Matching Items (6)
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- All Subjects: medicine
- All Subjects: Psychology, Experimental
- Genre: Masters Thesis
- Creators: Branaghan, Russell
- Member of: ASU Electronic Theses and Dissertations
- Member of: Theses and Dissertations
Description
The unpleasant bitter taste found in many nutritious vegetables may deter people from consuming a healthy diet. We investigated individual differences in taste perception and whether these differences influence the effectiveness of bitterness masking. To test whether phenylthiocarbamide (PTC) `supertasters' also taste salt and sugar with greater intensity, as suggested by Bartoshuk and colleagues (2004), we infused strips of paper with salt water or sugar water. The bitterness rating of the PTC strip had a significant positive linear relationship with ratings of both the intensity of sweet and salt, but the effect sizes were very low, suggesting that the PTC strip does not give a complete picture of tasting ability. Next we investigated whether various seasonings could mask the bitter taste of vegetables and whether this varied with tasting ability. We found that sugar decreased bitterness and lemon decreased liking for vegetables of varying degrees of bitterness. The results did not differ by ability to taste any of the flavors. Therefore, even though there are remarkable individual differences in taste perception, sugar can be used to improve the initial palatability of vegetables and increase their acceptance and consumption.
ContributorsWilkie, Lynn Melissa (Author) / Phillips, Elizabeth D. (Thesis advisor) / Cohen, Adam (Committee member) / Johnston, Carol (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
Previous research has shown that training visual attention can improve golf putting performance. A technique called the Quiet Eye focuses on increasing a player’s length of fixation between the ball and the hole. When putting, the final fixation is made on the ball before executing the stroke leaving players to rely on their memory of the hole’s distance and location. The present study aimed to test the effectiveness of Quiet Eye training for final fixation on the hole. Twelve Arizona State University (ASU) students with minimal golf experience putted while wearing eye tracking glasses under the following conditions: from three feet with final fixation on the ball, from six feet with final fixation on the ball, from three feet with final fixation on the hole and from six feet with final fixation on the hole. Participant’s performance was measured before training, following quiet eye training, and under simulated pressure conditions. Putting performance was not significantly affected by final fixation for all conditions. The number of total putts made was significantly greater when putting from three feet for all conditions. Future research should test the effects of this training with expert golfers whose processes are more automatic compared to novices and can afford to look at the hole while putting.
ContributorsGomez, Dennis (Author) / Gray, Robert (Thesis advisor) / Branaghan, Russell (Committee member) / Mara, Andrew F (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
Description
Multimodal presentations have been found to facilitate learning, however, may be a disadvantage for low spatial ability students if they require spatial visualization. This disadvantage stems from their limited capacity to spatially visualize and retain information from both text and diagrams for integration. Similarly, working memory capacity (WMC) likely plays a key role in a learner's ability to retain information presented to them via both modalities. The present study investigated whether or not the act of self-explaining helps resolve deficits in learning caused by individual differences in spatial ability, working memory capacity, and prior knowledge when learning with text, or text and diagrams. No interactions were found, but prior knowledge consistently predicted performance on like posttests. The author presents methodological and theoretical explanations as to the null results of the present study.
ContributorsGutierrez, Pedro J (Author) / Craig, Scotty D. (Thesis advisor) / Branaghan, Russell (Committee member) / Sanchez, Cristopher (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
Description
The medical field is constantly looking for technological solutions to reduce user-error and improve procedures. As a potential solution for healthcare environments, Augmented Reality (AR) has received increasing attention in the past few decades due to advances in computing capabilities, lower cost, and better displays (Sauer, Khamene, Bascle, Vogt, & Rubino, 2002). Augmented Reality, as defined in Ronald Azuma’s initial survey of AR, combines virtual and real-world environments in three dimensions and in real-time (Azuma, 1997). Because visualization displays used in AR are related to human physiologic and cognitive constraints, any new system must improve on previous methods and be consistently aligned with human abilities in mind (Drascic & Milgram, 1996; Kruijff, Swan, & Feiner, 2010; Ziv, Wolpe, Small, & Glick, 2006). Based on promising findings from aviation and driving (Liu & Wen, 2004; Sojourner & Antin, 1990; Ververs & Wickens, 1998), this study identifies whether the spatial proximity affordance provided by a head-mounted display or alternative heads up display might benefit to attentional performance in a simulated routine medical task. Additionally, the present study explores how tasks of varying relatedness may relate to attentional performance differences when these tasks are presented at different spatial distances.
Contributorsdel Rio, Richard A (Author) / Branaghan, Russell (Thesis advisor) / Gray, Rob (Committee member) / Chiou, Erin (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
Description
Medical errors are now estimated to be the third leading cause of death in the United States (Makary & Daniel, 2016). Look-alike, sound- alike prescription drug mix-ups contribute to this figure. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) have recommended the use of Tall Man lettering since 2008, in which dissimilar portions of confusable drug names pairs are capitalized in order to make them more distinguishable. Research on the efficacy of Tall Man lettering in differentiating confusable drug name pairs has been inconclusive and it is imperative to investigate potential efficacy further considering the clinical implications (Lambert, Schroeder & Galanter, 2015). The present study aimed to add to the body of research on Tall Man lettering while also investigating another possibility for the mechanism behind Tall Man’s efficacy, if it in fact exists. Studies indicate that the first letter in a word offers an advantage over other positions, resulting in more accurate and faster recognition (Adelman, Marquis & Sabatos-DeVito, 2010; Scaltritti & Balota, 2013). The present study used a 2x3 repeated measures design to analyze the effect of position on Tall Man lettering efficacy. Participants were shown a prime drug, followed by a brief mask, and then either the same drug name or its confusable pair and asked to identify whether they were the same or different. All participants completed both lowercase and Tall Man conditions. Overall performance measured by accuracy and reaction time revealed lowercase to be more effective than Tall Man. With regard to the position of Tall Man letters, a first position advantage was seen both in accuracy and reaction time. A first position advantage was seen in the lowercase condition as well, suggesting the location of the differing portion of the word matters more than the format used. These findings add to the body of inconclusive research on the efficacy of Tall Man lettering in drug name confusion. Considering its impact on patient safety, more research should be conducted to definitively answer the question as to whether or not Tall Man should be used in practice.
ContributorsKnobloch, Ashley (Author) / Branaghan, Russell (Thesis advisor) / Cooke, Nancy J. (Committee member) / Gray, Robert (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
Description
ABSTRACT
The cold and the flu are two of the most prevalent diseases in the world. Many over the counter (OTC) medications have been created to combat the symptoms of these illnesses. Some medications take a holistic approach by claiming to alleviate a wide range of symptoms, while others target a specific symptom. As these medications become more ubiquitous within the United State of America (USA), consumers form associations and mental models about the cold/flu field. The goal of Study 1 was to build a Pathfinder network based on the associations consumers make between cold/flu symptoms and medications. 100 participants, 18 years or older, fluent in English, and residing in the USA, completed a survey about the relatedness of cold/flu symptoms to OTC medications. They rated the relatedness on a scale of 1 (highly unrelated) to 7 (highly related) and those rankings were used to build a Pathfinder network that represented the average of those associations. Study 2 was conducted to validate the Pathfinder network. A different set of 90 participants with the same restrictions as those in Study 1 completed a matching associations test. They were prompted to match symptoms and medications they associated closely with each other. Results showered a significant negative correlation between the geodetic distance (the number of links between objects in the Pathfinder network) separating symptoms and medications and frequency of pairing symptoms with medication. This provides evidence of the validity of the Pathfinder network. It was also seen that, higher the relatedness rating between symptoms and medications in Study 1, higher the frequency of pairing symptom to medication in Study 2, and the more directly linked those symptoms and medications were in the Pathfinder network. This network can inform pharmaceutical companies about which symptoms they most closely associate with, who their competitors are, what symptoms they can dominate, and how to market their medications more effectively.
The cold and the flu are two of the most prevalent diseases in the world. Many over the counter (OTC) medications have been created to combat the symptoms of these illnesses. Some medications take a holistic approach by claiming to alleviate a wide range of symptoms, while others target a specific symptom. As these medications become more ubiquitous within the United State of America (USA), consumers form associations and mental models about the cold/flu field. The goal of Study 1 was to build a Pathfinder network based on the associations consumers make between cold/flu symptoms and medications. 100 participants, 18 years or older, fluent in English, and residing in the USA, completed a survey about the relatedness of cold/flu symptoms to OTC medications. They rated the relatedness on a scale of 1 (highly unrelated) to 7 (highly related) and those rankings were used to build a Pathfinder network that represented the average of those associations. Study 2 was conducted to validate the Pathfinder network. A different set of 90 participants with the same restrictions as those in Study 1 completed a matching associations test. They were prompted to match symptoms and medications they associated closely with each other. Results showered a significant negative correlation between the geodetic distance (the number of links between objects in the Pathfinder network) separating symptoms and medications and frequency of pairing symptoms with medication. This provides evidence of the validity of the Pathfinder network. It was also seen that, higher the relatedness rating between symptoms and medications in Study 1, higher the frequency of pairing symptom to medication in Study 2, and the more directly linked those symptoms and medications were in the Pathfinder network. This network can inform pharmaceutical companies about which symptoms they most closely associate with, who their competitors are, what symptoms they can dominate, and how to market their medications more effectively.
ContributorsTendolkar, Tanvi Gopal (Author) / Branaghan, Russell (Thesis advisor) / Chiou, Erin (Committee member) / Craig, Scotty (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2020