The emotional recall task

Existing self-report affect scales typically involve recognition of emotions from a predetermined emotion checklist. Therefore, we propose an emotion scale that relies on recalled memory. Instead of asking people to evaluate their emotional experience in relation to a list of terms that may nor may not properly cover their entire emotion space, we ask people to produce 10 words that best describe their past emotions and then to rate how often they have experienced these emotions. The Emotion Recall Task (ERT) approach leverages on the more effortful and accurate retrieval and recognition processes and avoids many concerns that surround recognition-based affect scales such as emotional breadth and specificity. In comparisons with the PANAS, arguably the most commonly used affect scale, the ERT performs at least equally well in predicting related constructs such as well-being, life satisfaction and depression. In a test-retest validation study, the ERT is found to be a reliable instrument for deriving recalled emotion with correlations on par with other existing affect scales. This thesis further presents the ERT 2.0, which was constructed by allowing participants to rate their own valence and arousal on each emotion. The development of the ERT 2.0 increases the accessibility to conduct the ERT studies in different cultures and languages. To provide insight into the cognitive processes underlying emotional recall, a series of formal interviews with participants following the ERT revealed that most participants start by retrieving situational events they recently experienced and then select experiences that evoked specific emotions. Less frequently, people retrieved emotions first. This shows some distinct similar with other forms of semantic memory search. To provide a demonstration of the cultural validity of the ERT, a cultural project a cultural project was undertaken to compare Indonesian participants with American participants. The ERT result for Indonesian emotional expression provided a new insight contrasted with the established culture ideas, revealing that Indonesians’ recall-based affect may be less extreme and more negative than previously thought, despite Indonesians and Americans appearing to draw from a similar set of emotional words. In a further comparison, we developed the emotional literacy test (“name all the emotions you think of”) to understand how variability in the emotional lexicon influenced recalled emotions. The ERT was then compared with an emotional heuristic evaluation – the peak-end rule. Both peak and end emotions reflected a positive relationship with the ERT: peak and end emotions are both significantly predict independent components of the ERT variance and together explain approximately half of the variance of the ERT. The final chapter describes on how one’s own emotional lexicon influences the emotions that one recalls. By asking people listing all the emotions they can think of, we assess the extent to which their emotional lexicon can predict their ERT. To measure each individual’s emotional lexicon, we introduce emotional literacy

Development of the Emotional Verbal Learning Test - Spanish (EVLT-S)

Emotional disturbances are common features of clinical disorders and are often present in individuals who have neurodevelopmental or acquired brain disorders. The Hispanic population is the largest and fastest growing ethnic minority group in the United States (U.S.) and by 2050 is projected to be the largest. However, few instruments are available to evaluate emotional functioning in individuals who speak Spanish. Fewer still are available to assess cognitive disturbances resulting from brain dysfunction that impact emotion processing. Normal processing of emotion is critical for social functioning. In recent years it has become apparent that cognitive abilities specialized to process social information are crucial for adaptive functioning and differ from cognitive abilities that process non-social information in a number of important ways. Measures to assess social cognitive abilities in individuals whose primary language is Spanish are scarce and there are currently no measures available to assess emotional learning and memory. The current study addresses this matter by adapting one test of emotional verbal learning and memory for use with Spanish speaking individuals

Cognitive function in post-traumatic stress disorder

Complaints of poor memory by individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have engendered research into attention and memory functioning in this disorder. Due to numerous methodological difficulties encountered in research with this group, results have been inconclusive. In Chapter 1 of this thesis the existing literature is reviewed to ascertain whether there is any evidence of a specific pattern of memory disorder associated with PTSD. Studies are reviewed for evidence of cognitive deficits relating to the structures of the limbic system. dysfunction in which has been implicated in PTSD. It is concluded that there is relatively good evidence of deficits related to probable frontal lobe functions. However, there is very little evidence of hippocampal related disorders and no studies have investigated memory functions relating to hypothesised roles of the amygdala in this group. In chapters 2 and 3 experiments are described that aim to investigate cognitive abilities related to amygdala functioning in PTSD. Chapter 2 investigates an hypothesised role of the amygdala in the consolidation of memory for emotional material. The results confirm the possibility of amygdala dysfunction in PTSD by showing that on a test of free recall participants with PTSD forgot emotional word stimuli at a faster rate than control participants, whereas non-emotional stimuli were forgotten at a more normal rate. Chapter 3 investigated a second hypothesised role for the amygdala in the recognition of facial expressions of fear and anger. Results showed that PTSD participants were somewhat impaired in their recognition of these expressions, which contrasted with an enhanced ability, associated with symptoms of hyperarousal, in identifying other negative facial expressions. In Chapter 4, the relevance of neuropsychological research to Clinical Psychology is discussed. It is argued that such research is vital if we are to fully understand the difficulties clients could face on a day-to-day basis

Do informal caregivers of people with dementia mirror the cognitive deficits of their demented patients?:A pilot study

Recent research suggests that informal caregivers of people with dementia (ICs) experience more cognitive deficits than noncaregivers. The reason for this is not yet clear. Objective: to test the hypothesis that ICs ‘mirror' the cognitive deficits of the demented people they care for. Participants and methods: 105 adult ICs were asked to complete three neuropsychological tests: letter fluency, category fluency, and the logical memory test from the WMS-III. The ICs were grouped according to the diagnosis of their demented patients. One-sample ttests were conducted to investigate if the standardized mean scores (t-scores) of the ICs were different from normative data. A Bonferroni correction was used to correct for multiple comparisons. Results: 82 ICs cared for people with Alzheimer's dementia and 23 ICs cared for people with vascular dementia. Mean letter fluency score of the ICs of people with Alzheimer's dementia was significantly lower than the normative mean letter fluency score, p = .002. The other tests yielded no significant results. Conclusion: our data shows that ICs of Alzheimer patients have cognitive deficits on the letter fluency test. This test primarily measures executive functioning and it has been found to be sensitive to mild cognitive impairment in recent research. Our data tentatively suggests that ICs who care for Alzheimer patients also show signs of cognitive impairment but that it is too early to tell if this is cause for concern or not

EFFECTS OF AN iPAD iBOOK ON READING COMPREHENSION, ELECTRODERMAL ACTIVITY, AND ENGAGEMENT FOR ADOLESCENTS WITH DISABILITIES

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of an iPad iBook for adolescents with disabilities. With its release in 2012, the iBooks Author software for the Apple iPad allows classroom teachers to create accessible and engaging textbooks. Leveraging media and interactive widgets, iBooks Author holds promise for delivering content to learners of all needs. However, little empirical research currently supports the iPad as a textbook. In this intervention study, 22 middle school students with disabilities learned to identify and understand features of textbooks. Participants were randomly assigned to one of two cohorts and alternated reading between a traditional textbook and iPad iBook across six science textbook chapters. Using a repeated measures design, quantitative and qualitative data were collected for reading comprehension scores, electrodermal activity, cognitive workload, and participant satisfaction. Results indicated no significant differences in reading comprehension scores, electrodermal activity levels, or cognitive workload scores. Satisfaction measures indicated students significantly preferred the iPad iBook. Emergent themes from participant interviews, fidelity checks, and task analyses are also discussed

Acute Exercise and Creativity: Embodied Cognition Approaches

This dissertation manuscript is the culmination of three years of research examining several unique, exercise-induced mechanisms underlying creativity. This collection of work addresses historical and current empirical concepts of creativity in a narrative review, providing recommendations for future research. Several reviews follow this introduction, highlighting the proposed effects of exercise on creativity, putative mechanisms for creativity, and the effects of exercise and embodied manipulations on creative behavior. Multiple experiments utilizing moderate-intensity exercise as a theoretical stimulus for higher-order cognitions were conducted to investigate associations between exercise and creativity, which lead to the final dissertation experiment. The dissertation experiment was the first to provide statistically significant evidence for acute, moderate-intensity treadmill exercise coupled with anagram problem-solving to prime subsequent RAT completion compared to a non-exercise, priming only condition. We emphasize that the additive effects of exercise plus priming may be a viable strategy for enhancing verbal convergent creativity. Future research is warranted to explore a variety of priming effects on the relationship between exercise, embodied interventions, and creativityThis dissertation manuscript is the culmination of three years of research examining several unique, exercise-induced mechanisms underlying creativity. This collection of work addresses historical and current empirical concepts of creativity in a narrative review, providing recommendations for future research. Several reviews follow this introduction, highlighting the proposed effects of exercise on creativity, putative mechanisms for creativity, and the effects of exercise and embodied manipulations on creative behavior. Multiple experiments utilizing moderate-intensity exercise as a theoretical stimulus for higher-order cognitions were conducted to investigate associations between exercise and creativity, which lead to the final dissertation experiment. The dissertation experiment was the first to provide statistically significant evidence for acute, moderate-intensity treadmill exercise coupled with anagram problem-solving to prime subsequent RAT completion compared to a non-exercise, priming only condition. We emphasize that the additive effects of exercise plus priming may be a viable strategy for enhancing verbal convergent creativity. Future research is warranted to explore a variety of priming effects on the relationship between exercise, embodied interventions, and creativit

Cognitive correlates of sleepiness and sleep disruption in everyday domestic settings

Sleepiness and sleep disruption caused by cohabitees could have deleterious cognitive consequences in everyday life. Research in this area is scarce, thus cognitive correlates of varying degrees of sub-optimal sleep patterns in five groups of healthy adults in domestic settings were studied. The groups studied included adults living with healthy partners, adults living with partners with a chronic, sleep-disrupting illness (Parkinson's disease), and mothers of young children

"Glory is temporary, brain injury may be forever" : a neuropsychological study on the cumulative effects of sports-related concussive brain injury amongst Grade 12 school boy athletes

The study investigated the long-term neuropsychological effects of repetitive mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI) due to participation in a contact sport amongst South African final year male high school athletes (N=189). The sample was divided by sports affiliation (Contact n = 115; Non-Contact n = 74) and concussion history (2+ Concussion n = 43; 0 Concussion n = 108). Comparative subgroups were statistically equivalent for age, education and estimated IQ (P > 0.05), with the Contact sport groups having markedly higher incidences of concussion than controls (p < 0.000). Measures included the ImPACT Verbal and Visual Memory, Visuomotor Speed and Reaction Time Composites, Digit Symbol Substitution and Digit Symbol Incidental Recall (immediate and delayed), the ImPACT Symptom Scale and a Post-concussion Symptom (PCS) questionnaire. Independent t-tests on cognitive measures at pre-and post-season revealed a predominant trend of Contact and 2+ Concussion groups performing worse, although only ImPACT Reaction Time at pre-season reached significance (p = 0.014). PCS comparisons revealed an overwhelming tendency of enhanced symptoms for Contact and 2+ Concussion groups with total scores being significantly different in most instances at pre-and post-season. Fatigue and aggression were the symptoms most pervasively high for the Contact and 2+ Concussion groups. Dependent t-test analyses at pre- versus post-season, revealed significant practice effects for the Contact group, not in evidence for controls on ImPACT Visual Motor Speed and Digit Symbol Incidental Recall-Delayed. Overall the results imply the possible presence of lingering neurocognitive and symptomatic concussion sequelae amongst South African final year high school participants of a contact sport. The indications gain potency when understood against the background of (i) Brain Reserve Capacity threshold theory, and (ii) the known risk of Type II error in group MTBI research, that might result in under-emphasis of subtle effects and miscalculation of cost-benefit risks. Clinical implications, and the need for prospective case-based research to ratify the results of this predominantly cross-sectional study, are discussed