published_or_final_version / Linguistics / Master / Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics

The purpose of this study was to examine the utilization of imagery and the impact of imagery use on collegiate synchronized swimmers. Swimmers (N=165) completed The Sport Imagery Questionnaire (Hall et al. 2005), reporting their frequency of imaging. Interviews were conducted (N=11) to further ascertain why and when synchronized swimmers use imagery and mechanisms they employ for more effective imaging experiences. Exploratory factor analyses indicated three of Hall et al's (2005) five subscales showed significant differences between skill level groups. Specifically, motivational specific functions of imagery data showed significant differences between elite swimmers and the other three groups (advanced, intermediate, and novice). Cognitive specific and motivational general-mastery functions of imagery data indicated significant differences between elite and novice swimmers, suggesting that novice swimmers are less likely to use these subscales of imagery compared to elite swimmers. Qualitative data provided evidence of elite swimmers having more sophisticated and developed applications of imaging skills. The results suggest the global implications of this study and how imagery improves synchronized swimming training programs. Key findings include: Each progressive skill level had better imaging skills and utilization than the lower levels Years experience, repetition, and training impact synchronized swimmers use of imagery The very nature of certain common synchronized swimming drills such as "think-throughs and land drill" elicit imaging training The sport of synchronized swimming is an excellent instrument to research imaging training techniques.

The debris-flow initiation variable of clay mineralogy is examined for Holocene age debris-flow deposits across the Colorado Plateau. A Kolmogorov-Smirnov two-sample test between 25 debris-flow producing shale units and 23 shale units rated as not producing debris-flows found a highly significant difference between shale unit kaolinite-illite and montmorillonite clay content. Debris-flow producers tend to have abundant kaolinite and illite (61.5% of clays) and small amounts of montmorillonite (10.4%). Clay sample soluble cation (Na, Ca, K, and Mg) content could not be used to accurately divide the data set into debris-flow producers and debris-flow non-producers by either cluster analysis or a Kolmogorov-Smirnov two-sample test.AVIRIS hyperspectral data reveal that debris-flow deposits, colluvium, and some shale units in Cataract Canyon, Utah display the double-absorption feature characteristic of kaolinite at 2.2 µm. Lab-based reflection spectra and semi-quantitative x-ray diffraction results show that Cataract Canyon debris-flow matrix clays are dominated by kaolinite and illite and lacking in montmorillonite. A surface material map showing the spectral stratigraphy of the study area was created from AVIRIS data classified using an artificial neural network and compares favorably to existing geologic data for Cataract Canyon. A debris-flow initiation potential map created from a GIS-based analysis of surface materials, slope steepness, slope aspect, and fault maps shows the greatest debris-flow initiation potential in the study area to coincide with outcrops of the Moenkopi Formation on steep (>20%), southwest-facing slopes. Small areas of extreme debris-flow initiation potential are located where kaolinite and illite clay-rich colluvial wedges are located on southwest-facing walls of Colorado River tributary canyons. The surface materials map shows formations clearly when they remain relatively consistent in composition and exposure throughout the study area, such as the White Rim Sandstone and most clay-rich members of the Moenkopi Formation. The debris-flow producing Organ Rock Shale and Halgaito Formation were shown inconsistently on the surface materials map, likely as a result of compositional variations in the study area. The results of this study provides evidence that hyperspectral imagery classified using an ANN can be successfully used to map the spectral stratigraphy of a sparsely vegetated area such as Cataract Canyon.

Research has shown a possible causative link between playing the popular videogame Tetris and improvements in Mental Rotation performance. The aim of the present study was to address a question about an aspect of Tetris expertise that had not yet been factored into any of the existing work on Tetris and Mental Rotation. David Kirsh and Paul Maglio (1994) have shown that skilled Tetris players appear to use physical actions as substitutes for, or compliments to, mental operations. This is hypothesised to include physically rotating game pieces instead of Mentally Rotating them. The specific question we sought to address in the present study was whether these physical substitutes for mental operations, which Kirsh and Maglio call epistemic actions, have an effect on Tetris' efficacy as a Mental Rotation training task. In order to address this research question, three groups of subjects were administered tests of Mental Rotation ability before and after a five week training period. The training period consisted of a total of five, hour long, laboratory sessions - evenly spaced across the training period - in which each of the three groups were required to play an assigned video-game. The results showed that a group of subjects (N=13) who received Tetris training on the version of the game that made epistemic actions involving rotation impossible showed no greater Mental Rotation performance gains when their results were compared to a group of subjects (N=13) trained using a Standard version of Tetris. This suggests that the occurence of epistemic actions does not have an impact on Tetris' efficacy as a Mental Rotation training task. Further, neither of these two groups showed greater Mental Rotation performance gains than the non-Tetris control group (N=14), a result which suggests that, at least under some circumstances, Tetris training fails to impart Mental Rotation performance gains any greater than what can be expected due to retest effects. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2013.

Mental imagery as a form of human cognition is still not well understood, particularly in the area of spatiality. This thesis attempts to find the relationship between the mental images of places created while reading a story (ekphrastic) and the mental images created while viewing a cinematic adaptation of that story. Using Bakhtin’s idea of chronotope, and Panofsky’s theory of iconography, associations can be made between places in text and film that inform the themes that readers/spectators identify and evaluate. Netlytic, an online text analysis tool, permits the analysis of online message board fan opinions of J.R.R. Tolkien’s and Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings according to themes of visualization and of place. Analysis of findings suggests that mental images created from the text and from the filmic adaptation are both passively and actively integrated in order to increase comprehension of spatial elements in Tolkien’s epic.

In 2009, 4.1 million Canadians over the age of twelve experienced an activity-limiting injury. Of these injuries 35% occurred from sport or physical activity (Canadian Community Health Survey, 2009). Although injuries occur most commonly in sport and exercise activities, it is difficult to study injured athletes with similar injuries all occurring within the same time frame. Therefore, a scenario protocol was used in the study which described the occurrence of an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury. The purpose of this study was to compare a modeling, an imagery, and a control group on psychological factors related to a hypothetical injury. Healthy athletes (N=86; M age = 22.06 years; SD = 4.37) who had no recent experience of an injury and had not experienced an ACL injury were included in the study. At baseline, athletes read a scenario that described the occurrence of an ACL injury. Participants then completed questionnaires including, demographic information, expected pain, task and coping efficacy, projected rehabilitation adherence, and movement imagery ability. Within two weeks of completing the baseline testing, participants were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: control, modeling, or imagery. Participants either met with the primary researcher or were sent a link via email in order to complete the follow-up. At the beginning of the follow-up, all groups were given the scenario to read over. Then participants were given the respective treatment. The modeling condition consisted of a video of an athlete who described his experience of an ACL repair. The guided imagery condition involved a recorded script that detailed the recovery process of an ACL injury. The control condition only read the scenario. Afterwards, participants completed the questionnaires involving expected pain, task and coping efficacy, and rehabilitation adherence. Four separate 3 (group) x 2 (time) repeated measures ANOVAs and two ANCOVAs were conducted to examine between group differences in athletes’ perceptions of pain, task and coping efficacy, and rehabilitation adherence before and after the intervention was administered. No group by time interactions were found for any of the dependent variables. However, there were changes over time for pain, F(1, 81) = 5.97, p = .017, task efficacy, F(1, 79) = 193.23, p < .001, coping efficacy, F(1, 79) = 11.16, p = .001, and frequency of adherence, F(1, 32) = 5.17, p = .03. Findings from manipulation check questions suggest that modeling and imagery could serve as pre-injury education tools for athletes to use if they are faced with an injury in the future. / Thesis (Master, Kinesiology & Health Studies) -- Queen's University, 2010-11-02 14:35:08.256

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River ice is an important component of the traditional way of life for the communities along the Slave River both culturally and economically. During the winter, a stable ice cover provides local residents with safe access to their traditional hunting, trapping, and fishing grounds along the river. Periodic spring ice breakup flooding is required to maintain the ecological balance along the Slave River Delta. Recently, however, local observations have indicated changes in ice cover characteristics (e.g. air pocket formation, double layer ice, ice cover flooding) during the winter, which increase the risks of travelling on the ice. Also prolongs dry periods during the spring are leading to rapid growth of invasive vegetation that reduces the lake and channel areas of the Delta. Although some attempts have been made to understand the patterns of spring flood frequency in the Delta, very little is known about the Slave River’s ice cover characteristics and behaviour. Remote sensing techniques and field surveys were used in this study to understand the ice cover progression and to examine ice cover characteristics along the river during the winters of 2013-2014 and 2014-2015. RADARSAT-2 satellite imagery captured the changes in the ice cover and identified different types of ice during the winter seasons at two primary study sites – downstream of Fort Smith and the Slave River Delta. The mechanism of ice cover growth, with the formation of air pockets and layers underneath the ice cover was investigated. Steeper channels and several open water sections appear to be contributing to significant amounts of air entrainment into the water in winter. Changes in the hydraulic characteristics due to flow regulation and ice cover progression can also change the quantity and distribution of air pockets along the river ice cover. Additionally, the impact of flow fluctuations on the ice cover (e.g. ice cover flooding) was also observed. Increases in discharge cause the ice cover to crack or dislodge from the river banks, leading to water seeping onto the ice and flooding it, which has implications for the muskrat and beaver populations. A geospatial model was developed to determine the spatial patterns of ice cover breakup along the river from Fort Fitzgerald to the delta. This model successfully identified the areas of breakup initiation and persistence of ice until the end of the breakup. MODIS satellite imagery was used to describe the temporal patterns and evolution of breakup events between the years 2008 and 2011. In addition to geomorphological influences, air temperature and flow conditions also have strong impacts on the spatial and temporal patterns of the ice cover breakup.

This thesis has sought a relationship between score on an objective imagery questionnaire and performance on an objective imagery task. The Sheehan revision (1967) of the Betts QMI (1909) and the Weber Alphabet Task (1969), respectively, were the two measures used.The Sheehan revision (1967) of the original Betts (1909) was administered to 107 students and three imagery groups of 10 students each were chosen on the basis of the results: a high imagery group, a middle imagery group, and a low imagery group. These 30 subjects then performed the Weber Task. An analysis of variance was done on the two sets of scores.No relationship was found to exist between scores on the two measures. Several reasons for this failure to find a relationship were proposed, among them response bias inherent in imagery utilized by the two measures.

There is no abstract available for this thesis. / School of Physical Education