Matching Items (2)
Description
Past research suggested that lutein (L) and zeaxanthin (Z) play a role in many aspects of cognitive functions including motor speed, working memory, executive function, psychomotor speed and verbal fluency among elderly people. Moreover, L and Z are the only carotenoids found in the eye, and they are correlated with improved contrast sensitivity, improved temporal vision, reduced glare disability, and reduced risk of age related-macular degeneration (AMD). Animal and postmortem research suggests that MPOD may be a biomarker for predicting cognitive decline with age. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the potential relationship between MPOD and cognition in young healthy adults. There were fifty participants in the current study, 25 had low MPOD. The remaining participants exhibited high MPOD, which was measured using a macular pigment densitometer. People with low MPOD did not perform any worse than people with high MPOD. Although low MPOD in young adults may be a biomarker for future cognitive decline, the effects may lay dormant until later in life. Future research should explore this possibility by replicating this study with an older population.
ContributorsZimmerman, Daniel (Author) / Nanez, Jose E (Thesis advisor) / Shipstead, Zachary (Committee member) / Hall, Deborah (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
Description
Political party identification has an immense influence on shaping individual attitudes and processes of reasoning to the point where otherwise knowledgeable people endorse political conspiracies that support one's political in-group and simultaneously disparage an out-group. Although recent research has explored this tendency among partisans, less is known about how Independents respond in comparison. Previous research fails to identify the Independent as a unique type of voter, but rather categorizes this group as ostensibly partisan, not a separate phenomenon to investigate. However, most Independents purport neutrality and, by recent polls, are becoming a substantial body worthy of concerted focus. Many questions arise about who Independents really are. For example, do all who identify as Independent behave in a similar manner? Are Independents ideologically different than what is represented by a partisan label? Is the Independent category a broad term for something entirely misunderstood? A thorough investigation into the greater dynamics of the political environment in the United States is an enormous undertaking, requiring a robust interdisciplinary approach beyond the focus and intent of this study. Therefore, this study begins the journey toward understanding these phenomena; do Independents, as a whole, uniformly respond to statements about political conspiracy theories? To explore these possibilities, explicit responses are bypassed to evaluate the implicit appeal of political conspiracy theories. An action dynamics (mouse-tracking) approach, a data rich method that records the response process, demonstrates Independents are not in fact a homogeneous group, but rather seem to fall into two groups: non-partisan leaning and partisan leaning. The analysis exposes that relative to the baseline and control stimuli: (1) Non-leaning Independents reveal an increased susceptibility to implicitly endorse bi-partisan directed conspiracy theories when compared to leaners. (2) Republican-leaners demonstrate a stronger susceptibility to endorse right-wing aligned conspiracy theories (against Barack Obama), similar to Republican partisans. (3) Democrat-leaners, unlike Democrat partisans, do not demonstrate any particular susceptibility to implicitly endorse either right/left-wing aligned conspiracy theories (against Barack Obama or George W. Bush). Drawing from major theories from social, political, and cognitive psychology will contribute to an understanding of these phenomena. Concluding remarks include study limitations and future directions.
ContributorsJohnson, Chelsea (Author) / Duran, Nicholas D (Thesis advisor) / Robles-Sotelo, Elias (Committee member) / Hall, Deborah (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017