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Title: Visual discrimination by C57BL/6J mice in water maze tasks: does size really matter?.
Creator: Buerger, Eric D., Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Department of Psychology
Abstract/Description: When interpreting how an animal "learns" discrimination tasks, strain capabilities must be considered, and it should be shown that they comprehend the task in a manner consistent with the given interpretation. A novel visual-discrimination (VD) task for relative-size-relations was used to examine visual cue use in C57BL/6J mice, which are shown to have biologically good vision and neurologically intact memory for VD tasks. Results suggest C57BL/6J strain may not be fully capable of relative...
Show moreWhen interpreting how an animal "learns" discrimination tasks, strain capabilities must be considered, and it should be shown that they comprehend the task in a manner consistent with the given interpretation. A novel visual-discrimination (VD) task for relative-size-relations was used to examine visual cue use in C57BL/6J mice, which are shown to have biologically good vision and neurologically intact memory for VD tasks. Results suggest C57BL/6J strain may not be fully capable of relative cue-size associations or even object recognition-based on a water maze VD task. This is in contrast to previous studies suggesting this mice strain is quite strong in visual skills and on VD tasks. Additionally, cue size and/or cue-pairings do appear to influence specific directional preferences or stereotyped behaviors as trainings continued, and these strategies shifted during novel probes. Future studies should assess how mice discriminate between objects and test rat's capabilities on this task.
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Date Issued: 2008
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/165670
Subject Headings: Visual discrimination, Form perception, Animal behavior, Simulation methods, Animals, Adaptation, Simulation methods
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: The influrence of language on recognition memory for motion.
Creator: Karaman, Ferhat., Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Department of Psychology
Abstract/Description: Satellite-framed languages and verb-framed languages differ in how they encode motion events. English encodes or lexicalizes Path in verb particles, prepositional phrases, or satellites associated with the main verb. In contrast, Turkish tends to encode Path in the main verb of a clause. When describing motion events, English speakers typically use verbs that convey information about manner rather than path, whereas Turkish speakers do the opposite. In this study, we investigated whether this...
Show moreSatellite-framed languages and verb-framed languages differ in how they encode motion events. English encodes or lexicalizes Path in verb particles, prepositional phrases, or satellites associated with the main verb. In contrast, Turkish tends to encode Path in the main verb of a clause. When describing motion events, English speakers typically use verbs that convey information about manner rather than path, whereas Turkish speakers do the opposite. In this study, we investigated whether this crosslinguistic difference between English and Turkish influences how the speakers of these languages perform in a non-linguistic recognition memory task. In a video description task, English speakers used more manner verbs in the main verb of sentences than Turkish speakers did. In the recognition memory task, English speakers attended more strongly than Turkish speakers did to path of motion. English and Turkish speakers attended equally to manner of motion, however, providing no support for the linguistic relativity hypothesis.
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Date Issued: 2013
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/3362478
Subject Headings: Psycholinguistics, Computational neuroscience, Cognitive psychology, Context effects (Psychology), Transference (Psychology), Motion segmentation
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: The influence of motion type on memory of simple events.
Creator: Berger, Johanna D., Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Department of Psychology
Abstract/Description: This experiment investigated an individual's memory of specific motion events, unique actor, intrinsic motion, and extrinsic motion combination. Intrinsic motions involve the movement of an individual's body parts in a specific manner to move around, while extrinsic motions specify a path in reference to an external object. Participants viewed video clips, each depicting an actor performing a unique extrinsic and intrinsic motion combination. One week later, they viewed a different series of...
Show moreThis experiment investigated an individual's memory of specific motion events, unique actor, intrinsic motion, and extrinsic motion combination. Intrinsic motions involve the movement of an individual's body parts in a specific manner to move around, while extrinsic motions specify a path in reference to an external object. Participants viewed video clips, each depicting an actor performing a unique extrinsic and intrinsic motion combination. One week later, they viewed a different series of retrieval video clips consisting of old (identical to encoding), extrinsic conjunction (extrinsic motion previously performed by different actor), intrinsic conjunction (intrinsic motion previously performed by different actor), and new (novel extrinsic or intrinsic motion) video clips. Participants responded "yes" to viewing the old video clips the most often, followed by conjunction video clips, and then new video clips. Furthermore, there were a greater number of "yes" event memory recognition responses for extrinsic conjunction items than intrinsic conjunction items.
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Date Issued: 2009
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/186673
Subject Headings: Recollection (Psychology), Context effects (Psychology), Memory, Research, Human information processing, Research, Transference (Psychology), Motion segmentation
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: The role of location information in identifying degraded objects.
Creator: Schlangen, Derrick, Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Department of Psychology
Abstract/Description: Across three experiments, we assessed how location and color information contributes to the identification of an object whose image has been degraded, making its identity ambiguous. In Experiment 1, some of the target objects had fixed locations within the scene. We found that subjects used this location information during search and later to identify the blurred target objects. In Experiment 2, we tested whether location and color information can be combined to identify degraded objects, and...
Show moreAcross three experiments, we assessed how location and color information contributes to the identification of an object whose image has been degraded, making its identity ambiguous. In Experiment 1, some of the target objects had fixed locations within the scene. We found that subjects used this location information during search and later to identify the blurred target objects. In Experiment 2, we tested whether location and color information can be combined to identify degraded objects, and results were inconclusive. In Experiment 3, both the location and color of each object was variable but statistically predictive of the object's identity. We found that subjects used both sources of information-color and location - equally when identifying the blurred image of the object. Overall, these findings suggest that location information may be as determining as intrinsic feature information to identify objects when the objects' intrinsic features are degraded.
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Date Issued: 2013
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/3361059
Subject Headings: Recognition (Psychology), Context effects (Psychology), Visual perception, Imagery (Psychology), Implicit learning
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: A neuropsychological examination of the effects of mindfulnesss meditation in elementary school children.
Creator: Klco, Sara Elizabeth., Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Department of Psychology
Abstract/Description: Many recent studies have confirmed that mindfulness meditation has wide ranging potential to improve the mental health and well-being of adults, though few studies have explored its potential to help younger populations. In the current study, a sample of 4th and 2nd grade students was trained in the techniques of mindfulness meditation. Baseline electroencephalograms (EEGs) were taken before the training, and again after a 10 week period of daily meditation practice. Measures of attention,...
Show moreMany recent studies have confirmed that mindfulness meditation has wide ranging potential to improve the mental health and well-being of adults, though few studies have explored its potential to help younger populations. In the current study, a sample of 4th and 2nd grade students was trained in the techniques of mindfulness meditation. Baseline electroencephalograms (EEGs) were taken before the training, and again after a 10 week period of daily meditation practice. Measures of attention, creativity, affect, depression, behavioral inhibition/activation, emotion regulation, impulsive/aggressive behaviors, and social anxiety were also administered before and after the meditation practice period. Results indicate that mindfulness meditation produces increased relative left-frontal alpha activation, a brain pattern that has been associated with increased positive affect and more adaptive coping responses to aversive events. Significant post-meditation improvements in depression and creativity were also found in the experimental condition.
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Date Issued: 2010
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/2100574
Subject Headings: Education, Humanistic, Meditation, Health aspects, Medicine, Psychosomatic, Mind and body, Self-esteem in children, Neuropsychology, Children, Counseling of, Creative thinking in children
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Using emotion-inducing film clips to measure emotional coordination.
Creator: Leong-Kee, Maureen Jane., Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Department of Psychology
Abstract/Description: Synchronization research reveals that those who are able to coordinate behavior in time are more likely to feel positively towards one another. Unlike previous research that has taken a linear approach, I examine the dynamical nature of individuals' emotional coordination by investigating the overlap in their moment-to-moment emotional responses to positive and negative events in the form of film clips. By using the mouse program, I develop a new relationship paradigm and find that this...
Show moreSynchronization research reveals that those who are able to coordinate behavior in time are more likely to feel positively towards one another. Unlike previous research that has taken a linear approach, I examine the dynamical nature of individuals' emotional coordination by investigating the overlap in their moment-to-moment emotional responses to positive and negative events in the form of film clips. By using the mouse program, I develop a new relationship paradigm and find that this measure is able to capture the nuances of emotional responses, and, more importantly, it is able to distinguish between relationship partners versus pairs of strangers. However, I am unable to determine that emotional coordination, as determined by smaller differences in mouse program data between partners, is related to relationship quality, as measured by their level of liking and loving (for romantic partners only) towards each other and their future expectancy of the relationship.
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Date Issued: 2009
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/367766
Subject Headings: Nonverbal communication, Interpersonal relations, Developmental psychology, Cognitive science, Sensitivity (Personal trait)
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Uncovering the role of the rodent dorsal hippocampus in spatial and object memory retrieval.
Creator: Rios, Lisa, Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Department of Psychology
Abstract/Description: Male C7BL/6J mice were implanted with bilateral dorsal CA1 guide cannulae. After confirming that intrahippocampal microinfusion of muscimol impaired hippocampal function, demonstrated by impaired performance in the Morris water maze, the influence of intrahippocampal muscimol was tested in the Novel Object Recognition paradigm. During a test session 24 h after the last habituation/sample session, mice were presented with one familiar object and one novel object. Successful retention of object...
Show moreMale C7BL/6J mice were implanted with bilateral dorsal CA1 guide cannulae. After confirming that intrahippocampal microinfusion of muscimol impaired hippocampal function, demonstrated by impaired performance in the Morris water maze, the influence of intrahippocampal muscimol was tested in the Novel Object Recognition paradigm. During a test session 24 h after the last habituation/sample session, mice were presented with one familiar object and one novel object. Successful retention of object memory was inferred if mice spent more time exploring the novel object than the familiar object. Results demonstrate that muscimol infused into dorsal CA1 region prior to the test session eliminates novel object preference, indicating that the hippocampus is necessary for the retrieval of this non-spatial memory - a topic that has garnered much debate. Understanding the similarities between rodent and human hippocampal function could enable future animal studies to effectively answer questions about diseases and disorders affecting human learning and memory.
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Date Issued: 2011
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3172696
Subject Headings: Rodents as laboratory animals, Memory, Research, Cellular signal transduction, Cognitive neuroscience, Hippocampus (Brain), Space perception
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Understanding narcissism and self-esteem in children: proposing a new conceptualization of narcissism.
Creator: Evans, Rachel., Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Department of Psychology
Abstract/Description: This study examined the empirical relationship between narcissism and self-esteem in an attempt to evaluate competing conceptualizations of narcissism. Participants were 236 children (mean age 11.3 years) in the fourth through eighth grades. Counter to earlier conceptions, which characterized narcissism as very high self-esteem, narcissism and self-esteem were slightly negatively correlated. Also, narcissism predicted several adjustment variables, including aggression. None of these...
Show moreThis study examined the empirical relationship between narcissism and self-esteem in an attempt to evaluate competing conceptualizations of narcissism. Participants were 236 children (mean age 11.3 years) in the fourth through eighth grades. Counter to earlier conceptions, which characterized narcissism as very high self-esteem, narcissism and self-esteem were slightly negatively correlated. Also, narcissism predicted several adjustment variables, including aggression. None of these relationships was mediated by self-esteem. Lastly, self-esteem moderated the relationship between narcissism and aggression in boys. Taken together, these lines of evidence point to a new conceptualization of narcissism, modeled after self-discrepancy theory, in which narcissism is conceptualized as grandiosity in the ideal self. Implications of this proposal and directions for future research are discussed.
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Date Issued: 2009
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/186767
Subject Headings: Self-esteem in children, Narcissism, Philosophy, Identity (Psychology), Affect (Psychology), Self (Philosophy), Borderline personality disorders in children
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Tracking infant attention to talking faces.
Creator: Tift, Amy H., Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Department of Psychology
Abstract/Description: Speech perception plays an important role in how infants begin to produce speech. This study aims to understand how changes in infant selective attention to various parts of talking faces guides their understanding of speech and subsequent production. In this study, we tracked infant (4-12 months of age) and adult gaze patterns to determine where on a face they attend, when hearing and seeing the face speak in either their native (English) or a non-native language (Spanish). We also tracked...
Show moreSpeech perception plays an important role in how infants begin to produce speech. This study aims to understand how changes in infant selective attention to various parts of talking faces guides their understanding of speech and subsequent production. In this study, we tracked infant (4-12 months of age) and adult gaze patterns to determine where on a face they attend, when hearing and seeing the face speak in either their native (English) or a non-native language (Spanish). We also tracked infant selective attention to moving-silent and silent-static faces, to determine if this would result in different patterns of attention. The findings suggest that there are two shifts in infant attention. The first shift occurs between four and eight months of age, with infants shifting their eyes to the mouth of the talking face. The second shift occurs around twelve months of age, when infants begin to return their gaze back to the eye region when hearing and seeing their native language, but continue to attend to the mouth region when hearing and seeing the non-native language. Overall, the results of this study suggest that changes in selective attention to talking faces guides the development of speech production and is dependent on early language experience.
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Date Issued: 2012
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3359157
Subject Headings: Child development, Visual perception in infants, Cognition in infants, Interpersonal communication in infants, Language acquisition
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: The effects of 3.4 methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) on mnemonic and executive measures and serotonergic neurotoxicity using interspecies effects scaling.
Creator: Linley, Stephanie Brooke., Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Department of Psychology
Abstract/Description: 3,4-methlenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), the main constituent of Ecstasy, is a ring-substituted amphetamine commonly abused in recreational users. High doses of MDMA determined by allometric scaling produce serotonin (5-HT) axon deneveration. Studies suggest that this interspecies scaling does not reflect human use. An 'effects' scale comparing similar behavioral and physiological effects between species has been postulated as more accurate for translational studies. Experiment 1 examined the...
Show more3,4-methlenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), the main constituent of Ecstasy, is a ring-substituted amphetamine commonly abused in recreational users. High doses of MDMA determined by allometric scaling produce serotonin (5-HT) axon deneveration. Studies suggest that this interspecies scaling does not reflect human use. An 'effects' scale comparing similar behavioral and physiological effects between species has been postulated as more accurate for translational studies. Experiment 1 examined the effects of MDMA on serotonergic forebrain innervation using immunohistochemical labeling targeting the serotonin transporter protein (SERT). Experiments 2 and 3 examined low and high doses of MDMA on spatial memory, prefrontal functioning, and serotonergic neurotoxicity using 'effects' scaling. Long Evans rats were given MDMA regimens of: chronic low dose (daily injections of 1.5 mg/kg for 10 days); binge low dose (2 days of 4 x 1.5 mg/kg spaced 2 hours apart), binge high dose (2 x 7.5 mg/kg sp aced 2 hours apart). Acquisition, retention, and spatial reversal (SR) were measured in a water maze task. A 2.0 mg/kg MDMA drug challenge was then given prior to a serial spatial reversal (SSR) task to assess performance while under the effect of the drug. Attentional set shifting and behavioral flexibility were assessed in an intradimensional extradimensionl (IED) task using odor/texture discriminations. MDMA chronic and binge low doses did not impair water maze or IED performance and produced no reductions in SERT expression. MDMA binge high dose resulted in significant reductions of SERT density in the prefrontal cortex, striatum, cortical mantle, hippocampus, amygdala, and many thalamic nuclei. Despite prominent 5-HT denervation, water maze performance was unaffected. Selective impairment in behavioral flexibility on the IED test was found., This suggests that low doses of MDMA do not produce long-term deleterious effects. But, high doses of MDMA taken in 'binges' produces widespread loss of forebrain SERT fiber innervation and significant impairments in reversal learning, while leaving attentional set shifting and spatial navigation unscathed.
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Date Issued: 2011
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3171679
Subject Headings: MDMA (Drug), Ecstasy (Drug), Psychological effect, Psychopharmacology, Methamphetamine abuse, Brain, Effect of drugs on, Psychotropic drugs, Side effects
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: An evolutionary psychological perspective on filicide and filicide-suicide.
Creator: Weekes, Viviana A., Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Department of Psychology
Abstract/Description: This dissertation focuses on using one tangible component of filicide, the method or weapon used by a parent to kill a child, as a means by which to understand parental psychology. An evolutionary psychological perspective (e.g., Buss, 2004; Bjorklund & Pellegrini, 2002; Daly & Wilson, 1988; Tooby & Cosmides, 1992) can provide insight into our understanding of filicide. Questions that have not been asked by previous researchers may come to the fore by using an evolutionary perspective as a...
Show moreThis dissertation focuses on using one tangible component of filicide, the method or weapon used by a parent to kill a child, as a means by which to understand parental psychology. An evolutionary psychological perspective (e.g., Buss, 2004; Bjorklund & Pellegrini, 2002; Daly & Wilson, 1988; Tooby & Cosmides, 1992) can provide insight into our understanding of filicide. Questions that have not been asked by previous researchers may come to the fore by using an evolutionary perspective as a guide for investigating filicide and its surrounding circumstances and contexts. I present the results of three empirical studies using archival data on filicides recorded in Chicago, Illinois. In Study 1, I present the results of an investigation of parental psychological differences evidenced by the methods of filicide, for filicides recorded between 1965 and 1994. The key results of Study 1 are: (a) while overall (i.e., non-genetic and genetic parents combined), beating was the method of filicide used most often, the percentage of filicides committed by non-genetic parents by beating significantly exceeded the percentage of filicides committed by genetic parents; (b) in contrast, the percentage of filicides committed by non-genetic parents by asphyxiation was significantly less than the percentage of filicides committed by genetic parents. In Studies 2A and 2B, I present the results of an investigation using the 1965-1994 dataset as well as a dataset of filicides-suicides recorded between 1870 and 1930. The key results of these two studies indicate that filicide-suicide may be more likely to occur in certain contexts (e.g., multiple-victim killings) and in certain circumstances (e.g., following paternal filicide). In the final chapter, I discuss the key findings, identify limitations of the current research, and present several future directions for research.
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Date Issued: 2011
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3322510
Subject Headings: Children, Crimes against, Abused children, Mortality, Filicide, Suicide, Abusive parents, Psychology, Family violence
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: The effects of language proficiency and task type on executive function and working memory performance in bilingual adults.
Creator: Lalwani, Laxmi N., Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Department of Psychology
Abstract/Description: Research shows that bilingualism confers substantial cognitive benefits in children and the elderly. Bilingual advantages on nonverbal working memory, updating, shifting and inhibition tasks are widely reported. However, advantages are not always observed in young adults. These disparities may be due to varied proficiency levels and task types (verbal versus nonverbal) administered. This study sought to detect bilingual performance advantages on executive function and working memory tasks ...
Show moreResearch shows that bilingualism confers substantial cognitive benefits in children and the elderly. Bilingual advantages on nonverbal working memory, updating, shifting and inhibition tasks are widely reported. However, advantages are not always observed in young adults. These disparities may be due to varied proficiency levels and task types (verbal versus nonverbal) administered. This study sought to detect bilingual performance advantages on executive function and working memory tasks (verbal and nonverbal working memory, updating, shifting and inhibition tasks) between groups of 37 high and 37 low proficiency Spanish-English bilingual and 40 English monolingual young adults. ... Young adulthood may represent a lull during which bilingualism does not confer cognitive advantages for functions examined.
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Date Issued: 2012
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3358602
Subject Headings: Bilingualism, Psychological aspects, Psycholinguistics, Cognition, Memory, Cognitive psychology
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: The effects of target entitativity and group affiliation on the processing of persuasive messages.
Creator: Balazs, Karoly I., Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Department of Psychology
Abstract/Description: This research addresses the question of whether individuals or groups induce deeper message processing of persuasive messages. An interaction between group entitativity and whether the group is an ingroup or an outgroup is predicted, where ingroups low on entitativity and outgroups high on entitativity are expected to induce deeper message processing. Entitativity measures the extent an aggregate of people is seen as a group (D. T. Campbell, 1958). Previous research shows contradictory...
Show moreThis research addresses the question of whether individuals or groups induce deeper message processing of persuasive messages. An interaction between group entitativity and whether the group is an ingroup or an outgroup is predicted, where ingroups low on entitativity and outgroups high on entitativity are expected to induce deeper message processing. Entitativity measures the extent an aggregate of people is seen as a group (D. T. Campbell, 1958). Previous research shows contradictory results. S. G. Harkins and R. E. Petty (1987) have shown that high entitativity causes more message focus than low entitativity. R. J. Rydell and A. R. McConnell (2005) have shown that low entitativity causes more message focus than high entitativity. Hypotheses were not supported by the data. Post hoc analyses suggest that motivation to process persons and messages was greatest in the high entitativity ingroup condition. Predictions were revised by adding motivation as a variable.
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Date Issued: 2010
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/2100578
Subject Headings: Stereotypes (Social psychology), Communication, Social aspects, Interpersonal communication, Philosophy, Social perception, Persuasion (Psychology)
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: The effect of spatial attention on pupil dynamics.
Creator: Daniels, Lori B., Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Department of Psychology
Abstract/Description: Although it is well known that the pupil responds dynamically to changes in ambient light levels, the results from this dissertation show for the first time that the pupil also responds dynamically to changes in spatially distributed attention. Using a variety of orientating tasks, subjects alternated between focusing attention on a central stimulus and spreading attention over a larger area. Fourier analysis of the fluctuating pupil diameter indicated that: 1) pupil diameter changed at the...
Show moreAlthough it is well known that the pupil responds dynamically to changes in ambient light levels, the results from this dissertation show for the first time that the pupil also responds dynamically to changes in spatially distributed attention. Using a variety of orientating tasks, subjects alternated between focusing attention on a central stimulus and spreading attention over a larger area. Fourier analysis of the fluctuating pupil diameter indicated that: 1) pupil diameter changed at the rate of attention variation, dilating with broadly spread attention and contracting with narrowly focused attention, and 2) pupillary differences required changes in attentional spread; there were no differences in pupil diameter between sustained broad and sustained spread attention. Given that broadly spread attention increases the relative activation of large receptive fields and narrowly focused attention increases the relative activation of small receptive fields (Balz & Hock, 1997), the results of this study indicate that these attentional effects on receptive field activation can be mediated by changes in pupil diameter. That is, under broad attention, the corresponding pupillary dilation observed would increase spherical aberration, blurring the image thereby reducing high spatial frequency information and decreasing the activation of relatively small cortical receptive fields compared to relatively large receptive fields. This increased perception of low spatial frequencies would be beneficial in cases where attention is spread over a large area. Alternatively, under narrow attention the resulting pupillary constriction reduces spherical aberration sharpening the image and preserving high spatial frequency information resulting in a relatively increased response of small receptive fields.
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Date Issued: 2010
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/1870692
Subject Headings: Visual perception, Eye, Physiology, Optics, Adaptive, Visual pathways
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: The downside of self-esteem stability: does stability impede flexibility?.
Creator: Wiese, Susan L., Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Department of Psychology
Abstract/Description: Self-concept stability was tested in three studies to examine the relationship between stability in one's self-concept and the ability to adapt to changes in the social environment. Much of the literature on the topic of self-stability emphasizes the functional benefits of stability and the negative outcomes associated with instability. Dynamical systems theory purports however that stability in a dynamical system is indicative of a loss of complexity that limits the range of the systems...
Show moreSelf-concept stability was tested in three studies to examine the relationship between stability in one's self-concept and the ability to adapt to changes in the social environment. Much of the literature on the topic of self-stability emphasizes the functional benefits of stability and the negative outcomes associated with instability. Dynamical systems theory purports however that stability in a dynamical system is indicative of a loss of complexity that limits the range of the systems behavior. Accordingly, this series of studies tests the idea that a stable self-system may have a more limited range of behaviors than unstable self-systems and this may have implications for adapting to changes in one's social environment. The overarching hypothesis is that compared to those with less stable self-views, those with stable self-views will demonstrate lower levels of flexibility of behavior in response to changing social demands. Study 1 assessed the dynamics of participants' evaluations by asking them to complete a self-descriptive recording and evaluate their self-descriptions using the mouse paradigm procedure. Participants also completed a series of questionnaires assessing personality factors and behavioral and cognitive flexibility. Study 2 expanded on the first study by adding a well-validated measure of self-esteem stability and a social conceptualization of behavioral flexibility. Study 3 tested participants' willingness to demonstrate behavioral flexibility in an actual social situation and examined the effects of stress on the relationship between stability and flexibility., Results suggest that those with more stable self-concepts demonstrate less flexibility in response to their social environment than those whose self-concepts are less stable and that stress tends to amplify this relationship. Future research is also recommended to achieve a fuller understanding of stability in the self-system and its implications for social functioning.
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Date Issued: 2010
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/2683204
Subject Headings: Self-esteem, Psychological aspects, Adjustment (Psychology), Social interaction, Self-determination, Identity (Psychology)
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: The effect of mindfulness meditation intervention on attention, affect, anxiety, mindfulness, and salivary cortisol in school children.
Creator: Corbett, Maria L., Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Department of Psychology
Abstract/Description: The current study utilized a quasi-experimental nonequivalent groups design to investigate whether a 5-week long Mindfulness Meditation Intervention (MMI), would impact measures of attention, positive and negative affect, state and test anxiety, mindfulness, and reactive cortisol levels in 107 school aged children. A series of reliability corrected ANCOVAs were performed on all behavioral variables. Results indicated that those in the MMI group did not differ from their cohorts on any of the...
Show moreThe current study utilized a quasi-experimental nonequivalent groups design to investigate whether a 5-week long Mindfulness Meditation Intervention (MMI), would impact measures of attention, positive and negative affect, state and test anxiety, mindfulness, and reactive cortisol levels in 107 school aged children. A series of reliability corrected ANCOVAs were performed on all behavioral variables. Results indicated that those in the MMI group did not differ from their cohorts on any of the behavioral measures. Reactive levels of salivary cortisol were also collected and assayed in a subsample of 25 participants. An ANCOVA on cortisol change scores was performed and findings did not reach statistical significance. Post-hoc power analyses revealed that this could be due to inadequate sample size. To conclude studies utilizing a MMI of longer duration or with larger sample sizes may be required in assessing the usefulness of MMIs in behavioral and physiological measures in non-clinical child populations.
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Date Issued: 2011
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3332185
Subject Headings: Mood (Psychology), Physiological aspects, Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy, Meditation, Therapeutic use, Stress (Psychology), Stress management
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: The developmental effect of the presence of a recipient in a modified dictator game.
Creator: Grotuss, Jason., Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Department of Psychology
Abstract/Description: Economic game theory has been a challenge to traditional models of selfish human nature. Resource acquisition games, such as the dictator game, which have been primarily played by adults, have revealed that humans are inclined to share even when it is not in their best interest to do so. Few studies have been conducted on the development of resource distribution in children, and fewer still have explored the effect of context and level of involvement of a second player in such games. In the...
Show moreEconomic game theory has been a challenge to traditional models of selfish human nature. Resource acquisition games, such as the dictator game, which have been primarily played by adults, have revealed that humans are inclined to share even when it is not in their best interest to do so. Few studies have been conducted on the development of resource distribution in children, and fewer still have explored the effect of context and level of involvement of a second player in such games. In the current study, 179 children from kindergarten, first, and second grades participated in a modified dictator game with another player. Children were randomly assigned to one of four conditions; a control condition, where they played individually with an anonymous player, or one of three experimental conditions with two players who each played with varying levels of involvement with the second player. It was found that kindergarteners shared significantly less across conditions than first and second graders, with first and second graders sharing similar amounts. The presence of another player significantly increased the amount of sharing for all grades. Additionally, second players shared significantly less than first players. Developmental and contextual patterns of sharing are discussed.
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Date Issued: 2011
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3332258
Subject Headings: Cooperativeness, Behavior evolution, Game theory, Social interaction, Economics, Moral and ethical aspects, Economics, Psychological aspects, Negotiation, Research, Strategic planning
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: The developmental costs of high self-esteem.
Creator: Menon, Madhavi, Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Department of Psychology
Abstract/Description: Two potential developmental costs of high self-esteem were investigated. One was that high self-esteem leads children to act on antisocial cognitions (the disposition activating hypothesis). The other was that high self-esteem leads children to rationalize antisocial conduct (the disposition-rationalizing hypothesis). Both hypotheses were explored in two longitudinal studies with preadolescents. In Study 1 (N = 189) the antisocial behavior was aggression; in Study 2 (N = 407) the antisocial...
Show moreTwo potential developmental costs of high self-esteem were investigated. One was that high self-esteem leads children to act on antisocial cognitions (the disposition activating hypothesis). The other was that high self-esteem leads children to rationalize antisocial conduct (the disposition-rationalizing hypothesis). Both hypotheses were explored in two longitudinal studies with preadolescents. In Study 1 (N = 189) the antisocial behavior was aggression; in Study 2 (N = 407) the antisocial behavior under focus was avoidance of the mother. There was little evidence for the disposition-activating hypothesis in either study but considerable support for the disposition-rationalizing hypothesis in both studies. Over time, aggressive children with high self-esteem increasingly valued the rewards that aggression offers and belittled their victims, and avoidant children with high self-esteem increasingly viewed their mother as harassing and uninvolved. Results therefore suggest that for antisocial children, high self-esteem carries costs, for both themselves and others.
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Date Issued: 2007
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/42773
Subject Headings: Self in children, Self, Social aspects, Identity (Psychology), Self-defeating behavior, Medicine and psychology
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: The development of mother-infant communication through touch and gaze patterns in depressed and non-depressed breast-and bottle-feeding dyads.
Creator: Sader, Jillian., Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Department of Psychology
Abstract/Description: The present study examined developmental changes in the establishment of mother-infant tactile and visual communication within depressed and non-depressed breast- and bottlefeeding dyads. 113 (30 depressed, 83 non-depressed mothers) mother-infant dyads participated at the 1-month visit and 87 dyads returned at the 3-month lab visit. Maternal mood status was assessed. EEG recordings were taken from the infants at mid-frontal, central, parietal and occipital sites. Mothers and their infants...
Show moreThe present study examined developmental changes in the establishment of mother-infant tactile and visual communication within depressed and non-depressed breast- and bottlefeeding dyads. 113 (30 depressed, 83 non-depressed mothers) mother-infant dyads participated at the 1-month visit and 87 dyads returned at the 3-month lab visit. Maternal mood status was assessed. EEG recordings were taken from the infants at mid-frontal, central, parietal and occipital sites. Mothers and their infants were videotaped during a 5- minute feeding. The feeding session was coded for touch and gaze, utilizing coding scales similar to those of Polan and Ward (1994) and Moszkowski and Stack (2007). Infant self-touch significantly predicted infant EEG asymmetry scores. Non-depressed and depressed breast-feeding mothers displayed more affectionate touch while depressed bottle-feeding mothers displayed an absence of touch.
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Date Issued: 2011
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3172700
Subject Headings: Pediatric neuropsychology, Child development, Parent and child, Interpersonal communication, Developmental psychology
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: The development of jealousy.
Creator: Blau, Alexis K., Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Department of Psychology
Abstract/Description: Jealousy is a response to a situation in which a person feels a combination of different emotions, such as love, anger, sadness and fear when an affectionate interaction is happening between a loved one and someone else. This paper discusses the definition and onset of infant jealousy, the physiological basis of jealousy, whether maternal factors play a role, as well as studies on jealousy and EEG patterns. It has been argued that infants, as young as six-months-old display jealous-like...
Show moreJealousy is a response to a situation in which a person feels a combination of different emotions, such as love, anger, sadness and fear when an affectionate interaction is happening between a loved one and someone else. This paper discusses the definition and onset of infant jealousy, the physiological basis of jealousy, whether maternal factors play a role, as well as studies on jealousy and EEG patterns. It has been argued that infants, as young as six-months-old display jealous-like behaviors. During jealousy evocation conditions, infants demonstrate negative emotions such as protesting or crying, diminished distancing, and heightened gaze toward their mother during maternal inattention. Approach/withdrawal behaviors and electroencephalography (EEG) activation were studied in the context of an infant jealousy paradigm. In this investigation, 45 mother-infants dyads were exposed to a social versus non-social condition during maternal inattention. During the social condition, infants demonstrated increased approach-style gaze and reach and negative affect. EEG was collected during all conditions on a subsample of 15 infants and in agreement with adult jealousy literature (Harmon-Jones, Peterson, & Harris, 2009), infants displayed left midfrontal EEG asymmetry, and displayed more approach motivations during the social doll condition indicative of jealousy approach motivations.
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Date Issued: 2010
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/2953203
Subject Headings: Jealousy, Psychological aspects, Emotions and cognition, Parent and infant, Behavioral assessment of infants, Social perception in children
Format: Document (PDF)

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