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Browsing by Subject "Cognition"

Now showing 1 - 17 of 17
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    Adult Cognitive Functioning In Adolescent-Onset And Persistent Alcohol Use Disorders In Men
    (2013-05) Sparks, Jordan
    Alcohol use disorders ("AUDs") have a high prevalence rate, are heterogeneous, and are associated with deficits in executive abilities, learning, and memory. The literature on adolescent AUD and adult cognitive functioning is limited, and no prospective study has simultaneously examined how an AUD-onset during a neurologically-vulnerable period, persistence of use in adulthood, and an interaction of these processes may attenuate or exacerbate cognitive issues. This study used two AUD subtypes commonly employed to characterize the heterogeneity in AUD presentation - the adolescent-onset and persistent subtype - to address these questions, and also relied on measures of behavioral disinhibition and intellectual functioning ascertained during childhood to address the concern that the relationship between AUDs and later-cognitive functioning may be subject to confounding. It was hypothesized that premorbid childhood risk factors would relate to both AUD subtype and adult cognition, that both an adolescent-onset and a persistent course of AUD would relate to cognitive deficits in adulthood, and that accounting for premorbid risk factors would attenuate this relationship. A community sample of 650 men born in Minnesota was assessed at six visits occurring between age 11 and age 29 and divided into AUD groups of adolescent-onset persisters and desisters, adult-onset persisters and desisters, and controls. Both AUD-membership and age 29 cognitive performance were associated with risk factors that preceded AUD-onset; when accounting for premorbid risk, there was scant evidence that AUDs were associated with cognitive deficits. Future research of AUDs and cognition should account for premorbid risk factors.
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    Apolipoprotein E and Cognitive Impairment in PTSD: Assessing Genetic Risks and Protections
    (2021-11) Johnson, Rachel
    This study bridges gaps in the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) literature by providing a rigorous evaluation of the relationships between trauma exposure, PTSD symptoms, Apolipoprotein E (ApoE), and cognitive functioning. A total of 932 U.S. veterans (N=643 males) completed diagnostic interviews of mental health, a cognitive screener, self-reports of PTSD symptom severity and exposure to traumatic events, and blood tests to collect genetic information. Analysis demonstrated that veterans with PTSD perform worse than those without on the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), regardless of comorbid depression, and that current PTSD symptoms and Pre-deployment exposure to potentially traumatic events are associated with lower performance on MoCA. Interestingly, veterans with PTSD and a comorbid depressive disorder had higher PTSD symptoms and exposure to potentially traumatic events (PTEs) than veterans with PTSD alone. Higher ApoE cysteine residues per mole were associated with lower PTSD symptoms, indicating its protective nature. Finally, structural equation modeling showed that higher cysteine residues per mole indirectly predicted higher cognition, through lowering PTSD symptoms that negatively affect cognitive functioning. These analyses provide new information regarding the complex relationships between trauma exposure, symptom severity, genetic susceptibility and cognitive function in the context of PTSD in U.S. veterans. Strategies to use these results to improve holistic clinical care and further valuable research include: recommendation for the use of MoCA as a screening tool for cognitive function and referral to other providers, consideration of the impact of Pre-deployment trauma exposure on both current PTSD symptoms and cognitive function, and clarification on the importance of assessing ApoE using cysteine residues per mole to fully interpret risk and protective factors. Finally, these results, taken together using structural equation modelling, illustrate the intricacy of relationships between the many factors contributing to an individual’s presentation with PTSD, an important reminder when working with those experiencing this difficult condition.
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    The brain is for action: embodiment, causality, and conceptual learning with video games to improve reading comprehension and scientific problem solving.
    (2012-11) Dubbels, Brock Randall
    This experiment compares children's comprehension and problem solving with the same information presented in three different media formats: an embodied video game, a first-person video, and a print narrative. The embodied video game emphasizes interaction and causation, where the player moves the narrative forward by causing change through interaction. According to embodiment theorists, the ability to create knowledge is predicated upon the ability to identify and connect changes, and what causes change in events. Comprehension is measured in this study with the Event-Indexing Model, (EIM). Research on the EIM indicates that identification of causation is often highly correlated to identification of other elements of comprehension, including memory of time, space, objects, and intentions across events. This experiment examines whether media format, which emphasizes embodied interaction and identification of causation, improves comprehension and problem solving. In question 1, this experiment examines whether the embodied video game will lead to superior comprehension and problem solving outcomes compared to the same information presented in a video or a printed text. Question 2 compares comprehension and problem solving when the reading text condition follows playing the game and watching the video. The third question examines the role of causation, which is the ability to identify actions that create changes between narrative events in a text. This dissertation analyzes comprehension and problem outcomes across media: as an embodied video game, a video, or a printed text. Additionally, it examines reading performance across presentation order, and the importance of identification in situation model construction.
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    Cannabis use and cognition from adolescence to young adulthood: exploring cause, consequence, and influencing factors
    (2021-08) Bair, Jessica
    There are two overarching themes of this dissertation. The first is to evaluate the robustness of unique relationships between nonacute cannabis use occurring across adolescence and young adulthood and young adult cognitive outcomes. The second is to explore possible alternative explanations for associations found and separate potential causal influences of cannabis on cognition from shared familial or environmental factors. Research in this area has predominantly relied upon cross-sectional studies, and critics have raised concerns regarding the impact of extraneous factors insufficiently addressed within research, leaving the true relationship between cannabis and cognition uncertain. To address this and other limitations in the literature, this dissertation was designed to examine the relationship between cannabis use across adolescence and young adulthood and young adult cognitive outcomes. We used a large population-based twin sample with longitudinal tracking of cannabis use along with extensive neuropsychological assessment and interviewing and a quasi-experimental research design to draw stronger causal inferences. Across the two studies, nonacute cannabis use was associated with deficits in neurocognitive outcomes. Study 1 highlighted the importance of controlling for confounding as many of the associations did not survive covariate analyses, such that cannabis did not uniquely predict cognitive outcomes. However, beyond other factors, heavier and early cannabis use was related to deficits in domains, such as decision-making, processing speed, visuospatial attention, and general cognitive abilities. A pattern of sex-specific effects emerged such that males performed more poorly than females on decision-making and processing speed tasks with cannabis use. Converging on Study 1 conclusions to explore the etiology of the most robust relationships, Study 2 found evidence that deficits in neurocognitive performance indexed pre-existing familial or environmental liability but may also in turn be adversely impacted by heavy and early cannabis use, specifically for IQ and, in males, decision-making performance. Collectively, this work suggests a complex relationship between nonacute cannabis use and cognition, with differences in cognition reflecting a mixture of premorbid familial risk factors and possible adverse consequences of cannabis exposure. This information has implications for shaping policy decisions and targeting prevention and intervention efforts to reduce negative consequences of cannabis exposure in youth.
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    Change and reliability in the evolution of learning and memory.
    (2009-05) Dunlap-Lehtilä, Aimee Sue
    Why do animals learn to perform some behaviors while others are innate? Why do animals learn some things more easily than others? And, why do animals remember some things better than others? Theoreticians argue that patterns of environmental change explain these patterns, but we have little data to support these claims. I used statistical decision theory to model behaviors and fitness consequences, and experimental evolution studies with fruit flies where I manipulated patterns of environmental change across evolutionary time, to address the first two of these fundamental questions about the evolution of learning. The first experiment tested the effects of the reliability of experience and the fixity of the best action upon the evolution of learning and non-learning across 30 generations. I found that indeed, the interaction of these two variables determined when learning, and when non-learning evolved. The second study was a full factorial experiment manipulating the reliabilities of two modes of stimuli: olfactory and visual. After 40 generations, I found that as predicted, flies in environments where olfactory stimuli are reliable learned better about olfactory than color stimuli, with the same being true for color stimuli. Finally, I addressed the question of why animals remember some things better than others using a dynamic programming technique and experiment with blue jays, finding interactions between rates of change and time. These novel studies show the importance of reliability and change in evolution of learning and memory.
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    A comparison between nonlinguistic cognitive processing treatment and traditional language treatment for bilingual children with primary language impairment
    (2011-07) Ebert, Kerry Danahy
    Background: Children with Primary Language Impairment (PLI) show subtle weaknesses in nonlinguistic cognitive processing (NCP) skills such as attention, memory, and speed of processing. It is possible that these weaknesses contribute causally to the language delays that characterize PLI. For bilingual children with PLI, NCP weaknesses would underlie language learning ability for both languages. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between NCP skills and language skills in bilingual children with PLI by treating processing speed and attention. Methods: A total of 24 participants in three groups (NCP treatment, English language treatment, and delayed treatment control) completed the study protocol. All participants were Spanish-English bilingual children with PLI between the ages of 6 and 10 years. All participants completed an extensive battery of assessments indexing NCP, English language, and Spanish language skills both before and after a treatment cycle. Analyses examined change for individuals, for each group separately, and for the three groups in comparison to one another. Results: Children who completed the NCP treatment showed significant change in processing speed and in overall English language skills. However, children who completed the English language treatment tended to make greater gains, both in English and in NCP skills. Few comparisons between the three groups reached significance, in part because the delayed treatment control group tended to make positive change and in part because of the small sample size. Individual variability was apparent across all three groups, but particularly pronounced for Spanish. Conclusions: The results support a connection between NCP and language skills in children with PLI. Language-based treatment programs may effectively alter NCP skills, and NCP treatment programs may alter language skills.
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    Effect of aerobic exercise on cognition and brain activity following traumatic brain injury
    (2014-02) Lojovich, Jeanne Marie
    Following the Introduction, this thesis is organized into three parts. Part one (Chapter II), is an extensive literature review related to the scientific promise and potential physiological mechanisms underlying aerobic exercise as a potential intervention to improve cognition following TBI. This literature review was initially published in the Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation 25(3):184-192, May/June 2010 by the author of this thesis.55 Parts two and three are two separate research reports written as Chapters III and IV. Each report was formatted for journal submission. The first study (Chapter III) reports cognitive changes in working memory, executive function, and the subject's (N=7) perceived function utilizing behavioral measures following participation in a 12-week aerobic exercise program. The second study (Chapter IV) reports findings of the cortical changes in TBI subjects (N=7) following participation in a 12-week aerobic exercise program. Functional magnetic imaging (fMRI) data was gathered on the subjects during a working memory task prior to and following exercise program participation. Regions of interest in the cortex included the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, anterior and posterior cingulate cortices, and the precuneus.
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    The effect of functional fixation in problem solving among preschool, second grade, and ninth grade children
    (2014-12) Nehring, Michael Kenneth
    Functional fixedness is a cognitive function whereby an individual becomes fixated on a given function of an object, which prevents the individual from using the object in an alternative fashion to solve a problem (Duncker, 1935/1945). The current study analyzed the effect of functional fixedness on 36 children from three different age groups, preschool, second grade, and ninth grade. The children were presented with a problem solving activity based on a problem used by German and Defeyter (2000), in which they concluded that young children are immune to the effects of functional fixedness. Research conducted by Chrysikou (2006) indicated using an alternative categorization task could reduce the effects of fixation. The current research sought to answer three research question: are children susceptible to the effects of functional fixedness; are there differences in the effect of functional fixedness based on age; and does participating in an alternative categorization task reduce the effect of functional fixedness. The results indicated that children are susceptible to the effects of functional fixedness, when the children use the target object in a typical preutilization function, regardless of age. The results also did not demonstrate a reduction in the effect of functional fixedness after participating in an alternative categorization task.
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    Effects of cognitive stress in handwriting movements in a pursuit loop-drawing task.
    (2010-11) Yank, Jane Redfield
    The effects of concurrently presented visual traces of hand movements on timing, smoothness, and spatial accuracy were investigated during a loop-drawing tracking task. Thirty-five healthy young right-handed adults used a stylus on a digitizing tablet to track a left-to-right loop-drawing animation presented on a computer monitor. A dot target moved over a template of twelve connected cursive letter e’s, leaving a track as it drew over each loop in the series. Participants were instructed to draw along with the target to reproduce the shape of the loops at the tempo of the target. Participants performed sixteen trials in a 2 × 2 design, eight trials with their trace visible on the computer monitor and eight trials without a visible trace, half with a constant target rate and half with a variable rate change mid-trial. Spatial accuracy was greater when the participant trace was visible, as expected (p < .0001). An inverse relationship was found between drawing speed and spatial accuracy, consistent with the expectation that more spatial errors would occur at increased speeds. However, timing accuracy (p < .0001) and smoothness (p = .0026) decreased when the participant trace was visible. These results suggest that the visual trace of the participant tracking presented on the computer screen disrupted timing characteristics of perception-action coupling and increased the complexity of the task. Findings are discussed in the context of cognitive load.
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    For the Bible tells us so: the persuasive effects of religious framing on policy attitudes and cognitive processing.
    (2009-08) Peterson, Jonathan Robert
    Political elites regularly try to frame issues in terms that will gain them the most public support, invoking values that have popular appeal. One of these values, religiosity, has a long history in American politics. But considering the abundance of religious framing in political speeches and writings, very little has been done to study its persuasive effects. This dissertation explores how religious framing has been used, who is persuaded by it (and who resists it), and how it affects cognitive processing. I hypothesize that the effectiveness of religious framing is moderated by the religious affiliation and commitment of the framing recipient. I also hypothesize that religious framing encourages peripheral rather than central cognitive processing. To test these and other hypotheses, I conduct a survey experiment in which participants are exposed to different value frames both in support and opposition to a public policy issue. I find that religious framing has little to no effect on changing attitudes among most religiously affiliated individuals. However, religious framing is effective at turning off the religiously unaffiliated, causing them to reject arguments made by the individual offering the frame. Further, I find that religious framing both organizes and simplifies the decision-making process, leading recipients to think about issues in religious terms (i.e., to place more importance on religion when thinking about the issue) and encouraging peripheral rather than central information processing.
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    From covert to overt interpersonal conflict: an exploration of the role of cognitive processes used by faculty in liberal arts colleges.
    (2012-06) Holey, Linka Mary
    Life within the academy is depicted frequently in literature, film, and theater as a series of relationship issues involving students, faculty, and administrators. These fictional stories present life as a series of interpersonal conflicts, leaving a sense of dissonance that is unsettling. One wonders how or whether the key actors are using their highly developed intellects. This study addresses the research question: What roles do cognitive processes play in covert and overt interpersonal conflicts between faculty members at private, liberal arts colleges? To answer this question, I derive a conceptual framework from five stage-theories of conflict. I then identify nine cognitive processes from the perspectives of the individual reaction, the social interaction, and the organizational influence. I describe the role these cognitive processes play in overt and covert conflicts between faculty and identify similarities and differences. This qualitative study is based on semi-structured interviews with 16 deans of liberal arts and professional schools within five, small, private colleges distributed across the United States of America. Each dean provided two cases of faculty-to-faculty conflict (one overt and one covert) that occurred within the previous three years. I analyzed the 32 cases of faculty-to-faculty conflicts by identifying themes and subthemes, creating cross-case displays, and arraying the data on meta-matrices. Cognitive dissonance formed the basis for both covert and overt conflicts with social inference creating a spark to ignite public displays of conflict. The perception of self interest and an evaluation of fairness were processes used in all types of conflicts. A perception of inequity was distinctive to cases of overt conflict. The faculty's assessment of congruence with departmental norms and culture and the institutional mission and values was not a strong influence in either type of conflict. Three basic conditions that influenced individual reactions to conflict situations included change in usual work expectations, strong emotion, and personality traits.
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    Neural Impact of Cognitive Remediation for Schizophrenia in a Randomized Controlled Trial
    (2016-06) Ramsay, Ian
    Cognitive remediation training for schizophrenia has been shown to have modest influence on both cognitive and psychosocial functioning, but much is not understood about the neurobiology associated with these interventions. The current randomized placebo-controlled trial and review sought to replicate and expand on previous findings demonstrating that improvements from cognitive remediation are associated with changes in prefrontal brain activation and functional connectivity. Results suggest that cognitive remediation influences both prefrontal and thalamic brain areas, and that changes within the connections between these regions may reflect improvements in overall cognition. The implications of these findings as well as how neuroplastic changes might influence cognition, psychosocial functioning, or symptom profile in schizophrenia will be discussed.
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    Postural and cardiac responses to suprapostural tasks among children with and without developmental coordination disorder.
    (2011-07) Chen, Fu-Chen
    Developmental coordination disorder (DCD) is a diagnosis for children who present movement difficulties but are of normal intelligence without neurological deficits. Previous studies have preliminarily exploited postural and suprapostural task paradigm to research differences of motor characteristics between DCD and typically developmental children (TDC). However, to date no research has sought to investigate the postural and cardiac responses when performing perceptual-demanding and cognitive-demanding suprapostural tasks across task difficulties.The aim of the present investigation were to compare the effect of varying visual and memory demands of suprapostural tasks on postural motion and control of heart in children with DCD and TDC. Two groups of children (DCD and TDC) , aged between 9 and 10 years were recruited. They were instructed to execute a suprapostural visual and memory task with two difficulty levels, low difficulty (LD) and high difficulty (HD), separately while postural motion and cardiac activity were recording. Postural sway variability and cardiac parameters (HR, HF, LF/HF, sample entropy) were employed to determine motor and cardiac responses in corresponding to visual and memory tasks between DCD and TDC. Our findings demonstrated that (1) biomechanical and cardiac responses were less different between the two groups during suprapostural memory tasking, reflective of a comparable effect of suprapostural memory task on both groups, and (2) biomechanical and cardiac responses were significant different between DCD and TDC while engaging in suprapostural visual task, suggesting that TDC are capable of modulating postural motion to facilitate the goal of a visual demanding task but children with DCD are incapable.
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    Spatial Orientation and Navigation in Elderly Drivers
    (2010-11) Pick, Herbert L.
    This report details a research study that was conducted to determine whether elderly drivers have more difficulty than younger drivers in maintaining orientation when they learn routes in unfamiliar neighborhoods. Drivers learned an approximately three-mile irregular route through a novel neighborhood. After they could drive the route without errors, they were asked to indicate the direction of out-of-sight landmarks from various station points along the route. Elderly drivers (60 years and over) made almost double the size errors in their judgments than the younger drivers (25-35 years). Unexpectedly, there was also a gender difference with women especially elderly women, making larger errors than men. Although actually driving along a real route gives the experimental task considerable face validity, the situation lacks considerably in experimental control. Traffic conditions can vary, weather conditions can vary, there may be road construction, etc. The nature of the route itself cannot be experimentally manipulated. With all these factors, it is difficult to investigate how orientation affects vehicle control. Much greater control can be gained by driving in a simulator and it is much safer. The orientation study described above was replicated in a simulator with similar results. Initial crude observations indicated that when attention was on wayfinding, vehicle control was poorer. A more refined study of how vehicle control is affected by wayfinding followed this project.
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    A survey of assistive technology in cognitive rehabilitation
    (2013-10) Speaks, Kelsey Lynn
    In 2003, Hart, O'Neil-Pirozzi, and Morita surveyed clinicians on their experiences training clients with acquired brain injury (ABI) to use assistive technology for cognition (ATC). Their clinicians reported limited experience and low confidence with ATC. Clinicians expected common barriers to ATC use would be high cost and low client ability to learn. In the current survey, 88 speech language pathologists (SLPs) provided updated and expanded information about their experiences training individuals with ABI to use ATC. Clinicians reported using mostly portable devices to address the same targets as the Hart group. Clients typically received less than seven hours of instruction, yet most clinicians reported this was adequate. Primary barriers to service and success were clinician inability to instruct in a natural setting and inconsistent device use by clients. The current survey highlights areas of change and areas of current need in ATC services and research.
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    "What's the big deal?": recognition of racism and impairment of cognitive functioning.
    (2012-08) Tran, Giac-Thao (Alisia) Thanh
    Resource depletion theories posit that cognitive resources exist in a limited pool. Thus, stressful stimuli can produce impairment on subsequent cognitive tasks, as limited resources (e.g., attentional or regulatory processes) are directed toward managing this initial stressor or task. Using experimental methodology, the study applied resource depletion theories to examine the effects of recognizing the existence of racism in American society in a White American undergraduate sample. The investigation examined impairments in cognitive functioning (i.e., executive functioning in Study 1 and creative mental processes in Study 2) and psychological functioning that were presumed to occur because racism acts as a stressor with the potential to arouse strong emotional responses and deplete resources. Study results suggested recognition of racism had some effects on cognitive and psychological functioning, but the results were limited and inconsistent. Of primary interest, recognizing racism only had a marginal effect on creativity in the form of ideational fluency, whereas recognizing discrimination resulted in fewer errors on a computerized Stroop task in one experimental procedure, thus contradicting predictions and a resource depletion perspective.