http://hdl.handle.net/1803/205 2013-05-22T02:06:44Z 2013-05-22T02:06:44Z Khuu, Ngoc-Thoa http://hdl.handle.net/1803/5272 2013-05-19T19:16:25Z 2013-04-01T05:00:00Z

Title: Changes in Motor Performance When Throwing a Ball With and Without Visual Feedback Authors: Khuu, Ngoc-Thoa Abstract: This study explored the roles that vision and proprioception play in learning while throw a ball repeatedly to a fixed location. In two experiments, participants threw a baseball to a target 12 meters away while wearing sound-cancelling headphones to block out auditory feedback. In Experiment 1 participants could freely see the target, but as soon as the ball left their hands, their vision of the ball’s flight and landing was occluded by liquid crystal goggles. Measurements of the ball’s distance of travel along the ground and variability of landing locations were recorded to observe participants’ throwing accuracy and consistency across 100 trials. Results show that participants almost always threw short. The throws improved in consistency for the first half of the trials, showing that people can use proprioceptive feedback to improve the consistency of their motor performance. Experiment 2 was similar to Experiment1, except half of the participants could see the ball’s flight trajectory. Both groups started out throwing short of the target, but the group with visual feedback threw increasingly closer to the target across the 30 repeated trials. Both groups improved their throwing consistency. Kinematic analysis showed that people depended on the ball’s initial velocity rather than the release angle to regulate the distance the ball traveled. Description: Mentor: Dr. John Rieser

2013-04-01T05:00:00Z Qualls, Lydia http://hdl.handle.net/1803/5271 2013-05-19T18:38:45Z 2013-01-01T06:00:00Z

Title: Effects of Dopamine on Reward Learning in Parkinson’s Patients with Impulse Control Disorders Authors: Qualls, Lydia Abstract: This study investigated how dopamine agonist medication differentially affects reward learning in Parkinson’s patients with and without Impulse Control Disorders (ICDs). We tested 16 patients (8 female, 5 with ICDs, mean age = 62.1) on and off of their dopamine agonist medication using a dynamic foraging task with probability reversals. We hypothesized that patients with ICDs, but not patients without ICDs, would have worse task performance on medication than off medication. Paired samples t-tests confirmed our hypothesis – that task performance was significantly worse on medication than off for ICD patients [t(4) = 2.86, p = .046], but not for non-ICD patients [t(10) = 1.67, p = .126]. This suggests that ICD patients are more vulnerable to medication effects that cause aberrant reward learning, which could be the basis of their impulse control behaviors.

2013-01-01T06:00:00Z Williams, Ellen K. http://hdl.handle.net/1803/5270 2013-05-19T18:13:25Z 2013-04-02T05:00:00Z

Title: Similarity between Parent’s and Children’s Coping with Childhood Cancer Authors: Williams, Ellen K. Abstract: The current study will examine the degree of similarity in ways of coping in a sample of children with newly diagnosed cancer and their parents. There is a relationship between mother’s coping and children’s coping, which suggests that there may be benefit in teaching parents coping strategies in interventions to improve children’s coping with cancer. Description: Psy 296b - Honors Seminar - Bruce Compas and Leslie Kirby

2013-04-02T05:00:00Z Ong, Katrina http://hdl.handle.net/1803/5269 2013-05-19T17:50:26Z 2013-04-07T05:00:00Z

Title: Positive Emotions’ Effect on Buffering and Creativity: An Experimental Design Authors: Ong, Katrina Abstract: Extending beyond the Undoing Hypothesis and the Broaden-and-Build theory, this experimental design tested whether participants induced with a positive emotion would respond less, using self-report measures, to a mild achievement and social stressor compared to those in a neutral condition. Compared to a neutral condition, participants induced with a positive emotion reported enhanced positive affect. However, participants in the positive condition compared to participants in the neutral condition did not demonstrate any differences in their emotional response to a mild stressor of listing words that begin with a “J” for two minutes while being recorded. Results failed to yield conclusive evidence of buffering, but successfully induced positive affect as well as induced a mild stressor. Additional data suggests that participants induced with a positive emotion listed more J-words during the stressor task, thereby supporting the Broaden-and Build theory. Suggestions for further research include analyzing responses to different stressors that are more sensitive to creativity and cognitive flexibility as well as exploring how trait based optimism rather than emotionally induced positive emotions may act as a buffer. Description: PSY 296B: Honors Psychology; Professor Leslie D. Kirby. Includes a Powerpoint presentation.

2013-04-07T05:00:00Z