MA, Kent State University, 2017, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Psychological Sciences

Rats have the capacity to extrapolate a known sequence of events to anticipate a novel item. We examined whether or not rats can extrapolate a serial pattern during a muscarinic cholinergic challenge. Adult male and female rats learned to nosepoke a sequential pattern of responses in a circular array of 8 receptacles attached one each to the walls of an octagonal chamber. This training pattern consisted of seven 3-element chunks of a rule-based serial pattern, namely, 123-234-345-456-567-678-781. On the day after meeting a high criterion on the training pattern, rats were given i.p. injections of 0.6 mg/kg scopolamine hydrobromide, a muscarinic cholinergic blocker, before encountering patterns consisting of the 7-chunk training pattern plus an added eighth chunk. The added chunk was either consistent with pattern structure (chunk “812”) or contained a terminal element that violated pattern structure (chunk “818”, where the violation element is underlined). Under scopolamine, and even while showing scopolamine-induced impairments of performance throughout the pattern, rats in both groups extrapolated known pattern structure in the novel added chunk, producing approximately 60% rule-consistent “2” responses on the terminal element of both types of chunks. Thus, despite scopolamine exposure, both male and female rats extrapolated well-learned pattern structure to a new chunk. Whereas earlier work showed that muscarinic cholinergic suppression had little effect on rule learning during acquisition of a pattern, the current study demonstrated that intact muscarinic cholinergic neurotransmission is not necessary for extrapolation of a well-learned rule to a novel chunk.

BS, Kent State University, 2016, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Psychological Sciences

Methylphenidate (MPD), commonly known as Ritalin, is widely used in treating Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), which is one of the most common childhood psychiatric disorders (Storebo et al., 2015). Serial pattern learning is a behavioral task that depends on multiple learning and cognitive systems. Rowan et al. (2015) found in a previous study with male rats that adolescent exposure to MPD caused cognitive impairments in serial pattern learning in adulthood long after MPD exposure ended. However, no study has yet examined sex differences in the effects of early exposure to MPD on adult cognitive capacity. In this study, 12 male and 12 female rats received the same exposures via intraperitoneal injections as in the Rowan et al. (2015) study, namely, 20.0 mg/kg/day MPD, and an equal number of male and female control rats received saline vehicle for 5 days/week for 7 weeks. MPD-exposed and control rats learned to perform the same 24-element serial pattern used by Rowan et al. (2015), but the rats differed in that they were from different breeding stock and they experienced twice as many serial patterns per day in training. A significant sex difference was observed for one measure of serial pattern learning. However, we did not observe any effects of adolescent MPD for either sex in this paradigm. Our results suggest that differences in training procedures may affect the ability to measure adolescent MPD-induced impairments of adult cognition.

Master of Science, The Ohio State University, 2008, Graduate School

Master of Science in Electrical Engineering (MSEE), Wright State University, 2022, Electrical Engineering

Cognitive capabilities for robotic applications are furthered by developing an artificial amygdala that mimics biology. The amygdala portion of the brain is commonly understood to control mood and behavior based upon sensory inputs, motivation, and context. This research builds upon prior work in creating artificial intelligence for robotics which focused on mood-generated actions. However, recent amygdala research suggests a void in greater functionality. This work developed a computational model of an amygdala, integrated this model into a robot model, and developed a comprehensive integration of the robot for simulation, and live embodiment. The developed amygdala, instantiated in the Nengo Brain Maker environment, leveraged spiking neural networks and the semantic pointer architecture to allow the abstraction of neuron ensembles into high-level concept vocabularies. Test and validation were performed on a TurtleBot in both simulated (Gazebo) and live testing. Results were compared to a baseline model which has a simplistic, amygdala-like model. Metrics of nearest distance and nearest time were used for assessment. The amygdala model is shown to outperform the baseline in both simulations, with a 70.8% improvement in nearest distance and, 4% improvement in the nearest time, and in real applications with a 62.4% improvement in nearest distance. Notably, this performance occurred despite a five-fold increase in architecture size and complexity.

Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, 2022, Management

The early twenty-first century zeitgeist has been characterized by a cultural and corporate fascination with leveraging mind-body practices such as meditation and yoga as tools for professional performance. At the same time, executive coaches trained in body-mind approaches to coaching make strong but as-yet unsubstantiated claims about the transformative power of body-based behavioral learning. Practitioner literature suggests that developing embodied self-awareness (ESA) enhances well-being, resilience, and relationships while building the emotional and social intelligence (ESI) that sets outstanding leaders apart from ordinary ones. These claims are consistent with theoretical relationships between brain, body, and behavior, but they have yet to be put to the empirical test. This mixed methods research project seeks to challenge, clarify, and validate these claims by examining the antecedents and outcomes of embodied self-awareness through both a theoretical and an empirical lens. Starting with a qualitative study based on critical incident interviews and thematic analysis, the research proceeds to gather survey-based data from over 550 professional coaches about their experience of embodied self-awareness, its potential outcomes, and the activities likely to produce it. Using factor analysis and structural equation modeling, results show that ESA has strong and significant effects on all dependent variables tested and that ESA can be cultivated through multiple avenues, including body-oriented coach training, yoga, meditation, and hands-on bodywork. Ultimately, by triangulating across methods and studies three convergent conclusions emerge: (1) Body-oriented coach training appears to have stronger effects on ESA than more commonly practiced pursuits such as yoga, mindfulness, and bodywork; (2) Developing ESA strengthens one's capacity for resilience, adaptability, and flourishing; and (3) ESA builds interpersonal competencies including empathy, connectedne (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy, University of Toledo, 2021, Educational Psychology

Evidence-based practice (EBP) is the integration of the latest scientific evidence with clinician expertise while considering patient values and preferences. It is a complex, problem-solving approach proven to improve patient quality and outcomes. The importance of EBP in healthcare is expressed by the Institute of Medicine's goal of establishing that 90% of all clinical decisions be based on current scientific evidence. Despite this, there remains a research to clinical practice gap. Factors contributing to this gap need to be further explored. This study examined cognitive factors related to evidence-based implementation practices. The goal was to investigate potential relationships between need for cognition, reflective thinking, and EBP beliefs with EBP implementation. Understanding metacognition as it relates to evidence-based implementation practices may offer insight into practice adoption as well as fill a gap in the literature. A 53-item survey was compiled using scales to measure need for cognition, reflective thinking, EBP beliefs and EBP implementation practices. The survey was disseminated electronically to approximately 5200 acute care registered nurses in a Midwestern healthcare organization. One hundred thirteen nurses initially responded with 75 nurses completing the survey in its entirety. Descriptive statistics and Pearson bivariate correlation were used to analyze the data. The results showed a weak, positive correlation between EBP beliefs and EBP implementation. There was no relationship found between need for cognition and reflective thinking with EBP implementation. Further studies are needed to identify cognitive factors that promote EBP implementation

PHD, Kent State University, 2021, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Psychological Sciences

Research examining the role of carbohydrates in postprandial cognition has yielded inconsistent results. Some studies demonstrate significant cognitive improvement following caloric intake, while others do not. Interindividual differences in glucoregulation partially explain this inconsistency. Prior work suggested persons with artificially dichotomized “better” glucoregulation perform best after caloric intake with more carbohydrates, while individuals with “poorer” glucoregulation perform best after lower carbohydrate intake. Recent works utilizing more rigorous statistical methodology (i.e., continuous measures of glucoregulation and linear mixed modeling) imply the role of glucoregulation in postprandial cognition might vary by cognitive domain. However, these studies examined young adults and children, and considered only fasting blood glucose. Work in animal models indicates the role of glucoregulation in postprandial cognition may vary by age, and it may also differ based on how it is measured. The current study examined the role of glucoregulation in postprandial cognition among adults using multiple glucoregulation indices (including fasting plasma glucose and response to a glucose excursion challenge) across three ecologically valid beverage conditions. It was hypothesized that participants with poorer glucoregulation would demonstrate better cognitive response following low-carbohydrate beverages, with the opposite pattern occurring for participants with better glucoregulation. Differences in these relationships across cognitive domains and glucoregulation indices were also examined. Healthy, overnight-fasted adults (n=44) attended three morning sessions in a randomized, counterbalanced, repeated-measures design. After baseline cognitive testing (CNS Vital Signs) and blood draw, participants ingested 8oz of 2% milk, apple juice, or water. Re-testing occurred 30, 90, and 150 min post-ingestion. Complex attention, working memory, processing speed, executive (open full item for complete abstract)

Master of Science (MS), Ohio University, 2019, Biological Sciences (Arts and Sciences)

Population-level species' cognitive traits have been well explored, as well as differences between species. However, the factors influencing variation in cognitive traits within species is less well known. I have used the swordtail fish species Xiphophorus multilineatus to explore factors potentially influencing variation in cognition, measured with two different classical conditioning tests. Males of this species have a polymorphism and exhibit two alternative reproductive tactics (ARTs) – sneaker and courter tactics. Overall, females prefer to mate with the courter tactic males. Males of the two ARTs differ morphologically and behaviorally. The courter males are larger and will only courtship display for females, while the smaller sneaker males exhibit behavioral plasticity in their mating tactic, and will use a “sneak-chase” tactic to attempt to coerce mating or will courtship display for females if no larger males are in the vicinity. In the first chapter, I compared learning both between males and females and between the two male ARTs. I detected both sexual and tactical dimorphism in performance in a classical conditioning task, as well as the potential for sexual conflict to influence the evolution of cognitive traits in this species. As predicted, the sneaker males that are plastic in their use of mating behaviors performed better in the learning task than the courter males. Additionally, sneaker males performed better than females with a sneaker sire, but not females with a courter sire, which may indicate maternal effects of resource allocation that thereby affects cognitive traits in their offspring. In the second chapter, I capitalized on a known female mate preference in X. multilineatus to explore the effect of cognitive trait variation on female mate preference. I used a shape discrimination task to measure variation in cognitive ability, and a standard dichotomous preference test to measure strength of preference for the larger courter males as compa (open full item for complete abstract)

PhD, University of Cincinnati, 2017, Arts and Sciences: Philosophy

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a heterogeneous neurodevelopmental disorder. I argue that an account of social cognition that combines elements from situated cognition and theory theory can best account for the range and variety of social abilities and disabilities in ASD. Situated cognition places emphasis on the contribution of the perceptions and bodies of individuals to social interactions. Theory theory focuses upon the development of a theory of mind and the mental processes that guide social understanding and interaction. Proponents of situated cognition argue that properly embedding within a social environment is an important element for the development of social rapport. Coordinating social rhythms with others, such as walking rhythms and postural sway rhythms, are important for the development of social rapport. Individuals with ASD, due to movement atypicalities, do not embed fully within social environments. Difficulties with embedding within a social environment may lead to social isolation. Due to attentional, learning, and movement atypicalities and to not fully embedding within social environments, individuals with ASD develop a less robust theory of mind. Theory of mind is a hierarchical model that consists of many integrated models of social situations. Early social development delays will cause a cycle of delays in social development. The development of a theory of mind involves observing and participating within social environments and using these observations and experiences to construct models of social situations. These models are used to guide attention and behavior in new social situations. Individuals on the spectrum observe less social stimuli and participate less within social environments. Furthermore, learning atypicalities likely interfere with the development of social models and with grouping similar social models together in order to develop a more robust understanding of different types of social situations. (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 1986, Graduate School

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 1968, Graduate School

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Wright State University, 2016, Human Factors and Industrial/Organizational Psychology PhD

The increasing emphasis in the medical community on shared decision making and patient centered care suggests that patients play a role in their care, but research on clinical reasoning almost exclusively addresses practitioner cognition. As patient involvement increases, it is important to understand the effect patients have on clinical cognition. This necessitates moving beyond a model that equates clinical cognition with practitioner cognition to incorporate the influence of patient cognition and dyadic patient-practitioner cognition. In this dissertation, I suggest that patient-practitioner interactions constitute a distributed cognitive system. As a result patient cognition and the nature of the interaction inherently contribute to clinical cognition. By analyzing different aspects of clinical interactions involved in managing Multiple Sclerosis (MS), I provide an exploratory observational study of how patient-practitioner dyads engage in clinical cognition that may serve as a guide to more conventional future hypothesis testing. To assess clinical interactions, I observed twenty-three patients interacting with three medical practitioners at a clinic specializing in the chronic disease of Multiple Sclerosis. Consistent with Institutional Review Board review, patients agreed to observations of their clinical session including audio recording and/or taking field notes and participated in follow-up phone interviews. Analysis employed techniques from grounded theory, task analysis, and discourse analysis. The results comprise four separate analyses focusing on different aspects of patient-practitioner cognition outlining the core functions of MS management, the fundamental role of the patient in the reconceptualization of management as a distributed task, the effect of patient expertise on clinical reasoning and the role of narrative in facilitating the exchange of information. Specifically, in the first analysis, I decompose the interactions involved (open full item for complete abstract)

Artium Baccalaureus (AB), Ohio University, 2015, Philosophy

This thesis uses recent developments in cognitive science, namely the extended mind hypothesis and studies of situated cognition, to argue that personal identity is a metaphysically robust concept that cannot be reduced to biological facts about bodies and brains. This position stands in stark contrast to the reductionist account famously put forth by Derek Parfit. If the brain is best understood as necessitating complex feedback loops within a dynamic cultural environment—if the functional mind extends beyond the body's metabolic borders—then we must take the role of culture in human cognition seriously. This has direct implications for the psychological criterion for identity. I believe our recent adoption of smart phone technologies, especially vis-a-vis social media, only emphasizes this tendency for cognitive processes to reach beyond the brain, and to take our identity with them. Hence this paper is an attempt to reassert culture's importance in human personhood. We are inherently social creatures, and our identities each fundamentally depend upon a unique social scaffolding that cannot easily be replaced or replicated.

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2014, English (Rhetoric and Writing) PhD

This project explores how disciplinary habits of mind are circulated through forms of representation to instantiate English Studies disciplines, institutions which then shape scholars' practices for producing knowledge. Using a critical discourse analysis on scholarship, semi-structured interviews, and a talk-aloud protocol, I find that scholars' thinking and writing rely heavily on mental models. Scholars employ small-scale working representations of dynamic systems to help them reason through disciplinary problem spaces, including research questions and composing issues. Unlike the sciences, English Studies fields have not fully exploited mental models in research and teaching; nor have they been considered fully in writing studies' research on cognition and writing. In order to understand the role of mental models in writing and disciplinarity, I employ ecology theory to link the representational nature of mind to external media. I find that as scholars write, they produce complex mental models of disciplinary content that are comprised of objects of study, relationality between these objects, and discipline-specific forms of dynamism applied to "run" the models. Mental models are multimodal compositions that employ representational modalities afforded by "mind," such as force, image, and affect; their design reveals scholars' tacit values and assumptions. My research suggests that reflecting on mental models can enable scholars to extend their reasoning and critically evaluate their assumptions. During writing and revision, scholars model a generic reader's mind "unfolding" as it encounters the writing in order to anticipate eventual readers' "situation models." Scholars also model hypothetical exchanges with familiars with whom they have previously written in order to predict critiques and feedback. Mental models have a significant role in enculturating new members and constructing and maintaining disciplinarity. I propose that a facility with mental models is (open full item for complete abstract)

MA, Kent State University, 2013, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Psychological Sciences

Epigenetics is the study of changes in gene activity that do not involve alterations to the genetic code but still get passed down to at least one successive generation (Bird, 2007). This study investigated if adolescent nicotine exposure in one generation can impact the complex cognitive abilities of a subsequent generation. Rats in the F0 generation were given twice daily intraperitoneal injections of 1.0mg/kg nicotine or saline during adolescence. Once the animals reached adulthood, they were paired for breeding. 60 of their female offspring were used as the F1 generation and received the same drug exposure as the F0 generation. To evaluate complex cognitive abilities, the F1 generation rats were trained on a serial pattern learning (SPL) task for 49 days. SPL involves both stimulus-response learning and abstract rule learning making it an advantageous task when assessing more than one aspect of learning. Rats in the F1 generation were given either massed then spaced training or only spaced training. Acquisition of the various element types was then analyzed to assess the effects of F0 and F1 adolescent nicotine exposure as well as the spacing of training on adult offspring.

PhD, University of Cincinnati, 2012, Arts and Sciences: Psychology

Despite accumulating evidence that establishes a link between generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and alcohol use disorders (AUD), research efforts examining the mechanisms that account for this relationship have been sparse. Wells' meta-cognitive theory of pathological worry offers a particularly suitable explanation to account for this observed relationship: via the cognitive pathways linking worry and meta-cognitive appraisals to affective experience and the selection of alcohol as a thought control strategy to regulate internal experience. To investigate the predictive utility of the metacognitive model, the current study experimentally examined the influence that meta-cognitions have on the associations between state worry, state affect and alcohol craving in a young adult sample of heavy drinkers (N = 129). Participants were randomly assigned to either a worry or neutral cognitive induction procedure and completed pre-experimental measures of trait personality, trait affectivity and alcohol use characteristics, as well as pre- and postinduction, state ratings of worry, negative affect and alcohol craving. The results showed partial support of Hypotheses 1 and 2. As predicted in Hypothesis 1, the trait meta-cognitions of thought uncontrollability and danger moderated the strength of association between state worry and negative affective experience. However, in contrast to study prediction, the strength of this association was stronger among individuals with low metacognitive belief in uncontrollability and dangerousness of thoughts compared to those with high metacognitive belief. Similarly, state worry interacted with trait metacognitive beliefs concerning need to control thoughts to predict state alcohol craving (Hypothesis 2). Among participants with low need to control thought meta-cognitions, alcohol craving measures were significantly increased in response to high worrisome states as compared to low intensity worrisome states. In contrast to Hypothesis 2 p (open full item for complete abstract)

BA, Oberlin College, 2012, Psychology

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.

Master of Arts, Miami University, 2011, Psychology

Several theories of spatial cognition have posited two distinct spatial processing systems, one of which operates in real-time and another that stores representations over a longer period of time. The evidence supporting this distinction primarily consists of measures of precision/variance (Burgess, 2006). This thesis pursues the notion that these two systems are also distinguishable in terms of categorical bias (e.g., systematic displacement of responses towards a prototype; Huttenlocher, Hedges, & Duncan, 1991). Participants learned the locations of several objects in an immersive virtual environment that was divided into six distinct spatial regions (categories), each containing one object. Categorical bias was defined as displacement in response towards the center of these categories. In Experiment 1, the categories were defined by perceptually salient boundaries. In Experiment 2, the categories were defined by the movement of individual objects. Results suggest that the enduring system produces relatively more categorical bias than the transient system.

PHD, Kent State University, 2012, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Psychological Sciences

Schizophrenia is marked by impairment across a variety of domains including neurocognition, social cognition, and social functioning. There is evidence that social cognition contributes to social functioning above-and-beyond variance accounted for by neurocognition, possibly mediating the relationship between neurocognition and social functioning. Previous investigations of these relationships have been methodologically limited. The present study utilized confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling to investigate the relationships between neurocognition, social cognition, and social functioning in a large sample of outpatients diagnosed with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder. Neurocognition and social cognition emerged as separate, but closely related, constructs. Although an indirect effect (i.e., mediation) model provided better fit for the data than a direct effects model where neurocognition and social cognition separately predicted social functioning, the confidence interval for the indirect pathway did not support a mediation effect. The findings of the current study are interpreted in the context of the current schizophrenia literature, and methodological issues are discussed.

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2008, Psychology/Experimental

Research has clearly established that the numerical distance between two Arabic numerals affects reaction times for tasks that involve determining the relative numerical magnitude of those numerals. The present study tested two characteristics of models that explain the effect of numerical distance: whether distance effect-sensitive representational processes occur with the presentation of a single comparate (i.e. a to-be-compared digit) or require two comparates to operate, and whether distance-effect-sensitive representations are static or dynamic. The present research examined the data from three number-comparison experiments that manipulated the asynchronous presentation of the comparates using stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) and a between-trial repeat of a single comparate. Both manipulations of asynchronous presentation were intended to provide subjects with a head start in encoding the first of a pair of to-be-compared digits without providing a head start for the actual comparison of the digits – thus yielding information about the onset of distance processing in relation to comparate presentation and also to identify whether relevant representations are dynamic or static. Experiments 1 and 2 also included a probe-response task in which subjects selected a numerical probe after being presented with a numerical prime. SOA in the probe-response task was found to moderate the distance effect (thus suggesting that onset of distance effect processing occurred with the first comparate), but SOA did not moderate the distance effect on the number-comparison task (thus suggesting that onset of distance effect processing occurred with the second comparate). This inconsistency, together with evidence from Experiment 3 (below), was interpreted as evidence that each task type used a separate representational pathway.Experiment 3 did not contain a probe-response task, but instead included an additional number-comparate task condition in which the comparate that the partic (open full item for complete abstract)