Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Wright State University, 2007, Human Factors and Industrial/Organizational Psychology PhD

In the present study I examined the role physical representations play in supporting distributed planning and scheduling. Specifically, I investigated the implications of different representational formats for the production of discourse as well as the later comprehension of text relating to temporal order. In the first part of the study, pairs of participants created schedules for constructing a house with the aid of either a numeric, list format, or a graphical, Gantt chart format. Participants completed the task in a non-collocated fashion, without shared visual access. In the second part of the study, after completing their schedule, the same participants answered a series of true/false statements about the order of events in a house construction schedule. These sentences were presented randomly across the independent variables preposition, syntactic arrangement, semantic constraint, and temporal order (chronological and discourse). This experimental set-up allowed me to examine the effects of prior discourse on both the production of language in a conversational context and the effects of prior discourse on the comprehension of text. My comprehension results demonstrated that features established in the previous literature which impose persistent influences on the cognitive complexity associated with language, such as syntax and iconicity, are sensitive to a pragmatic context. Further, my production results pointed to the discourse situation itself as a source of temporal information, which can provide a context for resolving local ambiguity in propositions relating temporal order. There were no persisting effects of the representational formats on later comprehension; however, results suggested differences in the relationship between linguistic behavior and performance in the context of the two representations. The present research thereby demonstrated the value of using verbal data to assess team performance. The results of this study have implications for ba (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Valerie Shalin (Advisor) Subjects: Psychology, Cognitive

Master of Science in Engineering (MSEgr), Wright State University, 2007, Human Factors Engineering

A cognitive model illustrating decrement in human performance as a function of increased G-forces has been highly sought after by the Department of Defense (DoD) for various reasons. The F-16 and other air combat platforms are super-agile aircraft that are easily capable of imposing G-forces on a pilot that are beyond human physiological limitations. Knowledge of these physiological limits and more importantly the resultant restrictions in cognitive function could prove invaluable to those who design and pilot such aircraft. The model may be utilized in the construction of improved flight simulators that incorporate more realistically performing enemy targets and therefore enhance the training of the air warfighter. Command and control functions may also benefit from a thorough understanding of the boundaries of human cognition in these dynamic environments. NTI is a research firm based in Fairborn, Ohio that has formulated just such a model. NTI has devised this model while contracted by the USAF Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) under a Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant. The three primary principles that are employed in the NTI models' construction are the T-matrix, a previously developed G-effective model and the G-Performance Assessment Simulation System (G-PASS) battery of tests. The T-Matrix concept has been developed emulating the Educational Testing Service (ETS) Q-Matrix with the exception that it is based on cognitive tests as an alternative to interview questions. The G-Effective Model is based on the fact that human performance is not decremented by increased G-Forces encountered by the air warfighter instantaneously. Rather, a decrease in performance is the result of a subsequent reduction in cerebral blood flow that is in turn affected by both the G-profile as well as the onset rate of imposed G-forces. The G-PASS battery of tests is intended to be performed in the Dynamic Environment Simulator (DES) human centrifuge at the Ai (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Sundaram Narayanan (Advisor) Subjects: Psychology, Cognitive

MA, University of Cincinnati, 2007, Design, Architecture, Art and Planning : Art History

Foremost Abstract Expressionist artist Jackson Pollock (1912-1956) is best known for his poured paintings. This thesis project considers the importance of Pollock's 1942 figurative paintings, Stenographic Figure, MoonWoman, and Male and Female, and the influence of Jungian psychology and of hermaphroditic figures in these works. Pollock painted the Jungian symbol, the hermaphrodite, in all three works in his attempt to unify his self, and as his psychiatrist, Dr. Joseph Henderson (1903- ) encouraged the artist, to defeat a Jungian condition known as the Terrible Mother Complex. Pollock suffered from this condition due to the domination of his mother, Stella Mae McClure Pollock (1875-1958) and his fragile psyche. Many critics and art historians do not realize the extent to which these works are Jungian and this thesis reexamines this problem in the literature on Pollock.

Committee: Kim Paice (Advisor) Subjects: Psychology, Cognitive

MS, University of Cincinnati, 2007, Medicine : Epidemiology (Environmental Health)

Background: Lead exposure, a dopamine receptor D4 polymorphism (DRD4-7), and sex have been linked to ADHD or ADHD-related neuropsychological deficits. Interactions between these three factors are biologically plausible, but have not been previously examined. Methods: DRD4 genotype and 60 month blood lead level were assessed in 172 children. At 66 months, children were administered measures affiliated with spatial working memory, rule learning and reversal, spatial span, and planning. Multivariable analyses were used to examine main effects and interactions of lead, DRD4, and sex on these executive functions. Results: DRD4-7 was associated with poorer spatial working memory, and incryeasing blood lead levels were associated with impaired rule learning and reversal, spatial span, and planning. Lead's adverse effects on planning and rule learning and reversal were seen primarily for boys. In addition, lead's impact on rule learning and reversal was evident predominately for those lacking DRD4-7. Conclusions: We observed independent effects of DRD4-7 and lead on various executive functions, and modifications of lead s effects by DRD4 genotype and sex. This study offers a model for examining how genes, toxicants, and sex interact to shape the endophenotypes underlying ADHD.

Committee: Dr. Bruce Lanphear (Advisor) Subjects: Psychology, Cognitive

PhD, University of Cincinnati, 2007, Arts and Sciences : Psychology

Gravity-induced loss of consciousness (GLOC) is a major psychophysiological threat to pilots of high-performance aircraft that has resulted in substantial loss of life and equipment (Albery &Van Patten, 1991). It is brought about by a sudden reduction in cerebral blood flow and subsequent decrease in cerebral tissue O2 as a result of increased +Gz force (McKinley, Tripp, Bolia, & Roark, 2005). During such episodes, pilots are totally incapacitated for 24 sec. They are unconscious for half of that time (the absolute incapacitation period) and confused for the remainder (the relative incapacitation period; Whinnery, Burton, Boll, & Eddy, 1987). In addition, evidence is available to indicate that cognitive and psychomotor functions are compromised several sec prior to the onset of unconsciousness and for 55.50 sec after confusion subsides (Tripp et al., 2006). Using centrifuge simulators to induce GLOC and math and tracking tasks to emulate flight performance, three experiments were conducted to determine if reductions in the rate of G-suit deflation (Experiment 1), the application of supplementary sensory stimulation (Experiment 2), and the employment of negative Gz offset profiles (Experiment 3) could be of effective value in reducing the duration of the GLOC epoch. All three experiments produced statistically significant reductions in the duration of the epoch, but these reductions were too small to be of practical utility in an operational setting. Experiment 3 also featured the use of near-infrared cerebral oximetry to track the course of cerebral tissue O2 levels in a GLOC-inducing experimental session. The results indicated that O2 levels dropped precipitously from baseline after the onset of Gz acceleration with performance deterioration beginning and GLOC appearing when the O2 levels fell to 95 percent and 80 percent of baseline, respectively. Cerebral oxygen levels rose quickly after the termination of acceleration and returned to baseline well before partici (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Dr. Joel Warm (Advisor) Subjects: Psychology, Cognitive

PhD, University of Cincinnati, 2005, Arts and Sciences : Psychology

Diminished test performance on standard olfactory tasks is known to be related to the level of cognitive impairment in individuals with diverse neurologic and psychiatric disorders. It is unclear, however, to what extent olfactory losses reflect sensory dysfunction in the early stages of olfactory processing, pathology related to higher-order processing of odors, non-olfactory cognitive deficits that emulate or exacerbate the appearance of olfactory losses, or some combination of all of these factors. A novel, valid and reliable approach to the evaluation of olfaction, the Sniff Magnitude Test (SMT), was recently developed and may minimize the influence of non-olfactory cognitive information processes in the evaluation of olfactory functioning. Recently, the SMT was found to be a valid indicator of olfactory ability in children and individuals with limited English-language abilities, which provided preliminary support for the claim that the test is only minimally influenced by variations in attentional and memory capacities, as well as language and odor familiarity. The present study used analysis of covariance structure procedures to determine the extent to which measures of retrieval of semantic and episodic verbal information, working memory, and cognitive processing speed relate to 3 measures of olfaction believed to have differing degrees of cognitive complexity. One hundred thirty-eight adults (ages 56-93 years) completed a battery of neuropsychological tests and the SMT, the phenyl ethyl alcohol threshold test (PEAT), and the University of Pennsylvania Smell Identification Test (UPSIT). Results indicated that the retrieval of verbal information significantly affects the UPSIT, working memory significantly affects the UPSIT and to a lesser extent the PEAT, and cognitive processing speed significantly affects the UPSIT and to a lesser extent the PEAT. As predicted, verbal retrieval, working memory and cognitive processing speed did not influence performance on (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Dr. Robert Frank (Advisor) Subjects: Psychology, Cognitive

Master of Arts, University of Toledo, 2007, Psychology

A large body of neurological studies indicates that both hemispheres of the brain are active during different memory processes. Mixed-handers, who have very close interhemispheric interaction, have been demonstrated to have superior episodic recall compared to strong-handers, whose interhemispheric communication is not as closely integrated. Previous studies involving episodic memory and handedness have focused on intentional memory, where information is willfully encoded with the knowledge that it will be needed later. Interestingly, incidental memories, which form without conscious effort, have been found to be nearly as durable as intentional memories. This study attempted to extend previous findings indicating a mixed-handed advantage for intentional episodic memory to incidental episodic memory using a levels of processing (LOP) paradigm. Attention to incoming information at different LOP during encoding has been shown to greatly affect subsequent episodic memory performance. Deeply processed information, which has been subjected to many elaborative processes, generates more retrieval paths and is much more easily recalled than shallowly processed information, which receives little elaboration. 182 participants were induced to form episodic memories under several encoding conditions representing a continuum of LOP. Three conditions relied on incidental encoding while a fourth relied on intentional encoding. Episodic recall for word lists was tested. Results replicated earlier findings in demonstrating LOP effects as well as confirming predictions that mixed-handers superior interhemispheric interaction would lead to better performance compared to strong-handers. Handedness differences were found to extend to incidental memory, with mixed-handers engaged in deep processing yielding the best recall performance. Strong-handers were also found to make significantly more recall errors than mixed-handers, with error rate closely related to strength of handedness. The (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Stephen Christman (Advisor) Subjects: Psychology, Cognitive

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2006, Psychology

The word recognition system is a remarkably robust system. Given this robustness, how tolerant is the system of noise within the speech signal, such as phonological mismatches? A phonological mismatch is when a phoneme is substituted in a word to create a nonsense word. For example, “bemocrat” differs from “democrat” in terms of the initial phoneme. Phonological mismatches vary along two dimensions: position (initial or medial) and distance. With regards to distance, a phoneme can be altered by either one distinctive feature (near change), or two or three distinctive features (far change). To investigate the issue of tolerance, simulations were first performed on TRACE, an influential model of word recognition, because it could provide actual results. The simulations demonstrated that the model is more tolerant of medial rather than initial mismatches, but the results were mixed concerning the distance of the mismatch. Next, three experiments were conducted. The first experiment, which utilized the phoneme monitoring paradigm, produced suspect results. The second experiment, which utilized the form priming paradigm, revealed that the recognition system is more tolerant of medial rather than initial mismatches, which confirms the results of the TRACE simulations. Similarly, the experimental results were mixed with regards to the distance of the mismatch.

Committee: Mark Pitt (Advisor) Subjects: Psychology, Cognitive

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2006, Psychology

The purpose of these experiments was twofold: The general purpose was to further investigate the properties of the phonological loop by extending the irrelevant sound effect paradigm to music (Schendel & Palmer, in press). The specific purpose was to investigate the similarity of content (Salame & Baddley, 1982; 1989) and similarity of process (Jones & Macken, 1993; 1995) hypotheses of working memory in order to determine which could best account for the irrelevant sound effects in both language and music. Experiment I consisted of serial recall of visually-presented nine-digit or nine-note sequences in the presence of irrelevant silence, instrumental music, vocal music, or Arabic speech. Experiment IIA and IIB used a six-digit or four-tone standard/comparison task with a retention interval under the same irrelevant sound conditions. Experiment III used the same procedure as IIA, but the irrelevant sound conditions were silence, low-overlap, and high-overlap sounds. In every experiment, a greater acoustic overlap between the to-be-remembered and to-be-ignored stimuli resulted in greater performance decrements. Aspects of both the similarity of process and similarity of content models were supported and integrated into a new model termed the Acoustic Overlap hypothesis which can more accurately account for the current findings.

Committee: Neal Johnson (Advisor) Subjects: Psychology, Cognitive

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2006, Psychology

Familiar words are recognized more easily than are unfamiliar words. Readers become more familiar with words occurring frequently in the language, as well as with the letter-patterns that are common to many words. One measure of letter-pattern familiarity is the number of letter-positions within a word that can be changed to form another word. Two experiments examined the effects of changing task demands on how easily readers recognize words of varying levels of familiarity. In Experiment 1, readers made word/nonword decisions on words varying in their frequency of occurrence in written English texts and their number of letter-positions that yield more than one word. The response latency advantage for familiar words was greater when readers pronounced the words as opposed to a button-press response. This effect was also greater when wordlike nonwords were used in the task as opposed to unwordlike consonant strings. Additionally, words with many positions yielding multiple words delayed responses, but only in the context of wordlike nonwords. While consonant strings would be distinguishable from words almost immediately due to their highly irregular letter-patterns, wordlike nonwords would force readers to resolve each letter-position until either one candidate remained (in the case of a word) or all were eliminated (in the case of a nonword). Furthermore, readers responded to unwordlike nonwords more quickly in the context of words with many positions that could be changed to form other words, again indicating the readers' sensitivity to this dimension of familiarity. In Experiment 2, the subsequent recognition memory of the readers was tested. Pronouncing words during the lexical-decision task led to more reliable memory for the words, as did the inclusion of regular nonwords during the lexical-decision task. The latter observation reinforces the notion that wordlike nonwords force the readers to completely resolve each letter-position until a point of uniqueness i (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Neal Johnson (Advisor) Subjects: Psychology, Cognitive

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2003, Music

The most common method for measuring melodic expectancy is the “probe-tone” design, which relies on a retrospective report of expectancy. Here a direct measure of expectancy is introduced, one that uses a speeded, serial categorization task. An analysis of the reaction time data showed that “Implication-Realization” contour models of melodic expectancy provide a good fit. Further analysis suggests that some assumptions of these contour models may not be valid. The traditional “key profile” model of tonality was not found to contribute significantly to the model. Following Krumhansl's (1990) argument that tonality is learned from the statistical distribution of scale degrees, a tonality model based on the actual probability of scale degrees did significantly improve the fit of the model. It is proposed that the probe-tone method for measuring key profiles encourages listeners to treat the probe tone as being in phrase-final position. Indeed, the key profile was found to be much more similar to the distribution of phrase-final notes than to the distribution of all melodic notes. A second experiment measured reaction times to notes that subjects expected to be phrase-final. In this experiment the key profile contributed significantly to the fit of the model. It is concluded that the probe-tone design creates a task demand to hear the tone as a phrase-final note, and the key profile reflects a learned sensitivity to the distribution of notes at ends of melodies. The “key profile” produced by the new reaction-time design is apparently related to the general distribution of notes in melodies. The results of this study indicate that the relationship between melodic structure and melodic expectation is more straightforward than has been previously demonstrated. Melodic expectation appears to be related directly to the structure and distribution of events in the music.

Committee: David Huron (Advisor) Subjects: Music; Psychology, Cognitive

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2002, Psychology

Locating word boundaries in continuous speech is a complex task that is completed effortlessly by listeners. Determining what sources of information are used by listeners to achieve successful segmentation is critical for developing models of word recognition. Six experiments were designed to look at the use of phonotactic information in speech segmentation. The first three experiments (Part I) replicated and extended the word-spotting findings of McQueen (1998), demonstrating that phonotactic information is used in the segmentation of words (i.e., CVCs) embedded within nonwords. The next three experiments (Part II) were designed to investigate whether phonotactic effects held up in the more naturalistic context of connected speech, where lexical information is also available to guide word segmentation. Phonotactic effects were present, though small, in comparison to lexical effects. Additionally, phonotactic effects generally were weaker in the context of words than in the context of nonwords, although this finding was not always statistically significant. The data suggest a secondary role of phonotactics when in conjunction with lexical information, and also suggest that maximal lexical activation may even diminish the effects of phonotactics in certain circumstances. Implications of these results for future research and for word recognition models are discussed.

Committee: Mark Pitt (Advisor) Subjects: Psychology, Cognitive

Doctor of Philosophy, Miami University, 2005, Psychology

The present research investigates the relationship between facial features and a person's name. The stimuli for the present studies were generated by first having a set of participants create exemplar faces for a name. This was followed by another set of participants determining which of the exemplar faces were the most typical for the name category. Finally, those faces deemed as the most typical for the name category were morphed to create face-name prototypes. In Experiment 1, these face-name prototypes were used in a matching task in which participants were asked to match one name to each of these face-name prototypes. It is shown that participants are consistent at naming the name-prototypes based solely on the facial features. Experiment 2 utilized these same prototypes in a learning task and assigned names to the faces based on the frequency of naming from Experiment 1. Face-name pairs that were frequently matched in Experiment 1 were considered high Association Strength (AS) pairs and those pairings that were less frequently were considered low AS pairs. In this task, the participants were asked to learn face-name associations as quickly as possible. It was shown that participants learned face-name pairings that have a high AS faster than those whose pairings had a low AS. Taken together, these results suggest there is a more direct relationship between facial features and names than has been previously proposed (e.g., Bruce & Young, 1986; Valentine, 1991). Possible explanations for this effect are discussed.

Committee: Robin Thomas (Advisor) Subjects: Psychology, Cognitive

Master of Arts, Miami University, 2005, Psychology

How do experts' representations of knowledge differ from novices'? Traditional views suggest that knowledge is represented as a series of propositional codes. Experts' extensive knowledge may simply result in more or stronger codes than novices. However, recent theories suggest knowledge is embodied: Understanding the world arises from previous experiences interacting with the world rather than from links in a semantic network. Thus, expertise may lead to fundamentally different representations of domain information, containing different traces of perceptual and motor information. Building on embodied theories, two experiments examined the type of knowledge supporting novice and expert performance. Experiment 1 asked whether domain knowledge is needed to form embodied representations in ice hockey. Experiment 2 asked whether active football experience, in addition to domain knowledge, is needed to form embodied representations of football-specific action. Results demonstrate that domain knowledge is required. Moreover, motor experience is necessary in forming embodied representations involving domain-specific actions.

Committee: Sian Beilock (Advisor) Subjects: Psychology, Cognitive

Master of Arts, Miami University, 2005, Psychology

The prediction and prevention of motion sickness in virtual environments will be critical to the acceptance of virtual environments as a training tool. The postural instability theory of motion sickness suggests that motion sickness results from prolonged exposure to situations where stable control strategies cannot be achieved. In the current research the extent to which the predictability of visual stimuli influences the occurrence of motion sickness was examined. The unpredictability of a complex stimulus versus a simple stimulus did not result in an increase in sickness incidence. Postural motion did show differences between sick and well participants during baseline trails, suggesting possible predisposition, and velocity successfully classified participants into sick and well groups, which may be useful in sickness prediction. Examination of the power of the postural motion revealed an ability of participants to adapt to a simple stimulus versus a relative inability to adapt to a complex stimulus.

Committee: Leonard Smart (Advisor) Subjects: Psychology, Cognitive

Master of Arts, Miami University, 2003, Psychology

Participants trained on one implicit categorization task performed another implicit categorization task with the same deep underlying structure but different stimulus dimensions. Their performance on the transfer task was compared to two other groups' performance on the same transfer task. One of these groups was trained on an implicit categorization task with a different underlying structure and the other trained on an explicit categorization task. Evidence of generalization from one implicit categorization task to another with the same deep structure but differing stimulus dimensions was found.

Committee: Robin Thomas (Advisor) Subjects: Psychology, Cognitive

Doctor of Philosophy, Miami University, 2003, Psychology

The question of what makes a given Boolean concept harder or easier to learn than another has been extensively investigated. Recently, Feldman (2000) argued persuasively that much of the difficulty inherent in learning a Boolean rule stems from two orthogonal factors: complexity, which is a measure of the logical incompressibility of the Boolean function, and parity, which refers to the number exemplars placed in the positive category. The present experiment sought to determine the individual contribution of each to the learning process by holding one constant and varying the other. 195 subjects were randomly assigned to one of fifteen different groups formed from the factorial combination of rule order (complexity increasing, complexity decreasing, parity increasing, parity decreasing, control with both forces static) and stimulus set abstraction (shapes, gauges, medical diagnoses). Subjects learned three bidimensional rules from two primitive Boolean families theorized to be ‘building blocks' for more complex concepts (Neisser and Weene, 1962). They were then asked to transfer this knowledge to a rule within the same stimulus set that had higher complexity and a third relevant dimension. Dependent measures were learning speed and transfer of training. Non-parametric statistics were used to carry out omnibus analyses and planned comparisons due to a pronounced skew in the data. Complexity overall had a much greater affect on learning speed than either parity or a control. It is speculated that differences between parity and a control might only be revealed in the presence of a covarying index of complexity. There was no order, increasing or decreasing, across either complexity or parity, which promoted transfer. Medical diagnoses were significantly easier to learn that either shapes or gauges, while training on gauges led to significantly worse transfer of training. The former result is theorized to arise from the need to translate visual stimuli into coherent ling (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Robin Thomas (Advisor) Subjects: Psychology, Cognitive

Master of Arts, Marietta College, 2007, Psychology

The goal of this study was to examine the relationship between memory encoding techniques and working memory (WM) ability in college students enrolled in Introductory Psychology courses. This study expanded on Balch (2005), who found that compared to repeated definitions and paraphrases, mnemonics and examples improved scores on a multiple choice test. The participants in the current study, who were divided into low, medium, and high WM span groups, studied test booklets with psychology terms and definitions, followed by a repeated definition, a mnemonic device (i.e., keyword), or an example. It was predicted that the high WM span participants would perform better than the low WM span participants overall, that the mnemonic condition and the example condition would aide in the learning of the psychology terms more so than the repeated definition condition, that people with a low WM span would benefit more than the people with high WM span from the use of the mnemonic, and that the definition questions would be easier than the application questions on the multiple choice test. This final hypothesis was the only one supported by the data. However, even though there were no differences between encoding conditions, the participants rated the keyword and the example conditions as more helpful than the repeated definition condition.

Committee: Dr. Jennifer McCabe (Advisor) Subjects: Psychology, Cognitive

MA, Kent State University, 2008, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Psychological Sciences

In two experiments, I investigated the relationship between the number of correct recalls during retrieval practice and subsequent memory for those items. Results showed both a labor and gain effect and a labor in vain effect: Final test performance was enhanced by correctly recalling items more than once during practice. However, there were also diminishing returns to final test performance as the number of times an item was correctly recalled during practice increased. Thus, correctly recalling items more times during practice did not always lead to higher levels of final test performance. Additionally, the rate of approach to asymptotic final test performance with increasing correct recalls during practice depended on the retention interval but not on the interstimulus interval used during practice. Discussion focuses on implications of these results for theories of testing effects.

Committee: Katherine Rawson (Advisor) Subjects: Psychology, Cognitive

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 2006, Psychology/Experimental

Determining exactly what types of information we access and how that information is structured is very important to the understanding of language comprehension. Memory appears to be organized via events, such that salient participants of a specific event are able to activate the event itself (or the verb that encodes the event). I empirically tested whether salient participants in events can activate the event representation, and therefore prime other salient participants in that event in two relationships: Instrument-person and Instrument-thing. The results of the two experiments were mixed. Salient participants of events do activate other salient participants in the Instrument-thing condition, but not the Instrument-person condition.

Committee: Mary Hare (Advisor) Subjects: Psychology, Cognitive