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Description
Recent findings in human interactions with complex objects, objects with unpredictable interaction dynamics, revealed predictability as an important factor when determining effective control strategies. The current study extended these findings by examining the role of predictability in the selection of control strategies in two scenarios: during initial interactions with a novel, complex object, and when intentional constraints are imposed. In Experiment 1, methods with which people can identify and improve their control strategy during initial interactions with a complex object were examined. Participants actively restricted their movements at first to simplify the object’s complex behavior, then gradually adjusted movements to improve the system’s predictability. In Experiment 2, predictability of participants’ control strategies was monitored when the intention to act was changed to prioritize speed over stability. Even when incentivized to seek alternative strategies, people still prioritized predictability, and would compensate for the loss of predictability. These experiments furthered understanding of the motor control processes as a whole and may reveal important implications when generalized to other domains that also interact with complex systems.
ContributorsNguyen, Tri Duc (Author) / Amazeen, Eric (Thesis advisor) / Glenberg, Arthur (Committee member) / Amazeen, Polemnia G (Committee member) / Brewer, Gene (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2022
Description
The purpose of the Preschool Intervention for Embodied Storytelling (PIES) study was to evaluate the efficacy of a drama-based story time intervention on at-risk preschool students’ emotion knowledge, story retell and story comprehension skills. Six classrooms with 44 students were randomly assigned into drama-based intervention and dialogic reading control groups. After four weeks of intervention sessions twice per week, students’ emotion knowledge and story retell skills were assessed with distal measures. During the program, students’ comprehension of the stories was evaluated weekly. Participants did not show significant main effects on any measures, however investigation of simple effects revealed differences in gains over time for intervention students in their story retell skills. Despite lack of significance, effect sizes for story retell were promising. Mean differences in story comprehension skills were consistently in favor of the intervention group for the duration of the program. Teacher participants showed an increase in their positive perceptions of drama-based instruction, but their own use of these strategies at story time was variable before and after observing the PIES program. Drama based instruction through PIES may be a favorable intervention strategy for preschool students as they develop narrative skills that are a prerequisite for future reading comprehension success.
ContributorsPierce, Melissa (Author) / Restrepo, Maria Adelaida (Thesis advisor) / Glenberg, Arthur (Committee member) / Marley, Scott (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2022
Description
The current study explores the extent to which different processing strategies affect comprehension accuracy and integration of information across multiple texts. Reading comprehension of single texts is a difficult task, in which the challenges are compounded by the need to integrate information across texts. Processing strategies, such as self-explanation and source-evaluation, help reduce the challenges that readers face when attempting to comprehend texts. Self-explanation has been a successful strategy for coherence-building processes in single text comprehension, but the benefits for supporting inter-textual comprehension have not yet been explored. Source-evaluation supports identification of different sources, which helps resolve inconsistencies between texts; yet it remains unclear whether sourcing alone supports comprehension within as well as between texts. Think-aloud is a strategy intended to encourage further processing of the text without providing any explicit comprehension strategy. The differences between these two strategies prompts questions regarding the adequacy of either strategy for supporting inferencing and integration within and across texts. In this study, participants (n=80) were randomly assigned to one of three strategy conditions: self-explanation, source-evaluation, or think-aloud. Students read four texts after which they completed three types of open-ended comprehension questions (i.e., textbase, intra-textual inference, and inter-textual inference), a source memory task, and individual difference measures. Prior knowledge and reading skill were strongly correlated (r = .65) and showed moderate correlations (r = .31 to .60) with participants’ comprehension accuracy, total number of integrations within their responses, and their memory for sources. Participants were more likely to respond accurately and demonstrate integrations across texts for the text-based questions in comparison to the more challenging inference questions. There was a marginal effect of condition on comprehension question accuracy, wherein participants who self-explained responded more accurately than those who engaged in the think-aloud task. In addition, those in the self-explanation or source-evaluation conditions recalled more sources than those in the think-aloud condition. There were no significant differences in performance between the self-explanation and the source-evaluation conditions. Overall, the results of this study indicate that encouraging students to self-explain and/or evaluate sources while they read multiple documents enhances comprehension and memory for sources.
ContributorsPerret, Cecile Aline (Author) / McNamara, Danielle S (Thesis advisor) / Brewer, Gene (Committee member) / Glenberg, Arthur (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2021
Description
ABSTRACT
Learning a novel motor pattern through imitation of the skilled performance of an expert has been shown to result in better learning outcomes relative to observational or physical practice. The aim of the present project was to examine if the advantages of imitational practice could be further augmented through a supplementary technique derived from my previous research. This research has provided converging behavioral evidence that dyads engaged in joint action in a familiar task requiring spatial and temporal synchrony end up developing an extended overlap in their body representations, termed a joint body schema (JBS). The present research examined if inducing a JBS between a trainer and a novice trainee, prior to having the dyad engage in imitation practice on a novel motor pattern would enhance both of the training process and its outcomes.
Participants either worked with their trainer on a familiar joint task to develop the JBS (Joint condition) or performed a solo equivalent of the task while being watched by their trainer (Solo condition). Participants In both groups then engaged in blocks of alternating imitation practice and free production of a novel manual motor pattern, while their motor output was recorded. Analyses indicated that the Joint participants outperformed the Solo participants in the ability to synchronize the spatial and temporal components of their imitation movements with the trainer’s pattern-modeling movements. The same group showed superior performance when attempting to freely produce the pattern. These results carry significant theoretical and translational potentials for the fields of motor learning and rehabilitation.
Learning a novel motor pattern through imitation of the skilled performance of an expert has been shown to result in better learning outcomes relative to observational or physical practice. The aim of the present project was to examine if the advantages of imitational practice could be further augmented through a supplementary technique derived from my previous research. This research has provided converging behavioral evidence that dyads engaged in joint action in a familiar task requiring spatial and temporal synchrony end up developing an extended overlap in their body representations, termed a joint body schema (JBS). The present research examined if inducing a JBS between a trainer and a novice trainee, prior to having the dyad engage in imitation practice on a novel motor pattern would enhance both of the training process and its outcomes.
Participants either worked with their trainer on a familiar joint task to develop the JBS (Joint condition) or performed a solo equivalent of the task while being watched by their trainer (Solo condition). Participants In both groups then engaged in blocks of alternating imitation practice and free production of a novel manual motor pattern, while their motor output was recorded. Analyses indicated that the Joint participants outperformed the Solo participants in the ability to synchronize the spatial and temporal components of their imitation movements with the trainer’s pattern-modeling movements. The same group showed superior performance when attempting to freely produce the pattern. These results carry significant theoretical and translational potentials for the fields of motor learning and rehabilitation.
ContributorsSoliman, Tamer (Author) / Glenberg, Arthur (Thesis advisor) / Helms Tillery, Stephen (Committee member) / McBeath, Michael (Committee member) / Amazeen, Eric (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
Description
Previous research demonstrated the overall efficacy of an embodied language intervention (EMBRACE) that taught pre-school children how to simulate (imagine) language in a heard narrative. However, EMBRACE was not effective for every child. To try to explain this variable response to the intervention, the video recordings made during the four-day intervention sessions were assessed and emotion was coded. Each session was emotion-coded for child emotions and for child-researcher emotions. The child specific emotions were 1) engagement in the task, this included level of participation in the activity, 2) motivation/attention to persist and complete the task, as well as stay focused, and 3) positive affect throughout the session. The child-researcher specific emotions were 1) engagement with each other, this involved how the child interacted with the researcher and under what context, and 2) researcher’s positive affect, this incorporated how enthusiastic and encouraging the researcher was throughout the session. It was hypothesized that effectiveness of the intervention would be directly correlated with the degree that the child displayed positive emotions during the intervention. Thus, the analysis of these emotions should highlight differences between the control and EMBRACE group and help to explain variability in effectiveness of the intervention. The results did indicate that children in the EMBRACE group generally had a significantly higher positive affect compared to the control group, but these results did not influence the ability for the child to effectively recall or moderate the EEG variables in the post-test. The results also showed that children who interacted with the researcher more tended to be in the EMBRACE group, whereas children who did not interact with the researcher more frequently were in the control group, showing that the EMBRACE intervention ended up being a more collaborative task.
ContributorsOtt, Lauren Ruth (Author) / Glenberg, Arthur (Thesis director) / Presson, Clark (Committee member) / Kupfer, Anne (Committee member) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
Accurately assessing the sexual interest of others is useful for initiating courtship behaviors that have a chance of being reciprocated, and also potentially critical for survival, particularly for women, where unwanted sexual interest from men can become unwanted sexual advances, sexual assault, and worse. Previous research suggests that men overestimate women’s sexual interest to initiate courtship behaviors even if the probability of their advances being reciprocated is low. This may be because missing a potential mating opportunity is costlier than squandered courtship efforts. However, research on this male sexual overestimation effect has failed to fully appreciate the importance of the motivations and contexts of actors. Here, we primed participants with short-term mating motivations and threat contexts to compare against a control prime condition. We replicated the male sexual overestimation effect in the control and threat prime conditions and found a marginal effect in the short-term mating prime condition. The magnitude of the difference between men’s estimations and women’s self-reports of women’s sexual interest was only significantly different from the control prime in the threat condition. Additionally, we explored some interesting combinations of circumstances. We found that, in a potentially common scenario, where men are primed with short-term mating motives and women are primed with threat, the male sexual overestimation effect replicates and, further, find that this effect disappears when the mindsets of men and women are reversed. We discuss the implications of these findings in the context of understanding what the default psychologies of people during the early stages of courtship are, and the effects these psychologies have on estimations of sexual interest.
ContributorsBoyd-Frenkel, Krystina Adriana (Author) / Neuberg, Steven L. (Thesis director) / Barlev, Michael (Committee member) / Glenberg, Arthur (Committee member) / School of Human Evolution & Social Change (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
Childhood obesity is a societal cost that affects children across the world. Although childhood obesity affects children of various ethnic backgrounds, childhood obesity is disproportionately prevalent in lower income, minority households. Current interventions for childhood obesity center around a “one size fits all” model that is poor in efficacy amongst minority populations. However, through the examination of parent feeding strategies, the efficacy of interventions may increase. This literature review wishes to examine the role of parent feeding strategies as an indicator of childhood obesity and to examine whether there is an association between parent feeding strategies, child unhealthy eating, weight status, and ethnicity. An examination of the literature on childhood obesity, suggests that childhood obesity can be attributed to genetic, social, and environmental influences. Research has indicated that having parents who exhibit the indulgent feeding style are more strongly associated with child unhealthy eating when compared to other feeding styles. Given this literature review, I predict that the association between indulgent feeding style and child unhealthy eating is stronger among overweight/obese children than normal weight children. Lastly, I conclude that the association of indulgent feeding styles, child unhealthy eating, and child weight status will be more strongly associated amongst Latinx households when compared to African American and White households.
ContributorsBuckner, Nia Lavette (Author) / Glenberg, Arthur (Thesis director) / Nelson, Elizabeth (Committee member) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
Recent findings support that facial musculature accounts for a form of phonetic sound symbolism. Yu, McBeath, and Glenberg (2019) found that, in both English words and Mandarin pinyin, words with the middle phoneme /i:/ (as in “gleam”) were rated as more positive than their paired words containing the phoneme /ʌ/ (as in “glum”). The present study tested whether a second largely orthogonal dimension of vowel phoneme production (represented by the phonemes /æ/ vs /u/), is related to a second dimension perpendicular to emotional valence, arousal. Arousal was chosen because it is the second dimension of the Russell Circumplex Model of Affect. In phonetic similarity mappings, this second dimension is typically characterized by oral aperture size and larynx position, but it also appears to follow the continuum of consonance/dissonance. Our findings supported the hypothesis that one-syllable words with the center vowel phoneme /æ/ were reliably rated as more rousing, and less calming, than matched words with the center vowel phoneme /u/. These results extend the Yu, et al. findings regarding the potential contribution of facial musculature to sounds associated with the emotional dimension of arousal, and further confirm a model of sound symbolism related to emotional expression. These findings support that phonemes are not neutral basic units but rather illustrate an innate relationship between embodied emotional expression and speech production.
ContributorsGreenstein, Ely Conrad (Author) / McBeath, Michael (Thesis director) / Glenberg, Arthur (Committee member) / Patten, Kristopher (Committee member) / Historical, Philosophical & Religious Studies (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
Embodiment refers to the interactions between the brain, the body, one’s behavior, and the surrounding physical and social worlds (Glenberg, 2010). Embodied cognition can be utilized to teach various aspects of human behavior, especially life skills. Psychologists have defined self-regulation as managing one’s thoughts, emotions, and behaviors to achieve goals (Rosanbalm & Murray, 2017; Dettmer et al., 2020). In this study, researchers examined the interaction of these concepts to determine whether embodied cognitive tasks could facilitate self-regulation skills in a sample of preschoolers and kindergarteners. Researchers recruited twenty-six participants aged three to six from ASU’s Child Study Lab. Researchers matched participants on PPVT scores, and one from each pair was randomly assigned to the traditional (control) group while the other was assigned to the embodied (experimental) group. In phase one, the embodied group received four sequential thought lesson plans based on physical manipulation of materials. The traditional group received four sequential thought lesson plans in a traditional, two-dimensional format. In phase two, all participants received four traditional-style impulse control lesson plans. Researchers used a factorial ANOVA to analyze both groups’ pre and post-test data in each phase. In phase one, the children in the embodied group displayed greater improvements in sequential thought skills than their counterparts in the traditional group, who only slightly improved overall. In phase two, the previously-embodied group ended with a higher average post-test score than the traditional group. This interaction effect could be attributed to the differences in training methods received in the sequential thought phase. This study would need to be replicated with a larger, more representative sample to determine a statistically significant effect.
ContributorsConway, Bryn (Author) / McKinney, Keagan (Co-author) / Glenberg, Arthur (Thesis director) / Kupfer, Anne (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor)
Created2022-05
Description
Embodiment refers to the interactions between the brain, the body, one’s behavior, and the surrounding physical and social worlds (Glenberg, 2010). Embodied cognition can be utilized to teach various aspects of human behavior, especially life skills. Psychologists have defined self-regulation as managing one’s thoughts, emotions, and behaviors to achieve goals (Rosanbalm & Murray, 2017; Dettmer et al., 2020). In this study, researchers examined the interaction of these concepts to determine whether embodied cognitive tasks could facilitate self-regulation skills in a sample of preschoolers and kindergarteners. Researchers recruited twenty-six participants aged three to six from ASU’s Child Study Lab. Researchers matched participants on PPVT scores, and one from each pair was randomly assigned to the traditional (control) group while the other was assigned to the embodied (experimental) group. In phase one, the embodied group received four sequential thought lesson plans based on physical manipulation of materials. The traditional group received four sequential thought lesson plans in a traditional, two-dimensional format. In phase two, all participants received four traditional-style impulse control lesson plans. Researchers used a factorial ANOVA to analyze both groups’ pre and post-test data in each phase. In phase one, the children in the embodied group displayed greater improvements in sequential thought skills than their counterparts in the traditional group, who only slightly improved overall. In phase two, the previously-embodied group ended with a higher average post-test score than the traditional group. This interaction effect could be attributed to the differences in training methods received in the sequential thought phase. This study would need to be replicated with a larger, more representative sample to determine a statistically significant effect.
ContributorsMcKinney, Keagan (Author) / Conway, Bryn (Co-author) / Glenberg, Arthur (Thesis director) / Kupfer, Anne (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor)
Created2022-05