Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Dept. of Psychological and Brain Sciences, 2009. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on Feb. 10, 2010). Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 70-05, Section: B, page: 3196. Adviser: Luiz Pessoa.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Dept. of Computer Science, 2009. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on Feb. 10, 2010). Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 70-05, Section: B, page: 3009. Adviser: David B. Leake.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2003. / Title from first page of PDF file. Document formatted into pages; contains xiv, 146 p.; also includes graphics. Includes abstract and vita. Advisor: Herbert Mirels, Dept. of Psychology. Includes bibliographical references (p. 106-118).

Thesis (M.S.)--Central Connecticut State University, 2003. / Thesis advisor: Marc Goldstein. " ... in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Psychology." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 47-54). Also available via the World Wide Web.

When responding to external stimuli, preparation reduces Reaction Time (RT). One form of preparation known as temporal preparation results from advance knowledge about when a stimulus will appear. We used Event Related Potentials to investigate how increasing temporal preparation decreases RT during a speeded, choice RT task by manipulating temporal preparation within subjects. In order to determine which cognitive processes are speeded, the latencies of the Lateralized Readiness Potential (LRP) and P300 were examined across two levels of temporal preparation. In line with previous research the stimulus locked LRP, but not the response locked LRP, was speeded when temporal preparation was high. Using Principal Component Analysis, we also found that the P300 latency was reduced by nearly the same extent as RT was reduced. These findings suggest that temporal preparation speeds stimulus evaluation processing specifically, and this explains to a large extent how temporal preparation reduces RT.

<p>NextGen introduces new automated tools to help air traffic controllers (ATCos) manage the projected increase in air traffic over the next decades. The purpose of the current study was to assess the role of trust in automation for NextGen tools. Differences in sensitivity between three subjective trust in automation scales and the relationship of these trust metrics to ATCo trust behaviors were considered. Trust behaviors were measured using a behavioral measure of trust, the number of near-miss aircraft moved. Additionally, the relationship between trust levels and situation awareness was also investigated. Results indicated that the Modified Human-Automation Trust Scale (M-HAT) may be the most sensitive to changes in trust over the course of the internship, although there was no differences in trust behavior between low or high-trusting individuals. Trust questionnaires pertaining to an overall automated system (M-HAT) may able to detect changes in trust over time compared to a more specific trust scale. The results also suggest it may be more valuable to specifically train controllers to trust automation than provide general training.

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<p>We live in a world with incredibly rich sensory environments. Our visual system is bombarded with objects of varying colors, shapes, and levels of brightness. Our auditory system is inundated with sounds of different pitches, timbre, and loudness. Yet, we are generally not overwhelmed with our environments because we can selectively choose information to interact with. One way of accomplishing such selection is through search; we search our environments so that we can selectively process relevant information and ignore other irrelevant stimuli. Search has been extensively studied in the visual domain, but there has been very little analogous research into search-type processes in audition. Moreover, even in vision, the research has been mostly limited to the processes of spatial orienting or focusing of attention towards relevant information. The process of search, however, involves additional steps aside from the engagement of spatial attention, including the initial detection and identification of relevant Target stimuli in our environment. Here I aimed to delineate the cascade of neural processes underlying search in both the auditory and visual domains, with particular emphasis on understanding the initial mechanisms underlying stimulus detection and identification.</p><p>I conducted four experiments using event-related potentials (i.e., time-locked averages of electroencephalogram) taking advantage of the high temporal resolution of this methodology to delineate the time course of search-related processes in both audition and vision. Participants were presented with a novel temporally distributed search paradigm in either the auditory (Studies 1-3) or visual (Study 4) modalities, where the task was to find a designated Target and make a discrimination concerning a certain feature of that Target. The temporal distribution of the stimulus presentation in the experiments enabled the selective extraction of the neural responses to the relevant Target and, separately, the irrelevant Nontarget, a separation that would not be possible with simultaneous or static presentation. The results showed, for both the auditory and visual domains, a very rapid, nonlateralized, differentiation of processing between the Target and sensory-equivalent Nontarget stimuli prior to the brain activity reflecting the spatial focusing of attention toward that Target. Based on results showing a failure of early differentiation when the Targets and Nontargets were presented in isolation, I inferred that this early differentiation is a result of a Relational Template preset for the Target stimulus relative to an ongoing environmental context. Additional results showed that the larger Target/Nontarget differentiation corresponded to faster response times and that the maintenance of multiple templates, to facilitate search for more than one Target item, resulted in significantly slower processing potentially due to a serial comparison of the incoming stimuli to each of the templates. These experiments show analogous mechanisms underlying both auditory and visual feature-based search that include an initial detection process, prior to the orienting of spatial attention.</p> / Dissertation

<p>The ability to enumerate approximately without counting is an evolutionarily ancient and developmentally early core cognitive ability known as the "number sense". We use the number sense when we estimate a number without counting individual items, as when we guess the number of people in a crowded room. The number sense is theorized to form an instinctual building block upon which we create the conceptual structures of mathematics. This dissertation addresses three research questions regarding the number sense. </p><p> The first is the question of whether the number sense is malleable, and if so, what are the neural correlates of malleability. In Chapter 2 we gave adults number sense training, which we found improved the accuracy of numerical estimation. In Chapter 4 we recorded from single neurons in monkeys while they viewed arrays of items on a computer screen. Similar recordings have been made previously, but usually using monkeys that were trained to discriminate sets based on number. Recordings in trained animals demonstrated that individual neurons in the monkey's brain track the number of items in a set. We reasoned that if the neural correlates of the number sense were altered by the training experience, then we would get different results in untrained monkeys. We did find neurons encoding numerical information in untrained monkeys, but at lower rates than described previously. Thus, we demonstrated that the number sense can improve with experience, and our data suggest that changes in the proportion of neurons encoding number may subserve this improvement.</p><p> The second question is how to resolve the problem of stimulus control in laboratory tests of the number sense. Typically, number sense function is assessed by presenting arrays of dots on a computer screen. In such stimuli, however, non-numerical features necessarily covary with numerical features. By counter-balancing different stimulus conditions, it is possible to determine if number and not some other feature is influencing a dependent measure. In Chapter 3, we develop a technique to go further and determine which of eleven stimulus features is influencing a dependent measure. </p><p> The third question is whether the intraparietal sulcus (IPS), a brain area known to be engaged during numerical cognition, is specialized for it. To address this question, we apply the technique developed in Chapter 3 to the neural data recorded from monkeys in Chapter 4. We show that the IPS does contain number neurons; however, it also contains neurons that encode many other features in equal proportion, indicating that it is not specialized for number. In Chapter 5, we use drugs injected into the IPS to reversibly inactivate it. We found that after IPS inactivation, performance on a numerical discrimination task was impaired but no more so than a color discrimination control task. Again, our data do not support the theory that the IPS is specialized for numerical processing.</p> / Dissertation

<p> Adherence to psychotropic medication is a critical aspect of treatment for the management of psychotic disorders. While the literature on the need for medication adherence is extensive, little research has explored the relationship between the negative symptoms of psychosis and medication adherence. Since negative symptoms are enduring, stable, and strongly correlated with poor outcome, it is vitally important for research to explore the role of negative symptoms in regards to adherence to psychotropic medication. Given its potentially significant consequences for treatment interventions, the purpose of this study was to contribute to the exceedingly limited body of research exploring the relationship between the negative symptoms seen in psychosis and medication adherence. This study examined if there is a relationship between the two and whether causality could be determined should a significant relationship exist between medication adherence and negative symptoms. This study utilized data previously collected at the UCLA Aftercare Research Program for studies examining aspects of outpatient psychiatric treatment. The 148 participants had a mean age of 22.5 years and were in the midst of their first psychotic episode upon study entry. Data from the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale, Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms, and medication adherence ratings were collected over the course of 12 months. Analyses revealed a significant relationship between the presence of negative symptoms and medication nonadherence. Analyses examining the temporal relationship between the two variables revealed that initial medication nonadherence was significantly associated with subsequent negative symptoms. However, once the impact of positive symptoms was controlled for as a potential mediating variable, the strength of the relationship between medication adherence and negative symptoms dissipated. After controlling for the role of reality distortion, the only negative symptoms significantly associated with medication nonadherence were the BPRS Negative Symptom Factor, BPRS Emotional Withdrawal, and BPRS Self-Neglect. Consequently, it appears that negative symptoms are more strongly associated with positive symptoms than with medication adherence. Replication of these findings and further research exploring the relationship between positive and negative symptoms as they relate to medication adherence is needed in order to improve treatment interventions focused on medication adherence.</p>