The aim of the current study was to test the effectiveness of the written disclosure paradigm on psychological health, cognitive processing, dispositional and social factors and to improve the paradigm on the basis of the underlying mechanisms responsible for its benefits. Participants consisting of 73 Middle East Technical University students were randomly assigned to one of three groups to write during 30-min sessions on 3 consecutive days: (1) Guided Disclosure Group (GDG) / (2) Standard Disclosure Group (SDG) / (3) Control Group (CG). GDG wrote about their most upsetting life events according to exposure, cognitive reappraisal, and benefit-finding instructions, respectively. SDG wrote about their deepest thoughts and feelings related to their most upsetting life events. CG described familiar environments without including any emotion or opinion. All participants completed measures of psychological health (i.e., general psychological distress symptoms), cognitive processing (i.e., intrusive thoughts, avoidance, and appraisal of the event), dispositional (i.e., trait anxiety, alexithymia, coping styles) and social factors (i.e., perceived social support, and severity of negative life events) prior to the first writing session, following the third writing session, and a 1-month follow-up. It was expected that GDG would report more improvements in outcome measures, relative to SDG. In turn, SDG was expected to display greater improvements, relative to CG. All groups reported similar improvements in psychological distress symptoms, cognitive processing and alexithymia. The findings were discussed in terms of relevant literature.

Building on Message Framing Theory and the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM), this study examined how message frame impacts viewer attention to and cognitive processing of osteoporosis prevention print ads. Attention was measured with eye tracking technology, which calculated participants’ number of fixations and dwell time. Cognitive processing was assessed through a textual masked-recall exercise. Sixty women, with a mean age of 21.25+/-2.61 years, viewed the same 36 ads; however, the message frame changed on a randomized, rotating basis, resulting in each group viewing 12 gain-, 12 loss-, and 12 neutrally-framed ads. One-way repeated measures analyses of variance revealed that message frame significantly impacted viewers’ number of fixations, F(2,118)=8.18, p<.01, η2= .12 dwell time, F(2,118)=9.84, p<.01, η2= .14 and masked-recall results, F(2,118)=22.28, p<.01, η2 = .27. Viewers’ number of fixations, dwell time and recall of gain-framed osteoporosis prevention ads was significantly higher than to loss- or neutrally-framed ads, p<.01. Message frame was also positively correlated with number of fixations, r=.29, p<.02 and dwell time, r=.42, p<.01. Findings may help expand theory related to message framing and the ELM, while contributing to advancements in eye tracking literature and health communications practice. / Thesis (Master, Kinesiology & Health Studies) -- Queen's University, 2009-08-27 16:13:32.848

Aim: Overall aims were to evaluate a stress management intervention with a stepped care approach among women with breast cancer and to explore distress, emotional reactivity and fatigue, both using a theoretical approach and self-reported assessment. Methods: A total of 821 women were approached, 372 women rejected participation, 23 women failed to return the questionnaire and one died, hence, 425 patients (52%) accepted participation. Study I evaluated the cognitive processing model with the aid of an untreated patient group, including 189 women according to the main study protocol. Sixty-six of these women were ineligible for the intervention, as they did not report clinical levels of distress. The remaining 123 women were eligible but they declined participation. Study II explored the validation of the ELSS and emotional reactivity among women with breast cancer. The population comprised of all 425 women (breast cancer sample) and 176 women randomly selected from the PAR register (random women sample). Studies III and IV evaluated the intervention and included all 425 women. Main findings: Study I: avoidance does not mediate the relationship between intrusion and later psychological distress in an early stage breast cancer population. Study II: the ELSS has acceptable validity and reliability. The factor structure of the ELSS was similar in both samples and correlated well with the STAQ (gold standard). Younger age was the only variable associated with emotional reactivity at the start of curative treatment. Studies III and IV: a stepped care approach did not reduce the number of women who require a more extensive treatment at three-months post-diagnosis. Both intervention groups (group/individual) reduced their levels of distress, but there were no significant differences between them. Only about half of the women who were randomised in the second step of the intervention accepted participation. Conclusions: The present thesis provides information regarding distress, emotional reactivity and fatigue among women with breast cancer. A majority of women with early stage breast cancer seem to process the trauma of a cancer diagnosis in a satisfactory way but may experience some emotional reactivity, and younger women may experience more emotional distress. The results also highlight the need for validated measures and carefully planned psychosocial interventions.

Numerous studies have looked at cognitive processing, more specifically attention, and its important role in various dynamic and static movements. Research on attentional demands in sport is an expanding area with studies now being done on athletes revealing the role of cognitive factors in the execution of motor movements in sports. Objective: the purpose of this study was to determine the attentional demands of a delivery in curling using a classic probe technique with a verbal response time and by measuring numerous performance variables. Subjects: ten healthy skilled curling players and nine healthy novice curling players undertook an auditory probe reaction time concurrently with a delivery in curling. Method: Sixty shots were executed with ten shots for each of the three phases of the shot, in all 30 take outs and 30 draws were done by each participant. The first phase when the player comes out of the “hack”, the second phase of the throw was when the player slid across the “t-line”. The third phase is when the player arrives near the line of Hog and releases the stone. Results: results revealed that reaction times were longer at phase 1 of the delivery for all subjects. The attentional demands for the draw and take out were highest at the phase one of the delivery, furthermore, compared to the draw, a significant rise of RT was seen in phase 3 of the take out shot. Significant differences were also found between the two experimental groups, with the most notable ones being that expert had a better shot success and a slower delivery time than the novice group. Conclusion: These results will lead to a better understanding of the attentional demands of two key shots in the sport of Curling and help curling coaches and teachers, as well as the players of the sport to know more about the attentional demands of the execution movement of the sport. This study also opens a new and interesting perspective on the importance of attention while performing motor tasks that are more complex and demanding.

国立情報学研究所で電子化したコンテンツを使用している。

Numerous studies have looked at cognitive processing, more specifically attention, and its important role in various dynamic and static movements. Research on attentional demands in sport is an expanding area with studies now being done on athletes revealing the role of cognitive factors in the execution of motor movements in sports. Objective: the purpose of this study was to determine the attentional demands of a delivery in curling using a classic probe technique with a verbal response time and by measuring numerous performance variables. Subjects: ten healthy skilled curling players and nine healthy novice curling players undertook an auditory probe reaction time concurrently with a delivery in curling. Method: Sixty shots were executed with ten shots for each of the three phases of the shot, in all 30 take outs and 30 draws were done by each participant. The first phase when the player comes out of the “hack”, the second phase of the throw was when the player slid across the “t-line”. The third phase is when the player arrives near the line of Hog and releases the stone. Results: results revealed that reaction times were longer at phase 1 of the delivery for all subjects. The attentional demands for the draw and take out were highest at the phase one of the delivery, furthermore, compared to the draw, a significant rise of RT was seen in phase 3 of the take out shot. Significant differences were also found between the two experimental groups, with the most notable ones being that expert had a better shot success and a slower delivery time than the novice group. Conclusion: These results will lead to a better understanding of the attentional demands of two key shots in the sport of Curling and help curling coaches and teachers, as well as the players of the sport to know more about the attentional demands of the execution movement of the sport. This study also opens a new and interesting perspective on the importance of attention while performing motor tasks that are more complex and demanding.

The lifetime prevalence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) ranges from 1 to 14 percent in the general population. Diagnosis is based on criteria that address hallmark symptoms of the disorder from re-experiencing the trauma to hyperarousal, emotional numbing, and avoidance of memories, thoughts, or feelings associated with the event. PTSD is particularly prevalent in vulnerable populations and comorbid with substance use disorders, serious mental illness, or both. Psychological treatment options are more strongly recommended than pharmacological treatment by the American Psychological Association (APA); however, the efficacy of psychotherapy is less studied in vulnerable populations for fear that substance use or mental health outcomes will worsen. Prolonged exposure (PE) therapy and cognitive processing therapy (CPT) are the most investigated forms of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) in vulnerable populations and involve overcoming the trauma through repeated exposure for PE or processing with a clinician for CPT. A review of all randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that have evaluated the effect of either form of CBT on non-combat PTSD, substance use disorder (SUD), and mental health outcomes found that PE administered alongside SUD treatment had the greatest positive impact on PTSD and SUD outcomes. PE also had a better impact than CPT on PTSD outcomes in individuals with PTSD and serious mental illness (SMI); however, neither form of CBT performed substantially better than the other with respect to mental health outcomes. In future studies, the impact of psychological treatments on PTSD and other health outcomes needs to be assessed on the same variables in larger populations of vulnerable individuals that are inclusive and representative of those receiving care for SUD and SMI in community health care settings.

This quantitative study used eye-tracking technology to compare the attentional focus of 32 native English speakers and 26 native Korean speakers at the university level as they read idiomatic and literal phrases within well-formed sentences. Results revealed that native Korean speakers read both literal and idiomatic sentences slower than native English speakers. Additionally, native Korean speakers read idiomatic sentences slower than literal sentences, whereas native English speakers did not show a significant difference. Variables relating to language socialization, language development and idiom knowledge were also investigated to find which variables were correlated with reading measures. Of the variables tested, idiom knowledge was the only one that had significant effect on reading measures. These findings suggest that Korean speakers take longer to process English idioms as lexical units, though idiom familiarity seems to mitigate this effect.

No description available.

Many people experience a romantic breakup at some point in their lives, but people's reactions can vary considerably. A common way of coping with the dissolution of a romantic relationship is to seek support and opportunities to talk with close others. Although talking with social network members may prove helpful for some, the Social-Cognitive Processing (SCP) model posits that interpersonal interactions can hinder emotional recovery and adjustment if the disclosers feel the social network members are responding in a socially constraining way. As a result of perceiving social constraints, individuals may try to avoid thinking and talking about the breakup altogether, which, in turn, may interfere with the cognitive processing necessary to move forward from the breakup. The current research marked the first time the SCP model was explored with regards to the dissolution of romantic relationships, and it evaluated the utility of the SCP model in potentially explaining the variable nature of adjustment to a romantic breakup. One hundred and seventy-four eligible participants completed this online study. Participants completed various questionnaires pertaining to their previous relationship and subsequent breakup, their feelings and experiences following the romantic dissolution, their tendencies to think about the breakup, and the degree to which they discussed the relationship dissolution with others and the reactions they received during these conversations. In support of the SCP model, the results indicated that social constraints were associated with greater psychological distress. Furthermore, avoidance partially mediated the relation between social constraints and psychological distress as levels of social support decreased. This suggests that higher levels of social support might help buffer against engaging in avoidance in response to social constraints. In an initial attempt to examine whether the extent of avoidance displayed varied as a function of a dispositional variable (i.e., self-monitoring), no support was found. Future research should continue to investigate additional factors that may moderate the relation between social constraints and psychological distress through avoidance. / Psychology