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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: 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 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: Large-Scale Cortical Functional Connectivity Underlying Visuospatial Attention.
Creator: Meehan, Timothy Patrick, Bressler, Steven L., Florida Atlantic University, Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Center for Complex Systems and Brain Sciences
Abstract/Description: The endogenous, or voluntary, control of visuospatial attention relies upon interactions within a frontoparietal dorsal attention network (DAN) and this network’s top-down influence on visual occipital cortex (VOC). While these interactions have been shown to occur during attention tasks, they are also known to occur to some extent at rest, but the degree to which task-related interactions reflect either modulation or reorganization of such ongoing intrinsic interactions is poorly understood....
Show moreThe endogenous, or voluntary, control of visuospatial attention relies upon interactions within a frontoparietal dorsal attention network (DAN) and this network’s top-down influence on visual occipital cortex (VOC). While these interactions have been shown to occur during attention tasks, they are also known to occur to some extent at rest, but the degree to which task-related interactions reflect either modulation or reorganization of such ongoing intrinsic interactions is poorly understood. In addition, it is known that in spatial neglect—a syndrome following unilateral brain lesions in which patients fail to attend to the contralesional side of space—symptom severity covaries with disruptions to intrinsic interhemispheric interactions between left and right homologous regions of the DAN; however, similar covariance with disruptions to intrahemispheric interactions within the DAN, and between the DAN and VOC, has not been demonstrated. These issues are addressed herein via the measurement of both undirected and directed functional connectivity (UFC, DFC) within the DAN and between the DAN and VOC. UFC and DFC were derived from correlations of, and multivariate vector autoregressive modeling of, fMRI BOLD time-series, respectively. Time-series were recorded from individuals performing an anticipatory visuospatial attention task and individuals at rest, as well as from stroke patients either with or without neglect and age-matched healthy controls. With regard to the first issue, the results show that relative to rest, top-down DAN-to-VOC influence and within-DAN coupling are elevated during task performance, but also that intrinsic connectivity patterns are largely preserved during the task. With regard to the second issue, results show that interhemispheric imbalances of intrahemispheric UFC and DFC both within the DAN and between the DAN and VOC strongly correlate with neglect severity, and may co-occur with functional decoupling of the hemispheres. This work thus demonstrates that the intrinsic functional integrity of the DAN and its relationship to VOC is crucial for the endogenous control of visuospatial attention during tasks, and that the compromise of this integrity due to stroke likely plays a role in producing spatial neglect.
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Date Issued: 2016
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004613
Subject Headings: Cognitive neuroscience., Sensorimotor integration., Space perception., Selectivity (Psychology), Recognition (Psychology), Brain mapping.
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Informational Aspects of Audiovisual Identity Matching.
Creator: Mavica, Lauren Wood, Barenholtz, Elan, Florida Atlantic University, Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Department of Psychology
Abstract/Description: In this study, we investigated what informational aspects of faces could account for the ability to match an individual’s face to their voice, using only static images. In each of the first six experiments, we simultaneously presented one voice recording along with two manipulated images of faces (e.g. top half of the face, bottom half of the face, etc.), a target face and distractor face. The participant’s task was to choose which of the images they thought belonged to the same individual as...
Show moreIn this study, we investigated what informational aspects of faces could account for the ability to match an individual’s face to their voice, using only static images. In each of the first six experiments, we simultaneously presented one voice recording along with two manipulated images of faces (e.g. top half of the face, bottom half of the face, etc.), a target face and distractor face. The participant’s task was to choose which of the images they thought belonged to the same individual as the voice recording. The voices remained un-manipulated. In Experiment 7 we used eye tracking in order to determine which informational aspects of the model’s faces people are fixating while performing the matching task, as compared to where they fixate when there are no immediate task demands. We presented a voice recording followed by two static images, a target and distractor face. The participant’s task was to choose which of the images they thought belonged to the same individual as the voice recording, while we tracked their total fixation duration. In the no-task, passive viewing condition, we presented a male’s voice recording followed sequentially by two static images of female models, or vice versa, counterbalanced across participants. Participant’s results revealed significantly better than chance performance in the matching task when the images presented were the bottom half of the face, the top half of the face, the images inverted upside down, when presented with a low pass filtered image of the face, and when the inner face was completely blurred out. In Experiment 7 we found that when completing the matching task, the time spent looking at the outer area of the face increased, as compared to when the images and voice recordings were passively viewed. When the images were passively viewed, the time spend looking at the inner area of the face increased. We concluded that the inner facial features (i.e. eyes, nose, and mouth) are not necessary informational aspects of the face which allow for the matching ability. The ability likely relies on global features such as the face shape and size.
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Date Issued: 2016
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004688, http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004688
Subject Headings: Biometric identification, Eye -- Movements, Nonverbal communication, Optical pattern recognition, Sociolinguistics, isual perception
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Investigating the Mechanisms Underlying Infant Selective Attention to Multisensory Speech.
Creator: Tift, Amy H., Bjorklund, David F., Florida Atlantic University, Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Department of Psychology
Abstract/Description: From syllables to fluent speech, it is important for infants to quickly learn and decipher linguistic information. To do this, infants must not only use their auditory perception but also their visual perception to understand speech and language as a multisensory coherent event. Previous research by Lewkowicz and Hansen-Tift (2012) demonstrated that infants shift their allocation of visual attention from the eyes to the mouth of the speaker's face throughout development as they become...
Show moreFrom syllables to fluent speech, it is important for infants to quickly learn and decipher linguistic information. To do this, infants must not only use their auditory perception but also their visual perception to understand speech and language as a multisensory coherent event. Previous research by Lewkowicz and Hansen-Tift (2012) demonstrated that infants shift their allocation of visual attention from the eyes to the mouth of the speaker's face throughout development as they become interested in speech production. This project examined how infants, from 4-14-months of age, allocate their visual attention to increasingly complex speech tasks. In Experiment 1, infants were presented with upright and inverted faces vocalizing syllables and the results demonstrated that in response to the upright faces, 4-month-old infants attended to the eyes and 8- and 10-month-olds attended equally to the eyes and mouth. In response to the inverted face presentation, both the 4- and 10-month-olds attended equally to the eyes and mouth but the 8-month olds attended to the eyes. In Experiment 2, infants were presented with a phoneme matching task (Patterson & Werker, 1999, 2002, 2003) and the results demonstrated that the 4-month-old infants successfully matched the voice to the corresponding face, but that older infants did not. Measures of their selective attention to this task showed that the 4-month-old infants attended more to the eyes of the faces during the task, not attending to the redundant speech information at the mouth, but older infants attended equally to the eyes and mouth, although they did not match the voice to the face. Experiment 3 presented infants with a fluent speech matching task (Lewkowicz et al., 2015) which demonstrated that although the infants (12-14-months) did not systematically match the voice to the corresponding face, the infants attended more to the mouth region, which would have provided them with the neces sary redundant information. Overall, these studies demonstrate that there are developmental changes in how infants distribute their visual attention to faces as they learn about speech and that the complexity of the speech is a critical factor in how they allocate their visual attention.
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Date Issued: 2015
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004551
Subject Headings: Child development, Cognition in infants, Interpersonal communication in infants, Language acquisition, Visual perception in infants
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Science Comprehension vs. Cultural Cognition as Predictors of Climate Change Risk Perception.
Creator: Steiner, Elyse A., Bryan, Valerie, Florida Atlantic University, College of Education, Department of Educational Leadership and Research Methodology
Abstract/Description: This study identified factors that affect climate change risk perception in a community college class. The purpose of this research was to determine if students were more influenced by cultural cognition (political affiliation) or science comprehension. Students in an undergraduate level environmental science and biology class were evaluated, using an online survey, for science comprehension level, political affiliation and risk perception at the beginning and end of each course. Data were...
Show moreThis study identified factors that affect climate change risk perception in a community college class. The purpose of this research was to determine if students were more influenced by cultural cognition (political affiliation) or science comprehension. Students in an undergraduate level environmental science and biology class were evaluated, using an online survey, for science comprehension level, political affiliation and risk perception at the beginning and end of each course. Data were analyzed to determine improved scientific literacy and any variation in risk perception. The research found that science comprehension did not contribute significantly to increased risk perception and that political affiliation or political views had a more significant effect on risk perception.
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Date Issued: 2017
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004983, http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004973
Subject Headings: Dissertations, Academic -- Florida Atlantic University, Understanding science., Political affiliation., Climatic changes., Perception.
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Self-relevant familiarity effects on object recognition: effects of context, location and object's size.
Creator: Daskagianni, Evangelie., Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Department of Psychology
Abstract/Description: Recent research in visual object recognition has shown that context can facilitate object recognition. This study assessed the effect of self-relevant familiarity of context in object recognition. Participants performed a task in which they had to recognize degraded objects shown under varying levels of contextual information. The level of degradation at which they could successfully recognize the target object was used as a measure of performance. There were five contextual conditions: (1)...
Show moreRecent research in visual object recognition has shown that context can facilitate object recognition. This study assessed the effect of self-relevant familiarity of context in object recognition. Participants performed a task in which they had to recognize degraded objects shown under varying levels of contextual information. The level of degradation at which they could successfully recognize the target object was used as a measure of performance. There were five contextual conditions: (1) no context, (2) context, (3) context and size, (4) context and location, (5) context, size and location. Within each contextual condition, we compared the performance of "Expert" participants who viewed objects in the context of their own house and "Novice" participants who viewed those particular settings for the first time. Ratings were performed to assess each object's consistency, frequency, position consistency, typicality and shape distinctiveness. Object's size was the only contextual info rmation that did not affect performance. Contextual information significantly reduced the amount of bottom-up visual information needed for object identification for both experts and novices. An interaction (Contextual Information x Level of Familiarity) was observed. Expert participants' performance improved significantly more than novice participants' performance by the presence of contextual information. Location information affected the performance of expert participants, only when objects that occupied stable positions were considered. Both expert and novice participants performed better with objects that rated high in typicality and shape distinctiveness. Object's consistency, frequency and position consistency did not seem to affect expert participants' performance but did affect novice participants' performance., A regression analysis model that included Level of Familiarity, Contextual Information Level, Shape and Typical performance. Our results are in accordance with the priming model of visual object recognition. We concluded that a self-relevant context has its own consistency rules and that it affects visual object recognition by narrowing down the number of expectations and the search space significantly more than a non-self-relevant context does. Keywords: visual object recognition, self-relevant familiarity, location, size, probability.
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Date Issued: 2011
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3332183
Subject Headings: Optical pattern recognition, Context effects (Psychology), Visual perception, Categorization (Psychology), Recognition (Psychology), Whole and parts (Psycholog)
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Segregating stimululs information for counterchange and motion energy-determined motion perception.
Creator: Seifert, Matthew S., Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Department of Psychology
Abstract/Description: It has been argued that the perception of apparent motion is based on the detection of counterchange (oppositely signed changes in luminance contrast at pairs of spatial locations) rather than motion energy (spatiotemporal changes in luminance). A constraint in furthering this distinction is that both counterchange and motion energy are present for most motion stimuli. Three experiments used illusory-contour and luminance-based stimuli to segregate (experiments 1 and 2) and combine ...
Show moreIt has been argued that the perception of apparent motion is based on the detection of counterchange (oppositely signed changes in luminance contrast at pairs of spatial locations) rather than motion energy (spatiotemporal changes in luminance). A constraint in furthering this distinction is that both counterchange and motion energy are present for most motion stimuli. Three experiments used illusory-contour and luminance-based stimuli to segregate (experiments 1 and 2) and combine (experiment 3) counterchange and motion energy information. Motion specified by counterchange was perceived for translating illusory squares over a wide range of frame durations, and preferentially for short motion paths. Motion specified by motion energy was diminished by relatively long frame durations, but was not affected by the length of the motion path. Results for the combined stimulus were consistent with counterchange as the basis for apparent motion perception, despite the presence of motion energy.
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Date Issued: 2013
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/3362563
Subject Headings: Perceptual-motor processes, Movement, Psychology of, Space and time, Visual perception
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Pattern mining and visualization for molecular dynamics simulation.
Creator: Kong, Xue, Zhu, Xingquan, Florida Atlantic University, College of Computer Science and Engineering, Department of Computer and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Abstract/Description: Molecular dynamics is a computer simulation technique for expressing the ultimate details of individual particle motions and can be used in many fields, such as chemical physics, materials science, and the modeling of biomolecules. In this thesis, we study visualization and pattern mining in molecular dynamics simulation. The molecular data set has a large number of atoms in each frame and range of frames. The features of the data set include atom ID; frame number; position in x, y, and z...
Show moreMolecular dynamics is a computer simulation technique for expressing the ultimate details of individual particle motions and can be used in many fields, such as chemical physics, materials science, and the modeling of biomolecules. In this thesis, we study visualization and pattern mining in molecular dynamics simulation. The molecular data set has a large number of atoms in each frame and range of frames. The features of the data set include atom ID; frame number; position in x, y, and z plane; charge; and mass. The three main challenges of this thesis are to display a larger number of atoms and range of frames, to visualize this large data set in 3-dimension, and to cluster the abnormally shifting atoms that move with the same pace and direction in different frames. Focusing on these three challenges, there are three contributions of this thesis. First, we design an abnormal pattern mining and visualization framework for molecular dynamics simulation. The proposed framework can visualize the clusters of abnormal shifting atom groups in a three-dimensional space, and show their temporal relationships. Second, we propose a pattern mining method to detect abnormal atom groups which share similar movement and have large variance compared to the majority atoms. We propose a general molecular dynamics simulation tool, which can visualize a large number of atoms, including their movement and temporal relationships, to help domain experts study molecular dynamics simulation results. The main functions for this visualization and pattern mining tool include atom number, cluster visualization, search across different frames, multiple frame range search, frame range switch, and line demonstration for atom motions in different frames. Therefore, this visualization and pattern mining tool can be used in the field of chemical physics, materials science, and the modeling of biomolecules for the molecular dynamic simulation outcomes.
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Date Issued: 2014
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004212, http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004212
Subject Headings: Data mining, Information visualization, Molecular dynamics -- Computer simulation, Molecules -- Mathematical models, Pattern perception
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: An Application of Artificial Neural Networks for Hand Grip Classification.
Creator: Gosine, Robbie R., Zhuang, Hanqi, Florida Atlantic University
Abstract/Description: The gripping action as performed by an average person is developed over their life and changes over time. The initial learning is based on trial and error and becomes a natural action which is modified as the physiology of the individual changes. Each grip type is a personal expression and as the grip changes over time to accommodate physiologically changes, it can be considered to be a grip-signature. lt is postulated that an ANN can deliver a classification mechanism that is able to make...
Show moreThe gripping action as performed by an average person is developed over their life and changes over time. The initial learning is based on trial and error and becomes a natural action which is modified as the physiology of the individual changes. Each grip type is a personal expression and as the grip changes over time to accommodate physiologically changes, it can be considered to be a grip-signature. lt is postulated that an ANN can deliver a classification mechanism that is able to make sense of the varying gripping inputs that are linearly inseparable and uniquely attributed to user physiology. Succinctly, in this design, the stifnulus is characterized by a voltage that represents the applied force in a grip. This signature of forces is then used to train an ANN to recognize the grip that produced the signature, the ANN in turn is used to successfully classify three unique states of grip-signatures collected from the gripping action of various individuals as they hold, lift and crush a paper coffee-cup. A comparative study is done for three types of classification: K-Means, Backpropagation Feedforward Neural Networks and Recurrent Neural Networks, with recommendations made in selecting more effective classification methods.
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Date Issued: 2007
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00012522
Subject Headings: Neural networks (Computer science), Pattern perception, Back propagation (Artificial intelligence), Multivariate analysis (Computer programs)
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Beautiful You.
Creator: Williams, Richelle Ancronique., Florida Atlantic University, Schwartz, Jason
Abstract/Description: "Beautiful You", is a novel that embraces the life of a young woman at the peak of self-evolution. Her desire to attain the true sense of "beauty" leads her into the life of pageantry. As she journeys through the final three days of the Miss American Pageant, she sorts through episodes of her adolescence and present day situations to uncover the beauty of who she truly is. This tale of Jessica McBrie's life, allows us to feel the pains she has gone through, understand her thoughts and the...
Show more"Beautiful You", is a novel that embraces the life of a young woman at the peak of self-evolution. Her desire to attain the true sense of "beauty" leads her into the life of pageantry. As she journeys through the final three days of the Miss American Pageant, she sorts through episodes of her adolescence and present day situations to uncover the beauty of who she truly is. This tale of Jessica McBrie's life, allows us to feel the pains she has gone through, understand her thoughts and the thoughts of those she interacts with. Through her comical approach to disaster this novel encourages us all to evaluate who we really are and accept it, because, "only you can define the beautiful you."
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Date Issued: 2002
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/12987
Subject Headings: Self-evaluation--Fiction, Self-perception--Fiction, Beauty contests--Fiction, Beauty, Personal--Fiction
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Children's perceptions of peer reactions to school-related behaviors and affect.
Creator: Garcia, M. Christina, Florida Atlantic University, Perry, Louise C.
Abstract/Description: Children's (Grades 4-8) perceptions of peer reactions to academic performance, affect, and conduct were examined in relation to achievement outcomes as measured by school grades, achievement test scores, and peer-based behavioral and affect judgments. Both sexes thought same-sex peers were more supportive of academic performance in boys than in girls. The hypothesis that expectations of peer reactions are related to achievement was partially supported, especially for the younger male subjects...
Show moreChildren's (Grades 4-8) perceptions of peer reactions to academic performance, affect, and conduct were examined in relation to achievement outcomes as measured by school grades, achievement test scores, and peer-based behavioral and affect judgments. Both sexes thought same-sex peers were more supportive of academic performance in boys than in girls. The hypothesis that expectations of peer reactions are related to achievement was partially supported, especially for the younger male subjects, whose achievement was systematically related to perceptions about the reactions of the female peer group to other girls. Theoretical and practical implications of the research findings were discussed.
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Date Issued: 1995
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/15211
Subject Headings: Academic achievement, Motivation in education, Cognition in children, Self-perception
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Detection in dispositional change in romantic relationships: A dynamic explanation.
Creator: Bodin, Sarah G., Florida Atlantic University, Monson, Thomas C.
Abstract/Description: Many studies have been devoted to investigating the process by which individuals make dispositional attributions about the people that they encounter. A surprisingly small number of studies have been directed at examining the process by which individuals may detect change in their impressions of people once they have been formed. In fact, traditional social psychology literature suggests that individuals will engage in a number of processes to maintain or improve, rather than change, their...
Show moreMany studies have been devoted to investigating the process by which individuals make dispositional attributions about the people that they encounter. A surprisingly small number of studies have been directed at examining the process by which individuals may detect change in their impressions of people once they have been formed. In fact, traditional social psychology literature suggests that individuals will engage in a number of processes to maintain or improve, rather than change, their initial attributions. With such alarming divorce rates, it is quite obvious that romantic couples are detecting change in their perceptions of one another. However, romance and attribution research has not been able to fully explain how detection of perception change occurs in romantic relationships. More specifically, traditional linear theories of attribution are not able to clarify how dramatic dispositional change can occur in romantic relationships. Results from an experiment lead us to believe that the detection of dispositional change in romantic relationships is actually quite dynamic, counter to current beliefs in the field. In addition, the Discounting Principle may be used in non-traditional ways.
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Date Issued: 2005
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/13245
Subject Headings: Attribution (Social psychology), Interpersonal communication, Interpersonal relations, Affect (Psychology)--Study and teaching, Social perception
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Neural Correlates of Auditory Perception, Attention and Expectation.
Creator: Zanto, Theodore P., Florida Atlantic University, Large, Edward W., Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Center for Complex Systems and Brain Sciences
Abstract/Description: This dissertation examined the neural correlates of auditory perception, attention and expectation in three experiments. Experiment 1 analyzed neural correlates of auditory perception and expectation in an electroencephalography (EEG) experiment using a temporally perturbed metronome to establish an expectation for auditory events, then violate and reestablish that expectation. High frequency evoked (phase-locked) gamma band activity (GBA) was observed to follow the onset of tones whereas...
Show moreThis dissertation examined the neural correlates of auditory perception, attention and expectation in three experiments. Experiment 1 analyzed neural correlates of auditory perception and expectation in an electroencephalography (EEG) experiment using a temporally perturbed metronome to establish an expectation for auditory events, then violate and reestablish that expectation. High frequency evoked (phase-locked) gamma band activity (GBA) was observed to follow the onset of tones whereas induced (nonphase- locked) GBA reached maximum power simultaneously with the occurrence oftone onset. Moreover, the latency of induced GBA was perturbed after an expectancy violation and relaxed back into synchrony as the expectation was reestablished. Experiment 2 was a methodological study to compare two functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRJ) scanning techniques and assess their influence on auditory processing. Subjects passively listened to isochronous tone sequences at three rates while sparse or continuous scanning was employed. Sparse and continuous scanning was observed to yield comparable fMRI data, however, continuous scanner notse was observed to perturb known EEG evoked response potentials. Moreover, high frequency evoked activity, as identified by spectral analysis, was attenuated in the presence of continuous fMRl noise. Experiment 3 was conducted to study auditory expectancy and attention. First, subjects were tested behaviorally to determine their ability to tap the beat of ten highly syncopated patterns. Subjects were asked to return for one EEG and one fMRl session. In these sessions, they were instructed to attend to a syncopated pattern, mentally rehearse the pattern, and then reproduce the pattern. During the control condition, subjects heard the auditory patterns, however, they were instructed to study a list of words, remember the words during the retention interval, and then recall as many words as possible. Brain activity was localized to frontal and auditory regions when attending to the patterns and occipital-auditory areas when attending to the words. Evoked activity was shown to reflect the subject's anticipation of the beat and was attenuated when ignoring the auditory stimulus. Taken together, these results suggest that GBA indexes auditory perception, attention and expectation. The current results suggest that attention and task engagement may elicit stronger neural phase locking.
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Date Issued: 2006
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00000885
Subject Headings: Electrophysiology, Auditory evoked response, Electroencephalography, Auditory perception, Intersensory effects, Auditory pathways
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Methods and Algorithms for Human Detection in Video Sequences.
Creator: Pertuz, Carlos, Marques, Oge, Florida Atlantic University, College of Engineering and Computer Science, Department of Computer and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Abstract/Description: Lower prices of video sensors, security concerns and the need for better and faster algorithms to extract high level information from video sequences are all factors which have stimulated research in the area of automated video surveillance systems. In the context of security the analysis of human interrelations and their environment provides hints to proactively identify anomalous behavior. However, human detection is a necessary component in systems where the automatic extraction of higher...
Show moreLower prices of video sensors, security concerns and the need for better and faster algorithms to extract high level information from video sequences are all factors which have stimulated research in the area of automated video surveillance systems. In the context of security the analysis of human interrelations and their environment provides hints to proactively identify anomalous behavior. However, human detection is a necessary component in systems where the automatic extraction of higher level information, such as recognizing individuals' activities, is required. The human detection problem is one of classification. In general, motion, appearance and shape are the classification approaches a system can employ to perform human detection. Techniques representative of these approaches, such us periodic motion detection, skin color detection and MPEG-7 shape descriptors are implemented in this work. An infrastructure that allows data collection for such techniques was also implemented.
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Date Issued: 2007
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00012538
Subject Headings: MPEG (Video coding standard), Image processing--Digital techniques, Form perception, Computer algorithms, Video compression
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Enduring relationship with the dead: The corpse, the feminine and popular culture.
Creator: Kelly, Suzanne M., Florida Atlantic University, Caputi, Jane
Abstract/Description: Feminist theory has long criticized the hierarchical and oppositional thinking responsible for creating the basis of what counts as real knowledge. In questioning how and why the experience of enduring relationship with the dead is not imagined as real, this dissertation will draw from this theoretical tradition. This analysis involves a paradigm shift in thinking about the nature of relationship---one that posits these kinds of experiences as something other than either a psychological...
Show moreFeminist theory has long criticized the hierarchical and oppositional thinking responsible for creating the basis of what counts as real knowledge. In questioning how and why the experience of enduring relationship with the dead is not imagined as real, this dissertation will draw from this theoretical tradition. This analysis involves a paradigm shift in thinking about the nature of relationship---one that posits these kinds of experiences as something other than either a psychological remedy to our grief or the requisite belief in the survival of the self. Feminist critiques of dualistic thinking become the cornerstone of Chapter One in order to get to the roots of how knowledge of enduring relationship with the dead gets denied. This chapter addresses the splitting responsible for the othering of death, the desire to flee it, and, by association, the desire to flee the body. This flight is predicated on a bounded and distinct subject who imagines it must separate itself from the material in order to survive. Imagining the body in this manner sets limits for making visible a relationship that endures with death. Dualistic thinking, the degradation of the body and the desire to flee it will also be the focus of Chapter Two as it looks at the dominant contemporary practices around what is done with the corpse. These practices work together to deny a dead body that matters and one important for legitimizing enduring relationship with the dead. While enduring relationship is made invisible through these hegemonic discourses and practices, there are, as I mentioned at the start, experiences that say otherwise. Chapter Three will suggest that the knowledge that comes with these experiences is one sometimes accepted and explored in popular culture. Popular culture may provide the reminder, but recognizing enduring relationship also relies on the willingness to bring to the fore the role, the value and the contribution of the corpse. The conclusion will offer some examples of what I call practices of proximity that recognize the corpse as central for the living.
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Date Issued: 2006
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/12216
Subject Headings: Loss (Psychology), Feminist theory, Women--Death--Social aspects, Perception (Philosophy), Philosophy of nature
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Exploring Diachronic Change in the Population-Specific Vocalizations of Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes).
Creator: Halloran, Andrew R., Broadfield, Douglas C., Florida Atlantic University
Abstract/Description: Chimpanzees have long been documented as using population-specific vocalizations, implying learning rather than just genetics in chimpanzee calls. In order for population-specific vocalizations to arise, diachronic change, or evolution, of the various features of the vocalizations must occur. When a population is split, as they were in the current study, there are changes of social structure, environment, and emotional stress (all factors which can lead to rapid phonological change in humans)...
Show moreChimpanzees have long been documented as using population-specific vocalizations, implying learning rather than just genetics in chimpanzee calls. In order for population-specific vocalizations to arise, diachronic change, or evolution, of the various features of the vocalizations must occur. When a population is split, as they were in the current study, there are changes of social structure, environment, and emotional stress (all factors which can lead to rapid phonological change in humans). These factors can act as a catalyst for punctuated diachronic change. A vocal survey was performed on two groups of chimpanzees who had been separated from each other two years prior to the research. The results of the survey revealed significant differences between the two groups' vocalizations. These results make a case for diachronic change in chimpanzee vocalizations, the seed of population-specific calls.
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Date Issued: 2007
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00000982
Subject Headings: Chimpanzees--Vocalization, Auditory perception, Linguistic change--Study and teaching, Vocalization, Animal
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: The hand as creator in Wallace Stevens: Perception, sensation, and the phenomenal self.
Creator: Johnson, Jamie, Florida Atlantic University, Pearce, Howard D.
Abstract/Description: Wallace Stevens's poems alluding to hands yield one of his most profound topics of interest: reality (the external, natural world) versus the imagination (the internal mind). The human hand offers a unique perspective of the complex, often problematic worlds in which the artist exists. In terms of the external world, the hands are the most common means of sense experience. For many artists, the hands act as a medium through which expression of art is delivered. During inspiration, an artist...
Show moreWallace Stevens's poems alluding to hands yield one of his most profound topics of interest: reality (the external, natural world) versus the imagination (the internal mind). The human hand offers a unique perspective of the complex, often problematic worlds in which the artist exists. In terms of the external world, the hands are the most common means of sense experience. For many artists, the hands act as a medium through which expression of art is delivered. During inspiration, an artist therefore takes an experience of the world, filters it through the imagination, and then creates art by combining mind and sense experience. It is the complications involved in this process of creation that the forthcoming analysis explores. The philosophical insight of Merleau-Ponty, Emmanuel Husserl, and William James offers ways of interpreting the intricate creative process apparent in Stevens's poems. By visualizing the necessary altered state of perception through Stevens's language, one can then better understand the acquisition of the ideal state, or "phenomenal body."
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Date Issued: 2002
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/12916
Subject Headings: Stevens, Wallace,--1879-1955--Criticism and interpretation, Perception (Philosophy) in literature, Self (Philosophy) in literature
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: A conceptual model of the emergence of shared leadership: The effects of organizational structure, culture, and context variables on public employee perceptions of leadership.
Creator: Choi, Sanghan, Florida Atlantic University, Patterson, Patricia M.
Abstract/Description: This study rejects the hierarchical perspective of traditional leadership approaches in public administration. The hierarchical perspective tends to treat public managers at the top as leaders, public employees at the bottom as followers, and leadership as management. This study proposes shared leadership as an alternative to traditional leadership approaches. In theory, shared leadership is not about a hierarchical position but about a mutually shared process that occurs throughout public...
Show moreThis study rejects the hierarchical perspective of traditional leadership approaches in public administration. The hierarchical perspective tends to treat public managers at the top as leaders, public employees at the bottom as followers, and leadership as management. This study proposes shared leadership as an alternative to traditional leadership approaches. In theory, shared leadership is not about a hierarchical position but about a mutually shared process that occurs throughout public organizations. The literature has made assertions that shared leadership emerges from horizontal organizations, adaptable cultures, and turbulent environments. However, little research has been conducted to test the effects of these organizational dimension variables on shared leadership in either the public or private sector. This study is a first step to examine the multiple relationships among organizational structure, culture, and context and shared leadership. It is also a first attempt to measure the concept of shared leadership. This study presents case-based empirical research. The study collects data from public employees across the bottom and the top of Broward County government in Florida because the study asserts that every public employee, regardless of hierarchical position, can be a public leader and display leadership. The data was collected using a mail survey of 261 public employees in the county government. Multiple regression analysis was conducted to test the conceptual model developed in this study. The model consists of five hypothesized positive relationships (hierarchy of position, functional specialization, supportive culture, technology, and organizational crisis), five hypothesized negative relationships (hierarchy of authority, centralization, bureaucratic and innovative cultures, and organizational size), and one positive or negative control variable (gender) with shared leadership. The results show that organizational crisis, technology, innovative culture, and hierarchy of position variables are significantly and positively associated with shared leadership. Public employees' perceptions of shared leadership are partially explainable from organizational structure, culture, and context factors. Indicating that shared leadership occurs in the perceptions of street-level public employees, this study implies that the horizontal and hierarchical perspectives on leadership coexist in bureaucratic organizations. This study concludes that every public employee displays leadership and is a public leader.
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Date Issued: 2006
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/12228
Subject Headings: Leadership, Teams in the workplace, Psychology, Industrial, Social perception, Organizational change
Format: Document (PDF)

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