, ION area, and vibrissa count were collected from cadaver of extant mammals as well as museum osteological specimens. Results indicate that: (1) IOF and ION areas show a strong positive correlation. Based on this finding, it is hypothesized that IOF area may be a good measure of maxillary mechanoreception. (2) Vibrissae count significantly correlates with IOF area. (3) Euarchontans have relatively smaller IOFs than most other mammals. (4) The IOFs of primates co-vary with diet, where frugivores have relatively larger IOFs than both insectivores and folivores. Infraorbital foramen areas of 14 adapoid, six omomyoid, and 15 plesiadapiform species were measured. Two questions were addressed: (1) Do the sampled fossils share a similar reduction in IOF area to extant primates? (2) Do extinct frugivores have larger IOFs than insectivores and folivores? Results show that, adapoids and omomyoids have relatively small IOFs similar to euarchontans, but plesiadapiforms retain larger IOFs, comparable to most non-euarchontan mammals. Dietary analyses indicate that both frugivorous adapoids and omomyoids have larger IOFs than both insectivorous and folivorous species. / text

Although alcohol use and related problems are highly prevalent in emerging adulthood overall, college students drink somewhat more than do their peers who do not attend college. The personal or social influences underlying this difference, however, are not yet well understood. The present study examined whether personality traits (i.e., self-regulation and sensation seeking) and peer influence (i.e., descriptive drinking norms) contributed to student status differences. At approximately age 22, 4-year college students (n = 331) and noncollege emerging adults (n = 502) completed web-based surveys, including measures of alcohol use, alcohol-related problems, personality, and social norms. College students drank only slightly more heavily. This small difference, however, reflected personality suppression. College students were lower in trait-based risk for drinking, and accounting for traits revealed a stronger positive association between attending college and drinking more heavily. Although noncollege emerging adults reported greater descriptive drinking norms for social group members, norms appeared to more strongly influence alcohol use among college students. Finally, despite drinking less, noncollege individuals experienced more alcohol-related problems. The association between attending college and drinking heavily may be larger than previously estimated, and it may be masked by biased selection into college as a function of both self-regulation and sensation seeking. Differing patterns of alcohol use, its predictors, and its consequences emerged for the college and noncollege samples, suggesting that differing intervention strategies may best meet the needs of each population. / text

No description available.

No description available.

The orofacial area stands apart from other body systems in that it possesses a unique performance anatomy whereby oral musculature inserts directly into the underlying cutaneous skin, allowing for the generation of complex three-dimensional deformations of the orofacial system. This anatomical substrate provides for the tight temporal synchrony between self-generated cutaneous somatosensation and oromotor control during functional behaviors in this region and provides the necessary feedback needed to learn and maintain skilled orofacial behaviors. The Directions into Velocity of Articulators (DIVA) model highlights the importance of the bidirectional relationship between sensation and production in the orofacial region in children learning speech. This relationship has not been as well-established in the adult orofacial system. The purpose of this observational study was to begin assessing the perception-action relationship in healthy adults and to describe how this relationship may be altered as a function of healthy aging. This study was designed to determine the correspondence between orofacial cutaneous perception using vibrotactile detection thresholds (VDT) and low-level static and dynamic force control tasks in three representative age cohorts. Correlational relationships among measures of somatosensory capacity and low-level skilled orofacial force control were determined for 60 adults (19-84 years). Significant correlational relationships were identified using non-parametric Spearman’s correlations with an alpha at 0.1 between the 5 Hz test probe and several 0.5 N low-level force control assessments in the static and slow ramp-and-hold condition. These findings indicate that as vibrotactile detection thresholds increase (labial sensation decreases), ability to maintain a low-level force endpoint decreases. Group data was analyzed using non-parametric Kruskal-Wallis tests and identified significant differences between the 5 Hz test frequency probe and various 0.5 N skilled force assessments for group variables such as age, pure tone hearing assessments, sex, speech usage and smoking history. Future studies will begin the processing of modeling this complex multivariate relationship in healthy individuals before moving to a disordered population.

The current study examined divergences among impulsivity and sensation seeking items from the Zuckerman-Kuhlman Personality Questionnaire Impulsive Sensation Seeking scale in terms of their relations to other personality models, deviance, and laboratory task outcomes. A sample of 654 undergraduates was gathered across two studies and given a Five Factor Model of personality measure (e.g. NEO Five Factor Inventory, NEO Five Factor Report Form), deviance measures (e.g. Antisocial Behavior Inventory, Explicit Attitudes Towards Marijuana Questionnaire), and three laboratory tasks (e.g. Balloon Analogue Risk Task, Newmans Card-Playing Task). Results demonstrated the hypothesized divergences among impulsivity and sensation seeking items on measures of personality and deviance as well as laboratory tasks. We conclude that Impulsive Sensation Seeking is multidimensional and would be more useful if employed as two independent constructs: (Lack of) Premeditation and Sensation Seeking.

The purpose of the study was to determine if developmental differences existed between two age groups of children on a standardized measure of sensory and motor functions. Gender differences were also examined, as well as the gender-age interaction.Subjects were 119 normal children (55 males and 64 females). Classification of subjects into one of the two groups was based on age. Group 1 subjects ranged in age from 48 through 95 months (4 through 7 years), and Group 2 subjects ranged from 96 months ranged 167 months (8 through 13 years).The multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) indicated a significant main effect for age. The main effect for gender, and the age by gender interaction was not significant. A univariate analysis of variance was computed for age on each measure and indicated that only Visual Confrontation was not significant. Implications of these findings are discussed. / Department of Educational Psychology

Tests of sensory and motor function are widely used by clinicians and researchers in neurology, psychiatry, and neuropsychology. Less than perfect performance on many of these tests may be considered pathognomonic of central nervous system dysfunction. Unfortunately, differences across practitioners in specific test selection, administration procedures, and scoring criteria have resulted in inconsistencies which confound attempts to study the incidence and patterns of deficits (Adams & Victor, 1993; Glick, 1993). Although as a group psychologists favor standardized, quantitative instruments, the field has lacked a comprehensive, standardized sensory and motor battery. That psychologists have not developed such a battery may reflect the notion that pathognomonic signs are ambiguous and unstable (Buchanan & Heinrichs, 1989) and the fact that some traditional test development procedures are often inappropriate.For the Dean-Woodcock Sensory and Motor Battery, Dean and Woodcock (1994) selected measures representative of those included in the traditional neurological examination.Measures of subcortical function, unavailable in the major neuropsychological batteries, were included to allow differentiation with right hemisphere impairment.Using standard procedures for administration and scoring, this study gathered preliminary data regarding the incidence of pathognomonic signs in a normal adult population, identified items with difficulty levels likely to result in overidentification of abnormality, and estimated the interrater agreement and interrater reliability for items and tests most vulnerable to subjective interpretation. Data analysis reflected consideration of Franzen's (1989) argument that reliability can be better understood through use of multiple estimation strategies and Cicchetti's argument that data needs to be considered at "finer levels of molecular analysis" (p.621). In addition to investigating interrater agreement, this study applied generalizability theory which allows for simultaneous estimation of the relative proportion of variance contributed by multiple sources and their interactions.Results suggested adequate to excellent rater agreement and reliability (i.e., generalizability). Also, with minor modification of specific items, generalizability of items may be expected to increase. Future studies should sample from a more heterogenous general population and specific clinical populations. / Department of Educational Leadership

Perception has traditionally been studied as a modular function where different sensory systems operate as separate and independent modules. However, multisensory integration is essential for the perception of a coherent and unified representation of the external world that we experience phenomenologically. Mounting evidence suggests that the senses do not operate in isolation but that the brain processes and integrates information across modalities. A standing debate is at what level in the processing hierarchy the sensory streams converge, for example, if multisensory speech information converges first in higher-order polysensory areas such as STS and is then fed back to sensory areas, or if information is already integrated in primary and secondary sensory areas at the early stages of sensory processing. The studies in this thesis aim to investigate this question by focussing on the spatio-temporal aspects of multisensory processing, as well as investigating phonetic and non-phonetic integration in the human brain during auditory-visual speech perception.

The taste qualities of acidulants have not been studied in detail despite the fact that they are widely used by the food industry. Studies on characterizing the sensory properties of organic and inorganic acids are very limited. Reported studies are commonly on threshold, equi-sour and the time intensity values of sourness. A series of experiments were conducted to determine the sensory properties of selected acidulants by different sensory and multivariate methods. First, the technique of Free-Choice Profiling was applied in order to characterize the sensory profile of some selected acids (adipic, citric, fumaric, glucono-delta-lactone, hydrochloric, lactic, malic, phosphoric, quinic, succinic, tartaric, citric:fumaric, citric:malic and fumaric:malic) on a weight (0.08% w/v or v/v) basis. Results analyzed through Generalized Procrustes Analysis indicate that on a weight basis (w/v or v/v), acids differed in their flavor and taste dynamics. Likewise, acids were described differently by individual panelists. Second, the sourness power functions of the selected acidulants were generated from five molar concentrations by magnitude estimation involving 16 trained panelists. Equi-sour concentrations were determined by regressing the log of the rescaled response (sensory) on the log of the stimuli (physical). The calculated equi-sour levels ranged from 0.48 ml/L for HCl to 2.34 g/L for glucono-delta-lactone when citric add was set at 1.0 g/L. These theoretical equi-sourness were then tested by using an alternative sensory method, the directional difference from control test. Third, the sensory profile of the acidulants at their equi-sour levels was characterized using two sensory methods, free-choice profiling and the conventional descriptive analysis. The former was analyzed by Generalized Procrustes Analysis while the latter was analyzed by Principal Component Analysis. The two sensory methods gave similar patterns of information regarding the add samples. The similarities of several organic acids and their mixtures were very evident. Hydrochloric and phosphoric acids were astringent while succinic add was bitter and had a monosodium glutamate taste. It was concluded that adds had other sensory properties aside from sourness that must be considered in a given food application. / Graduation date: 1993