Matching Items (13)
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- All Subjects: psychology
- Creators: Brewer, Gene
- Member of: ASU Electronic Theses and Dissertations
- Status: Published
Description
Most people are experts in some area of information; however, they may not be knowledgeable about other closely related areas. How knowledge is generalized to hierarchically related categories was explored. Past work has found little to no generalization to categories closely related to learned categories. These results do not fit well with other work focusing on attention during and after category learning. The current work attempted to merge these two areas of by creating a category structure with the best chance to detect generalization. Participants learned order level bird categories and family level wading bird categories. Then participants completed multiple measures to test generalization to old wading bird categories, new wading bird categories, owl and raptor categories, and lizard categories. As expected, the generalization measures converged on a single overall pattern of generalization. No generalization was found, except for already learned categories. This pattern fits well with past work on generalization within a hierarchy, but do not fit well with theories of dimensional attention. Reasons why these findings do not match are discussed, as well as directions for future research.
ContributorsLancaster, Matthew E (Author) / Homa, Donald (Thesis advisor) / Glenberg, Arthur (Committee member) / Chi, Michelene (Committee member) / Brewer, Gene (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
Incidental learning of sequential information occurs in visual, auditory and tactile domains. It occurs throughout our lifetime and even in nonhuman species. It is likely to be one of the most important foundations for the development of normal learning. To date, there is no agreement as to how incidental learning occurs. The goal of the present set of experiments is to determine if visual sequential information is learned in terms of abstract rules or stimulus-specific details. Two experiments test the extent to which interaction with the stimuli can influence the information that is encoded by the learner. The results of both experiments support the claim that stimulus and domain specific details directly shape what is learned, through a process of tuning the neuromuscular systems involved in the interaction between the learner and the materials.
ContributorsMarsh, Elizabeth R (Author) / Glenberg, Arthur M. (Thesis advisor) / Amazeen, Eric (Committee member) / Brewer, Gene (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
Theories of interval timing have largely focused on accounting for the aggregate properties of behavior engendered by periodic reinforcement, such as sigmoidal psychophysical functions and their scalar property. Many theories of timing also stipulate that timing and motivation are inseparable processes. Such a claim is challenged by fluctuations in and out of states of schedule control, making it unclear whether motivation directly affects states related to timing. The present paper seeks to advance our understanding of timing performance by analyzing and comparing the distribution of latencies and inter-response times (IRTs) of rats in two fixed-interval (FI) schedules of food reinforcement (FI 30-s and FI 90-s), and in two levels of food deprivation. Computational modeling revealed that each component was well described by mixture probability distributions embodying two-state Markov chains. Analysis of these models revealed that only a subset of latencies are sensitive to the periodicity of reinforcement, and pre-feeding only reduces the size of this subset. The distribution of IRTs suggests that behavior in FI schedules is organized in bouts that lengthen and ramp up in frequency with proximity to reinforcement. Pre-feeding slowed down the lengthening of bouts and increased the time between bouts. When concatenated, these models adequately reproduced sigmoidal FI response functions. These findings suggest that behavior in FI fluctuates in and out of schedule control; an account of such fluctuation suggests that timing and motivation are dissociable components of FI performance. These mixture-distribution models also provide novel insights on the motivational, associative, and timing processes expressed in FI performance, which need to be accounted for by causal theories of interval timing.
ContributorsDaniels, Carter W (Author) / Sanabria, Federico (Thesis advisor) / Brewer, Gene (Committee member) / Wynne, Clive (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
Description
The human body is a complex system comprised of many parts that can coordinate in a variety of ways to produce controlled action. This creates a challenge for researchers and clinicians in the treatment of variability in motor control. The current study aims at testing the utility of a nonlinear analysis measure – the Largest Lyapunov exponent (1) – in a whole body movement. Experiment 1 examined this measure, in comparison to traditional linear measure (standard deviation), by having participants perform a sit-to-stand (STS) task on platforms that were either stable or unstable. Results supported the notion that the Lyapunov measure characterized controlled/stable movement across the body more accurately than the traditional standard deviation (SD) measure. Experiment 2 tested this analysis further by presenting participants with an auditory perturbation during performance of the same STS task. Results showed that both the Lyapunov and SD measures failed to detect the perturbation. However, the auditory perturbation may not have been an appropriate perturbation. Limitations of Experiment 2 are discussed, as well as directions for future study.
ContributorsGibbons, Cameron T (Author) / Amazeen, Polemnia G (Thesis advisor) / Amazeen, Eric (Committee member) / Brewer, Gene (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016
Description
Self-control has been shown to predict both health risk and health protective outcomes. Although top-down or “good” self-control is typically examined as a unidimensional construct, research on “poor” self-control suggests that multiple dimensions may be necessary to capture aspects of self-control. The current study sought to create a new brief survey measure of top-down self-control that differentiates between self-control capacity, internal motivation, and external motivation. Items were adapted from the Brief Self-Control Scale (BSCS; Tangney, Baumeister, & Boone, 2004) and were administered through two online surveys to 347 undergraduate students enrolled in introductory psychology courses at Arizona State University. The Self-Control Motivation and Capacity Survey (SCMCS) showed strong evidence of validity and reliability. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses supported a 3-factor structure of the scale consistent with the underlying theoretical model. The final 15-item measure demonstrated excellent model fit, chi-square = 89.722 p=.077, CFI = .989, RMSEA = .032, SRMR = .045. Despite several limitations including the cross-sectional nature of most analyses, self-control capacity, internal motivation, and external motivation uniquely related to various self-reported behavioral outcomes, and accounted for additional variance beyond that accounted for by the BSCS. Future studies are needed to establish the stability of multiple dimensions of self-control, and to develop state-like and domain-specific measures of self-control. While more research in this area is needed, the current study demonstrates the importance of studying multiple aspects of top-down self-control, and may ultimately facilitate the tailoring of interventions to the needs of individuals based on unique profiles of self-control capacity and motivation.
ContributorsPapova, Anna (Author) / Corbin, William R. (Thesis advisor) / Karoly, Paul (Committee member) / Brewer, Gene (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016
Description
In this study, the oppositional processes theory was proposed to suggest that reliance on semantic and episodic memory systems hinder originality during idea generation for divergent thinking tasks that are generally used to assess creative potential. In order to investigate the proposed oppositional processes theory, three experiments that manipulated the memory accessibility in participants during the alternative uses tasks were conducted. Experiment 1 directly instructed participants to either generate usages based on memory or not from memory; Experiment 2 provided participants with object cues that were either very common or very rare in daily life (i.e., bottle vs. canteen); Experiment 3 replicated the same manipulation from Experiment 2 with much longer generation time (10 minutes in Experiment 2 vs. 30 minutes in Experiment 3). The oppositional processes theory predicted that participants who had less access to direct and unaltered usages (i.e., told to not use memory, were given rare cues, or were outputting items later in the generation period) during the task would be more creative. Results generally supported the predictions in Experiments 1 and 2 where participants from conditions which limited their access to memory generated more novel usages that were considered more creative by independent coders. Such effects were less prominent in Experiment 3 with extended generation time but the trends remained the same.
ContributorsXu, Dongchen (Author) / Brewer, Gene (Thesis advisor) / Glenberg, Arthur (Committee member) / Homa, Donald (Committee member) / Goldinger, Stephen (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
Description
Emotions are essential ingredients to the human experience. How one feels influences how one thinks and behaves. The processing capacity for emotion-related information can be thought of as emotional intelligence (Salovey & Mayer, 1997). Regulating emotions and coping with emotional experiences are among the most common reasons individuals seek counseling. Counselors must be uniquely equipped in processing and managing emotional content. Counselor’s skills and abilities related to emotional intelligence are vital to effective counseling. There is indication that confidence in one’s counseling skills may be equally as important as competence in these skills. Counselor self-efficacy, one’s belief in one’s ability to perform counseling activities, has been shown to relate to counselor performance and ability and increased clinical experience has been associated with higher levels of counselor self-efficacy (Larson & Daniels, 1998). One’s emotion-related information processing abilities and one’s clinical experiences may contribute to one’s perception of one’s competencies and abilities as a counselor.
However, this relationship may not be a simple cause-and-effect association. Individuals may possess a certain aptitude (emotional intelligence) and not perceive themselves as competent as counselors. Resilience, one’s ability to “bounce-back” and persevere through adversity may moderate the relation between emotional intelligence and counselor self-efficacy (Wagnild, 1990).
The current study explored the relations among clinical experience, emotional intelligence and resilience in predicting self-efficacy. In addition, whether resilience would moderate the relationship between emotional intelligence and counselor self-efficacy was examined. Eighty counselor trainees enrolled in CACREP-accredited master’s programs participated in this study online. They completed a demographics form, the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT; Mayer, et al., 2002), the Counselor Activities Self-Efficacy Scales (CASES; Lent et al., 2003), and The Resilience Scale (RS; Wagnild & Young, 1993). Multiple hierarchical regressions revealed clinical experience (specifically a completed practicum), emotional intelligence, and resilience predicted counselor self-efficacy. The moderation was not significant. These findings support the value of the exploration of clinical experience, emotional intelligence and resilience in developing counselor self-efficacy. A more comprehensive discussion of the findings, limitations, and implications of the current study as well as suggested direction for future research are discussed herein.
However, this relationship may not be a simple cause-and-effect association. Individuals may possess a certain aptitude (emotional intelligence) and not perceive themselves as competent as counselors. Resilience, one’s ability to “bounce-back” and persevere through adversity may moderate the relation between emotional intelligence and counselor self-efficacy (Wagnild, 1990).
The current study explored the relations among clinical experience, emotional intelligence and resilience in predicting self-efficacy. In addition, whether resilience would moderate the relationship between emotional intelligence and counselor self-efficacy was examined. Eighty counselor trainees enrolled in CACREP-accredited master’s programs participated in this study online. They completed a demographics form, the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT; Mayer, et al., 2002), the Counselor Activities Self-Efficacy Scales (CASES; Lent et al., 2003), and The Resilience Scale (RS; Wagnild & Young, 1993). Multiple hierarchical regressions revealed clinical experience (specifically a completed practicum), emotional intelligence, and resilience predicted counselor self-efficacy. The moderation was not significant. These findings support the value of the exploration of clinical experience, emotional intelligence and resilience in developing counselor self-efficacy. A more comprehensive discussion of the findings, limitations, and implications of the current study as well as suggested direction for future research are discussed herein.
ContributorsPetrolle Clemons, Laura (Author) / Robinson Kurpius, Sharon E (Thesis advisor) / Arciniega, Guillermo M (Committee member) / Kinnier, Richard T (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
Description
It has been suggested that directed forgetting (DF) in the item-method paradigm results from selective rehearsal of R items and passive decay of F items. However, recent evidence suggested that the passive decay explanation is insufficient. The current experiments examined two theories of DF that assume an active forgetting process: (1) attentional inhibition and (2) tagging and selective search (TSS). Across three experiments, the central tenets of these theories were evaluated. Experiment 1 included encoding manipulations in an attempt to distinguish between these competing theories, but the results were inconclusive. Experiments 2 and 3 examined the theories separately. The results from Experiment 2 supported a representation suppression account of attentional inhibition, while the evidence from Experiment 3 suggested that TSS was not a viable mechanism for DF. Overall, the results provide additional evidence that forgetting is due to an active process, and suggest this process may act to suppress the representations of F items.
ContributorsHansen, Whitney Anne (Author) / Goldinger, Stephen D. (Thesis advisor) / Azuma, Tamiko (Committee member) / Brewer, Gene (Committee member) / Homa, Donald (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
Behavioral, electrophysiological, and neuroimaging evidence has demonstrated that multiple object tracking (MOT) tasks draw upon visual perception, attention, and working memory cognitive processes. Functional neuroimaging studies identified the middle temporal visual area (MT+/V5) as one of several brain regions associated with MOT in humans. MT+/V5 is thought to be responsible for processing motion from visual information, regulating smooth pursuit eye movements, and encoding memory for motion. However, it is unclear how MT+/V5 interacts with attention and working memory performance processes during MOT. To investigate this question, the right MT+/V5 region was identified in 14 neurotypical subjects using structural magnetic resonance imaging (sMRI). The right MT+/V5 was stimulated using intermittent theta-burst stimulation (iTBS), continuous theta-burst stimulation (cTBS), and sham transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) using a within-subjects design. Average MOT performance was measured before and 5-min, 30-min, and 60-min after each stimulation protocol. There was no significant difference in average MOT performance across time, regardless of the stimulation condition.
ContributorsAlucard, Myles (Author) / Duran, Nicholas (Thesis advisor, Committee member) / Brewer, Gene (Thesis advisor, Committee member) / Burleson, Mary (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2023
Description
The human brain controls a person's actions and reactions. In this study, the main objective is to quantify reaction time towards a change of visual event and figuring out the inherent relationship between response time and corresponding brain activities. Furthermore, which parts of the human brain are responsible for the reaction time is also of interest. As electroencephalogram (EEG) signals are proportional to the change of brain functionalities with time, EEG signals from different locations of the brain are used as indicators of brain activities. As the different channels are from different parts of our brain, identifying most relevant channels can provide the idea of responsible brain locations. In this study, response time is estimated using EEG signal features from time, frequency and time-frequency domain. Regression-based estimation using the full data-set results in RMSE (Root Mean Square Error) of 99.5 milliseconds and a correlation value of 0.57. However, the addition of non-EEG features with the existing features gives RMSE of 101.7 ms and a correlation value of 0.58. Using the same analysis with a custom data-set provides RMSE of 135.7 milliseconds and a correlation value of 0.69. Classification-based estimation provides 79% & 72% of accuracy for binary and 3-class classication respectively. Classification of extremes (high-low) results in 95% of accuracy. Combining recursive feature elimination, tree-based feature importance, and mutual feature information method, important channels, and features are isolated based on the best result. As human response time is not solely dependent on brain activities, it requires additional information about the subject to improve the reaction time estimation.
ContributorsChowdhury, Mohammad Samin Nur (Author) / Bliss, Daniel W (Thesis advisor) / Papandreou-Suppappola, Antonia (Committee member) / Brewer, Gene (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019