Fall 1999 Senior Studies Abstracts

RELATING WORKING MEMORY, IMAGERY, AND READING COMPREHENSION IN CHILDREN
Diana Barnes
The current experiment examined the relationship between working memory, imagery representations and reading comprehension in children. This experiment focused on the role of visual working memory and imagery to aid reading comprehension, thereby expanding the minimal research in the area of visual working memory. Forty fourth and fifth-grade students participated in this experiment. A between-participants design was used to measure working memory and reading comprehension when aided with an external imagery device. Neither working memory nor the use of the external imagery aid was found to be related to reading ability. Reading level and grade were the best predictors of error detection ability. Possible implications of visual working memory and imagery are discussed.

LOCUS OF CONTROL AND GENDER AS PREDICTORS OF RELUCTANCE TO ENGAGE IN PSYCHOTHERAPY
Rachel Bazylak
Only a small portion of the people who need professional psychological guidance receive it. In the present study, locus of control and gender’s effect on college student’s willingness to engage in psychotherapy was tested. One hundred college student (50 men and 50 women) participated by completing two surveys pertaining to attitudes towards psychotherapy and two locus of control surveys. The main hypothesis was supported by some of the results that showed that internal students were more likely to engage in psychotherapy than external students. It can be concluded from the results that a relationship does exist between locus of control and reluctance to engage in psychotherapy in a college population.

MEDIAL PREFRONTAL CORTEX LESIONS AFFECT CHOICE BEHAVIOR ON THE RADIAL ARM MAZE
Rob Chandler
Medial prefrontal (mPFC) cortex is thought to be involved with determining properties of incentive such as amount of reward. Discrepancies exist in the literature between the relationships of the rat mPFC to the human analogous structure. Combining a hippocampal task, more specifically a delayed non-matched-to-sample (DNMS) radial eight arm maze task, with two different levels of reward (high and low) is thought to force mPFC lesioned animals (n=10) to choose the higher reward arm less often than control animals (n=10). Spatial memory in both groups is predicted to remain unimpaired. The lesioned group chose goal arms without respect to level of reward, whereas control animals consistently chose high reward goal arms first. The results indicate that the mPFC is instrumental in choice behavior.

PRENATAL CHOLINE SUPPLEMENTATION’S AID IN RECOVERY OF FUNCTION AFTER FORNIX LESIONING IN THE RAT
Dave Dobbins
The effects of prenatal choline (2-hydroxyethyl trimethylammonium chloride salt) supplementation were investigated to determine the changes on spatial ability and recovery of function. Twenty rat pups were used; ten received prenatal choline and ten were deprived of supplemental nutrition. Spatial ability was determined in the Morris water maze by measuring swim speed, escape latency, and path length. After the onset of a fornix lesion, the rats were retested based on the same criteria to determine recovery of function. Spatial ability and recovery of function increased as a result of prenatal supplementation of choline. Nutritional supplementation during a prenatal life may contribute to increased ability and protection of the nervous system.

THE SPATIAL RELATIVITY OF LANGUAGE: LANGUAGE ABILITIES ACQUIRED FROM THE USE OF AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE
Nate Dodds
This study hypothesized that the hearing-impaired population is more predisposed to doing well on a spatial task (symbolic-word) than that of the hearing population. Conversely, it was also hypothesized that the hearing population would perform better on a phonological task (phonetic-triad). Sixteen students, ranging from 17 to 19 years of age; 5 hearing-impaired and 11 hearing students of local public school districts were obtained. Due to the small sample size a majority of the results were qualitatively reasoned, because of non-significant results. However, modified methods and the use of a larger sample may suggest significance for future sense modality reception research due to the trends found within this study.

THE RELATION OF CHILDREN’S EMOTIONALITY, REGULATION AND BEHAVIORAL STYLE TO THEIR RESPONSES TO PEER PROVOCATION
Heidi Haski
Emotional competence (regulation and emotionality) has been a major focus of research in the area of individual differences and their impact on social interaction. This study examines the relationship between behavioral style (aggressive, prosocial, and withdrawn), emotional competence and children’s behavioral responses towards hypothetical scenarios involving peer conflict. Fifty-one 4th - 5th grade children rated scenarios for emotional perceptions and selected behavioral strategies to deal with the described conflict. The classroom teachers evaluated emotional competence and behavioral style. No significant relationships were found among behavioral style, emotional competence and responses to the scenarios. However, a significant relationship between fear regulation and percentage of aggressive responses, such that the higher the fear regulation, the higher the percentage of aggressive responses was found.

THE INFLUENCE OF ADOLESCENT ATTACHMENT ON CONFLICT RESOLUTION
Julia Malone
Little research has been conducted on the link between attachment to parents and conflict resolution ability in adolescents. The present study examined the relationship between attachment, friendship, and preferred conflict resolution strategies. Participants were adolescents ages 12-14, and college students, ages 18-21. Participants filled out copies of the Kerns Security Scale (KSS), the Friendship Quality Scale, and responded to a set of hypothetical peer conflicts based on 5 categories of conflict resolution. The results of 3 repeated measures ANOVAs testing links between prosocial, non-prosocial, and neutral styles of conflict resolution and level of attachment did not show significant findings. The results of a correlation analysis between the KSS score and the quality of attachment showed a significant positive correlation.

*A COMPARISON OF CLIENT, THERAPIST, AND EXTERNAL OBSERVER’S RATINGS OF THERAPEUTIC CHANGE
Laura A. Nelms
Many researchers indicate that multiple perspectives should be considered when evaluating psychotherapeutic outcome. The purpose of this study was to compare perceptions of psychotherapy outcome across multiple perspectives, including an external observer. Two distinct samples were collected in the present study: (1) 23 students from a small liberal arts college who were engaged in a behavior modification program, and (2) 66 clients, 44 therapists, and 48 external observers from a mental health center. Strupp’s patient and therapist questionnaire (QP & QT) were used to assess the views on psychotherapeutic outcome. The results suggested that external observers and clients rate psychotherapy outcome similarly; however, the therapists and external observers’ evaluations of outcome were not comparable. External observers may provide additional information about the clients’ functioning, but additional research needs to investigate the necessity of the external observer.
*honors thesis

THE EFFECT OF LEARNING PROACTIVE COPING SKILLS ON STRESSORS IN THE FIRST YEAR COLLEGE TRANSITION
Amanda Ries
This study expanded upon Aspinwall and Taylor’s (1997) theory of proactive coping by adding an experimental element. The study also suggested that proactive coping could be taught to students to improve adaptation to college. Thirty first year college students were pre-tested on the Student Adaptation to College Questionnaire (SACQ) and then placed into one of two experimental groups (coping focused on academic or social stress) or a control group. After the experimental intervention, a posttest was conduced. Gender was found to be an effect, with men and women greatly differing on adaptation scales, and there were several trends suggesting proactive coping may help reduced stress and increase adjustment in women.

QUINPIROLE INDUCED OBSESSIVE-COMPULSIVE CHECKING BEHAVIORS IN MATERNAL RATS AS A FUNCTION OF FAMILIARITY
Amy Rushin
Many studies have investigated animal models for human obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). One of the most well known potential models is the use of the dopamine agonist quinpirole (QNP) to induce obsessive-compulsive checking behavior in animals, specifically rats. In the present study, rat dams that received chronic administration of quinpirole versus a saline control were examined as a function of a familiarity variable. Sixteen female Long Evans rat dams and their litter of pups were used. Measures consisted of maternal pup retrieval behavior in a familiar and novel environment. It was found that although environment did not have an effect, there were several hypotheses that did have a main effect for drug administration. Contingencies between familiarity and OCD are important variables when creating a working animal model for human OCD.

RELATIONSHIP OF OWNING A COMPANION ANIMAL ON CHILDREN’S EMPATHY AND PROSOCIAL BEHAVIOR
Courtney Sass
This study will assess the effects of companion animals on the empathy and prosocial behavior of one hundred 4th, 5th, and 6th graders, who all owned pets. We will examine how levels of empathy and prosocial behavior change with the quality of attachment between companion animals and humans by looking at animal attachment, responsibility, time spent, and parental facilitation. It is predicted that those children who have a better quality of attachment and care for their companion animal will score higher levels of empathy and prosocial behavior than those children who have a lower quality of attachment and care for their companion animal.

SELF-DISCREPANCIES AND BODY IMAGE: INFLUENCE OF TYPE AND MAGNITUDE OF DISCREPANCY
Erica L. Schweiger
This study explored self-discrepancy theory as a predictor of emotions that result from women viewing media images of idealized female body types. Fifty-seven undergraduate women were tested and evaluated according to their individual discrepancies to measure the predicted emotional outcome of either depression or anxiety. The test followed an experimental design, which included a computerized display of media images of idealized females and a control group of non-living fashion and accessory items. Predicted results expected participants with a discrepancy to experience a related emotion after exposure to the female images.

THE INFLUENCE OF COGNITIVE LOAD AND GENDER ON AFFECT IN JEALOUSY SITUATIONS
Tiffanie R. Scilla
The purpose of this study was to find further evidence of gender differences and effects of cognitive load, when focusing on emotional reactions to jealousy-provoking situations (sexual, emotional, and social). Levels of cognitive load were manipulated, and levels of upset for jealousy situations and reaction times were measured. Sixty students (30 women and 30 men) were divided into two groups. The low cognitive load group rated upset levels of jealousy situations. The high cognitive load group completed a memory task while rating upset levels of jealousy situations. It was predicted that men would find sexual jealousy most distressing regardless of cognitive load. Women in the low cognitive load group would find emotional jealously most distressing, whereas those in the high cognitive load group would find sexual jealousy most distressing. Such results would show that women analyze jealousy situations more deeply during low cognitive load than do men. A mixed factorial ANOVA found that men and women reported highest upset levels for sexual jealousy in both cognitive load conditions. Overall, women reported higher upset levels than men. As upset level increased, reaction time decreased.

*THE INFLUENCE OF EMOTION ON SPATIAL AND VERBAL WORKING MEMORY: COMPLETING THE N-BACK TASK WITH VARYING DEGREES OF COGNITIVE LOAD
Rachel E. Smith
The purpose of this study is to examine the influence of emotion on cognition. Previous research has shown that: Spatial performance is enhanced by withdrawal emotions and impaired by approach emotions, whereas verbal performance is enhanced by approach emotions and impaired by withdrawal emotions. The current study further investigated this interaction by adding a cognitive load factor. Seventy-three undergraduates completed the n-back test of working memory after watching videos or writing about emotional days to induce a particular emotional state. The independent variables were task type (spatial or verbal), cognitive load (3-back task or 2-back task), and emotional state (approach, withdrawal, and neutral). The dependent variables were number of correct responses and average response time. Results of this study found no interaction of emotion and cognition in the spatial or verbal conditions with high or low cognitive load.
*honors thesis

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN QUALITY OF LIFE RATINGS AND ALCOHOL CONSUMPTION LEVELS IN COLLEGE STUDENTS
Holly E. Tabernik
The present study focused on the relationship between quality of life and drinking behavior in a college sample. The 122 participants in this study were undergraduate students from a small liberal arts college in Western Pennsylvania. Participants were asked to complete several alcohol measures and one quality of life measure. It was predicted that students with a high quality of life would consume less alcohol than students with a low quality of life. It was also predicted that the relationship would be less pronounced in a college sample when compared to past clinical samples. Several of the hypothesized main effects were found to be significant. The results of this study make it possible to generalize the effects of quality of life and alcohol consumption levels to an undergraduate college population.

THE EFFECTS OF EMOTION REGULATION THROUGH TALKING ON MATH ANXIETY AND MATH TEST PERFORMANCE
Damaris Wallace
The effects of emotion regulating talk on math anxiety and test performance was examined in 48 undergraduate college women. The Necessary Arithmetic Operations test was used to measure test performance. The Mathematics Anxiety Rating Scale was used to measure the levels of math anxiety. The Multiple Affect Adjective Checklist-R was used to measure the current mood of the participants. Emotion regulation talking was manipulated at three levels (no talking, positive reappraisal talking, and suppression talking) evaluate math anxiety and math test performance. In terms of test performance, the reappraisal talking group performed better on the math tests. The suppression talking group and the no talking group had a lower math performance than the reappraisal group.

*THE SUSCEPTIBILITY TO FALSE MEMORY AFTER VISUAL, AUDITORY, AND MIXED MODALITY PRESENTATION OF WORD LISTS
Devayani Wintrode
This study investigated the susceptibility to false memory after words were presented visually, auditorily, or in both modalities based on the elaboration fo the sensory qualities of the memory trace. Forty participants took part in this study, with each participant being presented all 15 word lists in all three conditions (visual-visual, auditory-auditory, and auditory-visual/visual-auditory). After studying all of the lists, participants took a recognition test to measure how accurately the words were remembered when presented through different modalities. The number of words correctly recognized, the number of lures recognized, and the number of correct decisions were recorded. It was hypothesized that words presented in the auditory-visual condition would be most accurately remembered and would be least likely to create false memories. No significant statistical results were found for the effects of correct recognition or false memory between modalities. A second study was then conducted, using a similar procedure but also using confidence ratings. It was hypothesized that the false memory would be due to interference and indistinct retrieval cues and that words presented in the auditory-auditory/visual-visual condition would be most accurately remembered, with the least amount of false memory. No significant statistical results were found for correct recognition or false memory between modalities.
*honors thesis

*THE EFFECTS OF IMPLICIT FAMILIARITY OF MUSICAL STRUCTURE ON THE GENERATION OF AUDITORY PROTOTYPES
Nate Zuzack
Musically inexperienced college students learned how to classify variati on melodies according to the template melody from which they were derived without first hearing the templates. The melodies used either the familiar Western major scale or the typically unfamiliar Western augmented scale. Participants then performed the same classification for the templates, previously heard variations, and novel variations. Reaction time and accuracy were recorded for each trial. The predicted results that participants would learn to classify major melodies faster than augmented melodies were not found. Also, the predictions that in the testing phase, participants would classify major melodies with more speed and accuracy, and that participants would form prototypical representations of the major templates, but not the augmented templates, were not found. Results of a follow-up study using chords also did not support the hypotheses, but offered evidence for statistical learning.
*honors thesis

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