Psy. D., Antioch University, 2024, Antioch Seattle: Clinical Psychology

The present study utilized Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis in order to examine the lived experiences of young adult, cisgender women and the development of internalized sexism. Eight participants completed semi–structured interviews focused on their relationships with other women and subsequent views of womanhood. Themes found were (a) womanhood is taught by women throughout the lifespan, (b) women are sexually responsible for men, (c) women are emotional caregivers, (d) there are biological bases of womanhood, (e) women are expected to “do it all,” (f) expectations of women are fueled by media portrayal, (g) traditional femininity is seen as oppositional to the feminist movement, and (h) womanhood is a community. The results of the study found that young adult women hold similar beliefs and attitudes surrounding what it means to be a woman. Additionally, young adult women's perceptions of womanhood are similarly influenced by common external factors that stem from society's sexism and misogyny and lead to behaviors of internalized sexism. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA (https://aura.antioch.edu) and OhioLINK ETD Center (https://etd.ohiolink.edu).

Master of Arts in Psychology, Cleveland State University, 2024, College of Arts and Sciences

Timing in individuals with autism is essential for their ability to predict and participate in their everyday mental planning. Being able to mentally represent a period of elapsed time can be difficult for the autistic individual due to the simultaneous environmental stimuli that cannot be filtered out or processed in order to focus on timing and pertinent task-related information. The ability of people with autism to perceive timing information can be studied by using a continuation timing paradigm where in the initial synchronization phase the individual is required to make presses on a keyboard in coincidence with a metronome set at a certain time interval. Then, in the continuation phase, participants are required to continue making presses at the same rate without the metronome beat present. Here, during the synchronization phase of different conditions, the metronome was set to either 500 ms or 2000 ms. It was expected that both groups would find it more difficult to reproduce the metronome beat in the continuation phase at the 2000 ms condition versus the 500 ms condition, but greater timing variability would be observed for those in the autistic group because of weaker filters. However, our findings revealed that autistic individuals' timing variability was significantly lower (more consistent) than non-autistic individuals. Those results differ from the expectation from the results of prior students comparing the performance of autistic to non-autistic individuals. Those differences may be related to various between-study differences in the methods. For example, the present study used adults as compared to children that were used in the past studies. Differences in IQ level and motivation for participating in research (intrinsic or extrinsic) are also potential reasons for the differences in results.

PhD, University of Cincinnati, 2024, Medicine: Systems Biology and Physiology

During skeletal muscle contraction, glucose is imported into the muscles cells to fuel contraction and Sodium Potassium-ATPase (NKA) is also activated to maintain the sodium (Na) and potassium (K) gradients needed for the excitation-contraction coupling process. It is well established in other tissues, that many nutrient transporters such as the Sodium-Glucose Linked Transporters (SGLTs) use the Na gradient established by NKA to import Na ions and glucose into a cell. Insulin-Independent glucose uptake has been known to exist in contracting skeletal muscles since the mid-1980s. However, despite 30+ years of research, a mechanism has remained elusive. If a SGLT were present in skeletal muscle it would represent an insulin-independent glucose uptake mechanism. NKA coupled to an SGLT has not been investigated in skeletal muscle mainly due to a lack of methods to measure co-transported species. K ions and glucose are exchanged by NKA and an SGLT respectively, therefore both species would have to be simultaneously measured. To investigate whether this insulin-independent process operates in skeletal muscle, we developed a novel method to measure simultaneously non-radioactive 13C-labeled glucose and rubidium (85Rb) in biological samples using Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectroscopy (ICP-MS). Rb is used as a congener for K as NKA pumps 3 Na ions out of the cell and imports 2 K (or Rb) ions into the cell. Rb uptake can therefore be used to measure the activity of the NKA pump. Using our novel method, we discovered a previously unrecognized glucose uptake mechanism in skeletal muscle. In this mechanism, a SGLT imports glucose together with Na ions, driven by the contraction stimulated activity of NKA α2. We measured simultaneous glucose and NKA transport in isolated mouse Extensor Digitorum Longus muscles using ICP-MS with 13C-substituted glucose substrates and Rb. The SGLT family transports alpha-methyl-D-glucoside (αMDG), a substrate not handled by GLUT fa (open full item for complete abstract)

Master of Science (MS), Wright State University, 2024, Physiology and Neuroscience

This study investigates the role of endogenous oxytocin (OT) in maternal buffering of infant stress responses in guinea pigs. Infants received intracerebroventricular infusion of an oxytocin receptor antagonist (OTA) or artificial cerebrospinal fluid (aCSF) immediately before being placed with the mother in a novel environment for 60 minutes. Blood cortisol levels and behavioral responses, including vocalizations and crouching, were measured throughout the testing period. Results indicate only a significant effect of time, with cortisol levels increasing with time spent in the novel environment. Otherwise, no significant differences were observed either physiologically or behaviorally between aCSF and OTA conditions. This study contributes to understanding the role of endogenous OT in maternal buffering of infant stress but suggests additional or alternative neural mechanisms may be at play. Further research is crucial to understanding the complexities of maternal buffering in guinea pigs and potentially in other species.

Master of Science (MS), Ohio University, 2024, Experimental Psychology (Arts and Sciences)

Prior work has demonstrated prolonged hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis activation during ruminative episodes. However, research into rumination and diurnal cortisol is limited as it pertains to prolonged HPA activation and particularly with respect to gender differences in this relationship. Diurnal cortisol slope (DCS) is related to many psychosocial phenomena and may be used as a proxy for daily HPA activation, which measures circadian cortisol decline throughout the day. This study extrapolated laboratory evidence of prolonged HPA axis activation—particularly in women higher in trait rumination—in a naturalistic setting among otherwise healthy undergraduate students (n = 116) to examine the relationship between DCS, stressor-related and brooding rumination, and gender; stressor-related rumination reflects the tendency to ruminate over prior and current stressful events, whereas brooding rumination captures the tendency to ruminate over depressive symptoms and emotional reactions to events. Participants were prompted to provide multiple cortisol samples throughout the day over five-days. I hypothesized that higher trait rumination would be related to flatter DCS throughout the day, particularly in women higher in trait rumination. Contrary to my main hypotheses, trait rumination was not related to flatter DCS throughout the day. However, there was a non-significant trend in the expected direction for stressor-related rumination suggesting men and women have different neuroendocrine profiles as it relates to rumination. Exploratory analyses revealed flatter DCS for women higher in stressor-related rumination compared to men higher in stressor-related rumination and women lower in stressor-related rumination, when controlling for brooding rumination. In conclusion, there was limited support for my hypotheses. Implications, interpretations, and future directions are discussed.

Psy. D., Antioch University, 2024, Antioch New England: Clinical Psychology

The field of clinical psychology has long privileged cognitive and affective experience and information over that which is stored in, and communicated by, the body (Caldwell, 2018; Young, 2006). Despite the profound and complex web of interactions between mind and body in EDs, this subspecialty has been no exception. The need for improvements in eating disorder (ED) treatment outcomes is well documented and transtheoretically accepted. Current practice guidelines for the treatment of adult EDs recommend the utilization of cognitive, behavioral, and interpersonal strategies to target problematic thinking and deficits in emotion regulation that are thought to fuel ED behaviors (American Psychiatric Association, 2023). While effective in some cases, these treatments fail to help a substantial number of patients and relapse rates among individuals who do respond are high (Berkman et al., 2007; Linardon et al., 2018; Murray et al., 2019; Tomba et al., 2019; van Hoeken & Hoek, 2020). It has been hypothesized that the utilization of techniques that help increase positive embodiment could augment current evidence-based treatments for EDs (Cook-Cottone, 2020; McBride & Kwee, 2018; Piran & Teall, 2012). There is theoretical and adjacent empirical evidence supporting this hypothesis; however, the relationship between embodiment and EDs has yet to be quantitatively explored. Utilizing the recently developed Experience of Embodiment Scale (EES; Piran et al. 2020), and the well-established and widely utilized Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire, Short Form (EDE-QS; Gideon et al., 2016), the present study utilized quantitative, non-experimental, self-report survey research to explore the relationship between embodiment and ED symptomatology in 250 adults living in the United States. Findings suggest that there is a strong and significant relationship between disrupted embodiment and ED symptoms. Implications for clinical practice and ongoing treatment development and r (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy, Miami University, 2023, Psychology

Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) is a chronic relapsing brain disorder characterized by a variety of symptoms, including withdrawal. Withdrawal is a crucial point in the addiction cycle and is heavily involved in the susceptibility to relapse due to the strong negative affect, or aversion, that it brings about. However, both our understanding of the neurobiology of withdrawal-induced aversion as well as current treatment options are lacking. Most of our understanding of the neurobiology of withdrawal-induced aversion involves mesolimbic dopamine (DA) neurons and the regions that project to them. Because of their profound impact on DA release and expression of the mu opioid receptor (MOR), the cholinergic interneurons (CINs) of the striatum are one such population that has gained recent interest. In this dissertation, the activity of CINs was manipulated through both a transgenic and chemogenetic approach in mice, which revealed a crucial role CINs play in the expression of opioid withdrawal and self-administration, with some surprising sex differences. These studies provided novel information for the field, as no previous study had investigated the role of CINs in opioid withdrawal behaviors. Continuing this work is vital in our development of new therapeutic strategies for humans living with OUD.

Bachelor of Arts, Wittenberg University, 2023, Psychology

This current study investigates the relationship between sexist beliefs, self-objectification, and fear of crime. In addition, the researchers sought to investigate whether these social attitudes would predict trustworthiness ratings of male faces. In part one, survey responses from 52 participants were collected. In part two, 45 participants were exposed to a crime salience manipulation before rating the trustworthiness of a series of male faces. We ran bivariate correlations between the predictor variables to confirm existing relationships as seen in the literature regarding the development of the scales as well as the research used well after the scales were developed. The results confirmed these existing relationships and revealed a significant negative relationship between fear of crime and body shame, as well as a significant positive relationship between right-wing political ideology and hostile sexism. In part two, those who were exposed to the crime salience manipulation agreed more with the results of the crime-centered poll if they scored high in fear of crime rather than low. Those exposed to the control condition showed no difference in agreement whether low or high in fear of crime. A 4-way interaction was also found between the dichotomized fear of crime variable, the manipulation condition, face model type, and the amount of manipulation applied to faces. For trust model-derived faces, trustworthiness ratings increased in a linear progression as more information was applied. However, for dominance model-derived faces, trust judgments increased in a curvilinear progression. Trust ratings peaked at the mid-level of information and were the lowest at the highest level of information.

Honors Theses, Ohio Dominican University, 2023, Honors Theses

When the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic struck the world, it was declared a health emergency which created mask mandates for individuals (Li et al., 2021, Ayenigbara et al., 2020). Masks were worn in fitness facilities to stop the spread of COVID-19. Very little research has been done on the psychological effects of face masks during exercise, with most research focusing solely on the physiological effects. This study focused on determining what psychological effects face masks may have on a healthy, active individuals during exercise. To research the psychological effects face masks have on individuals during exercise, participants of the study were asked to complete four identical exercise visits with different mask conditions (i.e. disposable, cloth, N95, no mask). Participants filled out pre-exercise and post-exercise emotional state questionnaires regarding feelings towards their mask that were ranked on a likert scale (0-100) along with the PANAS-X to assess mood states and positive and negative effect. These variables were assessed between conditions after completing a 20-minute incline walk on a treadmill with a 5-minute warm up and cool-down. The aim of the study was to see if participants were psychologically impacted by face mask usage during exercise. Heart rate and rate of perceived exertion were also variables measured throughout exercise as an additional physiological and psychological variable respectively. The participants were 18-30 years old (n = 6; male n = 2, female n = 4; age 21.5 ± 0.2 years; weight 89.3 ± 6.0 kg; height 174.8 ± 5.7 cm). Repeated measured ANOVA were used to examine changes between conditions (i.e., disposable mask, N95 mask, cloth mask, or no mask) in perceptions of emotions, positive and negative effect, and average heart rate and rate of perceived exertion during exercise. There were no significant differences found for each of these variables (p>0.05). The findings of this study indicate that there are potentially no psych (open full item for complete abstract)

Psy. D., Antioch University, 2023, Antioch New England: Clinical Psychology

The incidence of alcohol misuse globally continues to be a significant problem with copious adverse health and social causes and implications. The prevalence of alcohol misuse in Jamaica, British West Indies, instigated the trifold objective of this study. The ecological systems model provided a framework for conceptualizing multilayered biological and social processes that interact to determine mental health. This study examined anxiety and depression, family structure, and perceived parental warmth and control as predictors of alcohol misuse among young adults ages 18 to 30 residing in Jamaica. The current study revealed a correlation between alcohol misuse and higher levels of anxiety and depression, with women reporting higher anxiety and depression than men. In addition, there was a significant negative correlation between parental warmth and alcohol misuse. Parental warmth was correlated with the AUDIT; however, no significant correlation between alcohol misuse and family structure or parental overprotection was observed. Medical and mental health professionals should champion efforts to reduce the prevalence of alcohol misuse on a societal level by advocating for the implementation of community-based interventions that provide education around the deleterious effects of alcohol misuse on physical and mental health.

Ph.D., Antioch University, 2022, Antioch Seattle: Counselor Education & Supervision

The central research question that informed this study asks: How do attachment and creativity focused counseling interventions encourage connection between an adolescent and their parent or caregiver? The research study centered on two mother and son dyads that participated in six weeks of a therapeutic intervention. The modality utilized an attachment and creativity focused approach created by the author. Data was collected through a post intervention semi-structured interview with the parent (adult). Data was transcribed and evaluated with an interpretive phenomenological approach. Six themes were identified by a team of researchers. The findings have implications for clinical practice with parents and adolescents presenting with a trauma history. In addition, the modality with an attachment and creativity focus could be further evaluated. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA (https://aura.antioch.edu) and OhioLINK ETD Center (https://etd.ohiolink.edu).

Master of Science (MS), Ohio University, 2022, Experimental Psychology (Arts and Sciences)

Social anxiety (SA) is characterized by anxious symptomology and fear during a social or performance situation, but recent work suggests that social anxiety may not be associated with negative interpersonal and intrapersonal outcomes in support contexts with close friends. The current research investigates key interpersonal, intrapersonal, and physiological associations of social anxiety in social support conversations with close friends. Specifically, we examined the associations between social anxiety and positive and negative affect, perceptions of demands and resources going into the conversation, and perceived partner responsiveness. Additionally, we used the biopsychosocial model of challenge and threat as an organizing framework to understand the physiological responses associated with SA. One hundred and seventy-two friend dyads completed the self-report measures and had their physiological responses recorded while they discussed an extra-dyadic problem that one dyad member disclosed. Trained coders rated observed responsiveness behaviors exhibited during the conversation. Results indicated that greater SA was associated with greater negative affect, and less perceived resources and greater perceived demands, but not associated with perceived partner responsiveness, positive affect, or observed responsive behaviors. Physiologically, greater SA was associated with greater ventricular contractility (indicative of task engagement) and greater challenge and less threat responses. However, follow-up analyses revealed that the challenge responses were not robust. This research integrates the biopsychosocial model of challenge and threat with social anxiety and social support, providing evidence that even though greater social anxiety is associated with greater negative perceptions during a social support conversation, people with greater social anxiety showed physiological signs of more task engagement and did not differ i (open full item for complete abstract)

PhD, University of Cincinnati, 2022, Medicine: Systems Biology and Physiology

Ventricular tachyarrhythmias resulting in sudden cardiac death (SCD) continue to claim over 350,000 lives per year in the United States. Though several modes of treatment exist, these are palliative and do not address the root pathology of the disease. Treatment is further complicated by adverse side effects which increase mortality and decrease patient quality of life. Recent clinical trials have explored vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) as a potential therapy for patients with heart failure, though findings are mixed. VNS has yet to be explored in the context of SCD in the clinical setting. VNS has been shown to augment antioxidant capacity and may confer protection from ROS-induced cardiac remodeling, preventing SCD. However, VNS is known to decrease cardiac contractility and heart rate while prolonging ventricular repolarization, all of which could exacerbate symptoms of heart failure, increasing patient susceptibility to SCD. To better discern whether VNS is a potential candidate for patients with heart failure or SCD, insight into the molecular mechanisms of both VNS and SCD is essential. The results of this dissertation suggest that vagal signaling is cardioprotective. Using a unique guinea pig model of SCD, it was observed that animals dying from SCD experienced tachyarrhythmias resulting from prolonged and disperse ventricular repolarization, both of which are hallmarks of SCD. Further, animals that did not reach premature endpoints in the SCD group were observed to have undergone cardiac remodeling, resulting in prolonged and heterogeneous cardiac conduction. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) have been shown to play a critical role in the mechanism of SCD, leading to widespread damage, electrical instability, and cardiac electromechanical dysfunction. Using a ROS scavenger, we were able to abolish arrhythmia in ex vivo failing hearts. Importantly, studies have found that vagal stimulation confers anti-oxidant activity, suggesting a potential means of alle (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2022, Psychology

There are individuals who experience excessive worry yet have good cognitive control capabilities. One possible explanation for this is that these individuals initiate and prolong worry due to beliefs that worry serves valuable functions. Specifically, worry may provide distraction from other emotional things that individuals would rather avoid. Higher resting heart rate variability (HRV) has been shown to be a good index of top-down cognitive control capabilities. Previous findings support positive beliefs about worry to moderate the relationship between higher resting vmHRV and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) symptoms. Specifically, worry was deemed valuable due to its endorsement to distraction from other emotional things that participants rather not want to think about. Thus, even though individuals have the ability and cognitive resources to manage and terminate their worry bouts, they prolong worry due to preference. The aforementioned study showed that other positive beliefs about worry showed a trend but was not significant possibly due to low sample size. In addition, the same study also found evidence to support that individuals with high resting vmHRV and higher GAD symptoms are associated with “as many as can” problem solving strategy. However, limitations outlined in that study such as trending interactions and broader questions regarding positive beliefs about worry prompted this replication and extension. The current study explored the relationship between cognitive control capabilities, positive beliefs about worry, and GAD symptoms. This current study has a sample size of 226 and included questions pertaining to positive beliefs about worry such as engaging in worry to help avoid sudden shifts into negative emotionality. Similar to Fishback et al. (2020) hypothesis, this study found that pathological worriers with top down control tend to worry due to their positive beliefs about worry, especially their belief that worrying as much as possible m (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Psychology (PsyD), Wright State University, 2022, School of Professional Psychology

A wealth of research exists which demonstrates that Black women in the United States experience a variety of chronic health conditions at significantly higher rates than any other demographic group in the country. The traditional interventions recommended for improving Black women's health often do not yield positive long-term results and generally do not take into account the intersectional factors such as gendered racism that put Black women at a higher risk for experiencing many negative chronic health conditions in the first place. The goal of this study was to consider the impact of Black women college students' unique experiences with discrimination and gendered racism on their health outcomes and to offer targeted recommendations and potential interventions to address these health disparities. The study utilized both quantitative and qualitative research methods, in the form of surveys and narrative questions accessed through an online platform. Quantitative data analysis was not statistically significant in estimating the relationship that frequency of gendered racial microaggressive events, stress appraisal of these events, and age had on health outcomes in Black women college students. Qualitative data analysis demonstrated that healthcare providers of the participants generally did not discuss topics of racism, discrimination, or the impacts these experiences can have on health with their clients. Future research should expand to include a larger sample with diverse demographics. Healthcare providers could also undergo training to increase understanding and comfort in initiating conversations about gendered racism and its health implications with this population.

PhD, University of Cincinnati, 2021, Medicine: Systems Biology and Physiology

Iron is an essential micronutrient whose deficiency affects approximately one-third of the global population. Iron deficiency produces anemia and developmental defects, while hereditary and acquired iron overload damages critical organs including the liver, heart, and pancreas. Iron transporters make for attractive therapeutic targets for the improvement of iron nutrition and the treatment of iron pathologies. This thesis studies the functional properties and the post-translational regulation of ferroportin—the only known cellular iron efflux transporter in mammals. Ferroportin serves an indispensable role in transporting dietary iron from enterocytes, recycled iron from macrophages, and stored iron from hepatocytes, to the blood. The post-translational regulation of ferroportin by its ligand—hepcidin—governs systemic iron homeostasis. Therefore, furthering understanding of this key transporter and its regulation by hepcidin is essential for the pharmacological targeting of this system in the treatment of iron disorders. In this thesis, I demonstrate that ferroportin is a calcium-activated iron transporter, and that its thermodynamic driving force may be provided by the coupling of citric acid to iron efflux. Whereas the regulation of ferroportin by hepcidin was canonically known to comprise hepcidin binding by ferroportin followed by its internalization and degradation, I show that hepcidin can directly occlude the iron translocation pathway in ferroportin, independent of endocytosis. This finding provides a physiological basis for hepcidin action in cell types which do not possess endocytic machinery, and has implications for hepcidin mimetic drugs and/or ferroportin blockers intended to treat iron disorders. Finally, I provide evidence that haploinsufficiency underlies the molecular physiology of ferroportin disease, an autosomal-dominant disorder that produces iron deficiency anemia. Further knowledge of ferroportin thermodynamics and its regulation by hepcidin (open full item for complete abstract)

PhD, University of Cincinnati, 2021, Medicine: Systems Biology and Physiology

Background: Chronic inflammation induced by H. pylori infection results in epithelial cell death and damage to the lining of the corpus of the stomach, also known as a gastric ulcer. In the United States, more than 6 million people suffer from peptic ulcer disease, and 70-90% of gastric ulcers are associated with H. pylori infection. Significance: Recent studies have revealed that H. pylori localize specifically to Spasmolytic Polypeptide/TFF2-Expressing Metaplasia (SPEM) glands within the corpus of the stomach. SPEM has been demonstrated to arise from oxyntic atrophy followed by transdifferentiation of mature chief cells by inflammation and marked by the Cluster-of-differentiation gene 44 (CD44). CD44 coordinates normal and metaplastic epithelial cell proliferation, and one of its variants, CD44 variant isoform 9 (CD44v9), is expressed in gastric cancer stem cells. In addition, H. pylori are known to adhere to the gastric epithelium during inflammation by binding of bacterial adhesin SAbA to glycosylated receptor sialyl-Lewis X (S-LewX) expressed on epithelial cells. Objectives: The dissertation aims to understand not only the process of gastric epithelial repair in response to injury but the mechanism by which abnormal regeneration influences the severity of H. pylori-associated disease. This goal was achieved by exploring the cellular and functional changes of the young and aged gastric epithelium in the presence and absence of injury and analyzing the severity of H. pylori-induced disease progression after regeneration in response to gastric injury. Major Findings: The data presented in this work suggest that regeneration of the aged gastric epithelium post-injury exhibits uncontrolled, persistent SPEM expression that expresses both CD44v9 and S-LewX and that persistent SPEM increases the susceptibility of the aged epithelium to H. pylori colonization and severe disease. 1)CD44v9+S-LewX+-expressing SPEM glands persist in the aged epithelium Pe (open full item for complete abstract)

Psy. D., Antioch University, 2021, Antioch Santa Barbara: Clinical Psychology

This qualitative study on Equine Facilitated Psychotherapy (EFP) utilized a combined methodology incorporating elements from phenomenology and grounded theory to contribute to the existing body of research on equine therapeutic practices by (a) clarifying foundational understandings its mechanisms of therapeutic action and (b) exploring barriers to the growth of the field from a practitioner point of view. Five phenomenological categories were identified and described as interwoven mechanisms of therapeutic action within the practice of EFP: observation, communication, mindfulness, embodiment and connection. Additionally, six phenomena were identified and explored as challenges to the field's growth: funding, awareness, cohesion, clarity, accessibility and measurability. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA (https://aura.antioch.edu) and OhioLINK ETD Center (https://etd.ohiolink.edu).

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2021, Psychology

Making choices that range from simple to complex and from important to inconsequential is something humans experience on a regular basis. This process is largely controlled by executive brain regions related to judgment and decision-making. Interestingly, such executive brain regions are associated with resting heart rate variability (HRV) defined as the temporal variation between heart beats and reflects cardiac vagal tone. If the areas of the brain responsible for decision making and HRV overlap, then resting HRV should predict better choice behaviors and performance. Adaptive choice visual search (ACVS) is a paradigm developed to capture the attentional control strategies observers deploy when making choices in dynamically shifting environments (Irons & Leber, 2018). In this dissertation, the primary aim was to explore the association between resting vagally mediated HRV and performance on the ACVS task. In addition, I sought to investigate if two psychological variables, i.) adaptive choice strategies and ii.) maximization, were independently associated with ACVS performance and how these variables moderated an HRV-ACVS association. Choice satisficing refers to the evaluation of selections in a choice situation that simply meet a threshold of acceptability (Schwartz, et al., 2002). I predicted that those with higher HRV would have faster reaction times (RT), utilize more optimal search strategies, and demonstrate qualities of maximizers - where individuals seek out the best available choice from all of the options available to them - based on their scores on the Maximization Scale (Schwartz, et al., 2002). I also hypothesized that switching between attentional sets incurs a response time cost, and that there will be lower switching costs among those with higher HRV. In my study, vagally mediated HRV was collected continuously throughout the experiment. Participants (N = 62; n = 34 males, n = 17 ethnic minorities, mean age = 20.84 years (SD = 2.86)) first complet (open full item for complete abstract)

Master of Science (MS), Ohio University, 2020, Clinical Psychology (Arts and Sciences)

Research suggests that anxiety can be conceptualized as a two-dimensional construct comprising anxious apprehension (worry, negative expectations, fears, and rumination about the future) and anxious arousal (hyperarousal related to current events, accompanied by panic-like symptoms such as heart pounding, dizziness, shortness of breath, and sweating). A potential biomarker of these dimensions of anxiety is asymmetrical brain activity based on the alpha EEG band. Prior research shows that anxious apprehension is associated with left frontal asymmetry and anxious arousal is associated with right frontal asymmetry. However, there are limitations of prior studies such as using an extreme group approach, conflating state and trait variability, and using a cross-sectional design. In the present study, ecological momentary assessment (EMA) was used to separate state and trait variability of anxious apprehension and anxious arousal in community members and graduate students. Contrary to prediction, there were no significant relations between baseline frontal asymmetry with baseline or EMA-collected trait anxious apprehension and anxious arousal, controlling for state levels of these constructs. However, baseline depression, a control variable in this study, was associated with RFA. Findings suggest that frontal asymmetry may be a more robust indicator of depression than of anxious apprehension or anxious arousal during the resting state task. Future research is needed to test the association of asymmetry with anxious apprehension and anxious arousal during experimental manipulation of anxious apprehension and anxious arousal.