The purpose of this study was to determine if children's performance on rapid automatic naming (RAN) tasks served as a mediator in the relation between inattention and reading. Although previous studies have produced mixed results when examining the relation between naming performance and ADHD, ADHD has typically been defined using DSM IIIR or DSM IV criteria, which do not require individuals to evidence symptoms of inattention. This study expands the literature by focusing on inattention, the component of ADHD that has been shown to be most related to reading. Children from second to fourth grade classrooms completed two individual testing sessions which included assessment of their phonological awareness, naming (RAN-letters, RAN-digits, RAN-objects, RAN-colors), and reading ability. Inattention was assessed using both the Conners Continuous Performance Task (CPT; Conners, 2000) and parent ratings. Relations between inattention, naming, phonological awareness and reading were examined using correlation and hierarchical regression analyses. Consistent with previous research, performance on RAN-letters and RAN-digits, but not performance on RAN-objects and RAN-colors, was related to children's scores on reading measures. Although CPT performance was associated with phonological awareness in this study, neither performance on the CPT nor parent-ratings of attention was associated with children's performance on the RAN tasks. Consequently, the results of this study failed to find support for the hypothesis that naming performance mediates the relation between inattention and reading outcomes. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Psychology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Degree Awarded: Summer Semester, 2009. / Date of Defense: May 21, 2009. / Conners CPT, Parent rating, ADHD, Inattention, Reading, Rapid Automatized Naming, Rapid Automatic Naming / Includes bibliographical references. / Christopher J. Lonigan, Professor Directing Dissertation; Laura Lang, Outside Committee Member; Ellen Berler, Committee Member; Janet Kistner, Committee Member; Rick Wagner, Committee Member.

It has been well established that there is a great deal of individual variability in the response to drugs of abuse as well as to stressful life events. The overall aim of this dissertation is to simply ask what are the neurobiological mechanisms that may make some individuals more to prone to succumb to addictive properties of drugs of abuse, and how may stressful life events alter susceptibility? In humans, the personality trait of sensation seeking has been highly correlated to "risky" behaviors including drug taking. In rats, there exists an animal model of sensation seeking in which a population of outbred rats can be termed High Responders (HR), or Low Responders (LR), based on their exploration of a novel environment. Past research has demonstrated that this model has predictive validity in that HR animals are more likely to become behaviorally sensitized to, and self-administer drugs of abuse than LR rats. In the first aim of this dissertation we ask what changes in gene expression within the mesolimbic circuitry may occur as a result of behavioral sensitization. In this study, adult Sprague-Dawley rats were injected daily with amphetamine (1mg/kg, i.p.) or saline for 9 days followed by a challenge injection seven days later. Our results showed that HR rats, but not LR rats, developed behavioral sensitization to the locomotor activating effects of amphetamine. Furthermore, only HR rats pretreated with amphetamine exhibited an increase in dopamine transporter mRNA in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) and substantia nigra (SN). These results demonstrate the existence of individual differences in behavioral sensitization to amphetamine and suggest that the dopamine transporter may be a critical factor in the development and expression of behavioral sensitization to the locomotor activating effects of amphetamine. In the second aim of this dissertation, we sought to examine in the context of individual differences, if exposure to repeated psychosocial stress, social defeat in particular, would alter the locomotor stimulating effects of an acute injection (0.5, 1.0, and 1.5 mg/kg i.p.) of amphetamine. In an effort to understand what mechanisms underlie stress-induced sensitization to amphetamine, we examined long-term changes in striatal gene expression of the D1 and D2 receptors, as well as TH and DAT expression in the VTA and SN. Additionally, we examined if repeated social defeat stress led to an increase in corticosterone release in response to an acute injection of amphetamine. Finally, we investigated if repeated social defeat was associated with changes in dendritic spine density in the hippocampus, prefrontal cortex and nucleus accumbens of rats that exhibit stress-induced sensitization. Following repeated social defeat, LR rats and HR rats were behaviorally identical in response to acute injections of amphetamine. Furthermore, HR non-defeated rats had less D2 mRNA expression in the nucleus accumbens core and dorsal striatum than did LR non-defeated rats. However, after repeated social defeat, HR and LR rats had identical D2 mRNA expression in both the core and dorsal striatum. Additionally, we have shown that in comparison to non-defeated rats, there is an enhancement of corticosterone release in LR defeated but not HR defeated rats in response to an amphetamine injection. Finally, there were no changes in TH, D1 and DAT expression in any of the areas examined nor did social defeat stress induce a change in dendritic spine density in any of the brain areas examined in LR rats. One fascinating aspect of sensation seeking in humans is that despite similar hormonal responses during risk taking behaviors, these individuals report a lower level of anxiety in these situations when compared to non-sensation seekers. Interestingly, in rats, it has been demonstrated that some individuals will find the "stress" hormone, corticosterone, reinforcing. Specifically, it has been demonstrated that HR rats will self administer corticosterone at levels that mimic circulating plasma levels of corticosterone observed during mildly stressful events. Furthermore, in humans, chronic use of glucocorticoids has been reported to have euphoric effects in some individuals, but aversive effects in others. As such, in the final aim of this work, we asked if corticosterone itself has intrinsic rewarding properties. For these experiments we used a well established model of reward, termed conditioned place preference (CPP), in which a context is associated with the repeated pairing of a drug and subsequently tested to see if the chamber becomes preferred over the non-drug paired chamber. Here we report that corticosterone is not rewarding, nor is it aversive to rats. Furthermore, despite the reinforcing effects of corticosterone in HR rats, we observed no individual differences in the rewarding aspects of corticosterone. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Psychology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Degree Awarded: Spring Semester, 2008. / Date of Defense: December 17, 2007. / Social Stress, Individual Differences, Drug Addiction, Dopamine / Includes bibliographical references. / Mohamed Kabbaj, Professor Directing Dissertation; Branko Stefanovic, Outside Committee Member; Darragh Devine, Committee Member; Collen Kelley, Committee Member; Robert Contreras, Committee Member; Zuoxin Wang, Committee Member.

The current investigation sought to investigate whether emotional insensitivity (as opposed to emotional distress) mediates the relationship between social exclusion and aggressive behavior. Results from Experiments 1 and 2 showed that social exclusion caused decrements in emotional responsiveness, as indicated by reduced empathic concern toward another person's suffering. In both experiments, the reduction in emotional responsiveness mediated the link between social exclusion and aggressive behavior. Experiment 3 provided no evidence that the lack of emotional responsiveness toward one person following social exclusion had implications for aggression toward another person. These findings extend prior evidence that rejection causes the emotion system to cease functioning normally as a means of protecting the rejected person from a negative emotional experience. Being buffered from a negative emotional reaction can have negative consequences, however, in terms of weakening inhibitions that normally reduce aggression. Without a functioning emotion system, rejected participants were unable to feel empathic concern toward the victim of aggression and hence behaved aggressively. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Psychology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Degree Awarded: Summer Semester, 2007. / Date of Defense: June 19, 2007. / Social Exclusion, Belonging, Aggression, Empathy, Rejection / Includes bibliographical references. / Roy F. Baumeister, Professor Directing Dissertation; R. Jay Turner, Outside Committee Member; Jon K. Maner, Committee Member; Dianne M. Tice, Committee Member; Thomas Joiner, Committee Member.

The current study was an exploratory and descriptive study and examined the relationship between perceived visibility of disability, attributional style for positive events, attributional style for negative events, psychosocial adjustment to disability, perceived self-advocacy skill, and the multidimensional construct of student adaptation to college, which includes academic adjustment, social adjustment, personal/emotional adjustment, institutional adjustment, and current semester grade point average (GPA) for college students with disabilities. Furthermore, this study investigated the differences between the attributional style for positive events, attributional style for negative events and student adaptation to college for students with disabilities as compared to students without disabilities. The data used for analysis was obtained through an on-line survey administration of the following instruments: a demographic questionnaire containing questions asking participants to rate the perceived visibility of their disability and asking for current semester GPA, the Attributional Style Questionnaire (ASQ; Peterson, Semmel, von Baeyer, Abramson, Metalsky, & Seligman, 1982), the adjustment scale of the Reaction to Impairment and Disability Inventory (RIDI; Livneh & Antonak, 1990), a measure of perceived self-advocacy skill specifically developed by the researcher for the purposes of this study, and the Student Adaptation to College Questionnaire (SACQ; Baker & Siryk, 1989). Results indicate clearly that when considering the differences between those participants with disabilities and those without disabilities, the non-disabled group scored significantly higher for social adjustment, personal/emotional adjustment, and institutional attachment. In terms of attributional style, the disability group scored higher indicating a more internal, stable, and global attributional style for both positive events and negative events. Further analysis conducted using just the disability group data revealed many significant and practically important bivariate correlations between variables including self-advocacy skill, institutional attachment, personal/emotional adjustment, social adjustment, and overall student adaptation to college. Canonical correlation determined a significant interrelationship between the predictive domains (student characteristics) and the criterion domains (adjustment outcomes) which were explained by a single canonical pair. 16% of the adjustment outcome variance was explained by the student characteristic variables. This explanation was due to a relatively strong relationship between Positive Student Response and Positive Adjustment Outcomes (the single canonical pair). / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Educational Psychology and Learning Systems in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Degree Awarded: Summer Semester, 2007. / Date of Defense: June 25, 2007. / Attributional Style, Adjustment, Disability, Visibility, Self-Advocacy, Adaptation, College, Student / Includes bibliographical references. / Briley Proctor, Professor Directing Dissertation; Deborah Ebener, Outside Committee Member; Huijun Li, Committee Member; Frances Prevatt, Committee Member.

A new approach to representing data from multiple regression designs is presented in this dissertation. The index, denoted as rsp, is the semi-partial correlation of the predictor with the outcome of interest. This effect size can be computed when multiple predictor variables are included in the regression model, and represents a partial effect size in the correlation family. The derivations presented in this dissertation provide the partial effect size and its variance. Standard errors and confidence intervals can be computed for individual rsp values. Also, meta-analysis of the semi-partial correlations can proceed in a similar fashion to typical meta-analyses weighted analyses can be used to explore heterogeneity and to estimate central tendency and variation in the effects. A simulation study is presented to study the behavior of this index and its variance. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Educational Psychology and Learning Systems in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Degree Awarded: Spring Semester, 2009. / Date of Defense: April 7, 2009. / Research Synthesis, Meta-Analysis, Effect Size / Includes bibliographical references. / Betsy Jane Becker, Professor Directing Dissertation; Daniel McGee, Outside Committee Member; Akihito Kamata, Committee Member; Yanyun Yang, Committee Member.

Three studies provide evidence that feeling uncertain impairs subsequent self-control. Participants were randomly assigned to either uncertain conditions (uncertain about how to complete a task; not knowing whether they would have to give a speech later) or control conditions (clear how to complete a task; definitely will or will not have to give a speech). Uncertainty caused poor performance measures of self-control unrelated to the uncertainty manipulation. Uncertainty impaired self-control even more than certainty of negative outcome (definitely will have to make speech). Findings suggest that coping with uncertainty depletes mental energy. / A Thesis submitted to the Department of Psychology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science. / Degree Awarded: Fall Semester, 2010. / Date of Defense: October 4, 2010. / Self-control, Self-regulation, Uncertainty / Includes bibliographical references. / Roy F. Baumeister, Professor Directing Thesis; Dianne M. Tice, Committee Member; Jesse Cougle, Committee Member.

Educational accountability is predicated on the notion that holding institutions accountable for the performance of their students will improve efficiency. Higher education institutions have not seen the same changes in federal requirements regarding accountability as have K-12 institutions. However, with the American Graduation Initiative announced in 2009 by the Obama administration aimed at increasing the number of higher education graduates by 2020, higher education institutions, particularly community colleges, and the performance of their students have been thrust into the national spotlight. How are colleges responding? Little to no research exists on how performance accountability measures have influenced higher education institutions, specifically Florida community colleges. This paper examines the implementation of Florida's performance policy at three Florida College System institutions. Community colleges are driven by the needs of the local community and their program offerings tend to reflect this notion; however, the performance measures set by the Legislature are standardized. Are colleges with a significant program enrollment in the Associate in Arts program responding differently than those with a significant enrollment in career and technical programs? Three institutions with diverse program enrollment were examined. Interviews with multiple staff serving various administrative functions from each institution as well as observations over an extended period of time were conducted for purposes of this study. Documents regarding performance policy at each institution were also evaluated. The findings of this study indicated that colleges developed student support mechanisms, required retraining of faculty and staff while restructuring job requirements, and expanded data collection efforts in order to respond to performance mandates. The findings of this study revealed that institutions with like program enrollment responded similarly in terms of implementation efforts. All colleges implemented student support mechanisms, required retraining of faculty and staff and restructured job duties, and expanded data collection efforts but did not do so in the same fashion, dependent upon local community and program enrollment. The local community tended to reflect how colleges in the study responded to performance policy. The policy implementation literature. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Degree Awarded: Fall Semester, 2010. / Date of Defense: October 18, 2010. / Higher Education Policy Implementation, Community College, Performance Policy, Implementation / Includes bibliographical references. / Lora Cohen-Vogel, Professor Directing Dissertation; Richard Feiock, University Representative; Patrice Iatarola, Committee Member; Stacey Rutledge, Committee Member.

Effortful control is an important developmental construct that has been associated with socio-emotional growth, academic performance, and psychopathological presentation. It is defined as the ability to execute goal directed behavior to inhibit or delay a prepotent response in favor of a subdominant response. The possibility that effortful control is comprised of multiple subordinate constructs can be presumed from extant research. The present study was conducted to determine whether tasks designed to measure effortful control can be described by hot (affectively salient) and cool (affectively neutral) dimensions, or is best understood as a single construct. Confirmatory factor analysis revealed that effortful control is best conceived of as unitary factor. / A Thesis submitted to the Department of Psychology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science. / Degree Awarded: Summer Semester, 2010. / Date of Defense: April 14, 2010. / Temperament, Emergent Literacy, Preschool / Includes bibliographical references. / Christopher J. Lonigan, Professor Directing Thesis; Mark Licht, Committee Member; Ralph Radach, Committee Member.

The purpose of the study was to examine the effects of two self-regulated learning strategies, assigning achievement goals to students (process or outcome) and self-monitoring of learning, on students' computer skill achievement and self-efficacy beliefs. Moreover, the study sought to identify the effect of students' initial goal orientations and interest in learning on their achievement, self-efficacy, and use of learning strategies. Participants in this study were 96 college students enrolled in four sections of an introductory course in educational technology. Students' ages ranged between 18 and 20, and majority of the students were females. Students' initial goal orientations, self-efficacy beliefs, their use of learning strategies, and interest in the subject matter were examined using the relevant sub-scales from the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ). Students' skills in writing simple and complex search statements for Internet search engines were measured using a 12-item posttest. Multiple regression analysis was used to test the main and interaction effects of the independent variables on the study's dependent measures. Three regression models, one for each dependent variable, were computed. Results of the study partly supported the hypotheses on the positive effect of goals and self-monitoring on the dependent variables of the study. Goals and self-monitoring had appositive effect on student's computer skill achievement on complex posttest items. However, the effect of goals and self-monitoring on computer self-efficacy and the use of learning strategies was not consistent with the hypothesized effect. Moreover, the hypotheses concerning the positive effect of interest and goal orientations on the dependent measures were not fully supported. Students' interest had a positive effect on students' computer self-efficacy and use of learning strategies, but its effect on complex computer skill achievement was not significant. Goal orientations did not have a significant effect on any of the dependent variables. Limitations concerning the methodology and results of the study and implications of this study for learning and instruction were discussed and suggestions for future research on computer skill learning, self-regulating learning strategies, and motivational variables were provided. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Educational Psychology and Learning Systems in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Degree Awarded: Spring Semester, 2004. / Date of Defense: December 4, 2003. / Instructional Systems Design, Self-Efficacy, Educational Technology, Curriculum and Instruction, Computer Education / Includes bibliographical references. / Robert Reiser, Professor Directing Dissertation; Neil Charness, Outside Committee Member; Akihito Kamata, Committee Member; Amy Baylor, Committee Member.

Memory performance benefits from reinstatement of the initial encoding context. When this reinstatement depends upon self-initiated processes, some people may be more likely to reinstate than others. The likelihood of engaging in self-initiated constrained retrieval may vary by degree of cognitive impulsivity. It may also vary according to instruction. Three experiments are presented that examine controlled retrieval processing among younger adults. Constrained retrieval may be an effortful strategy involving deliberate reflection. / A Thesis submitted to the Department of Psychology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science. / Degree Awarded: Summer Semester, 2010. / Date of Defense: April 21, 2010. / Memory Retrieval Processing, Constrained Retrieval, Self-initiated Processing, Context Reinstatement / Includes bibliographical references. / Colleen Kelley, Professor Directing Thesis; Paul Ward, Committee Member; Mark Licht, Committee Member.