Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Bf 408'

Everyday behaviour requires constant coordination and monitoring in order for our actions to be successful. Within cognitive science such coordination and monitoring of behaviour is termed ‘control’ and refers to a set of functions that serve to configure the mental system for performing specific acts. A system of cognitive control is thought to set high level goals and direct subordinate cognitive systems in order to accomplish those goals. This thesis utilises a cognitive electrophysiological approach to the study of executive control, addressing research questions concerning the mental processes that are modulated by executive control and the mechanisms underlying control-related processing adjustments. The first experimental chapter investigates the process of task switching. More specifically, how demanding is a proposed stage of endogenous task-set reconfiguration in terms of information processing? It was previously reported that the process of task-set reconfiguration constitutes a hard bottleneck delaying even the earliest processing stages (e.g. perceptual) (Oriet & Jolicoeur, 2003). Three experiments investigated this claim by manipulating stimulus contrast and RSI within an alternating runs task switching paradigm. Both RT results and measurements of P1 and N1 ERP component peak latency did not offer support to the claim that task-set reconfiguration delays perceptual processing. Experimental Chapters 3 and 4 used interference paradigms that are common within the study of executive control (e.g. Eriksen Flanker task and a Stroop task, respectively). Within such interference paradigms, separate stimulus dimensions (relevant and irrelevant) are manipulated, with RT being faster when both the relevant and irrelevant stimulus dimensions indicate the same response. This is termed the ‘congruency effect’ and is often attributed to a failure of selective attention, namely, an inability to ignore the irrelevant stimulus dimension. It has been demonstrated that such congruency effects are dependent upon task sequence with the effect being reduced (or absent) after an incongruent trial (Gratton et al., 1992). Such conflict adaptation effects are a popular measure of cognitive control processes. An influential model of cognitive control is the conflict monitoring model of Botvinick et al. (2001), with much evidence for this model being based on the conflict adaptation effect. Specifically, the model proposes that the ACC measures for the occurrence of response conflict within two response channels, and when detected, signals its occurrence to other brain regions (e.g. DLPFC) that are involved in implementing control. Such control may be implemented via a top-down biasing mechanisms of attention toward the task-relevant stimulus feature. Chapter 3 investigated the conflict adaptation effect within the Flanker task and examined, whether after the occurrence of conflict, attention is directed toward the task-relevant central target location. This was done by measuring P1 and N1 ERP component amplitudes. Although behavioural conflict adaptation effects were evident in overt behaviour, these were specific to response repetitions, consistent with a bottom-up priming account that excludes the necessity for a top-down control explanation (e.g. Mayr et al., 2003). In addition, P1 and N1 amplitude did not show any evidence of increased attentional focus toward the central target location after the occurrence of conflict. Chapter 4 investigated the conflict adaptation effect within a modified Stroop task, and again, examined whether after the detection of conflict, attention is directed toward the task relevant stimulus feature. This was done by measuring N170 amplitude - an ERP component proposed to index face processing - when a face stimulus served as the relevant and irrelevant stimulus dimension. Again, conflict adaptation effects were evident in overt behaviour, with this effect being driven by the occurrence of response conflict. Unlike the data from the Flanker task, the conflict adaptation effect within the Stroop task was specific to response alternations, and thus, a bottom-up priming account is not applicable in this instance. However, again the ERP results did not offer any evidence that the processing of the relevant stimulus dimension was enhanced after the occurrence of conflict. Implications of the present results are discussed in the context of executive control and in particular, in relation to models of task switching and models of conflict control.

Errorless learning has been demonstrated to be an effective strategy for the cognitive rehabilitation of people with memory impairment. This study aimed to determine whether errorless learning is an effective strategy for teaching a complex procedure. Cognitive impairment has been tentatively linked with outcome after rehabilitation for lower limb amputation. Addressing this impairment may improve outcome. The aim of this study was to determine whether using an errorless learning approach would be beneficial for individuals who are learning how to put on their prosthetic limb. Thirty participants from a prosthetic clinic (WestMARC) were randomly assigned to an intervention (n = 15) or control group (n = 15). Results suggest that errorless learning is beneficial in terms of increasing the number of correct steps recalled from a fitting sequence (Mann-Whitney U = 28; p = 0.000, 2-tailed) compared to the control group. In addition, the errorless learning group made fewer errors during the fitting sequence compared to the control group (Mann-Whitney U = 39; p = 0.002, 2-tailed). The findings suggest that errorless learning is a beneficial approach to use when individuals are learning a procedural memory task.

Objectives: To carry out a preliminary exploration and measurement of therapy expectancy and motivation in adults with intellectual disabilities through the development and psychometric evaluation of the Therapy Expectation and Motivation Measure (TEAMM). Design: The initial scale development phase combined top-down theory driven and bottom-up data driven processes to identify TEAMM items and format. The subsequent scale evaluation phase piloted the TEAMM and used correlational analyses to evaluate reliability and validity. Method: Six adults with intellectual disabilities took part in semi-structured interviews about therapy expectancy and motivation in order to identify TEAMM items. A further 22 participants piloted the measure for psychometric evaluation. Results: Preliminary psychometric evaluation confirmed that the TEAMM has acceptable test-retest reliability and internal consistency. Assessment of construct validity found a strong and positive relationship with a measure of general self-efficacy. Client expectations of therapy were largely positive and congruent with therapy as a goal-oriented process in which they will be an active participant. However, a number of individuals were unclear about the reason for referral and felt a low level of involvement in the process. Client and carer perceptions of referral understanding were significantly different. Conclusions: The TEAMM may help clinicians to identify potential barriers to engagement in therapy and find ways of enhancing the therapeutic experience of adults with an intellectual disability. Further psychometric evaluation of the TEAMM with larger samples is required to confirm the factorial structure of the scale and enhance its clinical utility.

The ability to express thought in language, to communicate, and to rapidly understand who did what to whom is a highly complex cognitive skill and ultimately the cognitive trait that defines us as being human. For the most part, language comprehension runs very smoothly and people perform it extremely quickly and efficiently. One might think this is nothing exceptional, were it not for the fact that everyday speech contains plenty of ambiguities, speech errors, and otherwise conflicting or interfering information. Similar to any other cognitive system, the language system is fitted out with mechanisms that detect conflicts and trigger compensating adjustments ‘on-the-fly’ in order to make sense of what has been said. Inevitably, language comprehension requires a combination of automatic and controlled processes and, depending on the context, we engage in both to varying degrees. Historically, linguistic conflict resolution has been investigated regarding to what extent linguistic modules such as ‘syntax’ and ‘semantics’ contribute to the process. In this thesis I take a step away from the traditional approach towards the question how the mechanisms underlying linguistic conflict resolution fit into domain-general cognition. It has been shown that controlled processing reliably results in activation of large-scale networks throughout the cortex. Importantly, neuroimaging studies have shown that the crucial brain region that enables us to flexibly make adjustments is the prefrontal cortex (PFC). In this thesis I present four case studies that investigated brain oscillations (as recorded in the EEG and MEG signal) in the time-frequency- (TFR), amplitude-time- (ERP), and source domain to determine how the language system relates to general executive functions. The materials employed structures that are amongst the most well-studied in psycholinguistic research: locally ambiguous garden-path sentences (e.g. “The nurse examined by the doctor was not on duty”), gender-agreement mismatches in anaphora and cataphora (e.g.“The king left London after reminding himself/herself about the letter”/ “After reminding himself/herself about the letter, the king left London.”), and syntactically complex garden-path sentences (“The receptionist realized that the nurse examined by the doctor was not on duty.”).The results in this thesis support the notion that there is indeed a connection between the language system and general executive functions during linguistic conflict resolution. Still, there are also situations where specialized ‘modules’ perform conflict resolution in a highly automatised fashion, particularly when contextual information sufficiently cues future input. However, as soon as increased uncertainty comes into play or capacity limits are reached, the brain appears to rely on extremely flexible mechanisms in prefrontal cortex regions.

Participation and empowerment are major drivers of social policy, but participatory projects often happen within contested territory. This research interrogates the assumed participation-empowerment link through the example of participatory video. Fieldwork unpacks the particular approach of Real Time, an established UK project provider. Disrupting representational framing, the emergent relational processes catalysed were explored in context, to address not whether participatory video can increase participants’ influence, but how and in what circumstances. This thesis therefore builds more nuanced understanding of empowerment practice as the negotiated (rhizomic) pathway between social possibility and limitation. Following Deleuze, a becoming ontology underpinned study of project actors’ experiences of the evolving group processes that occurred. An action research design incorporated both collaborative sense-making and disruptive gaze. Analysis draws on interpersonal and observational data gathered purposively from multiple perspectives in 11 Real Time projects between 2006 and 2008. Five were youth projects and six with adults, two were women-only and one men-only, two with learning-disabled adults and four aimed at minority-ethnic participants. Participatory video as facilitated empowerment practice led to new social becoming by opening conducive social spaces, mediating interactions, catalysing group action and re-positioning participants. Videoing as performance context had a structuring and intensifying function, but there were parallel risks such as inappropriate exposure when internal and external dialogical space was confused. A rhizomic map of Real Time’s non-linear practice territory identifies eight key practice balances, and incorporates process possibilities, linked tensions, and enabling and hindering factors at four main sequential stages. Communicative action through iteratively progressing video activities unfolded through predictable transitions to generate a diversifying progression from micro to mezzo level when supported. This thesis thus shows how participatory video is constituted afresh in each new context, with the universal and particular in ongoing dynamic interchange during the emergent empowerment journey.

Agent based modelling is a tool that has been successful in developing theories in a wide range of fields, but its application to social psychology is still in its infancy. This body of work applies the agent based modelling method to areas of social psychology including contact theory, group dynamics, altruistic behaviour and social identity theory. In each of these areas an agent based model is introduced that furthers the relevant theories and taken together these models demonstrate the effectiveness of some of the techniques outlined in existing research as well as producing a unique recommendation for the applications of agent based modelling in social psychology. In the fourth and fifth chapters three existing agent based models are extended in line with multiple identity theory and doing so produces novel results that improve upon the explanations of the original models. Therefore it is concluded that for agent based modelling in social psychology it is important to always consider the impact of multiple identities upon our modelling efforts rather than always simulating the minimum group identities necessary to test a hypothesis.

Background: Goal motivational factors alone do not fully account for depression and having vague future goals is thought to contribute to depression. This study seeks to extend the goal theory literature by investigating the specificity of clinically depressed adults’ idiographic approach and avoidance goals and their associated causal explanations. The content of depressed adults’ personal goals is also explored. Method: Specificity coding schemes for goals and causal explanations, and goal content coding schemes, were applied to an established data set comprising adult, clinically depressed (n = 21) and control samples (n = 24). Results: Participants generated, overall, more over-general approach goals than avoidance goals. As predicted, depressed participants compared to controls, generated more over-general goals than specific goals. Depressed adults also generated more over-general causal explanations than controls for all types of reasons and goals, except pro-reasons for avoidance goals. Differences were also found between the depressed group, and the control group, in relation to goal content. Conclusions: Adults with clinical depression appear to be markedly compromised by; their difficulty in formulating specific goals, the content and quality of their goals, and their difficulty in formulating specific reasons for goal accomplishment.

Overview This thesis is submitted in partial fulfilment for the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Clinical Psychology at the School of Psychology, University of Birmingham. It comprises of a research and a clinical volume. Volume I Volume I is the research component of the thesis. It consists of two papers, the first of which is a review of the literature that uses ‘Theory of Mind’ (ToM) tasks with people with frontal-variant frontotemporal dementia (fvFTD). All the research identified is systematically appraised in terms of the methodology and the quality of the published reports. The evidence indicates that ToM is impaired in people with fvFTD; however more robust findings were evident from research which comprehensively measured neuropsychological functioning and used established and well known ToM tests. More recent research has diversified into exploring other aspects of social cognition, such as emotional processing and empathy, and their relationships with ToM. The nominated journal for this review paper is ‘Neuropsychologia’. The second paper is a qualitative research project that explores the experiences of family members of people living with fvFTD. The research questions were: How does the development of fvFTD in a working age person affect the family experience of living with that person, and how might mental health services respond to the needs of those family members? Individual in-depth interviews were carried out with six relatives (including partners, a sibling, and an adult child), and Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) was used to analyse the data resulting in the emergence of four main themes. The findings demonstrate how family caregivers of people with fvFTD have to contend with specific behavioural challenges and personality changes associated with the condition. The study also indicates that knowledge about fvFTD is lacking in both carers and professionals alike, causing uncertainty and long periods waiting for a diagnosis, which adds to the burden of care for these people. Services need to be developed to cater for specific individual needs and awareness needs to be raised in all health care services. The nominated journal for this research paper is ‘Dementia: The International Journal of Social Research and Practice’. Volume II Volume II is the clinical component of the thesis, which consists of five clinical practice reports (CPRs) that describe and evaluate clinical work carried out during clinical placements throughout the training course. The first CPR ‘Psychological Models’ formulates the case of an 18-year-old woman with anxiety symptoms from a systemic and a cognitive perspective. The second CPR ‘Small Scale Service-Related Research Project’ is a qualitative evaluation of a drop-in service for young people leaving care. The third CPR ‘Single Case Experimental Design’ evaluates the intervention designed to support a woman with a moderate learning disability and behaviour that challenged services. The fourth CPR ‘Case Study’ details the neuropsychological assessment of an 81-year-old man with memory problems. The fifth CPR was presented orally and it describes the use of Cognitive Analytic Therapy with a woman presenting with anxiety following treatment for breast cancer. The abstract is included here only.

The severe consequences of having an eating disorder can be minimised by early treatment access. However, most individuals experience lengthy delays in accessing help. This review aimed to systematically evaluate the empirical literature relating to the barriers and facilitators that might influence these delays, for individuals with eating psychopathology. Twenty empirical studies were reviewed. Evidence for potential barriers included: 1) logistical difficulties, 2) ethnicity and acculturation, 3) poor mental health literacy, 4) self-reliance, and 5) social and interpersonal fears. Potential facilitators included: 1) problem recognition, 2) interventions to enhance recognition, 3) impairment of functioning and health, and 4) severity of eating disordered symptoms. More complex studies are required to establish the directional influence of these factors on help seeking. A shift in focus from resactive facilitators, such as symptom severity, towards the factors that might operate earlier on in the help seeking process, is more likely to generate ideas and interventions to achieve earlier treatment access.

The present thesis examines the time course of two semantic variables, contextual predictability and word imageability. Both variables can be said to reflect semantic aspects of meaning. For example the contextual predictability of a given target indicates the semantic context within which the target word occurs. The imageability of a given word reflects the meaning aspects of the word itself (Whaley, 1978). The word frequency effect (the faster response to commonly used high frequency words compared to low frequency words which occur less often) was taken to index the moment of lexical access (Balota, 1990; Pollatsek & Rayner, 1990; Sereno & Rayner, 2003) and by applying the logic of additive factors method (Sternberg, 1969a, 1969b), we determined whether the combined effect of each respective semantic variable was additive or interactive. This allowed us to examine whether there are semantic influences on lexical access. Previous research has been undecided and the question remains as to whether semantic variables operate during the lexical access processing stage, or alternatively after lexical access, for example in the post-lexical stage (e.g., Hand, Miellet, Sereno & O’Donnell, 2010; Sereno, O’Donnell & Rayner, 2006). Another aim of the thesis was to address the issue concerning the information presented to participants in the condition of ‘invalid parafoveal preview of a target’ (e.g., Sereno & Rayner, 2000). Several criteria were identified as being important in order to make the assumption that parafoveal processing was successfully inhibited on the pre-target fixation. Another aim of the thesis was to investigate whether word frequency and contextual predictability of the parafoveal word affected parafoveal preview benefit. Preview benefit was calculated by subtracting fixation durations in a condition of ‘valid’ preview of the target with an ‘invalid’ preview of the target. Experiment 1 utilised a lexical decision task to investigate the relationship between word frequency and the imageability of the word. Experiment 2 investigated whether the orthogonal manipulation of word frequency and contextual predictability led to an additive or interactive relationship between these two variables. Two pre-tests, the rating and Cloze tasks, were used to determine the predictability of the target. Experiment 3 and a further cross comparison of Experiments 2 and 3 replicated and extended Experiment 2 by additionally using an eye movement-contingent boundary change paradigm (Rayner, 1975). Experiment 4 examined the joint and combined effects of frequency, predictability and preview in a within-subjects design. A separate pre-test Cloze task was used to determine predictability of targets in their low and high predictable contexts. This experiment used a larger set of materials than in the previous experiments to examine these variables. Finally Chapter 6 was an overall discussion of the thesis. It was concluded that display screen presentations in our eye tracking experiments led to very fast reading times (as well as more skipping) compared to past studies which have used dot-matrix display presentations. It is possible that faster fixation durations led to floor effects in conditions where reading times are already fast because of preferential circumstances of high frequency targets, high predictable contexts and being given a parafoveal preview of the target. Possible ways to counteract this floor effect as well as alternative experimental methods of investigation were discussed.

In recent years, researchers have tended to use structural priming to distinguish between the core predictions of nativist and constructivist theories of syntax acquisition. Although this has been useful for our understanding of what early syntactic knowledge is like, this focus on children’s initial representations, rather than on the process of development, means that it is still unclear how children’s syntactic knowledge becomes adult-like. To address this issue, this thesis used structural priming to investigate the role of the verb in the development of syntax. In particular, the present work explored how two lexical effects - verb overlap and verb bias – influence structure choice in children and adults for dative and transitive structures. A number of conclusions were drawn: First, the present work revealed there to be a complex relationship between knowledge about syntactic structure and knowledge about verbs; children as young as three have already formed abstract representations of the dative structure, but have also already begun to learn the syntactic preferences of dative verbs. Thus, it was concluded that neither nativist nor constructivist theories can fully explain the abstract and lexical patterning of children’s early syntactic knowledge. Second, the findings showed that experience with verbs is important for the strengthening of verb-structure links across development. Third, the present work indicated that adults seem to track the frequency with which verbs occur in their syntactic structures, and that this knowledge can affect the way in which these syntactic representations are stored and activated. The implications of these findings for theories of syntactic development are discussed, and future directions for research are considered.

The identification and management of individuals with a perceived high risk of future violence is of great priority for mental health professionals and the criminal justice system. The overall aim of this thesis is to examine the validity of the assessment and treatment of violence in forensic populations with a specific focus on the contribution of dynamic risk factors in predicting recidivism. Chapter One presents a conceptual literature review which provides an overview of the development of violence risk assessment approaches, and examines the predictive validity of dynamic factors in predicting violent recidivism. The review demonstrates the ability of dynamic risk factors in predicting future community and institutional violence. Chapter Two provides a critique of the HCR-20 Risk Assessment Scheme and highlights that despite some apparent shortcomings of the HCR-20, the instrument remains the best known and best researched, empirically based guide to violence risk assessment. In Chapter Three a prospective research study examines the predictive validity of the HCR-20 Risk Assessment Scheme in a UK sample of patients under the care of a community forensic mental health service. The study aimed to examine the ability of the HCR-20 total scores and individual sub scale scores to predict future acts of violence. The study demonstrates that the historical factors of the HCR-20 are highly predictive of future re-offending within this population and also highlights the importance of the clinical scale in predicting future violent acts. This work adds to current knowledge and understanding of the risk assessment and management process in UK samples. A case study is presented in chapter Four which evaluates the impact of the ETS programme on the cognitive deficits identified in a violent adult male offender (client A) serving a sentence at HMP Birmingham. By Mariam Azam-Zanganeh.

Understanding speech in background noise is a complex and challenging task that causes difficulty for many people, including young children and older adults. Musicians, on the other hand, appear to have an enhanced ability to perceive speech in noise. This has prompted suggestions that musical training could help people who struggle to communicate in complex auditory environments. The experiments presented in this thesis were designed to investigate if and how musical training could be used as an intervention for improving speech perception in noise. The aim of Experiment 1 was to identify specific musical skills which could be targeted for training. Musical beat perception was found to be strongly correlated with speech perception in noise. It was hypothesised that musical beat perception might enhance speech perception in noise by facilitating temporal orienting of attention to important parts of the signal. Experiments 2, 3 and 4 investigated this hypothesis using a rhythmic priming paradigm. Musical rhythm sequences were used to prime temporal expectations, with performance for on-beat targets predicted to be better than that for temporally displaced targets. Rhythmic priming benefits were observed for detection of pure-tone targets in noise and for identification of words in noise. For more complex rhythms, the priming effect was correlated with musical beat perception. Experiment 5 used the metric structure within a sentence context to prime temporal expectations for a target word. There was a significant benefit of rhythmic priming for both children and adults, but the effect was smaller for children. In Experiment 6, a musical beat training programme was devised and evaluated for a group of older adults. After four weeks of training, a small improvement in speech reception thresholds was observed. It was concluded that beat perception is a useful skill to target in a musical intervention for speech perception in noise.

Bilinguals have the unique ability to translate words between their languages. Although translation is a seemingly deliberate and conscious process, recent research has shown that first language (L1) translation equivalents can be automatically and quickly activated during second language (L2) word reading. Automatic translation activation strongly supports the idea of non-selective lexical access. This thesis investigates L1 (Chinese) translation activation during L2 (English) word reading in Chinese-English bilinguals, mainly through using the hidden translation repetition paradigm. In a series of behavioural and electrophysiological experiments using carefully selected stimuli, English words were subliminally or visibly presented to Chinese-English bilinguals in an attempt to seek the source of automatic translation activation (phonology: segment and/or tone, and/or orthography) and to explore to what extent translation activation is automatic. In contrast to previous studies, the behavioural investigations revealed that automatic translation only occurs for target words, which were visible to bilinguals, but not for the invisible masked primes. In addition, in the electrophysiological study, the event-related brain potentials and event-related brain oscillations provided evidence for the dominant role of Chinese segmental (consonants and vowels) activation during English word reading. Possible interpretations for these new findings are provided. Theoretical and methodological implications of the present thesis are also discussed.

While there exists an extensive research literature that focuses upon literacy development in monolingual, English speaking children, very little research has been conducted regarding the problems encountered by children learning English as an additional language (EAL). Recent political and educational concerns have been the educational under-achievement of minority ethnic children and their underrepresentation in those identified as having specific learning difficulties. This thesis aims to further our understanding of factors underlying literacy development in both monolingual and EAL children to produce evidence to inform policy and practice in addressing these concerns. A three-year longitudinal study is reported together with a series of experimental studies. The longitudinal study examines the developmental pattern of the processes underlying literacy development in children learning EAL and also their monolingual peers. Forty-three children learning EAL and forty-three monolingual (English speaking) children were assessed on a range of cognitive-linguistic measures in School Year 2. Testing was repeated in School Years 3 and 4. The experimental studies explored in more detail the comprehension-related difficulties identified in the EAL children in the first year of the longitudinal study. Given that boys' underachievement in literacy is a general concern in the monolingual population, gender differences within both the monolingual and EAL children are also examined in the longitudinal study. Children learning EAL and their monolingual peers achieved similar levels of success on reading accuracy-related measures and made similar progress over the three years. For the EAL children there was no evidence of gender differences whilst for the monolingual children there were lower scores for the boys. On comprehension-related measures, although both groups of children made a similar level of progress at each point in time, children learning EAL experienced more difficulty than their monolingual peers. Gender differences in comprehension were, in general, not found for either group of children. The findings are discussed in terms of theoretical and practical implications for addressing the educational underachievement of ethnic minority children and the identification of specific learning difficulties in these children.