Cognitive Psychology

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https://ir.vanderbilt.edu/handle/1803/213

Cognitive psychology research of Undergraduate Honors Students in the Psychological Sciences at Vanderbilt University.

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Now showing 1 - 20 of 34

Manipulating the Brain During Problem-Solving: Direct-Current Stimulation of the Prefrontal Cortex Prior to a Classic Problem-Solving Task
(Vanderbilt University, 2025-04-29) Stevens, Amy; Woodman, Geoffrey; Hu, Gengshi
Finding ways to enhance cognitive function in learning and problem-solving has been a focal point of psychological research due to its significance in human life and advancement. I utilized targeted Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) to explore its effects on complex problem-solving abilities. Twenty volunteer students from Vanderbilt University completed the Tower of London (ToL) task under both anodal and sham conditions. Task performance was assessed for time to task completion and move count, comparing outcomes between conditions. Based on the critical role of the prefrontal cortex in working memory manipulations, I hypothesize that anodal tDCS would enhance accuracy and reduce completion time relative to the sham condition. However, my results did not support this hypothesis, with no significant differences observed between conditions. These findings contribute to the ongoing debate on tDCS efficacy and highlight that cognitive enhancement through prefrontal stimulation may depend on factors such as individual neurophysiology, task complexity, and stimulation parameters. Future research should explore alternative brain targets and diverse problem-solving tasks to better understand the potential of tDCS as a cognitive enhancement tool. Keywords: transcranial direct current stimulation, problem solving
UI Design and Repetition in Social Media on Users’ Perception of Truth
(Vanderbilt University, 2025-04-25) Phoebe Yu; Dr. Lisa Fazio
In the digital age, misinformation spreads rapidly, often fueled by psychological biases and platform design. This study investigates the influence of social media user interface (UI) design, specifically source credibility labels, and repeated exposure on users' perception of truth. The research explores how these factors contribute to the spread of misinformation. Results indicate that credibility labels and repetition significantly affect perceived truthfulness. Specifically, posts with credible labels were rated as more truthful than those with non-credible labels. Moreover, repeated exposure increased perceived truthfulness, consistent with the Illusory Truth Effect (Fazio et al., 2019). These findings highlight the potential for UI design and repetition to shape beliefs, with implications for addressing misinformation in social media, politics, and education.
The Relationship Between Trauma Exposure and Memory Impairment: The Mediating Effect of Anxiety, Depression, and Sleep Disturbance
(Vanderbilt University, 2024-03-25) Shah, Krisha
The impact of trauma on individuals can have a profound and lasting effect on wellbeing. Ongoing research in the field is interested in the neurocognitive impact of trauma, including its effect on memory. However, there are some discrepancies regarding the direction of various effects found. While some studies find that trauma does not impact memory at all or they attribute the effects to mediators, others have found there to be an independent effect. Furthermore, few studies have examined the relationship between trauma exposure and memory impairment in youth. The current study aims to provide further clarification to the literature by analyzing longitudinal data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study and hypothesizes that trauma exposure is associated with episodic memory impairment, and that anxious-depressive symptoms and sleep disturbances mediate this relationship.
Are You Making the Right Choice? How Deciding Impacts Food Evaluation and Judgment
(Vanderbilt University, 2023-04-10) Lai, Ke
Traditional approaches in studying decision making typically use artificial or well-defined lab stimuli to investigate changes in the perception of choices. However, the processes of how people generate, evaluate, and integrate attributes of real-world choices are less-studied and understood. In this study, we used food as an example of the real-world stimuli to investigate how deciding between options can accentuate the differences in the perception of their attributes. Specifically, we examined whether making decisions would accentuate the differences between food items and increase the differences in subsequent judgments of pleasure, healthiness, and overall value for similar food pairs. We found that the accentuation effect only occurred for pleasure and overall value judgments of the food but not for healthiness judgment. We propose multiple explanations to account for these results.
Antecedents of Blame: Causal Attributions and Appraisals
(Vanderbilt University, 2023-03-20) Jeong, Chanyoung; Smith, Craig
There are studies (Smith, Haynes, Lazarus, & Pope, 1993) suggesting that appraisals of blame mediate between causal attributions and anger. Thus, causal attributions appear to be systematic antecedents to appraisals of blame. The purpose of this study was to develop and test a model of attributions and blame that depicts the specific ways that particular attributions contribute to the definition of anger-inducing blame. A survey was administered using the online survey manager REDCap consisting of two vignette scenarios with four conditions each. These conditions manipulated attributions of causal locus, controllability, foreseeability, and intentionality. These attributions as well as appraisals of other blame and the emotion of anger, were assessed. The resulting data were analyzed through a series of ANOVAs and regression analyses designed to map out how, given other locus, various combinations of the other attributions determined blame and thus emotion. Thus, this study demonstrates the specific ways that key attributions contribute to appraisals of blame, and hence how those attributions contribute to the experience of anger.
Unique and Shared Mechanisms of Reading Skill and Anxiety Symptoms in Children
(Vanderbilt University, 2023-03-20) Dai, Jiulin
The current study examines the distinct and common mechanisms underlying individual differences in reading skill and anxiety symptoms in children ages 7- to 12-years-old. A standardized oral word reading assessment is used to measure reading skill and a questionnaire is used to measure anxiety symptoms. Mechanisms are measured by a rhyming task manipulating lexical processing (i.e. low- versus high-frequency words), valence reactivity (i.e. negative versus neutral images) and working memory load (i.e. 2- versus 1-back). Overall, we observed a non-significant, negative relation between word reading skill and anxiety symptoms. Using hierarchical regressions, we observed 1) weak evidence supporting lexical processing as a mechanism of word reading skill, 2) no evidence supporting valence reactivity as a mechanism of anxiety symptoms, 3) weak evidence for working memory relating to both word reading skill and anxiety symptoms but word reading skill explains unique variance above and beyond anxiety symptoms. Although these findings were inconsistent with our hypotheses and prior literature, they could be due to the small sample size and the lack of less skilled readers in our present study. This study lays the groundwork for future brain imaging study and helps us gain a better understanding of mechanisms of reading and anxiety, which may ultimately inform intervention strategies for children struggling in these areas.
The Causal Role of Alpha Oscillations in Selection
(Vanderbilt University, 2023-03-21)
Alpha oscillations, or brain waves with a frequency between 8-12 Hz, are a neural correlate of attentional selection. Correlational studies show increases and decreases in alpha-band activity are associated with the suppression of irrelevant information and processing of relevant information respectively, but it is unclear how alpha oscillations relate specifically to these distractor suppression and target enhancement mechanisms. We manipulated alpha levels in the posterior parietal cortex with transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) while participants completed a color change detection task with a variable number of distractors and targets. Our results showed that alpha tACS enhanced working memory capacity in a distractor-absent condition while having no effect in distractor-present conditions. Alpha tACS also had no effect on modulating distractor filtering ability. This contributes causal evidence that alpha supports target enhancement, not distractor suppression, in the debate about alpha’s role in attention.
Recall-Induced Forgetting of Pictures
(Vanderbilt University, 2023)
Recognition-induced forgetting refers to a visual memory phenomenon in which the initial recognition of certain objects within a category causes the subsequent forgetting of other objects within the same category. Memory for pictures has been studied exclusively using recognition as a method to induce forgetting, assuming that recall of pictures would be too subjective, if not impossible, to measure. Here, for the first time, we ask whether recalling pictures is a viable method for inducing forgetting of visual memory. To this end, we implemented drawing as a recall task in the typical three-phase induced forgetting paradigm. After studying pictures, subjects drew a subset of them from memory. Then memory for all pictures was tested using a recognition memory task. Not only did we find the first evidence of recall-induced forgetting of pictures, but we also established the use of drawing individual pictures as a method for studying recall.
Rapid Decision-making Processes in Anesthesiologists
(Vanderbilt University, 2022-03-28) Liu, Jingyi (Janet)
The purpose of this study is to understand differences in rapid decision-making processes between anesthesiologists with excellent, medium, and poor critical event management skills. A panel of expert clinicians and educators rated our recruited anesthesiologists’ critical event management skills, categorizing them into high, medium, and low performers based on their ratings. We asked our participants to perform in a simulated scenario, and then we conducted cognitive interviews to extract specific information about their decision-making processes. Next, we conducted content analyses based on the interviews and then carried out an exploratory data analysis based on our decision-making model developed in our lab. We found that high performers were able to give clearer reasonings and evidence behind their differentials and actions, and they dealt with complex interpersonal situations and time pressure better than medium and low performers. Our findings will help educators develop more targeted training for anesthesiologists in the future.
What’s That on My Plate? Individual Differences in Visual Recognition of Prepared Food
(Vanderbilt University, 2022-03-28) Fiestan, Giselle
We explored evidence for a domain-general contribution, domain-specific ability, and the influence of experience and personality on the visual recognition of prepared food – a previously unexplored domain. Four questions guide the current study (1) Does the domain-general visual ability “o” contribute to food recognition performance (2) Is there evidence for a domain-specific ability with food recognition (3) How does this domain-specific visual-ability relate to different kinds of experience with food and (4) How is food recognition performance related to personality? To answer these questions, we created two tasks that measure food recognition ability: the Food Recognition Match Task and the Food Recognition Oddball Task. Also, we measured o with two visual tasks: Novel Objects Memory Task and the Novel Objects Matching Task. We found a positive correlation between o and food recognition ability, indicating a domain-general contribution to food recognition. Moreover, performance on the two foods tasks was positively correlated even after controlling for the domain-general ability, suggesting a domain-specific ability in recognizing food. To answer the question of individual experience influencing the recognition of food, we created a novel survey to measure the constructs of general recognition interest, food interest, and preference for food taste/appearance and included a measurement for the Big Five factors of personality. While none of the survey constructs related to food recognition performance, we found that agreeableness positively correlated with performance, suggesting that an aspect of personality relates to food recognition.
The Effects of Control Processes and Continual Distraction on Recall Organization in Categorized Free Recall
(Vanderbilt University, 2021-04) Cai, Junhao
The Influence of Speaker Gender on Memory Recall of the Speaker’s Monologue
(Vanderbilt University, 2021-03-30) Aggarwal, Jasmine; Dr. Sarah Brown-Schmidt
Memory Encoding: The Costs and Benefits of Cueing
(Vanderbilt University, 2017-04-26) Ellenburg, Christine; Woodman, Geoffrey
This project investigated the benefits and costs of cueing on memory. Participants were shown images, some of which were cued as especially important to remember, in encoding blocks. The percentage of images cued changed from 20% to 50% between blocks. After each encoding block participants entered a test block in which participants were shown some repeated and some novel images. Participants were then asked if they had or had not seen the image previously and for a confidence level of 60%, 80% or 100%. We predicted that the accuracy of and confidence level of participants would depend on the percentage of images that were cued in the encoding block. Results showed an increase in cueing costs, through a decrease in participants’ accuracy and confidence, when more than 20% of the images were cued during encoding blocks.
Transcranial direct-current stimulation (tDCS) on temporal lobe selectively affects the encoding of visual long-term memory
(Vanderbilt University, 2020-04-06) Zhao, Chong
Classical views of human visual long-term memory propose that people first encode the visual stimuli into a long-term store, and then retrieve the visual information during task period. In examining the temporal dynamics of visual memory encoding, previous human electroencephalogram (EEG) recordings have shown that an increase in the amplitude of a positive frontal event-related potential (ERP) and the suppression of posterior alpha band (8-12 Hz) oscillations both occur during the successful encoding of a memory. However, we do not know whether these two different signals are functionally independent as EEG neural signatures. In this study, we used transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to dissociate these two neural signatures in human subjects during a recognition memory task. We found that the parietal-occipital alpha suppression, but not the time-domain frontal positivity, followed the improvement in memory under anodal stimulation relative to when the same subjects were given sham stimulation. Meanwhile, our experiments also show that the improvement of recognition memory was not due to the attentional arousal of participants or a better retrieval quality. Collectively, our findings show that the time-voltage ERP measure of memory encoding and the alpha oscillations clearly index independent mechanisms that contribute to how well we later remember a stimulus.
The Effect of Retrieval Practice on Memory for Spatial Information
(Vanderbilt University, 2019-03-15) Zhang, Mimi; Fazio, Lisa
Distance Estimation: Exploring Gestalt Principles When Engaging in Tree Thinking
(Vanderbilt University, 2019-03-15) Hurlston, Shannon; Novick, Laura
Gestalt principles of grouping have been widely studied in diagrammatic reasoning because diagrams that follow these principles are easier to understand than those that are not (Lemon et al 2007, Stieff 2007, Novick and Catley 2007). In the present study, I investigate how Gestalt principles of grouping can be applied to the distances between the branches of a cladogram. Participants were shown an image of a cladogram with two arrows pointing to two branches and were asked to estimate the distance between them using the arrow keys. I hypothesized that same group trials, or distances that followed the Gestalt grouping principles would be estimated as shorter than those that were not aligned with the Gestalt grouping principles or different group trials. The results were broken out by size and trial type in order to provide more clarity to the data, but were ultimately inconclusive due to the many significant interactions between the variables studied. Future improvements to this study include rewriting the program, increasing the amount of time participants have to encode the structure of the cladogram, and decreasing the size differences between the cladograms.
The Effects of Social Context on the Therapeutic Benefits of Emotion Sharing
(Vanderbilt University, 2018-04-18) Wheeler, Carolyn; Smith, Craig; Kirby, Leslie
The purpose of the study was to analyze the different contexts in which the social sharing of emotion occurs and the comparative benefits associated with two different contexts of emotion sharing. Previous research has differentiated between two general modes of emotion sharing: socio-affective sharing, which occurs when the listener responds to the sharer sympathetically to validate the sharer’s emotional experience and provide social support, and cognitive sharing, which occurs when the listener responds to the sharer in a way that prompts cognitive work, for example, encouraging the sharer to reappraise the situation or reorganize their goals and expectations. In laboratory settings, socio-affective sharing has been found to be associated with increased perception of social support and decreased reported loneliness, while cognitive sharing has been found to be associated with increased emotional resolution and tangible therapeutic benefits. Expanding on previous research findings in the laboratory, the findings of the present research generalize the contexts and benefits of emotion sharing found in the laboratory through secondhand emotion elicitation to real-world instances of firsthand emotional experiences. Participants (n=147) were asked to complete a survey providing details on one specific emotional experience as well as several other measures including self-reported degree of socio-affective emotion sharing, cognitive emotion sharing, and outcome satisfaction in the described interaction, as well as self-reported measures of loneliness, gratitude, perceived social support, perceived stress, satisfaction with life and depression over the last two weeks. Participant responses were analyzed and coded to evaluate instances of emotion sharing, more specifically identifying the context of emotion sharing and the correlation with overall emotional resolution and problem resolution. Survey data was analyzed in conjunction with emotion sharing data to determine if the therapeutic benefits of emotion sharing observed in the laboratory could be generalized to firsthand emotional experiences in the real world. The results of the study supported previous research findings that socio-affective emotion sharing is associated with increased social support while cognitive emotion sharing is associated with overall resolution, offering potential strategies to improve interpersonal social relationships through effective response to emotion sharing.
A Multilevel Logistic Regression Analysis on the Likelihood of Overeating and Unplanned Eating
(Vanderbilt University, 2017-04) Kataoka, Marisa; Schlundt, David G.
This paper analyzed three models of emotional eating: the restraint disinhibition model, the affect-regulation model, and the externality model (Herman and Polivy, 1975; Haedt-Matt & Keel, 2011; Schachter, 1968). Emotional eating is a risk factor that contributes to the probability that a person will overeat or have an unplanned meal, which can contribute to weight gain and obesity (Goldbacher et al., 2012). Using multilevel logistic regression in Hierarchical Linear and Nonlinear Modeling (HLM) software, two-level models were created with overeating and unplanned eating as the dependent variables (Version 7; Raudenbush, Bryk, & Congdon, 2010). All three models provided valid frameworks for understanding the risk factors associated with overeating and unplanned eating. Level 1 of the models included situational factors (e.g. negative mood, place, people, and type of meal), which were analyzed to understand how context affected the probability of overeating and unplanned eating. Level 2 of the models included within-person characteristics (e.g. BMI, age, race), which were analyzed to understand how individual demographics affected the probability of overeating and unplanned eating.
The Effects of Priming on Reaction Times, Confidence Rating Measures, and Accuracy
(Vanderbilt University, 2016) Farina, Tiffany; Woodman, Geoffrey F.
This project investigated the differences in reaction times between recognition of objects by feelings of familiarity and recognition of objects through direct recollection. Participants were shown images in a study phase, and shown them again in a test phase along with novel images. They were then asked to provide a rating of recognition confidence rating on a scale of 1 to 5. We predicted that reaction times would decrease as certainty of recognition or no recognition increased, and that items presented for a longer amount of time in the study phase would have faster reaction times and higher confidence ratings. Results showed that reaction times did decrease for items presented for longer amounts of time in the study phase. Confidence ratings increased significantly as item presentation length in the study phase increased, following the predicted trend of increased confidence ratings with decreased reaction times for stimuli viewed longer in the study phase. A surprising finding of diverging accuracy in two of the exposure conditions was also found.
A Study of Information Transfer between Long Term and Working Memory using Trans-Cranial Direct Current Stimulation at FCz
(Vanderbilt University, 2015-04-10) Telles, Rachel; Woodman, Geoffrey F.
Trans-cranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a method of electrical stimulation directed through a specific lobe or section of the brain in order to excite neurons and bring about a behavioral change. tDCS has experienced some success as a treatment for various conditions, particularly conditions such as depression, anxiety, and schizophrenia. More importantly, however, tDCS has been shown to help improve cognitive skills as well, particularly in memory based laboratory tasks. Here I propose a study that will analyze the relationship between tDCS and the transfer of information from sensory perception to working and long term memory. This will address a deficit in literature concerning the precise mechanisms that tDCS affects.

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