Matching Items (138)
Description
It is commonly known that the left hemisphere of the brain is more efficient in the processing of verbal information, compared to the right hemisphere. One proposal suggests that hemispheric asymmetries in verbal processing are due in part to the efficient use of top-down mechanisms by the left hemisphere. Most evidence for this comes from hemispheric semantic priming, though fewer studies have investigated verbal memory in the cerebral hemispheres. The goal of the current investigations is to examine how top-down mechanisms influence hemispheric asymmetries in verbal memory, and determine the specific nature of hypothesized top-down mechanisms. Five experiments were conducted to explore the influence of top-down mechanisms on hemispheric asymmetries in verbal memory. Experiments 1 and 2 used item-method directed forgetting to examine maintenance and inhibition mechanisms. In Experiment 1, participants were cued to remember or forget certain words, and cues were presented simultaneously or after the presentation of target words. In Experiment 2, participants were cued again to remember or forget words, but each word was repeated once or four times. Experiments 3 and 4 examined the influence of cognitive load on hemispheric asymmetries in true and false memory. In Experiment 3, cognitive load was imposed during memory encoding, while in Experiment 4, cognitive load was imposed during memory retrieval. Finally, Experiment 5 investigated the association between controlled processing in hemispheric semantic priming, and top-down mechanisms used for hemispheric verbal memory. Across all experiments, divided visual field presentation was used to probe verbal memory in the cerebral hemispheres. Results from all experiments revealed several important findings. First, top-down mechanisms used by the LH primarily used to facilitate verbal processing, but also operate in a domain general manner in the face of increasing processing demands. Second, evidence indicates that the RH uses top-down mechanisms minimally, and processes verbal information in a more bottom-up manner. These data help clarify the nature of top-down mechanisms used in hemispheric memory and language processing, and build upon current theories that attempt to explain hemispheric asymmetries in language processing.
ContributorsTat, Michael J (Author) / Azuma, Tamiko (Thesis advisor) / Goldinger, Stephen D (Committee member) / Liss, Julie M (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
Frequency effects favoring high print-frequency words have been observed in frequency judgment memory tasks. Healthy young adults performed frequency judgment tasks; one group performed a single task while another group did the same task while alternating their attention to a secondary task (mathematical equations). Performance was assessed by correct and error responses, reaction times, and accuracy. Accuracy and reaction times were analyzed in terms of memory load (task condition), number of repetitions, effect of high vs. low print-frequency, and correlations with working memory span. Multinomial tree analyses were also completed to investigate source vs. item memory and revealed a mirror effect in episodic memory experiments (source memory), but a frequency advantage in span tasks (item memory). Interestingly enough, we did not observe an advantage for high working memory span individuals in frequency judgments, even when participants split their attention during the dual task (similar to a complex span task). However, we concluded that both the amount of attentional resources allocated and prior experience with an item affect how it is stored in memory.
ContributorsPeterson, Megan Paige (Author) / Azuma, Tamiko (Thesis advisor) / Gray, Shelley (Committee member) / Liss, Julie (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
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
Magicians are informal cognitive scientists who regularly test their hypotheses in the real world. As such, they can provide scientists with novel hypotheses for formal psychological research as well as a real-world context in which to study them. One domain where magic can directly inform science is the deployment of attention in time and across modalities. Both magicians and scientists have an incomplete understanding of how attention operates in time, rather than in space. However, magicians have highlighted a set of variables that can create moments of visual attentional suppression, which they call "off-beats," and these variables can speak to modern models of temporal attention. The current research examines two of these variables under conditions ranging from artificial laboratory tasks to the (almost) natural viewing of magic tricks. Across three experiments, I show that the detection of subtle dot probes in a noisy visual display and pieces of sleight of hand in magic tricks can be influenced by the seemingly irrelevant rhythmic qualities of auditory stimuli (cross-modal attentional entrainment) and processes of working memory updating (akin to the attentional blink).
ContributorsBarnhart, Anthony S (Author) / Goldinger, Stephen D. (Thesis advisor) / Glenberg, Arthur M. (Committee member) / Homa, Donald (Committee member) / Simons, Daniel J. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
There is a lack of music therapy services for college students who have problems with depression and/or anxiety. Even among universities and colleges that offer music therapy degrees, there are no known programs offering music therapy to the institution's students. Female college students are particularly vulnerable to depression and anxiety symptoms compared to their male counterparts. Many students who experience mental health problems do not receive treatment, because of lack of knowledge, lack of services, or refusal of treatment. Music therapy is proposed as a reliable and valid complement or even an alternative to traditional counseling and pharmacotherapy because of the appeal of music to young women and the potential for a music therapy group to help isolated students form supportive networks. The present study recruited 14 female university students to participate in a randomized controlled trial of short-term group music therapy to address symptoms of depression and anxiety. The students were randomly divided into either the treatment group or the control group. Over 4 weeks, each group completed surveys related to depression and anxiety. Results indicate that the treatment group's depression and anxiety scores gradually decreased over the span of the treatment protocol. The control group showed either maintenance or slight worsening of depression and anxiety scores. Although none of the results were statistically significant, the general trend indicates that group music therapy was beneficial for the students. A qualitative analysis was also conducted for the treatment group. Common themes were financial concerns, relationship problems, loneliness, and time management/academic stress. All participants indicated that they benefited from the sessions. The group progressed in its cohesion and the participants bonded to the extent that they formed a supportive network which lasted beyond the end of the protocol. The results of this study are by no means conclusive, but do indicate that colleges with music therapy degree programs should consider adding music therapy services for their general student bodies.
ContributorsAshton, Barbara (Author) / Crowe, Barbara J. (Thesis advisor) / Rio, Robin (Committee member) / Davis, Mary (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
When people look for things in their environment they use a target template - a mental representation of the object they are attempting to locate - to guide their attention around a scene and to assess incoming visual input to determine if they have found that for which they are searching. However, unlike laboratory experiments, searchers in the real-world rarely have perfect knowledge regarding the appearance of their target. In five experiments (with nearly 1,000 participants), we examined how the precision of the observer's template affects their ability to conduct visual search. Specifically, we simulated template imprecision in two ways: First, by contaminating our searchers' templates with inaccurate features, and second, by introducing extraneous features to the template that were unhelpful. In those experiments we recorded the eye movements of our searchers in order to make inferences regarding the extent to which attentional guidance and decision-making are hindered by template imprecision. We also examined a third way in which templates may become imprecise; namely, that they may deteriorate over time. Overall, our findings support a dual-function theory of the target template, and highlight the importance of examining template precision in future research.
ContributorsHout, Michael C (Author) / Goldinger, Stephen D (Thesis advisor) / Azuma, Tamiko (Committee member) / Homa, Donald (Committee member) / Reichle, Erik (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
Two groups of cochlear implant (CI) listeners were tested for sound source localization and for speech recognition in complex listening environments. One group (n=11) wore bilateral CIs and, potentially, had access to interaural level difference (ILD) cues, but not interaural timing difference (ITD) cues. The second group (n=12) wore a single CI and had low-frequency, acoustic hearing in both the ear contralateral to the CI and in the implanted ear. These `hearing preservation' listeners, potentially, had access to ITD cues but not to ILD cues. At issue in this dissertation was the value of the two types of information about sound sources, ITDs and ILDs, for localization and for speech perception when speech and noise sources were separated in space. For Experiment 1, normal hearing (NH) listeners and the two groups of CI listeners were tested for sound source localization using a 13 loudspeaker array. For the NH listeners, the mean RMS error for localization was 7 degrees, for the bilateral CI listeners, 20 degrees, and for the hearing preservation listeners, 23 degrees. The scores for the two CI groups did not differ significantly. Thus, both CI groups showed equivalent, but poorer than normal, localization. This outcome using the filtered noise bands for the normal hearing listeners, suggests ILD and ITD cues can support equivalent levels of localization. For Experiment 2, the two groups of CI listeners were tested for speech recognition in noise when the noise sources and targets were spatially separated in a simulated `restaurant' environment and in two versions of a `cocktail party' environment. At issue was whether either CI group would show benefits from binaural hearing, i.e., better performance when the noise and targets were separated in space. Neither of the CI groups showed spatial release from masking. However, both groups showed a significant binaural advantage (a combination of squelch and summation), which also maintained separation of the target and noise, indicating the presence of some binaural processing or `unmasking' of speech in noise. Finally, localization ability in Experiment 1 was not correlated with binaural advantage in Experiment 2.
ContributorsLoiselle, Louise (Author) / Dorman, Michael F. (Thesis advisor) / Yost, William A. (Thesis advisor) / Azuma, Tamiko (Committee member) / Liss, Julie (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
Concussion, a subset of mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), has recently been brought to the forefront of the media due to a large lawsuit filed against the National Football League. Concussion resulting from injury varies in severity, duration, and type, based on many characteristics about the individual that research does not presently understand. Chronic fatigue, poor working memory, impaired self-awareness, and lack of attention to task are symptoms commonly present post-concussion. Currently, there is not a standard method of assessing concussion, nor is there a way to track an individual's recovery, resulting in misguided treatment for better prognosis. The aim of the following study was to determine patient specific higher-order cognitive processing deficits for clinical diagnosis and prognosis of concussion. Six individuals (N=6) were seen during the acute phase of concussion, two of whom were seen subsequently when their symptoms were deemed clinically resolved. Subjective information was collected from both the patient and from neurology testing. Each individual completed a task, in which they were presented with degraded speech, taxing their higher-order cognitive processing. Patient specific behavioral patterns are noted, creating a unique paradigm for mapping subjective and objective data for each patient's strategy to compensate for deficits and understand speech in a difficult listening situation. Keywords: concussion, cognitive processing
ContributorsBerg, Dena (Author) / Liss, Julie M (Committee member) / Azuma, Tamiko (Committee member) / Caviness, John (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
Sometimes difficult life events challenge our existing resources in such a way that routinized responses are inadequate to handle the challenge. Some individuals will persist in habitual, automatic behavior, regardless of environmental cues that indicate a mismatch between coping strategy and the demands of the stressor. Other individuals will marshal adaptive resources to construct new courses of action and reconceptualize the problem, associated goals and/or values. A mixed methods approach was used to describe and operationalize cognitive shift, a relatively unexplored construct in existing literature. The study was conducted using secondary data from a parent multi-year cross-sectional study of resilience with eight hundred mid-aged adults from the Phoenix metro area. Semi-structured telephone interviews were analyzed using a purposive sample (n=136) chosen by type of life event. Participants' beliefs, assumptions, and experiences were examined to understand how they shaped adaptation to adversity. An adaptive mechanism, "cognitive shift," was theorized as the transition from automatic coping to effortful cognitive processes aimed at novel resolution of issues. Aims included understanding when and how cognitive shift emerges and manifests. Cognitive shift was scored as a binary variable and triangulated through correlational and logistic regression analyses. Interaction effects revealed that positive personality attributes influence cognitive shift most when people suffered early adversity. This finding indicates that a certain complexity, self-awareness and flexibility of mind may lead to a greater capacity to find meaning in adversity. This work bridges an acknowledged gap in literature and provides new insights into resilience.
ContributorsRivers, Crystal T (Author) / Zautra, Alex (Thesis advisor) / Davis, Mary (Committee member) / Kurpius, Sharon (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
Description
Recognition memory was investigated for naturalistic dynamic scenes. Although visual recognition for static objects and scenes has been investigated previously and found to be extremely robust in terms of fidelity and retention, visual recognition for dynamic scenes has received much less attention. In four experiments, participants view a number of clips from novel films and are then tasked to complete a recognition test containing frames from the previously viewed films and difficult foil frames. Recognition performance is good when foils are taken from other parts of the same film (Experiment 1), but degrades greatly when foils are taken from unseen gaps from within the viewed footage (Experiments 3 and 4). Removing all non-target frames had a serious effect on recognition performance (Experiment 2). Across all experiments, presenting the films as a random series of clips seemed to have no effect on recognition performance. Patterns of accuracy and response latency in Experiments 3 and 4 appear to be a result of a serial-search process. It is concluded that visual representations of dynamic scenes may be stored as units of events, and participant's old
ew judgments of individual frames were better characterized by a cued-recall paradigm than traditional recognition judgments.
ew judgments of individual frames were better characterized by a cued-recall paradigm than traditional recognition judgments.
ContributorsFerguson, Ryan (Author) / Homa, Donald (Thesis advisor) / Goldinger, Stephen (Committee member) / Glenberg, Arthur (Committee member) / Brewer, Gene (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014