Theses and Dissertations at Montana State University (MSU)
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Item Testing the effectiveness of heart rate variability biofeedback as a method to improve attention control(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2023) Hood, Audrey Victoria Blackwell; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Keith A. HutchisonThe current dissertation sought to 1) examine the relationship between working memory capacity (WMC), attention control, and high-frequency heart rate variability (HF-HRV) and 2), to implement an HRV biofeedback training with the goal of increasing resting baseline HF-HRV, and in turn, attention control task performance. In both experiments, physiological measurements were collected during a seated, resting baseline using electrocardiograph electrodes and BioNomadix receivers which transmitted signals to a BioPac MP-150/160 System. The HRV index used in this study was calculated from the inter-beat intervals and inter-breath intervals data extracted from the electrocardiograph and respiration signals. In Experiment 1, participants first underwent a resting baseline period to assess their HRV and then completed two WMC tasks. Experiment 2 took place during two laboratory sessions with a week-long at-home training between lab Sessions 1 and 2. At Session 1, participants first underwent a resting baseline period to assess their HRV and then completed two measures of WMC. They then completed three attention control tasks pre- and post-training. For the training, those randomly assigned to the HRV biofeedback condition underwent a breathing exercise, whereas those randomly assigned to the active control condition completed wordsearch puzzles. Participants were asked to practice the breathing/wordsearch exercises at home for one week. At Session 2, participants underwent a resting baseline physiological assessment followed by the three attention control tasks again. Results demonstrated that HF-HRV is weakly correlated with WMC and attention control and that brief, 5-minute sessions of HRV biofeedback are not sufficient to increase levels resting baseline HF-HRV.Item Directing audience attention: cinematic composition in 360 natural history films(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Arts & Architecture, 2021) DeHart, Clark Gabriel; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Theo LipfertSince cinema's creation, the standard format for viewing video content has been a flat, planar image projected onto a screen. The recent invention of the 360-film format allows for a panoramic view of a spherical visual video surface. Cinema composition is a series of aesthetic tools and processes that support a visual framework that filmmakers utilize during production. Composition choices in filmmaking help direct the audience's attention to the most important aspects of each scene. 360 formats in natural history filmmaking defy some of the conventional cinematic standards that have been in place since the early development of cinema production. These differences are due to the larger field of view in 360 filmmaking, which is created by the panoramic, equirectangular shape of 360 video. Through case studies of 360 natural history films 'My Africa', 'Expedition Everest', and my production 'You Are Here: National Parks in 360', this paper examines how the 360-film format has affected composition choices in natural history filmmaking and analyzes the 360 conventions used to direct audience attention in alternative cinema formats.Item Investigating the maintenance of unfulfilled goals overtime : do they occupy executive resources?(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2015) Garrison, Katie Elizabeth; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Ian M. HandleyPsychological research demonstrates that goals can remain active across time until they are fulfilled, even unconsciously and, presumably, passively. Yet, recent research suggests that unfulfilled goals require effort to maintain, drawing upon the limited pool of executive resources and interfering with executive control. If true, the logic follows that unfulfilled goals should compromise executive control initially following goal activation and after a delay. However, another possibility is that the executive control deficits resulting from an unfulfilled goal are due to the initial mobilization of effort required to activate the goal in the first place, and that executive control is only compromised initially following goal activation and not after a delay. To test these competing predictions, participants in two reported experiments received a goal to form impressions of roommates in an upcoming experimental task, or no goal. Next, participants engaged in an unrelated task that required the inhibition of a prepotent response (i.e., executive control). Performance on this task is dependent on the availability of executive resources, as one needs these resources to successfully inhibit a prepotent response. In addition, participants engaged in this task either immediately after goal (or no goal) activation, or after a few-minute pause. The results of both experiments indicate that the impression formation goal had no effect on executive control immediately or after a pause. The proposition that unfulfilled goals occupy executive resources is likely complicated by moderating variables, as a simple yet effective goal manipulation in the current experiments did not compromise executive resources.Item Working memory capacity and saccade performance across fixation delay : attentional preparation or goal neglect?(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2013) Moffitt, Chad C.; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Keith A. HutchisonCorrectly performing an antisaccade requires the ability to inhibit an automatic response (look away from a flashing cue) as well as maintain the task goal to look opposite the cue. Past research has shown that this ability relates to Working Memory Capacity (WMC). Goal maintenance is assumed to occur before trial onset, during presentation of the fixation stimulus. Yet, there has been little research investigating whether there is an optimal time for preparing to execute the goal of inhibiting the automatic response. Furthermore, little has been done to discover how mind wandering might interfere with goal maintenance and saccade performance across the delay period. Three experiments tested the prediction that increasing the fixation duration during saccade tasks will differentially impact performance between individuals higher and lower in WMC. In Experiment 1, correlations between antisaccade accuracy and WMC increased across fixation duration, with high-span participants' performance increasing across the delay, but no effect of delay for low-spans participants. In Experiment 2, prosaccade accuracy plateaued for high-span individuals from medium to long delays, but decreased for low-spans individuals. In Experiment 3, reports of mind wandering were correlated with WMC and antisaccade accuracy, yet impacted high-span participants more than low-span participants. The results are interpreted in terms of the required preparatory and maintenance processes mentioned above.Item Expectancy generation and utilization(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2007) Shipstead, Zachary Martin; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Keith A. HutchisonAlthough the research of Balota, Black and Cheney (1992) has shown attentional deficits in older adults to be detrimental to performance in semantic priming tasks which require a shift of attention away from a presented category, no attempt has been made to link performance to measures of attentional control. The current study utilizes the same paradigm as Balota, Black and Cheney with participants' attentional control measured using the battery of Hutchison (in press). Results show ability not only to generate expectancy for the target category, but to override automatic processes initiated by the prime word is tied to attentional control. Unfortunately, the attempt of Balota, Black and Cheney to estimate expectancy generation when no shift of attention is required may require revision.Item Attentional control and asymmetric priming(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2012) Winward, Shelly Janine; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Keith A. HutchisonThe current research examined the relation between attentional control and strategies used during a lexical decision task. Participants completed a battery of three attentional control tasks and also performed a lexical decision task with symmetrical (e.g., brother, sister) or asymmetrical associated items presented in either the forward (e.g., stork, baby) or backward direction (e.g., baby, stork). Results indicated that individuals higher in attentional control showed greater priming for forward associates, but no priming difference in attentional control for backward associates. Further, equal priming occurred for symmetrical associates regardless of attentional control. Results thus illustrated that both high and low attentional control participants used a retrospective semantic matching strategy, while participants high in attentional control used an expectancy generation strategy. Implications are discussed in terms of existing strategies of attentional control and semantic priming.Item Intent to remember and von Restorff (isolation) effects reveal attentional processes(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2012) Manley, Krista Dawn; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Richard A. BlockA classic finding in the memory literature is that participants remember items that are isolated, distinctive, or salient compared to items lacking in these characteristics. This finding is usually attributed to von Restorff (1933) which is when an item is isolated against a homogenous background; the learning of that isolated item is enhanced or facilitated. Block (2009) found that intent to remember a specific type of picture also enhances the subsequent recognition of it, and he suggested that increased attention to target stimuli is implicated. The three experiments reported here clarify the possible link between the attentional processes involving both of these effects. Participants saw a series of various types of pictures, with some participants being instructed to remember targets, such as human faces. The intentional memory effect was replicated. Other findings clarify the relationship between the von Restorff and intent-to-remember effects.