Theses and Dissertations
This collection includes both ASU Theses and Dissertations, submitted by graduate students, and the Barrett, Honors College theses submitted by undergraduate students.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 14
Filtering by
- Creators: Benitez, Viridiana
Description
The ability to regulate emotions, attention, and behavior develops early in life and impacts future academic success, social competency, behavioral problems, and psychopathology. An impairment in regulation is known as dysregulation. Past research shows that children of mothers with postpartum depression are more likely to show impairment in regulatory abilities. There is an established link in the literature between family support and maternal depression, which in turn can impact child behavior. However, further research is needed to explore the impact of family support on early childhood dysregulation in the context of maternal depression. Using a sample of 322 Mexican-American, mother-child dyads, two models were examined. Model one hypothesized family support would buffer the effects of maternal depression on child dysregulation at 24 months. Model 2 hypothesized that family support is related to child dysregulation through its effect on maternal depression. Results showed that increased family support was related to more child dysregulation when there were high levels of maternal depression. There was no evidence to support the hypothesis that maternal depression mediated the relationship between family support and child dysregulation.
ContributorsRodrigues, Samantha Jean (Author) / Luecken, Linda (Thesis director) / Benitez, Viridiana (Committee member) / Davis, Mary (Committee member) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-12
Description
Recent studies indicate that words containing /ӕ/ and /u/ vowel phonemes can be mapped onto the emotional dimension of arousal. Specifically, the wham-womb effect describes the inclination to associate words with /ӕ/ vowel-sounds (as in “wham”) with high-arousal emotions and words with /u/ vowel-sounds (as in “womb”) with low-arousal emotions. The objective of this study was to replicate the wham-womb effect using nonsense pseudowords and to test if findings extend with use of a novel methodology that includes verbal auditory and visual pictorial stimuli, which can eventually be used to test young children. We collected data from 99 undergraduate participants through an online survey. Participants heard pre-recorded pairs of monosyllabic pseudowords containing /ӕ/ or /u/ vowel phonemes and then matched individual pseudowords to illustrations portraying high or low arousal emotions. Two t-tests were conducted to analyze the size of the wham-womb effect across pseudowords and across participants, specifically the likelihood that /ӕ/ sounds are paired with high arousal images and /u/ sounds with low arousal images. Our findings robustly confirmed the wham-womb effect. Participants paired /ӕ/ words with high arousal emotion pictures and /u/ words with low arousal ones at a 73.2% rate with a large effect size. The wham-womb effect supports the idea that verbal acoustic signals tend to be tied to embodied facial musculature that is related to human emotions, which supports the adaptive value of sound symbolism in language evolution and development.
ContributorsZapp, Tatum (Author) / McBeath, Michael (Thesis director) / Benitez, Viridiana (Committee member) / Corbin, William (Committee member) / Yu, Shin-Phing (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor)
Created2021-12
Description
Environmental factors, including parents, play an important role in promoting children’s curiosity. Though curiosity is rooted in infancy, little is known about how parent-child interactions affect infants’ curiosity. The current study investigated the different ways parents promote curiosity through their infants’ exploration of a novel toy. We observed parent–child interactions between 39 parent-infant dyads in a semi-structured naturalistic 10-minute free play session. During the last 5 minutes of the session, parents were tasked with introducing a novel toy (i.e. a knotted foam curler) to the session, with no further instructions. Parent exploration-promoting and infant-exploratory behaviors during those 5 minutes were coded using a newly developed coding scheme, “Parental roles in Infant Curiosity through Exploration” (PICE). Findings revealed that when infants explored the novel toy, parents were more likely to observe rather than promote the exploration. However, when parents did promote the novel toy, infants were more likely to explore it if parents used explicit verbal cues. The study's focus on exploration-promoting verbal and nonverbal behaviors enables researchers to identify specific parenting behaviors that may have a significant impact on infant development and in turn, help develop interventions to support parents in fostering their children's curiosity and promoting early learning.
ContributorsHernandez Cintron, Paola (Author) / Lucca, Kelsey (Thesis director) / Lee, Nayen (Committee member) / Benitez, Viridiana (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / College of Integrative Sciences and Arts (Contributor)
Created2023-05
Description
I recently established the gleam-glum effect confirming in both English and Mandarin that words with the /i/ vowel-sound (like “gleam”) are rated more emotionally positive than matched words with the /ʌ/ vowel-sound (like “glum”). Here I confirm that these vowel sounds also influence the semantic perception of monosyllabic pseudo-words. In Experiment 1, 100 participants rated 50 individual /i/ monosyllabic pseudo-words (like “zeech”) as significantly more positive than 50 matched /ʌ/ pseudo-words (like “zuch”), replicating my previous findings with real words. Experiment 2 assessed the gleam-glum effect on pseudo-words using a forced-choice task. Participants (n = 148) were presented with the 50 pairs of pseudo-words used in Experiment 1 and tasked to guess the most likely meaning of each pseudo-word by matching them with one of two meaning words that were either extremely positive or extremely negative in affective valence (Warriner et al., 2013). I found a remarkably robust effect in which every one of the 50 pseudo-word pairs was on average more likely to have the /i/ word matched with the positive meaning word and /ʌ/ word with the negative one (exact binomial test, p < .001, z = 7.94). The findings confirm that the gleam-glum effect facilitates bootstrapping meaning of words from their pronunciations. These findings coupled with previous real word findings (Yu et al., in press), showing not only that the effect encompasses the entire English lexicon but can also be explained with an embodied facial musculature mechanism, is consistent with the idea that sound symbolism may shape vocabulary use of a language over time by influencing semantic perception.
ContributorsYu, Shin-Phing (Author) / McBeath, Michael K. (Thesis advisor) / Glenberg, Arthur M. (Thesis advisor, Committee member) / Stone, Gregory (Committee member) / Benitez, Viridiana (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2021
Description
The label-feedback hypothesis (Lupyan, 2007, 2012) proposes that language modulates low- and high-level visual processing, such as priming visual object perception. Lupyan and Swingley (2012) found that repeating target names facilitates visual search, reducing response times and increasing accuracy. Hebert, Goldinger, and Walenchok (under review) used a modified design to replicate and extend this finding, and concluded that speaking modulates visual search via template integrity. The current series of experiments 1) replicated the work of Hebert et al. with audio stimuli played through headphones instead of self-directed speech, 2) examined the label feedback effect under conditions of varying object clarity, and 3) explored whether the relative prevalence of a target’s audio label might modulate the label feedback effect (as in the low prevalence effect; Wolfe, Horowitz, & Kenner, 2005). Paradigms utilized both traditional spatial visual search and repeated serial visual presentation (RSVP). Results substantiated those found in previous studies—hearing target names improved performance, even (and sometimes especially) when conditions were difficult or noisy, and the relative prevalence of a target’s audio label strongly impacted its perception. The mechanisms of the label feedback effect––namely, priming and target template integrity––are explored.
ContributorsHebert, Katherine P (Author) / Goldinger, Stephen D (Thesis advisor) / Rogalsky, Corianne (Committee member) / McClure, Samuel M. (Committee member) / Benitez, Viridiana (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
Description
Students at High Achieving Schools (HASs) have recently been identified as an at-risk population, and excessive pressure to excel is considered the cause of this maladjustment. However, the specific aspects of pressure that lead to these outcomes have yet to be comprehensively explored. In two schools, one public and one independent, this study examined multiple constructs potentially implicated: feelings of pressure to succeed from different sources (parents, teachers, coaches, the self, and friends) and total felt pressure. Also considered are dimensions of being overextended across commitments, including hours of sleep, homework, and levels of associated strain and enjoyment. These indices were all examined in relation to adolescents’ internalizing and externalizing symptoms, as well as feelings of disengagement with school, after controlling for attachment to both parents. Results showed that total felt pressure, and pressure felt from the self, were most notably related to internalizing symptoms and disengagement with school. Additionally, strain from commitments showed unique links with depression, anxiety, and negative feelings about school. Finally, enjoyment from different commitments showed robust links with feelings about school. Overall, the different pressure predictors showed sporadic links with externalizing behaviors and substance use. Findings are discussed in terms of directions for interventions as well as future research with HAS populations.
ContributorsBenoit, Renee, L (Author) / Luthar, Suniya (Thesis advisor) / Infurna, Frank (Committee member) / Benitez, Viridiana (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
Description
Purpose: The goal of this study was to examine how vocabulary size and inhibitory control affect word learning in bilingual (English-Spanish) children with hearing loss. Experiment 1 examined whether children with larger vocabularies learn and retain more words than children with smaller vocabularies. Experiment 2 examined whether children with better inhibitory control learn and remember more words than children with poorer inhibitory control. In addition, monolingual and bilingual children with and without hearing loss were compared on word learning and inhibitory control tasks.
Method: Seventy-three children between 8 and 12 years of age participated in the study. Forty children had normal hearing (20 monolingual and 20 bilingual) and 33 had hearing loss (20 monolingual and 13 bilingual). For Experiment 1, children completed a receptive vocabulary test in English and Spanish and three word learning tasks consisting of a training and a retention component in English, Spanish, and Arabic. For Experiment 2, children completed the flanker task for inhibitory control.
Results: In Experiment 1, larger total (English + Spanish) receptive vocabularies were predictive of better word training outcomes in all languages and better Spanish word retention, after controlling for age, degree of hearing loss, and maternal education. Children with hearing loss performed more poorly in Spanish and Arabic word training and retention than children with normal hearing. No differences were observed between children with normal hearing and hearing loss in English word learning. In Experiment 2, inhibitory control only predicted English retention outcomes. Children with hearing loss showed poorer inhibitory control than hearing peers. No differences were observed between monolingual and bilingual children, with and without hearing loss, in word learning or inhibitory control.
Conclusions: Language experience (measured by total vocabulary size) helps children learn new words and therefore children with hearing loss should receive well-fitted hearing aids and school accommodations to provide them with access to spoken language. Bilingual exposure does not impair nor facilitate word learning. Bilingual children showed similar difficulties with word learning and inhibitory control as monolingual peers with hearing loss. Hearing loss, probably via language deprivation, has broad effects on children’s executive function skills.
Method: Seventy-three children between 8 and 12 years of age participated in the study. Forty children had normal hearing (20 monolingual and 20 bilingual) and 33 had hearing loss (20 monolingual and 13 bilingual). For Experiment 1, children completed a receptive vocabulary test in English and Spanish and three word learning tasks consisting of a training and a retention component in English, Spanish, and Arabic. For Experiment 2, children completed the flanker task for inhibitory control.
Results: In Experiment 1, larger total (English + Spanish) receptive vocabularies were predictive of better word training outcomes in all languages and better Spanish word retention, after controlling for age, degree of hearing loss, and maternal education. Children with hearing loss performed more poorly in Spanish and Arabic word training and retention than children with normal hearing. No differences were observed between children with normal hearing and hearing loss in English word learning. In Experiment 2, inhibitory control only predicted English retention outcomes. Children with hearing loss showed poorer inhibitory control than hearing peers. No differences were observed between monolingual and bilingual children, with and without hearing loss, in word learning or inhibitory control.
Conclusions: Language experience (measured by total vocabulary size) helps children learn new words and therefore children with hearing loss should receive well-fitted hearing aids and school accommodations to provide them with access to spoken language. Bilingual exposure does not impair nor facilitate word learning. Bilingual children showed similar difficulties with word learning and inhibitory control as monolingual peers with hearing loss. Hearing loss, probably via language deprivation, has broad effects on children’s executive function skills.
Contributorsde Diego Lazaro, Beatriz (Author) / Pittman, Andrea L (Thesis advisor) / Restrepo, María A (Thesis advisor) / Benitez, Viridiana (Committee member) / Wilkens, Natalie (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
Description
The goal of this study was to examine whether there is any effect of phonotactic probability during the early phases of novel word recognition. In order to determine this, I performed two experiments. In Experiment 1, 33 adult monolingual English speakers learned 24 novel word-object pairings, half of which were high English phonotactic probability words and the other half were low English phonotactic probability words. I additionally included three conditions that varied the amount of exposures to each novel word-object pairing (i.e. One Exposure Condition, Two Exposures Conditions, and Five Exposures Condition). Experiment 2 was designed to clarify results found in Experiment 1, with improved randomization and fewer conditions (i.e. One Exposure Condition and Five Exposures Condition). The findings from both experiments were statistically significant in accuracy for Training condition, but not statistically significant for phonotactic probability nor for an interaction between phonotactic probability and Training condition. Although participants demonstrated learning across conditions there is no indication of a relationship between high and low phonotactic probability and novel word recognition. Collectively, these findings suggest that future studies will be necessary to determine if there is indeed an effect of phonotactic probability on early novel word recognition.
ContributorsQuinones, Sara Cristina (Co-author) / Quiñones, Sara (Co-author) / Benitez, Viridiana (Thesis director) / Tecedor Cabrero, Marta (Committee member) / Davis, Mary (Committee member) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Dean, W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
Source monitoring refers to the ability to discriminate the origins of memories. The source monitoring framework is a theoretical model that describes the various characteristics of memories and judgement processes necessary for this discrimination process. Little research has analyzed the extent to which predictable encoding contexts influence source monitoring processes. In this study, we found that predictability at encoding aids later source recognition, but only when the test-relevant source dimension was predictable at encoding. The encoding format was either predictable (sequential spatial location) or non-predictable (random spatial location) and the test format was either color or location. In Experiment 1, the encoding format was either predictable or non-predictable spatial locations and participants were tested on the location. In this experiment, predictability did aid when the encoding format matched the test format. The average conditionalized source identification measure was statistically higher for those who saw images appear in a predictable pattern at encoding. In Experiment 2, when participants were tested on an orthogonal source dimension, the average conditionalized source identification measure was not statistically significant for those who saw the images appear in either encoding format. In this experiment, the predictability did not have an effect when the encoding format did not match the test format. In Experiment 3, there was a significant interaction of predictability by source dimension showing an improvement to memory for the predictable source condition and a decrement to memory for the unpredictable source dimension. In this experiment, predictability aided when encoding format matched the test format, but not when the encoding and test format did not match.
ContributorsDickson, Katrina Rebecca (Author) / Brewer, Gene (Thesis director) / Benitez, Viridiana (Committee member) / Ellis, Derek (Committee member) / School of Molecular Sciences (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / College of Health Solutions (Contributor) / Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
The growing acceptance of divorce has sparked a discussion regarding the distribution of children’s parenting time with each parent. As a result, researchers are evaluating how divorce impacts children and what can be done to improve their wellbeing. This study sought to examine how a child’s age at their parent’s divorce predicts later parent-child relationships and romantic attachment style. Furthermore, it evaluates parenting time as a potential mediator to this relationship. In order to test this mediational model, we distributed a survey to nearly 1,000 college students with divorced parents. This questionnaire was composed of several batteries that assessed the following: their age at their parent’s divorce, the amount of parenting time awarded to each parent after the divorce, their relationship with each parent, and their romantic attachment style, in addition to many other variables that were used as covariates. Given the complexities of divorce, we controlled for potential third variable explanations that were found to be associated with parenting time, parent-child relationships, and romantic attachment style. We hypothesized that younger ages of divorce lead to less parenting time which in turn worsens the father-child relationship and their romantic attachment style. The data supports the mediational model in regard to the father-child relationship with no correlation found between our predictors and attachment style. This highlights the importance of equal parenting time becoming the new standard.
ContributorsSalem, Salma (Author) / Fabricius, William (Thesis director) / Corbin, William (Committee member) / Benitez, Viridiana (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Department of English (Contributor)
Created2022-05