Recent studies have indicated stronger mood dependent memory (MDM) effects when subjects generate both the to-be-remembered events and the cues used in their retrieval, and when subjects who experience similar moods are compared to subjects who report a change in both pleasure and arousal, rather than others who report a change in pleasure alone. The first study was undertaken to experimentally evaluate the relationship between mood change and memory performance. Specifically, four mood manipulations were developed to compare memory performance in subjects assigned to no mood change, change in pleasure, change in arousal, or change in both pleasure and arousal. Subjects generated autobiographical events in response to neutral nouns, and were tested for free recall and recognition of these events two days later. Results demonstrated greater memory disruption after change in both pleasure and arousal than after change in pleasure alone. However, one-dimensional change in arousal led to as much memory disruption as did change in both dimensions. Separate ANOVAs compared each mood in combination with each other mood and indicated that MDM was more strongly supported in some combinations than others. Further, the pattern in free recall was different from the pattern in recognition indicating that MDM effects may vary interactively across moods and tasks. The second study was undertaken to validate prior research by employing subjects who experience large, but naturally occurring, changes in mood. Patients with rapid-cycling Bipolar Disorder performed a variety of tasks during study sessions and were tested for implicit and explicit memory during test sessions. Significant MDM effects were supported in free recall of autobiographical events and inkblot recognition, but not in implicit category production of autobiographical event probes, picture fragment completion, explicit nor implicit memory for letter associates. Results validate MDM as a real world phenomenon that impacts on explicit memory performance in subjects whose moods are not manipulated. Discussion centers on prospects for future studies that consider a wider range of manipulated moods and tasks, theories of emotion, and other clinical groups in the investigation of MDM. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate

I denna kunskapsöversikt har vi kartlagt och exemplifierat olika pedagogiska tillvägagångssätt, eller “verktyg”, som används för att uppnå historisk empati hos elever. Vi har huvudsakligen använt forskning som fokuserar på observationer av pedagogiska moment. Underlaget är hämtat från flera geografiska områden, samt de svenska förutsättningarna, dvs, skrivelser som utgör lärarprofessionens uppdrag under LGR11. I resultatdelen har vi sammanställt centrala punkter som identifierats för utvecklandet av historisk empati hos elever. Vi har även kort beaktat hur historisk empati har överförts från ett teoretiskt begrepp, till klassrumspraktiken. Detta då begreppet har flera olika etablerade tolkningar inom det akademiska fältet.  Vårt material har vi funnit genom databaserna SwePub och ERC, samt relevanta ämnesdidaktiska verk och dokumentation från skolverket.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Depressed adults are at increased risk of developing atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (CVD). However, heterogeneity in the depressed population engenders a key question: Are there subgroups of depressed adults at greater risk of developing CVD? Because other affective traits – i.e., anxiety, hostility/anger, and low trait positive affect – have also been associated with increased CVD risk, depressed adults with higher levels of these co-occurring affective traits may have an elevated risk of developing CVD. Consequently, the present study’s first aim was to examine, in depressed adults, which affective traits (depression, anxiety, hostility/anger, or low positive affect) are associated with endothelial function, a marker of cumulative CVD risk. In addition, because the other affective traits overlap with depressive symptom severity, this study’s second aim was to investigate which components of pairs of affective traits (shared versus unique) are related to endothelial function. Finally, given that the mechanisms underlying affective trait-endothelial function relationships in depressed adults are unknown, this study’s third aim was to explore traditional CVD risk status as a candidate mediator of observed relationships. To achieve these aims, I combined pre-treatment, cross-sectional data from three randomized controlled trials involving 138 depressed primary care patients with no history of clinical CVD. Assessments included validated self-report questionnaires for affective traits, brachial artery flow-mediated dilation (FMD) for endothelial function, and 10-year Framingham risk score for traditional CVD risk status. I conducted structural equation modeling (SEM) with confirmatory factor analysis to examine the relationships of interest after adjusting for age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, and baseline arterial diameter. Although the shared variance between each affective trait pair could not be modeled due to poor fit, adequate fitting models revealed that hostility/anger and the unique components of hostility/anger were associated with poorer endothelial function (standardized coefficients = -.18 and -.22, respectively). All of the other affective traits and their components (depression, anxiety, positive affect, unique depression, unique anxiety, and unique positive affect) were not related to endothelial function (all ps > .08). Traditional CVD risk status did not partially explain the relationship between the unique components of hostility/anger and endothelial function (standardized coefficient for the indirect effect = .00; p = .89). If my results are supported by future findings, it would suggest that depressed adults with hostility/anger (a) may be a subgroup of the depressed population at greater risk of developing CVD and (b) may be in need of earlier, more intense, and/or different CVD primary prevention efforts. Future studies are needed to confirm this relationship and identify underlying mechanisms.

Increased life expectancy has led to a 15% growth in the population of seniors (aged 65 and above) in Canada, in the last 5 years and this trend is expected to grow. However, the provision of personalized care is bottlenecked, due a severe shortage of formal caregivers in the healthcare industry. Technological solutions are proposed to supplement or replace human care, but have not been widely accepted due to their inability of dynamically adapting to user needs and context of respective situations. Affective data (i.e., emotions and moods of individuals), can be utilized to induce context-awareness and artificial emotional intelligence in such technological solutions, and thereby provide personalized support. Moreover, the capacity of brain to process affective phenomenon can serve as an indicator of onsetting neuro-degenerative diseases. This research thoroughly investigated what affect is, and how it can be used in computing in real-life scenarios. Particularly, evidence was obtained on which biological signals collected using a wearable sensor device were capable of capturing the arousal dimension of affective states (emotions and moods) of individuals. Furthermore, a qualitative study was conducted with older adults using semi-structured interviews, to determine the feasibility and acceptability of different self-report measures of mood, which are crucial to capture the valence dimension of affect. As the hypothesis that older adults would prefer a pictorial measure to self-report their mood failed, we proposed an adjective-based mood reporting instrument prototype, and laid down implications for future research.

No description available.

Each year the National Science Foundation (NFS) grants funding for universities in the United States to provide a Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) summer program. The Department of Physics and Astronomy at Brigham Young University (BYU) has been a recipient of NSF REU grants for several years. This year the administrators of the REU program at BYU requested an evaluation be conducted to determine if their program was effective at helping participants have a significant research experience, as well as determine the impact the program is having on student's attitudes towards the field of physics, graduate school, and research. This report contains the findings of the evaluation and recommendations for program improvement.

The accurate assessment of psychopathy constitutes a critical component of forensic assessments addressing offender populations. Among the core characteristics of psychopathy, the interpersonal component of deception and empathic deficits are prominently observed in offenders with psychopathic traits. Given the negative consequences of being classified as a psychopath, offenders may be likely to minimize their psychopathic traits. In particular, no research has investigated whether offenders with psychopathic traits are able to simulate empathy in an effort to mask their cognitive or affective empathy deficits (e.g., lack of remorse about offenses). The present study aims to contribute to the literature with regard to the simulation of empathy. Using a mixed between- and within-subjects design, 81 male detainees were placed into (a) a low psychopathy group, (b) a moderate psychopathy group, or (c) a high psychopathy group based on the Psychopathy Checklist – Revised. For the within-subjects component, all offenders answered empathy questionnaires under genuine and simulation conditions. Results indicate the sample possessed cognitive empathy, but did not display affective empathy under genuine instructions. Under simulation instructions, participants significantly increased their scores on several empathy measures. The implications of simulated empathy and comparisons between groups regarding simulation abilities are discussed.

Accurate and high throughput methods of measuring animal behavior are critical for many branches of neuroscience, allowing for mechanistic studies and preclinical drug testing. Methodological limitations contribute to narrow investigations, which may overlook the interplay between distinct but related behaviors, like affective behaviors and executive function (EF). To prevent such oversight, researchers can perform test batteries, or multiple assessments in one study. However, test batteries often exclude cognitive behaviors due to their lengthy testing period. This dissertation first reviews current evidence related to the investigation and relation of affective, pain-like, and operant behaviors in rodent models. Then, I demonstrate the use of traditional and novel test batteries to investigate these behavioral changes in multiple mouse models. First, I investigated affective and pain-like behavior in mice lacking Nape-pld, a key enzyme that synthesizes lipid mediators which activate receptors in the endocannabinoid system. I found that these mice displayed reduced sucrose preference, but otherwise normal anxiety- and depression-like behavior, and had baseline differences in thermal nociception and inflammation response. Then, I investigated the affective, pain-like, and operant effects of chronic vapor exposure (CVE) to vehicle or nicotine (NIC). Regardless of NIC content, acute abstinence from CVE increased mechanical sensitivity and self-grooming, while chronic abstinence from NIC CVE resulted in motor stimulation. Other traditional anxiety- and depression-like behaviors were unchanged by CVE. In an operant test battery, acute abstinence from NIC CVE impaired acquisition, decreased sucrose motivation, and impaired the response to aversive rewards. Finally, I developed a protocol for the high throughput analysis of six operant tests which can be completed in as few as nineteen sessions, significantly fewer sessions than traditional operant tests. This battery investigates multiple aspects of goal-directed behavior and EF including operant acquisition, cognitive flexibility, reward devaluation, motivation via response to increased instrumental effort, cue devaluation or the extinction of learned behavior, and reacquisition. I validated several of these tests by demonstrating that lesions to specific subregions of the orbitofrontal cortex impaired cognitive flexibility and altered response to instrumental effort as observed in traditional operant tests. I then used this battery to investigate the effects of the P129T mutation, which results in a mutated version of the Fatty Acid Amide Hydrolase (FAAH) enzyme that is associated with addiction, in male and female mice. Knock-in animals displayed reduced activity in response to increasing instrumental effort, and reduced activity on the first day of an extinction test. Then, to encourage others to use this new operant battery I outlined how to efficiently collect data, shared a database for customizable analysis, and described common issues and how to solve them. This protocol has potential implications for many aspects of neuroscience including the investigation of novel therapeutics and the neural circuitry underlying behaviors. Together, the information in this dissertation demonstrates the utility of multi-faceted behavioral assays and the combination of traditional and novel approaches to collect more comprehensive behavioral data, which will allow researchers to better investigate neural circuitry underlying behaviors or the behavioral changes associated with novel therapeutics. / Doctor of Philosophy / By measuring animal behavior researchers can gain insight into how specific brain regions interact to influence choice and action. Limitations in testing methods mean that researchers may fail to investigate the relationship between distinct aspects of behavior, like the influence of emotional state or pain on cognition. To prevent such oversight researchers can perform a test battery, a specific series of multiple tests that measures several different aspects of behavior. Traditional test batteries often overlook cognitive or operant (learning to perform an action for reward) behaviors due to time constraints, which limits their translational potential. This dissertation provides a brief overview of the ways that researchers investigate affective (emotional), pain-like (physical discomfort), and goal-directed behaviors. It further has a broad focus on mouse models related to addiction or the endocannabinoid system (ECS), which is shown to play a role in mood, pain (e.g., perception, relief, and inflammation), and cognition. Using a traditional test battery, we demonstrate that mice lacking a key enzyme in the ECS have altered responses to sugar, heat, and inflammation, but display otherwise normal performance in anxiety-, depression-, and pain-like tests. Next, we used a combined traditional and operant battery to investigate the effects of chronic vapor exposure (CVE) and nicotine in mice. We found that regardless of nicotine content, acute abstinence from CVE increased physical sensitivity and self-grooming but spared other anxiety- and depression-like behaviors. Acute abstinence from nicotine CVE resulted in motor stimulation, impaired operant learning, lower motivation for sucrose reward, and an impaired ability to withhold responding when presented with a bitter reward. Finally, I outline a novel operant test battery that addresses the limitations of current operant chamber- or place-based batteries. Using this battery, I first demonstrate that it captures similar behavioral changes to those seen in traditional operant chambers. Then, I demonstrate that mice containing an ECS mutation associated with problem drug use in humans display less motivation for food reward in response to increased effort, and more quickly inhibit a learned behavior when reward delivery is interrupted. I also found that in response to increased effort for reward or bitter rewards, male mice are more likely to alter their behavioral strategy. To encourage others to use this new operant battery I outlined how to efficiently collect data, shared a database for customizable analysis, and described common issues and how to solve them. This protocol has the potential to improve upon traditional tasks while opening cognitive research to more scientists. This has implications for many fields of neuroscience, especially the investigation of novel therapeutics and investigation of the neural circuitry underlying various disorders.

No description available.

No description available.