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- Creator:
- Alas, Alexander
- Description:
- Introduction: Students who display higher self-regulated skill strategies demonstrate higher academic achievement than those who are less self-regulated. Physical activity has been shown to improve academic achievement and cognitive outcomes. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of self-regulated skill strategy interventions (SSSI) and self-regulated skill strategy interventions + physical activity interventions (SSSI+PAI) on student metacognitive awareness (MA), metacognitive strategy use (MSU) and academic performance (AP) in physiology of exercise classes. Methods: Twenty-one CSUN kinesiology students (6 Males and 13 Females) enrolled in an exercise physiology course (KIN 346) participated. Participants were randomized into one of two treatment groups (SSSI and SSSI+PAI). SSSI received a self-regulated skill strategy intervention that focused on improving overall cognitive, metacognitive, and study skill development. Meanwhile, group SSSI+PAI received the same treatment as group SSSI, in addition, they were provided with a physical activity intervention that focused on teaching the benefits that physical activity has on overall cognitive function and academic performance. Furthermore, group SSSI+PAI was supplemented with weekly exercise programs to facilitate the use of physical activity. Results: A two-way mixed ANOVA was conducted to investigate the impact of time, grouping, and interaction on MA and MSU. In order to examine AP, a one-way ANOVA was conducted to investigate the difference in the post-grade (self-reported current grade obtained in the class) between the SSSI group and the SSSI+PAI group. There were no significant differences found among group interventions and post-grade obtained in the class, (F(1,17) = .020, p = .890). Conclusion: The SSSI and SSSI+PAI improved their overall scores in the declarative knowledge and planning subscales of the MAI questionnaire and the global reading strategies and support reading strategies subscales of the MARSI questionnaire. The SSSI group improved their score for conditional knowledge significantly more than the SSSI+PAI group. There were no significant differences between the SSSI and SSSI+PAI for academic performance. Future research should include a more subjects and a control group, provide a longer intervention, and more closely monitor the physical activity.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Northridge
- Department:
- Kinesiology
- Creator:
- Hogue, Madeleine
- Description:
- Despite the advancements in feminist musicology that began in the early 1970s, the classical music community is still rife with gender discrimination. This can be clearly observed in the ratio of works performed by men and women composers today, and in the curriculum of academic institutions preparing new generations of artists for professional employment. This thesis will examine the ways in which historical practices of gender valuation impact performance programs in the modern era, and establish the status quo within the field of classical music as one that perpetuates physical and psychological trauma amongst composers, performers, and audiences. This paper will utilize performance as the critical platform capable of driving the field of classical music toward trauma resolution, making way for the synthesis of new social paradigms. An analysis of musicological archives, theories of embodied cognition and gender difference in music perception, and theories of trauma formation and resolution will inform the findings of this paper.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Northridge
- Department:
- Music
- Creator:
- Moshiri, Jasmine
- Description:
- The cognitive processes affected by smartphones are just recently being examined. Current literature demonstrates downfalls to both smartphone presence and absence (Clayton, Leshner, & Almond, 2015; Hartanto & Yang, 2016; Thornton, Faires, Robbins, & Rollins, 2014). While some studies reveal correlations between increased phone activity and negative outcomes [increased anxiety and decreased cognitive performance (Li, Lepp, & Barkley, 2015)], others demonstrate how being separated from one's smartphone can cause increased anxiety, leading to decreased cognitive performance (Hartanto & Yang, 2016). This study aimed to assess how the presence or absence of smartphones can affect cognition, while also investigating the mechanisms by which smartphone presence affects cognition. Furthermore, since both smartphone presence and separation may be detrimental to cognition, a novel solution suggested in this study is to limit functions of individuals' smartphones. Do Not Disturb, a feature on iPhones that allows users to disable notification alerts manually or during scheduled intervals of time, was examined as a potential middle ground between absent and present smartphones. This experiment employed a single factor between-subjects design with three levels. The independent variable was iPhone presence and the levels were: active iPhone, non-active iPhone, and no iPhone. One hundred and forty-four participants were randomly assigned to one of three conditions where they performed three cognitive tasks (color-shape switching task, Sustained Attention to Response Task, and Stroop Task) with either their iPhones present and active, their iPhones out of sight, or their iPhones present but non-active (in Do Not Disturb mode). The analyses revealed that in contrast to previous studies, smartphone presence (or absence) did not have a significant influence on cognitive performance. A potential explanation for the discrepancy in the results of this study compared to previous literature is the simplicity of the tasks used in this study relative to those in previous research. Together with previous research these results may indicate that on simple tasks smartphone presence has fewer deleterious effects on cognitive performance. Future research directions are discussed.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Northridge
- Department:
- Psychology
- Creator:
- Strom, Julie
- Description:
- Anthropology has long been exploring the relationship between culture and cognition, but only in recent decades has American popular media culture been a subject of its own ethnographic investigations. This turn of gaze coincides with inquiry into underrepresented communities and variations in social experience as they are affected by issues such as gender, race, and ethnicity. Recent events in the U.S. stemming from tensions between such groups asserting their rights and those who resist their concerns, sometimes resulting in violence, have set in motion a national dialogue which frequently invokes the subject of empathy. This project is an investigation of empathy among one of the oldest Internet-based communities, that of Speculative Fiction Fandom, a self-identifying community of interest whose practices revolve around speculative fiction texts. Speculative fiction is a genre of fiction which explores the nature of humanity through narratives which speculate about life under different world conditions. It is a broad container for what are today prolific in popular media culture, including the subgenres of superhero fiction, science fiction, and supernatural fiction. The Speculative Fiction Fandom community is an ostensibly racial-, ethnic-, and gender-diverse community, and so its ordinary discourse is a fertile field to better understand the processes by which diverse people in discursive contexts have empathy, or not, for those others outside their own social groups. Through an analysis of the discourse centered on the thought-experiments of speculative fiction popular media, the relationship between culture and cognition may be illuminated through the identification of key rules for empathy.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Northridge
- Department:
- Anthropology
- Creator:
- Alegria, Katie
- Description:
- Spending time in nature can improve mood, reduce stress and anxiety, decrease post-operative recovery time, and improve cognition (e.g., Berger & Tiry, 2012; Kaplan, 1995; Ottosson & Grahn, 2005). Unfortunately, because American adults spend ninety-three percent of their lives indoors, and American children watch roughly 30 hours of television per week, many people are not reaping the benefits of nature (Environmental Protection Agency, 2016). Simulated natural environments, known as technological nature, have been shown to improve mood and decrease stress (e.g., Ulrich, Lundén & Eltinge, 1993). Technological nature, a type of simulated natural environment, is nature that is provided through technology, such as screensavers and artificial windows. While some benefits of technological nature have been found for measures of psychological wellbeing, the impacts on cognition are not well understood. Thus, the present study aimed to explore the impact of technological nature on cognition; specifically, on tasks that measure text comprehension, attention, short-term memory, long-term memory, health perceptions, and decision-making. Participants were asked to complete five tasks measuring these cognitive functions and were assigned to one of five conditions (nature, technological nature, color-control condition, white control condition, time-control condition). Those in the nature condition completed the tasks alongside plants that were placed throughout the room. In addition, these participants had a view of trees through a nearby window. Those in the technological nature condition viewed a slideshow of plants on a computer screen while completing the tasks. Participants in the color-control condition, viewed a slideshow of colors of the plants on a computer screen, and participants in the white color control and time control conditions viewed a white computer screen. We hypothesized that participants in the nature and technological nature conditions would perform better than those in the control conditions. In addition, we expected better performance for participants in the nature condition relative to those in the technological nature condition. The applications of this work to health and policy will be discussed.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Northridge
- Department:
- Psychology
- Creator:
- Khan, Zuhayr
- Description:
- Exposure to an enriched environment has been shown to be beneficial to brain structure and cognition by preserving neuronal integrity and strengthening the functioning and plasticity of neural circuits [1]. These benefits derive from the added spatial, social, and sensory complexities in an enriched environment [2]. It has recently been established that physical exercise and enriched environments stimulate adult neurogenesis [3] and differentiation in dentate granule cells (DGCs) [4] in the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus. However, possible changes in other cell types, particularly interneurons, has remained elusive. Interneurons are an integral regulator in neurotransmission in the hippocampus. Damage to hippocampal interneurons have serious implications and lead to a decline in cognitive abilities [5]. Our study sought to elucidate possible changes in a subclass of interneurons affected by exposure to an enriched environment (EE) and enriched changing (EC) environment. The topographic arrangement of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate-diaphorase (NADPH-d) positive interneurons was studied in the dentate gyrus of the rat dorsal hippocampus. We observed an increase in the number of NADPH-d positive neurons found in both enrichment groups. The elevated level of NADPH-d activity was represented uniformly across all six layers of the dentate gyrus and was most significant in the expected granular cell layer (GRCL) and infragranular zone (infraGRZ). The overall results suggest that the brain has the ability to adapt to increased amounts of sensory stimulation. These changes highlight a new mechanism of physiological homeostasis; with an increased demand for energy from new-born DGCs and increased input, the brain will regulate its energy expenditure via an increase in either the activity of existing interneurons, or the actual number of interneurons. Further research will involve observing the differences to the ventral hippocampus, CA1, and CA3 regions, and the effects on other specific subpopulations of interneurons.
- Resource Type:
- Student Research
- Campus Tesim:
- Pomona
- Department:
- Department of Biological Sciences
- Creator:
- Tiwari, Devendra Nath
- Description:
- Understanding an indivisible cognition through the analytic part has its own beauty that we can call analytic skill, but that must aim at clarity and conception of the cognition which is a whole approached through individual steps. Composite forms have their own beauty, imposition of the cognition on our different allegiance has a different beauty but if one does not understand clearly the different roles the indivisible cognition plays in causing the pleasure in some and pain in others, amusing in some and an obsession in others, illuminating in some and deviating in others, one cannot enjoy wisdom and bliss. Holism talks about language as power, the potency that works differently in wise and in ignorant in causing different effects that veils and deviates from the indivisible cognition. Interpretation of the cognition needs cognitive holistic approach to realize wisdom.
- Resource Type:
- Article
- Campus Tesim:
- Pomona
- Creator:
- Jaramillo, Jimena
- Description:
- Grounded cognition dictates that, just as the mind can dictate bodily actions, so can motor systems impact cognition. Sensory feedback can likewise inform an individual's foundations for social categorization. The purpose of the present experiment is to investigate whether the tactile perception of surface texture will affect participant's categorization of gender neutral faces. We hypothesize that participants will categorize more gender neutral faces as being masculine when they are touching rough surfaces and feminine when they are touching smooth surfaces. Additionally, we hypothesize that participants will rate the attractiveness of the gender neutral faces in accordance to their own gender preference when touching surface textures that match with what is typically considered masculine or feminine.
- Resource Type:
- Student Research
- Campus Tesim:
- Pomona
- Department:
- Psychology
- Creator:
- Lu, Zhaolu
- Resource Type:
- Article
- Campus Tesim:
- Pomona
- Creator:
- Parong, Jocelyn
- Description:
- Three components of executive function (EF) include shifting, updating working memory, and inhibition. EF is important in academic and work settings, as well as everyday activities. Among other training programs, video games have been shown to enhance executive function. Exergames are a newly emerging genre of video games that incorporate gross motor movements of the upper and lower body to play the video game. Exergames consist of two components that are required to interact with the game: cognitive engagement and physical activity. Cognitive engagement alone, as seen in standard video games, as well as physical exercise alone have been shown to increase EF. This study examined how cognitive engagement and physical activity interact within exergames to affect the three components of EF: shifting, updating, and inhibition. Using a 2 X 2 within-subjects design, participants played four games, each with a different combination of physical activity and cognitive engagement, and were tested in the three areas of EF. The results showed that neither cognitive engagement nor physical activity enhanced shifting. Low physical activity exergames led to marginally better updating ability than high physical activity exergames. High cognitive engagement exergames led to better accuracy on the inhibition measure than low cognitive engagement exergames, and there was an interaction between cognitive engagement and physical activity on inhibition. Implications for future use of video games as cognitive training interventions are discussed.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Psychological Science