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- Language: English
Description
An introduction to neuroscientific thought aimed at an audience that is not educated in biology. Meant to be readable and easily understood by anyone with a high school education. The first section is completed in its entirety, with outlines for the proposed final sections to be completed over the next few years.
ContributorsNelson, Nicholas Alan (Author) / Olive, M. Foster (Thesis director) / Brewer, Gene (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies (Contributor)
Created2014-05
Description
The purpose of the present study was to evaluate if the size of food items is an important dimension of food incentive in rats. The experiment involved training rats on a T-maze with 1, 45 mg pellet and 7, 5 mg pellets in one alternative and 8, 10 mg pellets in the other alternative. Results from this study indicated that the rats showed preference for the alternative that contained the 1, 45 mg pellet surrounded by 7, 5 mg pellets. Thus, rats preferred the food set that contained the larger sized food unit to an equicaloric food set with only smaller sized food units. In regards to running speed, no significant differences were found for either alternative of food. Results from this study indicated that the apparent size of an item could be a factor in the incentive value of food and perhaps, rats used size as a heuristic, placing a higher incentive value on the food set that contained the larger sized food unit than one containing only smaller sized food units.
ContributorsAnderson, Ashley Linnea (Author) / Phillips, Elizabeth Capaldi (Thesis director) / Presson, Clark (Committee member) / Cohen, Adam (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor)
Created2013-05
Description
There is preclinical evidence that the detrimental cognitive effects of hormone loss can be ameliorated by estrogen therapy (Bimonte, Acosta, & Talboom, 2010), however, one of the primary concerns with current hormone therapies is that they are nonselective, leading to increased risk of breast and endometrial cancers as well as heart disease. Thus, in order to achieve a successful and clinically relevant long-term hormone therapy option, it is optimal to find an estrogen therapy regimen that is selective to its target tissue. Recently, phytoestrogens have been found to exert selective, beneficial effects on cognition and brain. For example, genistein and diadzein produce neuroprotective effects in cognitive brain regions (Zhao, Chen, & Diaz Brinton, 2002). The purpose of this study was threefold: 1) to examine the cognitive impact of phytoestrogens in young ovariectomized rats, 2) to replicate the dose effects found in the Luine study (Luine et al., 2006), while controlling for manufacturer differences, and 3) to assess if the rodent diet used in our laboratory has an estrogenic-like cognitive impact.The current findings suggest that, at least for object memory, diets containing varying amounts of phytoestrogens can alter cognition, with diets containing high amounts of phytoestrogens showing potential benefits to this type of memory.
ContributorsWhitton, Elizabeth Nicole (Author) / Bimonte-Nelson, Heather (Thesis director) / Presson, Clark (Committee member) / Baxter, Leslie (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor)
Created2013-05
Description
In recent years the abuse of synthetic cathinones, "Bath Salts," has increased. The purpose of this study was to analyze two synthetic cathinones, methylone and α-pvp, for hedonic properties or the potential to be abused. This was tested using an intracranial self-stimulation paradigm, a robust measurement for reward. It was found methylone resulted in an abuse potential similar to MDMA, ecstasy, abuse. Moreover, the results for α-pvp showed a high liability for abuse.
ContributorsJohnson, Craig Trevor (Author) / Olive, Foster (Thesis director) / Presson, Clark (Committee member) / Montesano, Mark (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Program (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor)
Created2013-12
Description
This study aims to examine how crossover relations from one parent relate to the other parent's view of familial relationships. The study examines mood state and psychological distress as variables that relate to each other and familial relationships. Home visits were scheduled with families of normally developing three-year olds. During these home visits, naturalistic observation and surveys were done. Researchers then conducted regression analyses to examine the relation between mood state, psychological distress, and familial relationships. The data showed that there were significant relations between one parents' psychological distress and how the other parent viewed the marital relationship, indicating a crossover relation between those two variables.
ContributorsLopez, Nicole Marie (Author) / Crnic, Keith (Thesis director) / Presson, Clark (Committee member) / Nelson, Elizabeth (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor)
Created2013-05
ContributorsChandler, N. Kayla (Author) / Neisewander, Janet (Thesis director) / Sanabria, Federico (Committee member) / Olive, M. Foster (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (Contributor)
Created2013-05
Description
I propose that norms regulate behaviors that negatively impact an individual's survival and reproduction. But because monitoring and enforcing of norms can be costly, individuals should be selective about which norms they police and under what circumstances they should do so. Two studies tested this idea by experimentally activating fitness-relevant motives and having participants answer questions about the policing of norms. The first study examined a norm prescribing respect for status and another proscribing sexual coercion. Results from Study 1 failed to support the hypotheses; activating a status-seeking motive did not have the predicted effects on policing of the respect-status norm nor did activating a mating motive have the predicted effects on policing of the respect-status norm or anti-coercion norm. Study 2 examined two new norms, one prescribing that people stay home when sick and the other proscribing people from having sex with another person's partners. Study 2 also manipulated whether self or others were the target of the policing. Study 2 failed to provide support; a disease avoidance motive failed to have effects on policing of the stay home when sick norm. Individuals in a relationship under a mating motive wanted less policing of others for violation of the mate poaching norm than those in a baseline condition, opposite of the predicted effects.
ContributorsSmith, M. Kristopher (Author) / Neuberg, L. Steven (Thesis director) / Presson, Clark (Committee member) / Hruschka, J. Daniel (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (Contributor)
Created2013-05
Description
Approximately 95% of Americans have at least one sibling (Weaver, Coleman, & Ganong, 2003), making it more likely that children grow up with a sibling than with a father (Lyon, 2009). It is therefore somewhat surprising to learn that sibling relationships have not been a central focus of psychological research, especially considering the fact that parent-child and peer relationships have been studied so extensively. There is no doubt that parents and peers have profound effects on children's emotional, psychological and social wellbeing, but siblings have important effects as well. By middle childhood, children spend more time with their siblings than they do with their parents (Pike, Coldwell, & Dunn, 2005). The sibling relationship is one of the longest and most lasting relationships that we as humans have. Approximately 78% of Americans over the age of sixty still have contact with at least one sibling (Cicirelli, 1995). Unlike parents, siblings are often in our lives until the end of our lifespan and, unlike friends, we do not choose them. They act as teachers, friends, and critics, just to name a few, and they are often a sounding board off of which we can test our ideas and behaviors. The focus of the current study is on the twin sibling relationship quality in middle childhood and in adolescence and its implications for individual adjustment, specifically in the realm of prosocial and aggressive behaviors. I evaluated twin sibling cooperation and conflict at both age 7-8 years and age 12-14 years and then examined prosocial and aggressive tendencies concurrently and longitudinally to study the strength of the association between the two. This study also aimed to better understand the extent to which prosocial behavior and aggression are influenced by genetic and environmental factors.
ContributorsDitto, Kayla Rhiannon Loretta Cam (Author) / Lemery-Chalfant, Kathryn (Thesis director) / Presson, Clark (Committee member) / Valiente, Carlos (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor)
Created2013-05
Description
Psychotic-Like Experiences (PLEs) are prevalent in the general population and may be a marker of risk for psychosis, yet little is known about the everyday functioning of individuals with PLEs. The purpose of this study was to compare everyday functioning of people with and without PLEs. Participants were 108 college students enrolled in an introductory psychology course who were selected for participation in the study because they scored in the top and bottom 10% of a screening test for PLEs. Informants were emailed questionnaires and asked to report on the participants' functioning in three domains: interpersonal functioning, disorganized behavior, and cognitive-perceptual functioning. Informants also reported on participants' attention and memory problems. Results showed that, consistent with prior research, individuals high in PLEs were from lower SES families and reported more depression, anxiety, and substance use. Moreover, informants for participants high in PLEs reported more unusual/disorganized behavior than informants for participants low in PLEs. No differences were observed between individuals high versus low in PLEs for informant-reported interpersonal functioning and attention and memory problems, however. Findings suggest that noticeable difficulties among individuals with PLEs are limited to disorganized behavior. More research is needed to determine the functional consequences of disorganized behavior among individuals with PLEs.
ContributorsLynch, Emily Nicole (Author) / Meier, Madeline (Thesis director) / Presson, Clark (Committee member) / Low, Sabina (Committee member) / Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
This study examined whether changes in intervention related gains from the REACH for Personal and Academic Success program, an indicated anxiety prevention school-based protocol, vary as a function of participant youth's exposure to overprotective parenting. This study also examined if ethnicity/race (Caucasian vs. Hispanic/Latino) interacts with overprotective parenting to predict program response. A total of 98 children (M age = 9.70, SD = .07; 77.60% girls; 60.20% Hispanic/Latino) received 1 of 2 protocols (REACH or academic support) and responses were measured at post-treatment and 1-year follow-up. Findings showed that child self-regulation skills improved in the school program (REACH) for children of parents with low levels of overprotection, and child self-regulation skills improved in the control program (academic support) for children of parents with high levels of overprotection. These findings were significant in the Hispanic/Latino subsample, but not in Caucasian youth.
ContributorsBromich, Bobbi Lynn (Author) / Pina, Armando (Thesis director) / Presson, Clark (Committee member) / Hahs, Adam (Committee member) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05