<p> Chronic unemployment is one of the top stressors in life that affects an individual&rsquo;s income, identity and self-worth, emotional and physical health, and personal relationships. At the extreme, the stressors are associated with an increased risk of suicide. While the damaging effects of chronic unemployment are extensive, not everyone experiences such negative consequences. The focus of research has primarily been on the negative impact rather than exploring what may account for the differences in the ways that individuals adapt, such as the intelligent use of positive emotions. Researchers using quantitative methods have identified significant correlations among emotional intelligence (EI), positive emotions, and coping. The problem is that the results have not provided an understanding of the deliberate use of positive emotions to cope with stress. The purpose of this qualitative, hermeneutic (interpretative), phenomenological study was to provide a rich, contextual understanding of the processes by which individuals activated and utilized positive emotions via EI to cope with the multiple stressors associated with chronic unemployment. A purposeful sample of six adults receiving services from the Milwaukee, Wisconsin Job Center and unemployed for a period of 6 months or more participated in the study. The researcher conducted semi-structured interviews to collect the data. The data was analyzed using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). The identified themes underscored the importance of providing support services to extend vocational interventions and can be used to inform policy makers of changes needed in unemployment programs. Second, the use of a phenomenological approach to examine the confidence in the ability to use emotions and the ability to activate and use positive emotions provided support for the proposition that the broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions (PE) facilitates the application of trait EI and the deliberate use of positive emotions to cope with stress.</p>

<p> This thesis documents a correlational study of wayfinding experience and survey and route knowledge in a large, complex building. Twelve patient transport personnel who work in a very large, regional hospital facility participated as wayfinding subject matter experts. This correlational study addresses three primary research questions. Do more experienced patient transport personnel have more accurate survey knowledge of a large, complex building than less experienced patient transport personnel? Do more experienced patient transport personnel have more accurate route knowledge of a large, complex building than less experienced patient transport personnel? Do more experienced patient transport personnel choose more efficient routes in a large, complex building than less experienced patient transport personnel? The study measures survey knowledge using a pointing task and a mapping task. The study measures route knowledge and route efficiency using a route diagramming task. Linear and nonlinear regression analyses are used to analyze the data. The results of this study may contribute to a deeper understanding of the relationship between wayfinding experience and survey and route knowledge, as well as offer insights into how to better design wayfinding training materials and methods and building signage.</p>

<p> Boundary extension is a perceptual phenomenon in which people remember more of a scene than they actually saw. This effect is very robust, found in subjects of all ages, and observed as rapidly as 1/20th of a second after scene onset. Due to several factors, including the rapid onset, boundary extension is thought to be an automatic process. However, some studies have indicated that attentional factors may influence the effect. This study examined the idea that differences in attention may alter the degree of boundary extension. Specifically, the current study investigated the automaticity of boundary extension by altering the attentional resources allocated to an image. This was manipulated in two ways. First, the location of the objects in the scene were placed either centrally or peripherally. Second, the categorical distinctiveness of the objects in the scene was manipulated such that half of the images contained a single distinctive object while the other half contained none. Including distinctive objects in the picture plane should entice participants to more deeply process the images, thus attenuate boundary extension. Individual differences in need for cognition and field dependence/independence were also considered. These additional scales allowed for the examination of individual differences in information processing styles in relation to the boundary extension error. Results indicate the relationship between these factors is complex, but that in general, increased attention reduces the degree of reported boundary extension. </p>

<p> MBCT has been successful in preventing depressive relapse. However, its efficacy has not been studied in non-mental health settings for stress, affect, and level of mindfulness. In this study, participants were selected on a volunteer basis after enrolling in an 8-week Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) group at a health and wellness center. Prior to beginning the group, participants completed the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), Positive/Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) and the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS). Participants completed the PSS, PANAS, and MAAS after week four, and at the completion of the eight-week course. Twenty-two participants were included in the study. Results were computed with a one-way repeated measures ANOVA. Post hoc pairwise comparisons or paired-samples t-tests, where appropriate, were computed to examine the specificity of changes over time. Descriptive data was gathered including demographic data and homework compliance. The following two follow-up questions were included for further descriptive data: 1) On a scale of 1-10 (1 = not at all important, 10 =extremely important), how important has this program been for you? 2) Please say why you gave it that rating. Results revealed decreases in perceived stress, increased positive affect, decreased negative affect, and increased overall level of mindfulness by week eight. Qualitative data supported the empirical data. This data suggests MBCT may serve as a cost effective method for managing stress and providing useful skills in the daily lives of individuals in non-clinical and/or community populations.</p>

<p> Prior research has shown that people perceive items in a larger font size as being more memorable than items in a smaller font size. This perception leads to higher judgments of learning (JOLs; i.e., confidence ratings regarding the likelihood of recalling an item) for larger font size items than smaller font size items. Yet other research has shown that people recalled more when the information was presented in a smaller font than when it was presented in a larger font size. The present study examined if there are boundary conditions of font sizes affecting JOLs and actual recall performance. As we expected, the results show that JOLs increased as a function of the size category. The results also show that font size impacted recall performance such that items in the Smallest size category were recalled at a higher rate than items in the other three font size categories.</p>

<p> The neural substrate of interactions of working memory (WM) with socio-emotional processing is poorly understood in schizophrenia. This study builds on published papers using a delayed match to sample design to study the interaction of WM load with type of distracter (socially relevant faces vs. socially irrelevant geometric designs [FvG]) presented briefly during the WM maintenance period. Based on previously published findings, we hypothesize: (1) The FvG difference in brain activity in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) in the task maintenance period will be largest at the highest WM load. (2) Among schizophrenia/ schizoaffective patients and healthy controls the magnitude of the face vs. geometric design (FvG) contrast in brain activity in the amygdala during the task maintenance period will follow a quadratic pattern across WM load when averaged over face type. (3) Among schizophrenia patients, the magnitude of the FvG contrast in brain activity in the amygdala and DLPFC at the greatest WM load will be correlated with negative symptoms. </p><p> Individuals between the ages of 18-55 diagnosed with schizophrenia/schizoaffective disorder (N = 12) and non-psychiatric controls (N = 20) matched with the patients on age, gender, paternal education and paternal socioeconomic status underwent structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). To assess the effect of implicit socioemotional modulation on brain activity during WM, the effect of facial distraction on brain activation was assessed for WM of pseudowords at three syllable loads (1, 2, and 3) across several face valence types and contrasted with the effect of a geometric distracter. </p><p> Results: Although patients performed significantly above chance, they were less accurate than controls with no difference in response latency. When the FvG contrast was tested for response latency, we observed a significant quadratic effect of WM load in healthy controls but a linear effect among patients. Similar patterns were found for response accuracy but were not statistically significant. With regard to neural activity, we found a significant bilateral linear trend of percent signal change on WM load for the FvG contrast in the DLPFC. among controls, with brain activation to faces greater than activation to designs only at the highest WM load. In the amygdala we observed a significant bilateral quadratic effect of percent signal change on WM load for the FvG contrast in the control group. We observed a significant difference in neural activation patterns in patients compared to controls in the DLPFC and the amygdala. Specifically, in patients, we observed a quadratic instead of a linear trend in the DLPFC but only in the right hemisphere. In the amygdala, the patients displayed a quadratic trend also only in the right hemisphere. In neither controls nor patients did individual differences in the quadratic effect of brain activity in the amygdala correlate with the quadratic effect in response time or accuracy. Although the correlation between the magnitude of the quadratic trend in the right amygdala at the highest WM load with general psychopathology was moderately large in patients, neither this effect nor any other brain activation effects were significantly correlated with psychopathology. </p><p> Confirming hypothesis one, controls showed the largest difference in brain activity of the FvG contrast in the DLPFC during the maintenance period at the highest WM load. However, in patients we saw significantly decreased percent signal change in DLPFC at the highest WM load on the FvG contrast in the maintenance period. For hypothesis two we observed a quadratic pattern of WM load on the FvG contrast in the maintenance period for both controls and patients, although this effect was only present in the right hemisphere of patients. Furthermore, contrary to hypothesis 3 we did not observe significant correlations between symptom severity and the magnitude of the FvG contrast in brain activity in the amygdala and DLPFC at the greatest WM load. These results suggest a separate process of social-discrimination is taking place in controls. However, this process appears to be impaired in individuals with schizophrenia. This disruption may be due to poor integration of different brain areas and interhemispheric communication. (Abstract shortened by ProQuest.) </p>

<p> The current study investigated the effectiveness of using a brief mindfulness intervention for reducing test anxiety with college students, with the related goals of increasing level of mindfulness and increasing performance on a word list recall task. The effectiveness of incorporating an environmental cue, meant to act as a reminder for participants to engage in mindfulness, was also explored. Sixty-four college students were assigned to one of four groups: each group differed according to the presence or absence of the mindfulness training and environmental cue. Participants receiving mindfulness training could choose to participate in up to four 30-minute mindfulness training sessions over a two-week period. Each participant was assessed for level of test anxiety, level of mindfulness, and number of correct words recalled from a word list recall task both before and after the mindfulness training. Difference scores revealed no significant main effects or interactions related to the availability of mindfulness training or the presence of an environmental cue. However, both groups that received mindfulness training saw non-significant increases in level of mindfulness while decreases in mindfulness were seen for the groups that did not receive training. Exploratory analyses in regards to relationships found for both pre-test and post-test measures revealed significant correlations, such that as test anxiety scores decreased, mindfulness scores increased. Other interesting relationships included a positive correlation between test anxiety and the mindfulness Observing subscale, such that higher levels of test anxiety are associated with a student&rsquo;s increased ability to notice their inner experiences, and a negative correlation between the test anxiety Emotionality subscale and the mindfulness Nonjudging subscale, such that decreased autonomic responses, are associated with a student&rsquo;s increased ability to not judge those inner experiences. Implications for future research and limitations of the current study are discussed.</p>

<p> The thesis that perceptual experience is transparent has received considerable air-time in contemporary philosophy of mind and perception. Debate over its truth-value has reached an impasse. I diagnose this mired debate, and pursue a reformulation of the &ldquo;transparency thesis&rdquo; such that it can be more readily evaluated form the perspective of perceptual psychology and related subdisciplines. I argue that the empirical methods characteristic of these disciplines are important for evaluating the transparency thesis. Both historical and contemporary empirical results but substantial pressure on the transparency thesis.</p>

<p> The linguistic relativity hypothesis argues that language influences non-linguistic cognition. One version of the hypothesis suggests that language is a set of tools or technologies that variously enhance or dampen an individual&rsquo;s capacity to perceive and operate upon the world in certain ways. A domain in which this may be tested is number, where it is hypothesized that counting language allows us to bridge our innate capacities for recognizing small exact quantities (subitizing) and approximating quantities larger than three or four (analog magnitude estimation). To test this, previous studies have asked adult participants who have limited or no access to counting language to re-present non-symbolic exact quantities&mdash;that is, for participants to create an array of objects equal in number to a target array of objects presented to the participant. In these studies, both English-speakers whose access to number language was artificially compromised by verbal interference and the Pirah&atilde;&mdash;an Amazonian tribe whose language does not contain exact number words&mdash;appeared to rely on analog magnitude estimation for representing non-symbolic exact quantities greater than three. This suggests that the ability to consistently and accurately recognize and re-present non-symbolic exact quantities is impaired by having limited or no access to counting language. Here, sixteen participants with left-hemisphere damage from stroke and resulting aphasia performed the same five non-verbal, non-symbolic matching tasks from these previous studies. It was expected that coefficients of variation for particular tasks, and correlations between target magnitude with both respect to both error rate and error size across tasks, would suggest use of analog magnitude estimation by these verbally impaired participants. Participants also completed three additional number tasks (number elicitation, confrontation naming with Arabic numerals, and a count list recitation task) and a subset of participants completed nonverbal semantic processing and short-term memory tasks (<i>Pyramids and Palm Trees</i> and a verbal semantic category probe) to better understand errors on nonverbal matching tasks. Results indicated that for people with aphasia, non-symbolic exact quantity representation was more difficult than for people without aphasia, except when target quantities were presented in subitizable groups. Overall, participants made more frequent and larger errors when representing larger quantities and struggled when the target was not visible. Participants who had difficulty with tasks where the target was visible during response also had difficulty with tasks where the target was <i>not</i> visible during response. However, another group of participants only had difficulty with tasks where the target was not visible during response. Additionally, participants who had difficulty with non-verbal aphasia assessment subtests were more likely to err on non-symbolic exact quantity representation tasks where the target was visible during response, while participants who had difficulty with aphasia assessment subtests that required verbal responses were more likely to err on non-symbolic exact quantity representation tasks where the target was not visible during response. These results, alongside correlations with aphasia assessment battery performance, suggest that (1) accuracy on non-symbolic exact quantity matching tasks where the target is visible on response rely more heavily on visuospatial abilities than on language or memory; (2) tasks involving subitizing small exact quantities do not appear to require the same visuospatial capacities; and (3) non-symbolic exact quantity matching tasks where the target is not visible on response rely upon language and memory abilities&mdash;especially the capacity for verbal counting. Taken together, these findings reinforce the notion that verbal counting facilitates the consistent and accurate recognition and representation of exact quantities larger than three or four by bridging innate human capacities for subitizing and analog magnitude estimation. Overall, the present results further inform our understanding of tasks previously used to understand the relationship between language and number in a culture lacking words for number concepts.</p><p>

<p> Existing evidence has shown that symptoms of depression, anxiety, stress, ADHD, and low self-esteem are each associated with an inability to successfully complete tasks involving executive function and self-regulation. One hypothesis is that this cognitive dysfunction, often related to set-shifting and inhibition, may be connected to rumination. The purpose of our study was to determine whether the difficulties with attentional tasks that are associated with rumination are primarily due to limitations in resource allocation or to difficulties with processing affective content. We also wanted to explore the potential connections between rumination and other psychopathologies; therefore, participants completed questionnaires related to depression, anxiety, stress, ADHD, low self-esteem, and ruminative tendencies and were categorized for purposes of data analysis as having either high or low symptomatology. Participants were then given one three thought inductions followed by an affective shift task where they were asked to shift between responding to positive and negative stimuli either in the form of emotional nouns or personally-relevant adjectives. The results of six mixed-design ANOVAs for reaction times, errors, and omissions (three associated with responses to emotional nouns and three associated with responses to personally-relevant adjectives) conducted both with and without the between subjects&rsquo; variable of psychopathology revealed that the difficulties in set-shifting and inhibition often associated with rumination are likely due to difficulties with processing affective content. Clinical treatments that are likely to be effective for individuals experiencing ruminative thought should encourage mindful processing of such thoughts. By instilling a habitual pattern of thinking that is less self-critical, attentional biases for negative stimuli can become diminished and more task-relevant, positive stimuli can be attended to.</p><p>