Theses and Dissertations at Montana State University (MSU)
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Item The influence of anxiety, age, and retrieval demands on memory(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2021) Whillock, Summer Rain; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Michelle L. MeadeThe present dissertation sought to determine if anxiety and hypervigilance can be activated outside the confines of specifically threatening stimuli by examining different situational pressures such as age and retrieval demands. In both experiments, participants studied categorized word lists and were randomly assigned to complete an initial recall test under free, forced, or warning (Exp. 2) recall instructions, followed by a second test under free recall instructions, and a final recognition test. For older adults, forced recall influenced the relationship between trait anxiety and memory such that heightened levels of trait anxiety were associated with greater correct recall and lower false recognition. In contrast, for younger adults, free recall influenced the relationship between memory-specific anxiety, hypervigilance, and memory such that heightened levels of memory-specific anxiety and hypervigilance were associated with lower levels of correct recognition. Further, warning recall influenced the relationship between memory-specific anxiety and memory in young adults, such that heightened levels of memory-specific anxiety were related to greater correct recall at test 1. Across two experiments, results show that it is possible for situational pressures to influence the relationship between anxiety and memory in the absence of specifically threatening stimuli. Additionally, the relationship between anxiety and memory depends on age, the type of anxiety being measured, and the retrieval demands of the task.Item Investigating working memory capacity in an online nature intervention(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2022) Charbonneau, Brooke Zauner; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Keith A. HutchisonViewing natural stimuli has shown to have beneficial effects on cognition. However, for those in urban areas, nature may not be as accessible. An online intervention may allow them to receive such cognitive benefits. However, specific cognitive processes that may benefit from nature are still not well understood. This study aimed to investigate which cognitive processes could benefit from an online nature intervention. Two hundred and nineteen participants were recruited from Montana State University and completed two tasks that measured either Working Memory Capacity, attentional control, or memory. Within each task, 40 nature images and 40 urban images were randomly presented before each experimental block in the two tasks. Results revealed higher performance after viewing nature images compared to urban images across attentional control tasks but not for Working Memory Capacity or memory. When controlling for preference for natural settings and nature images, the effect became marginal for attentional control tasks. Exploratory analyses revealed that this effect of nature became nonsignificant when controlling across dimensions of fascination and mystery. These results indicate a small, but significant, benefit of viewing natural settings for attentional control, an essential component of Working Memory Capacity. Future research should investigate if benefits increase with longer or more comprehensive interaction with nature, individual differences in the degree of benefits nature can provide, and characteristics that natural settings possess which may increase attentional benefits.Item Early family environments and memory: the role of physiological and psychological responses to acute stress(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2020) Counts, Cory; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Neha John-HendersonChildhood family environments have important implications for outcomes in adulthood. Specifically, the experience of adversity in childhood is related to numerous maladaptive outcomes later in life. It is currently unknown how early adversity affects memory consolidation and processing. Previous research has established an association with anxiety and depression possessing a negative memory bias. A negative memory bias is defined as attentional and perceptual favor towards information that is contextually negative or threatening. Research has not examined the relationship between negative memory bias and childhood adversity after the induction of stress. Stress has previously shown to be disruptive to memory outcomes. Further, a growing body of research has shown that early childhood adversity associates with blunted physiological responses to stress. It is possible that through the pathway of blunted reactivity, early childhood adversity associates with negative memory bias. To test these hypotheses, a sample of college students (N=64) studied a 50-word list that included 25 emotionally negative words and 25 emotionally neutral words. Participants then completed the Trier Social Stress Test, an evaluative stressor well known for inducing stress. After the stress task, participants were asked to freely recall words they previously studied. Results showed that higher ratings or risk and emotional abuse in childhood associated with increased negative word recall. The relationship was partially mediated through blunted heart rate reactivity to the stress task. Implications and future directions are discussed.Item The search for moderation: does anxiety enhance the unconscious thought advantage?(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2017) Whillock, Summer Rain; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Ian M. HandleyWhen people face a large amount of information on which to base a decision, common sense suggests that they should slowly and deliberatively think about that information. However, Unconscious Thought Theory (UTT) suggests that a slow yet unconscious mechanism can process complex information and output decisions that rival, and perhaps exceed, the quality of decisions that result from deliberative thought (Dijksterhuis & Nordgren, 2006). However, this idea is controversial and research into UTT reveals that an unconscious thought advantage (UTA) over conscious thinking is small and manifests unreliably (Nieuwenstein et al., 2015; Strick et al., 2011). The aim of this thesis was to identify and test a potential moderator of the UTA. Logically, situations that hinder conscious thought but leave unconscious thought relatively unaffected should enhance the UTA. The Attentional Control Theory (ACT) offers one such situation, that anxiety compromises conscious processes that rely upon attentional control and working memory (Eysenck, Derakshan, Santos, & Calvo, 2007). Because conscious thought relies heavily on working memory relative to unconscious thought, experiencing anxiety may lead the two thought processes to diverge. Specifically, anxiety should negatively influence conscious thought but not significantly influence unconscious thought. In the present study, participants viewed information about roommate candidates and made judgments after a period of either distraction or focused deliberation, while under calm or anxious conditions. Results did not support the hypothesis that the experience of anxiety would increase the UTA; participants performed comparably in the conscious thought and unconscious thought conditions. Further, participants in the conscious thought condition performed better under anxious compared to calm conditions. Exploratory analyses and future directions are discussed.Item Social contagion and true self(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2017) Pust, Trevor James; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Michelle L. MeadeIn social contagion of memory, we incorporate information from other participants into our own memory and thus remember differently than we would have alone (Meade & Roediger, 2002). The current experiments examined if individual differences in true self would influence participants' reliance on their own memory relative to another person's memory and potentially influence the magnitude of the social contagion effect. Across two experiments, we primed differences in participants' true self and then asked them to remember visual scenes alongside a confederate who falsely suggested certain items had appeared in the scenes. In both experiments, participants incorporated the confederate's suggestions into their own subsequent recall and recognition. In Experiment 1, true self had no impact on the magnitude of the social contagion effect on recall or recognition performance. In Experiment 2, true self again had no impact on the magnitude of the social contagion effect on recall, but participants primed with intrinsic and achievement self reported a higher proportion of remember responses for falsely recalled items, and on recognition, individuals in the neutral condition falsely recognized fewer words than individuals in the achievement group. These findings are discussed in relation to source monitoring theory.Item Social contagion of memory and the role of relative judgments(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2016) Hart, Katherine Morgan; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Michelle L. MeadeThe current experiments examined the role of spontaneous relative judgments of self and participant memory within the social contagion of memory paradigm (Roediger, Meade, & Bergman, 2001). Participants viewed household scenes in collaboration with a confederate who falsely recalled incorrect items as having occurred in the scenes. The perceived memory ability of the confederate was manipulated during a practice scene to imply poor, average, or superior memory. Participant self-memory was manipulated by varying presentation rate to create short (poor) relative to long (good) encoding conditions. Importantly, the participants were never explicitly informed by the experimenter about either their own memory ability or the memory ability of the confederate. Of interest was whether or not participants would evaluate both the state of their own memory and the state of the confederate memory in relation to one another when remembering suggested information. On subsequent recall and recognition tests, participants were more likely to incorporate confederate suggestions when their own memory was poor, and this was especially true when the confederate's memory was superior. Participants do make spontaneous, relative judgments of memory when working with others on a memory test.Item The role of working memory capacity and cognitive load in producing and detecting deception(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2016) Maldonado, Ted; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Keith A. HutchisonThe purpose of this study was to examine the effects of age, working memory capacity (WMC) and cognitive load on people's ability to tell and detect lies. The literature is inconsistent on what individual characteristics are critical to being a good liar. Zukerman, DePaulo, and Rosenthal (1981) suggested that lying is cognitively demanding. Therefore, WMC might provide an advantage for some when telling a convincing lie, such that higher WMC individuals can handle the high cognitive load associated with lying. I examined this across two experiments. I predicted that individuals with higher WMC would be able to better tell more convincing lies, because such individuals are better at suppressing prepotent, but goal irrelevant information, such as the truth. Additionally, higher WMC individuals are better equipped to focus and tune out distraction that accompanies a high cognitive load. I also predicted that younger individuals will have an easier time telling convincing lies than older adults. As we age, cognitive functioning, like WMC, declines, and with this decline, so does our ability to deceive others. In Experiment 1, young adult dyads took turns telling truths and lies, under high and low cognitive load. The detector tried to determine whether their partner was truthful or deceitful. In Experiment 2, younger and older adults told truths and lies into a camera and two young adult detectors tried to detect the truths and lies, at a later time. I found a positive relationship between WMC and telling lies such that higher WMC individuals had fewer of their lies detected when under high load. I also found that a higher WMC improved the ability to comply when asked to tell a truth or lie. I also found that when responding to questions, participants found it easier to comply when asked to lie or when under high cognitive load. In regard to age differences, older adults found it more difficult to tell lies than truths. Issues within deception could involve specific memory processes and require more research to understand what aspects of memory are involved in telling a convincing lie.Item Antisense oligonucleotide inhibition of calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II and working memory deficits in the gerbil(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2002) Hoopes, Barry JustinItem Eye movement measures of semantic priming(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2000) Alberts, Amy ElizabethItem The influence of object properties on haptic memory(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 1997) Murdoch, Latona D.
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