<p> Electronic nicotine delivery system (ENDS) devices are battery-powered products that produce a vapor the user inhales. Deficits in executive function have been found to predict conventional cigarette use and recently found to predict electronic cigarette use in adolescents. The purpose of the current study was to extend previous research and examine the association of executive function deficits and ENDS use in young adults, using a more comprehensive measure of ENDS devices. Participants included a convenience sample (<i> n</i> = 522) of young adults from two universities in the Southwestern United States who were surveyed with a self-report measure of executive function, the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF), and a survey that asked about use of various ENDS devices such as cigalikes, electronic hookahs, vape pens, and mods. A series of logistic and linear regressions were conducted to determine whether executive function deficits predicted conventional cigarette use, ENDS use, risk perceptions of ENDS products, susceptibility to ENDS use, and marijuana use in ENDS devices. Executive function deficits predicted conventional cigarette use, harm perceptions of ENDS devices, and susceptibility to ENDS use. However, executive function deficits did not predict ENDS use, perceptions of addictiveness of ENDS devices, or marijuana use in ENDS devices.</p>

This study explores the relationship between acute sugar consumption and its effect on executive function (EF). Specifically, this study examines the effect of both acute and chronic sugar consumption on EF. An epidemiological survey was given on an online work distribution platform, where participants finished cognitive tasks of EF after completing questionnaires assessing sugar consumption both in the last year and last 24 hours (n = 273). It was hypothesized that acute and chronic sugar intake would significantly predict scores on measures of aspects of EF. Additionally, it was hypothesized that chronic sugar intake would significantly moderate the relationship between acute sugar intake and EF. Neither acute nor chronic sugar consumption predicted EF. This effect was not changed by including chronic sugar consumption as a moderating variable upon acute sugar consumption and EF. This research provides greater evidence about what effect sugar consumption has on EF.

<p> This research evaluates the usefulness of transformative experience (TE) in engineering education. With TE, students 1) apply ideas from coursework to everyday experiences without prompting <i>(motivated use);</i> 2) see everyday situations through the lens of course content <i>(expanded perception);</i> and 3) value course content in new ways because it enriches everyday affective experience <i>(affective value).</i> In a three-part study, we examine how engineering educators can promote student progress toward TE and reliably measure that progress.</p><p> For the first study, we select a mechanical engineering technical elective, Flow Visualization, that had evidence of promoting <i>expanded perception </i> of fluid physics. Through student surveys and interviews, we compare this elective to the required Fluid Mechanics course. We found student interest in fluids fell into four categories: complexity, application, ubiquity, and aesthetics. Fluid Mechanics promotes interest from application, while Flow Visualization promotes interest based in ubiquity and aesthetics. Coding for <i> expanded perception,</i> we found it associated with students&rsquo; engineering identity, rather than a specific course. In our second study, we replicate atypical teaching methods from Flow Visualization in a new design course: Aesthetics of Design. Coding of surveys and interviews reveals that open-ended assignments and supportive teams lead to increased ownership of projects, which fuels risk-taking, and produces increased confidence as an engineer.</p><p> The third study seeks to establish parallels between <i>expanded perception</i> and measurable perceptual expertise. Our visual expertise experiment uses fluid flow images with both novices and experts (students who had passed fluid mechanics). After training, subjects sort images into laminar and turbulent categories. The results demonstrate that novices learned to sort the flow stimuli in ways similar to subjects in prior perceptual expertise studies. In contrast, the experts&rsquo; significantly better results suggest they are accessing conceptual fluids knowledge to perform this new, visual task. The ability to map concepts onto visual information is likely a necessary step toward expanded perception.</p><p> Our findings suggest that open-ended aesthetic experiences with engineering content unexpectedly support engineering identity development, and that visual tasks could be developed to measure conceptual understanding, promoting expanded perception. Overall, we find TE a productive theoretical framework for engineering education research.</p>

<p> The vigilance decrement is the decline in performance over time that characterizes tasks requiring sustained attention. Resource Theory proposes that the vigilance decrement is due to information processing assets that become depleted with use. Resource theorists must thus identify these assets and the process of how resources are depleted and replenished. The Microlapse Theory of Fatigue (MTF) identifies the resource that is depleted when performing a sustained attention task as the central executive attentional network. The depletion of the central executive network resource results in microlapses or brief gaps in attention that prevent the perception and processing of information. The MTF can explain various effects in the sustained attention literature regarding how resources are depleted. However, the MTF alone cannot explain the event rate effect or the motivation effect because it does not include replenishment mechanisms that can occur during a sustained attention task. To better understand the process of replenishment, participants were assigned to varying event rate and external motivation conditions in a novel paradigm that could measure the perceptual processing of a trial over time. These stages of processing included when participants looked at the first stimulus, looked at the second stimulus, and responded. In Experiment 1, it was found that the vigilance decrement was more severe for faster event rates, consistent with Resource Theory and counter to the MTF. In Experiment 2, the event rate effect was replicated, but unexpectedly, external motivation did not impact the vigilance decrement. In both experiments it was found that for the stages of processing that involved looking at the stimuli, more slowing was found as event rate increased. Additionally, more slowing was detected earlier in the processing of a trial than later. These results supported the process of microlapses inducing the vigilance decrement due to not having enough time to perceive, encode, and respond to stimuli, as described by the MTF. It was interpreted that the interaction between time-on-task and event rate was due to opportunistic breaks that occurred more frequently in slower event rate conditions. The finding that more slowing occurred earlier in processing was interpreted as evidence for internal rewards related to learning impacting the speed of processing a trial. To explain these findings, I propose the Microlapse Theory of Fatigue with Replenishment (MTFR) a process model similar to MTF, but that includes additional replenishment mechanisms related to opportunistic rest periods and internal rewards. The Microlapse Theory of Fatigue with Replenishment (MTFR) closely correlates to the empirical data and is an important step forward in the effort to build a comprehensive model of sustained attention.</p>

No description available.

<p>Social decision-making is often complex, requiring the decision-maker to make social inferences about another person in addition to engaging traditional decision-making processes. However, until recently, much research in neuroeconomics and behavioral economics has examined social decision-making while failing to take into account the importance of the social context and social cognitive processes that are engaged when viewing another person. Using social psychological theory to guide our hypotheses, four research studies investigate the role of social cognition and person perception in guiding economic decisions made in social contexts. The first study (Chapter 2) demonstrates that only specific types of social information engage brain regions implicated in social cognition and hinder learning in social contexts. Study 2 (Chapter 3) extends these findings and examines contexts in which this social information is used to generalize across contexts to form predictions about another person’s behavior. Study 3 (Chapter 4) demonstrates that under certain contexts these social cognitive processes may be withheld in order to more effectively complete the task at hand. Last, Study 4 (Chapter 5) examines how this knowledge of social cognitive processing can be used to change behavior in a prosocial group context. Taken together, these studies add to the growing body of literature examining decision-making in social contexts and highlight the importance of social cognitive processing in guiding these decisions. Although social cognitive processing typically facilitates social interactions, these processes may alter economic decision-making in social contexts.</p> / Dissertation

<p> The current study investigated the indirect effect of media multitasking on cognitive performance during subsequent single tasking, mediated through mood. A post-test between-subjects experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of two types of media multitasking, with nonsocial media tasks and with social media tasks, on mood (i.e., valence and arousal), attention filtering (i.e., ability to selectively pay attention to some information), and behavioral inhibition (i.e., ability to control behavior) as compared to single tasking. The results demonstrate that media multitasking with both nonsocial and social tasks decrease pleasant mood valence but increase arousal. Additionally, there is evidence that nonsocial media multitasking may improve behavioral inhibition (i.e., decrease impulsivity) by increasing arousal. The results highlight the potential variation in media multitasking&rsquo;s task demand depending on the combinations of tasks involved. Further research is necessary to explore the possible benefits of varying task demands for mood and cognitive performance.</p>

<p> Introduction: Alpha-glyceryl phosphoryl choline (A-GPC) is a supplement designed to elevate free circulating plasma choline concentration and elevate growth hormone levels. Increased choline and growth hormone availability has the potential to enhance strength and power during resistance exercise. Caffeine has also been shown to raise serum choline levels and enhance athletic performance. In addition, both caffeine and A-GPC have the potential to improve cognitive function. Purpose: The purpose of the study was to examine if caffeine and/or a novel A-GPC supplement can enhance isometric strength, explosive ability, and cognitive function in healthy young males. Participants: Subjects included 48 college-aged males. Participants were randomly assigned to one of four treatment groups. Subgroups consumed a seven-day supply of either 250mg A-GPC, 500mg A-GPC, 200mg of caffeine, or a placebo. Methods: Participants performed a vertical jump test, isometric mid-thigh pull, upper-body isometric strength test, and a psychomotor vigilance test. Blood samples were collected on day one after performance tests in order to monitor plasma choline and growth hormone levels. Participants consumed the rest of their supplement pack before returning on day seven to repeat performance tests. Results: No significant differences were observed in peak force, peak power, rate of force development, alertness, or reaction time from pre to post-supplementation in any group. Conclusion: Although the results of this study do not support the use of A-GPC or caffeine to enhance isometric strength, explosive ability, or cognitive functioning, this is the first human study to date to examine the effects of both caffeine and A-GPC on all the aforementioned variables simultaneously thus making it a novel investigation. It is suggested that future studies administer larger doses of caffeine/A-GPC.</p>

<p> Cultivation theory suggests that using second-order judgments, viewers may become immersed into a narrative program via narrative transportation. Highly transported viewers make very frequent trait judgments, forming impressions and attitudes about characters, anticipating outcomes, and making constant reevaluations when surprises occur. Narrative transportation can often lead to persuasion by bringing viewers to a highly involved mental state. Due to narrative transportation&rsquo;s persuasive quality, research has reviewed the relationship of narrative transportation within advertisements </p><p> This research will build on the literature by examining the extent to which narrative transportation intervenes with the viewer&rsquo;s attitude towards the Dr. Pepper brand via product placement, incorporating individual difference variables of materialism, cognitive attention, and need for fantasy. The two-group posttest only with a control group experiment manipulates the variables through two different viewing programs. The first program induces narrative transportation, while the second program is interrupted so that there is no narrative flow. </p><p> Volunteer participants will be selected from CMCN 100 classes. A simple linear regression will be used to determine the effects of immersion.</p>

<p> Leaders help organizations and cultures not desirous of change to undergo cultural shifts. The current study conducts a textual analysis of six speeches delivered from Montgomery to Memphis in order to extrapolate the sources of his worldview and identify the major arguments used in the leadership of Martin Luther King Jr. who shaped the Civil Rights Movement, an engrained culture, and morally shaped others to lead cultural change. King used a worldview-leadership style to offer cognitive and emotional suppositions to challenge centuries-old presuppositions within both Caucasian and African American cultures. Significant developmental influences changed King&rsquo;s outlook, and as a result he communicated to audiences how to change their worldview. As a young boy, King was determined to hate white people but instead he grew into a reformer committed to nonviolent agape love and articulated moral argumentation from a mosaic of influences. As he encountered multiple cultures of stakeholders each possessing their own set of presuppositions, King expressed a pragmatic patchwork of nearly 70 identifiable sources that appear as core values within his speeches. Forensic textual analysis highlights his core values, consciously and subconsciously expressed, and how he passed the influences along to the audiences. His speeches championed lessons learned from parents, grandparents, experiences, professors, theologians, and Western thinkers to suggest more than a legislative shift but one where society as whole began to adopt a better moral direction. </p><p> <i>Keywords:</i> Leadership, leader, Martin Luther King Jr., change, Civil Rights Movement, worldview, speech, engrained culture, textual analysis, communication, presuppositions.</p>