▼ Can the need to belong be met in ways other than relationships with other people? This study tested whether connectedness to nature can serve the same function as interpersonal emotional connections in response to interpersonal rejection. Participants (n = 75) either relived an interpersonal rejection experience, or an academic failure. Levels of aggression, negative affect and cognitive deficit, along with their levels of interdependence and connectedness to nature were then measured. Connectedness to nature was found to be activated and elevated in importance by rejected participants who were chronically less emotionally connected to nature. Though connectedness to nature did not moderate effects of negative affect, it did moderate males’ aggression in response to rejection. This suggests that under some circumstances connectedness to nature can be functionally analogous to interdependence, and that the natural world can thus fill the same role as social relationships with other people. Advisors/Committee Members: Frantz, Cynthia.

▼ Spatial cognition has been implicated in the perception and production of music within both behavioral and neurological experimental paradigms. Using performance on mental rotation of a three-dimensional object, the present study examined the visuo-spatial abilities of conservatory and non-conservatory students. Participants performed the rotation task under no distraction followed by performance with an interference task, which consisted of detecting either tempo or pitch changes. Conservatory students performed better on the mental rotation task both with and without interference. Musical structure (Western classical versus Indian classical) and musical aspect (tempo changes and pitch changes) influenced how much interference was produced in the mental rotation task. The results confirm the relation between music cognition and spatial cognition with the complexity introduced by the musical structure itself. Advisors/Committee Members: deWinstanley, Patricia.