UNDERGRADUATE PSYCHOLOGY REVIEW U n d e r …psychologyjournal.binghamtonsa.org/wp-content/uploads/...UNDERGRADUATE PSYCHOLOGY REVIEW VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 2! The U n d e r g r

UNDERGRADUATE PSYCHOLOGY REVIEW

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U n d e r g r a d u a t e P s y c h o l o g y R e v i e w

V o l u m e 2, I s s u e 1 S p r i n g 2 0 1 4


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The U n d e r g r a d u a t e P s y c h o l o g y R e v i e w aims to showcase the scholarly efforts of undergraduate students pursuing psychology, and to create a place for these students to share their research with their peers. Founded at Binghamton University in 2012, the Review is an annual online publication. The editorial board consists of undergraduate students from Binghamton University, but submissions are accepted from a national audience. General inquiries can be sent to [email protected]. The Review is available online at www.psychologyjournal.binghamtonsa.org.

E d i t o r - i n - C h i e f

Joanna Zwosta

M a n a g i n g E d i t o r s

Danielle Conley

Lawrence Gerchikov

A s s i s t a n t E d i t o r s

Jessica Curtin

Alexis Hatcher

Sharder Islam

Deanna Keenan

Kate Sitrin

Maggie Willard

The cover image was designed and contributed by Natalia Chapovalova, an alumnus of Binghamton University. Natalia is the founder of the Review.


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T a b l e o f C o n t e n t s

A b r i d g e d L i t e r a t u r e R e v i e w s

Psychoactive Pharmaceuticals: Anesthesia’s Effects on Consciousness Clayton T. Santillo, Hunter College, CUNY

Page 8

L i t e r a t u r e R e v i e w s

A Review of Literature on False Memory Phenomena and Anosognosia in Dementia Patients: Insight into the Development of Targeted Interventions

Samuel Creden, The University of Alabama Page 14

Empathy: Processes by Which We Simulate the Emotions of Others Jessica Pivnik, Purchase College, SUNY

Page 34

E m p i r i c a l R e s e a r c h

Relating Ego to Eco: A transfer study for improving pro-environmental behavior Lauren A. Kiesel, Binghamton University, SUNY

Page 43

Depression and Anxiety as Mediators between Physical Illness and Somatization Minsu Kim, University of California, Berkeley

Page 75

Online Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Training: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Anqi Li, Craig Christie, Fan Zhang & Songqi Liu, Ph.D., Pennsylvania State University Page 90

Self-efficacy as a Predictor of Change in Post-Traumatic and Post-Concussive Symptom Reporting in a Mild Traumatic Brain Injured Military Population

Melanie Midkiff, University of South Florida Page 108


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How do High Achieving Women and Men Manage Work and Non-work Lives?

An Analysis of Gender Differences in Strategies Used to Deal with Conflicts Among Work, Family, and Social Lives

Sayeeda Rashid, Kathleen Campos-Banales & Lydia Varon, Mount Holyoke College Page 129

Relationship Between Competitiveness and the Presence of a Prize

Francis J. Szyjkowski, Oswego University, SUNY Page 140

Digging Method for Object Recognition in Pigeons Vitale et. al, Tufts University

Page 152


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C o n t r i b u t o r s S a m u e l C r e d e n Samuel is a junior at The University of Alabama double majoring in biology and psychology, with a minor in interdisciplinary studies. Outside of school, he enjoys working as a resident assistant and supporting and volunteering at local animal shelters and art festivals. For the past two years, he has worked as a research assistant in a social cognition laboratory. Additionally, he joined an integrative animal behavior laboratory one year ago and began research projects of my own through the psychology department. As a premedical student interested in an interdisciplinary career as a physician-scientist (one of his intended areas of focus is psychiatry), his research has been geared towards clinical practice. L a u r e n K i e s e l Lauren Kiesel graduated with honors from Binghamton University with a Bachelor of Science in Integrative Neuroscience and a certificate in Evolutionary Studies. She is the co-founder of the Binghamton chapter of Active Minds, an organization that aims to reduce the stigmas associated with mental health disorders, and also served on the executive board of Psi Chi at Binghamton. Her interests include promoting the health and wellness of humans, animals, and the ecosystem, and studying different species and cultures. Lauren plans to utilize her knowledge of the mind and brain to help sustain our planet. After working on a Harvard neuroscience program in Italy this summer, she plans to volunteer in Bali teaching environmental conservation before attending graduate school for ecopsychology. M i n s u K i m Minsu is an undergraduate senior majoring in psychology at the University of California, Berkeley. His academic interest in emotions and their manifestations on body parts led me to study somatization and its relation to mood disorders. He has done research on this subject in order to fulfill the honors program requirements of the Psychology department. He is also interested in Posttraumatic symptom disorders. Minsu plans to work in South Korea this summer for the North Korean defectors at the Committee for the Democratization of North Korea.

A n q i L i, C r a i g C h r i s t i e, & F a n Z h a n g Anqi is a graduating senior with a B. S in Psychology and double minors in Business and Statistics at Pennsylvania State University. Her research interests include but not limited to workplace stress management, employee health and well being, and workplace training. Craig graduated from Penn State University at the end of the Fall 2013 semester with a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology with a focus in Industrial/Organizational Psychology. His ultimate career goal is to combine the applied and academic worlds by simultaneously consulting, teaching, and researching in the field of I/O psychology. Fan received his bachelor degree in computer science


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from Pennsylvania State University in 2013. His research interests include public participation geographical information system, spatial cognition and mental model, and human-computer interaction and communication. M e l a n i e M i d k i f f Melanie is a senior, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the University of South Florida. Over the past three years she has conducted research in both a Neuropsychological clinic at the James A. Haley Veteran’s hospital and in an electrophysiology lab on campus. She has presented her research at the American Psychological Association’s Division 22 Annual Conference, the University of South Florida’s Undergraduate Colloquium, and the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine Annual Conference. Her poster abstract was also published in the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine's supplemental journal in the 2013 November issue. Her ultimate goal is to obtain her Ph.D in Clinical Psychology; but in her spare time, Melanie enjoys making ceramics, traveling, and reading. J e s s i c a P i v n i k Jessica is a senior who is conducting her senior thesis at the SUNY Purchase psychology department, as well as a student of the music conservatory finishing up a vocal/opera performance minor. She holds two jobs on campus, one at the Purchase Performing Arts Center where she works in Development and another at the Learning Center where she tutors other students and edits papers. During her fall semester and last spring semester she did two separate independent studies with Dr. Julia Blau and Dr. Nancy Zook. During her spring semester she will be taking on two teaching assistantships in the psychology department. Every semester she appears in the SUNY Purchase opera and is a member of her campus’ psychology club. S a y e e d a R a s h i d, K a t h l e e n C a m p o s-B a n a l e s & L y d i a V a r o n Sayeeda is recent graduate of Mount Holyoke College with a B.A. in Psychology. She and her co-authors presented this research at the Eastern Psychological Association Conference (2014) in Boston, MA. Her ultimate goal is to obtain a Ph.D. and work as a clinical psychologist specializing in domestic violence. Kathleen Campos-Banales is a senior at Mount Holyoke College. She is a Psychology and Politics double major. She is current secretary for the cultural organization MEChA (Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan) at Mount Holyoke. She is interested in social and clinical psychology, as well as public policy. Lydia Varon is a graduating senior at Mount Holyoke College. She is a psychology major with statistics minor. She is currently serving as a Student Liaison for the Psychology and Education Department at the College. Her research interests are within the fields of social and clinical psychology.

C l a y t o n S a n t i l l o Clayton is an undergraduate student at Hunter College, the City University of New York, with a major in Psychology and a minor in Women and Gender Studies. Aside from in-class academics, Clayton enjoys research. He is a research assistant at multiple


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institutions: Columbia University Medical Center, Mt. Sinai Medical Center, Hunter College, and John Jay School of Criminal Justice to name a few. His undergraduate honors thesis/research focuses on psychological attachment, cognitive functioning, and involvement in children of both heterosexual and homosexual families. Alongside research, Clayton is also the director of his school's annual psychology conference, and Vice President/Editor-In-Chief of the Psychology Newsletter. To follow his years at Hunter College, Clayton will apply to Doctorate in Nursing Practice programs to fulfill his ambition of being a Psychiatric/Mental Health Nurse Practitioner. F r a n c i s S z y j k o w s k i Francis is a Psychology major State University of New York at Oswego, with a minor in Public Justice. One of his major accomplishments throughout his time at SUNY Oswego was having an original creative writing piece nominated for a Dean's Writing Award in Creative Writing in the spring of 2013. G r e g o r y V i t a l e The research team consisted of nine undergraduate students, one graduate student, Muhammad A. Qadri, and Dr. Robert G. Cook. The research took place in the Tufts Avian Cognition Lab in Bacon Hall on the Tufts University campus. The written report is a combination of efforts by the entire team but was compiled and written by Gregory John Vitale. Vitale is a double major in Biopsychology and English currently seeking admission to doctoral programs in Clinical Psychology. When he is not running experiments or working in the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life, he writes articles for Uloop.com. He is interested in Alzheimer’s disease, sports-related head injury, depression and substance abuse.


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Psychoactive Pharmaceuticals: Anesthesia’s Effects on Consciousness

Clayton T. Santillo

Hunter College, CUNY

Nagai et. al (2006) states that non-

prescription drugs are used by many people

for various purposes, including mind

stimulation, hallucination, recreational use,

and weight-loss induction. That said, it is

important to understand how these drugs

affect individuals’ brain activity, and most

importantly, their consciousness. Commonly

seen in the use of anesthesia is the notion of

losing one’s consciousness. However this is

hard to measure because of extraneous

conditions based on the patient’s suffering,

anxiety or some intense emotion; likewise

the nauseating effects of chloroform also

inhibits measurement (Jones 1909).

However, opposing studies suggest that by

varying the dose of anesthetics and

observing the effects with neuroimaging, it

is possible to explore the transition from

consciousness to unconsciousness, and even

the loss of specific functions, such as

dreaming, with deepening anesthesia

(Blackmore 2012). The question then arises:

if anesthesia is being carefully dispensed to

a patient so that it targets a block in a

specific area, what parts of consciousness

are not being accounted for by the drug that

allow one to be perceptually and consciously

aware during the procedure and have the

ability to recall dreams after?

Consciousness is commonly defined

as one’s awareness, but by using this

definition we lose the power of the

unconscious, as defined by Blackmore; this

reflects the popular notion that our minds

are divided into two, and that we are still

aware of stimuli when we are not conscious

of it, and this is the concept we can attribute

when arguing for consciousness under

anesthesia. Anesthesia is one grade of


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psychoactive drugs that is used to sedate and

block pain and other sensations to avoid

physical and emotional trauma during a

medical procedure; almost universally this is

surgery. Anesthesia is available in various

chemical compositions, such as chloroform

(CHCl3) or nitrous oxide (N2O), and is

distributed in fair doses so that the “depth of

the anesthetic does not shut down [any part

of the body] that is needed to keep the

patient alive, and that anything

compromised to some degree (respiration,

for example) is carefully supplemented”

(Lenmarken & Sydsjo 2007).

A study conducted by Leslie et. al.

(2005) tests the incidence statistic that states

that .5 to 38% of patients dream during

anesthetic procedure. In this study, surgical

patients over the age of 18 whom were at

high risk of awareness were randomly

assigned to receive bispectral index guided

anesthesia or routine care, and were then

interviewed about dreaming three times

postoperatively. The bispectral index guided

anesthesia group was intended to report

lower levels of postoperative delirium, and

show cognitive decline during the procedure

in opposition to a routine procedure, which

they found to be true: those whom

participated in the normal routine care

anesthetic procedure reported higher levels

of dreaming activity. Moreover, Leslie et. al.

(2005) believe that they can also attribute

these findings to other innate characteristics

of the participants that were also being

closely examined, such as age, anxiety

levels, and sex. They found that the

dreaming patients were more likely to be

younger, healthier, female, and more

anxious which supports the notion by Ranta

et. al. (1998) that women were more likely

to report dreams than men, and younger

patients were more likely to report dreams

than older patients. A remarkable find the

study also determined was the dreams

recalled by the patients were relevant to the


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current point in their life. One patient

describes, “I dreamt that I saw my daughter,

who was pregnant, having a Caesarean

Section and I dreamt that I was having a

conversation with my anesthetist about the

research trial. The dream was interrupted by

the anesthetist’s voice trying to wake me

up.” Another interesting finding was the

vividness of the recall of the dreams:

another patient says, “I had vivid dreams

about rescuing a pup from a tunnel, flying a

plane, swimming and being stuck in a boat. I

felt restricted in my movements and felt I

was gagging” (Leslie et. al. 2005). Despite

the fact that many dreaming under

anesthetics cases remain poorly understood,

studies such as this suggest that there is still

an underlying consciousness that is available

to us under anesthetic procedure. It seems as

though the prefrontal cortex, the region of

the brain that is responsible for logic and

planning, shows decreased activity during

dreaming, yet it does not completely shut

down as a result of anesthetic medication.

Additionally, Ghoneim et. al. 2000,

state that “a major distinction exists between

explicit and implicit memory [and that] the

essential difference is whether learning

occurs with or without concurrent awareness

of remembering.” The present study

investigated both implicit and explicit

memory after anesthesia, and examined the

relationships of memories and auditory

evoked responses. They studied 180 patients

whom were already scheduled for a surgical

procedure, and assigned them to four

different anesthetic medications: Opioid

bolus, Opioid infusion: Alfentanil,

Isoflurane, and Fentanyl. A tape of the story

“Three Little Pigs” or the “Wizard of Oz”

played throughout the procedure. They

assessed explicit memory by using tests of

recall and recognition, and they assessed

implicit memory by “the frequency of story-

related free associations to target words


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from the stories, which were solicited twice

during a structured interview” (Ghoneim et.

al. 2000). The results of the present study

were significant for explicit memory (p=.

02), and also for implicit memory (p=. 003),

suggesting that auditory evoked responses

and learning and awareness are feasible

during general anesthesia.

On a more optimistic note, Orser,

Mazer & Baker 2008 suggest that the

anesthesia is indeed doing its job of

blocking pain despite the auditory recall or

sense of dreaming. The intraoperative

awareness during anesthesia still remains

unknown, however they point the possibility

of awareness to four broad categories:

Unexpected patient-specific

variability in dose requirements, the

fact that patients may be unable to

tolerate a sufficient dose of

anesthetic because of low

physiological reserves related to

factors such as poor cardiac function

or sever hypervolemia,

characteristics that would indicate

the need for a dose change ay be

masked by factors such as use of

adrenergic receptor blockers or

presence of a pacemaker, and lastly,

intended drug delivery systems may

be compromised by events such as

equipment malfunction or misuse.

The reason why some of the patients may

require more or less of the dosage is a result

of one’s genetics and still needs to be tested.

There are nonetheless current risk factors

known for awareness: a patient’s age,

cardiac reserve, and substance abuse, which

supports the findings by Leslie et. al. 2005

that our threshold for awareness can be

determined by genetic factors and biological

wellbeing.

Another paper written by Osterman

& van der Kolk 1998 reflects on the

psychological impacts of anesthesia as

negative and traumatizing. They state


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 12

“approximately 30,000 patients a year suffer

awareness or consciousness during an

anesthesia.” In a sense, this awakening and

awareness during anesthesia can be quite

frightening. Briefly imagine having a

surgical procedure that requires incision,

waking up in the middle, and not having any

way of letting the doctors know that you are

aware of everything that is happening. As a

result, Osterman and van der Kolk suggest

that this awareness can form post-traumatic

stress disorder, or a neurosis with common

symptoms being repetitive nightmares,

generalized anxiety, or irritability. Thus, it is

extremely important for an anesthesiologist

to understand the dosage that is required to

fully sedate a patient beyond conscious

awareness and without harming the patient.

With this in mind, it is essential and

beneficial to understand the effects of all

psychoactive drugs, specifically anesthesia,

on our consciousness and different parts of

the brain before undergoing any and all

procedures. Future research ought to focus

on how the drugs affect patients before,

during, and after procedures to ensure

patient safety and comfort, as surgical

procedures can at times be anxiety

provoking.

References

Blackmore, S. 2012. Consciousness: An

Introduction 12th ed. New York:

Oxford University Press

Lenmarken C & Sydsjo G. 2007

Psychological consequences of

awareness and their treatment.

Best Practice and Research. Clinical

Anesthesiology. 21 (3); 357-367.

Leslie, K. et. al. 2005 Dreaming During

Anesthesia in Patients At High Risk

of Awareness. Anesthesia. 60 (3);

239-244.

Orser, B., Mazer, D., Baker, A. 2008.

Awareness During Anesthesia.

Anesthesiology. 178 (2); 185-188


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Osterman, J. & van der Kolk. 1998.

Awareness During Anesthesia and

Posttraumatic Stress

Disorder. Gneral Hospital

Psychiatry. 20: 274-281.

Ranta, S., Laurila, R, Saario, J., Awareness

With Recall During General

Anesthesia: Incidence

and Risk Factors. Anesthesia and

Analgesia. 86: 1084-9


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A Review of Literature on False Memory Phenomena and Anosognosia in Dementia Patients:

Insight into the Development of Targeted Interventions

Samuel Creden

The University of Alabama

Abstract- Though false memory phenomena

(FMP) and anosognosia are two distinct

phenomena frequently recorded in dementia

patients, little research addressing potential

treatments or interventions for either

phenomenon exists. Despite this, this

literature review proposes the development

of such treatment models is both possible

and necessary. FMP, which include false

recognitions and recollections, “déjà”

phenomena, and memory-related delusions

and confabulations, are collectively

examined in pursuit of a more thorough

clinical understanding of the phenomena.

Additionally, a causal link between

anosognosia and FMP is proposed, thereby

expanding both clinical understanding of

FMP in dementia and the importance of

further research.

This paper will address false memory

phenomena (FMP) as a holistic issue,

including confabulation, déjà vu, déjà vécu,

delusions, false recollection, and false

recognition. In prior studies, phenomena of

this type have been collectively labeled

“memory distortions” [1, 10]. While the

current consensus is that memory distortions

are causally linked to flawed encoding and

recall processes within the episodic memory,

these studies have shown that individuals

with Alzheimer’s disease or its prodromal

condition, mild cognitive impairment, are

particularly vulnerable to the expression of

false memories for events which they have


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never experienced [23]. No matter the

details of their manifestation, false memory

phenomena in dementia patients are both

clinically important and wanting for

attention. Unfortunately, current research on

FMP is relatively scant, and there is even

less available on the diagnosis of and

response to FMP in dementia patients.

Furthermore, an overwhelming majority of

the current body of research comprises

cross-sectional, correlational, or otherwise

observational studies. The main purpose of

this literature review, therefore, is twofold:

to examine such manifestations and risk

factors of FMP, and to explore the applied

implications of this body of literature to

ascertain whether the experimental

development of a clinical, multidisciplinary

intervention for FMP in dementia patients is

possible.

Particular insight into false memory

production comes with an examination of

research concerning anosognosia, the

phenomenon in which a patient is not aware

they are suffering from a particular symptom

or disability. Anosognosia is cited as a

common symptom in several types of

dementia, particularly Alzheimer’s disease,

in which anosognosia becomes more

prevalent as the disease progresses [22, 29].

Though no presently published research

exists that causally links false memory

production with anosognosia, several

researchers have noted a relationship

between the two [9, 17]. Furthermore,

research concerning each phenomenon is

being actively published. In the pursuit of

the primary purpose of this literature review,

a secondary purpose becomes evident:

explore the interplay between anosognosia

and FMP to ascertain whether research

intended to establish a causal relationship

between them might be warranted.

Methods

This literature review considers

“false memory phenomena” to be an


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umbrella term comprising the phenomena of

recollective confabulation, déjà vu, déjà

vécu, delusions, false recollection, and false

recognition.

Searches were conducted primarily

within the PsycINFO, PsycARTICLES, and

PubMed databases, with additional attention

given to The University of Alabama’s

database aggregate search tool Scout. Search

criteria were contrived as follows: key terms

entered were “dementia” and “anosognosia”,

with sub-key terms including “false

memory”, “recollective confabulation”,

“déjà vu”, “déjà vécu”, “false recognition”,

“false recollection”, and “delusion”. Each

search was constructed by grouping at least

one of the key terms with at least one of the

sub-key terms (e.g. “dementia AND

recollective confabulation AND delusion”).

Without any additional inclusion or

exclusion criteria, these searches

collectively produced roughly 28,000

results. Ninety-nine candidate works were

chosen based on relevance and convergence

across different searches.

Search results were selected for

inclusion within this study if they included a

sufficient association of key and sub-key

terms; evaluation of a proposed or existing

treatment; or identifiable significance,

relevancy, or urgency placed upon the study

of false memory production in dementia. A

sufficient association of key and sub-key

terms entails an identifiable association or

correlation between anosognosia and false

memory, a causal relationship found

between anosognosia and another variable,

or a causal relationship found between false

memory production and another variable

(i.e. insight into risk factors or underlying

cognitive mechanisms of either

phenomenon). Studies not explicitly related

to individuals with dementia or their

caregivers were excluded. Finally, dated (at

least ten years old) and obsolete studies

were excluded unless they could be


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considered sufficiently seminal to the field.

Following this additional criteria, thirty-one

works were chosen for inclusion within this

literature review.

Findings

Justification of the simultaneous study of all

FMP

As the proposed concept of FMP

comprises such an expansive and varied

collection of phenomena, its study might

seem at worst excessively broad and at best

worryingly ambitious. However, an

examination of the clinical definitions of

these phenomena dispels such concerns and

instead demonstrates that the study of any

one particular phenomenon is nearly

impossible without the study of the rest (see

Table 1). Despite already having well-

formed definitions of each phenomenon,

both the distinguishing nuances and

interrelated similarities deserve particular

attention. Notable among these are the direct

and indirect acknowledgements of the

similarity of all these concepts.

Where false recognition entails the

simple remembrance of a stimulus not

previous experienced, false recollection

entails the additional remembrance of

specific details. This fits with a previously

proposed distinguishing model for

recollective confabulation vs. familiarity

[18], with false recognition paralleling

familiarity and false recollection paralleling

(or, perhaps, equating to) recollective

confabulation. Additionally, the two

phenomena fit elegantly with the paradigm

of item-recognition memory (i.e.

distinguishing dissimilar stimuli, such as a

key and a microphone) and detail-

recognition memory (i.e. distinguishing

similar stimuli, such as a silver key and a

bronze key) proposed by Abe et al. [1]. By

calculating indices for both types of

Table 1


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Clinical definitions of false memory phenomena Specific

Phenomenon Definition

False Recognition The process whereby people erroneously claim to have experienced a stimulus which they have not previously encountered [1] Labeled as approximately synonymous with déjà vu [18, 19]

False Recollection

The mental restoration of a stimulus never actually experienced during which details are recalled [1] Labeled as approximately synonymous with déjà vécu [18,19]

Déjà vu12 A delusion-like phenomenon in which a patient demonstrates familiarity with unfamiliar materials [17]

Déjà vécu A delusion-like phenomenon in which erroneous contextual information is recalled [19]

Delusion3

A fixed, false belief held even when confronted with contradictory evidence [16] A belief that is adopted and maintained uncritically despite implausibility in light of general knowledge or presented evidence [13]

Confabulation

A fleeting, mistaken belief that is more isolated, transient, and variable than a delusion or delusion-like phenomenon [16] An erroneous memory that is either true but inappropriately retrieved or outright false [4] The reproduction of false information from a remembered, non-existent episode that is used to justify false recognition4 [17]

1 It should be noted that, within this context, déjà vu is discussed as a pathological experience. While healthy persons can experience nonpathological instances of déjà vu [19], such phenomena are beyond the scope of this review. 2 Additionally, déjà vu has been used as an umbrella term, encompassing related phenomena such as déjà senti and déjà visité [19],Though the study of such phenomena may be relevant at some point in the near future, they are beyond the scope of the current review. 3 It should be noted that, within this context, delusions are discussed as contextually comprehensible. Where delusions of sheer incomprehensibility are possible (e.g. bizarre delusions), such phenomena are beyond the scope of this review. For further clarification, see [13]. 4 This definition applies particularly to what Moulin calls “recollective confabulation” [17].


20

memory, the researchers found that patients

with Alzheimer’s disease demonstrate an

impaired ability to use item-specific

recognition and proposed their impaired

detail-recognition memory as a potential

factor. Here, false recognition parallels to

item-recognition memory, and false

recollection parallels to detail-recognition

memory. This comparison is particularly

poignant, as both false recollection and

detail-recognition memory can be redefined

as more specific versions of their

counterparts.

Parallels are drawn by two separate

studies between false

recognitions/recollections and déjà vu/vécu,

respectively [18, 19]. Déjà vu, defined as a

sense of familiarity not founded in reality,

parallels false recognition so closely that the

two might be considered nearly

synonymous. Déjà vécu, an iteration of déjà

vu more sensitive to contextual details,

demonstrates the same quality when

compared to false recollection. The principle

difference between false recognitions and

recollections and déjà phenomena, the

researchers state, is that déjà phenomena are

delusion-like in their tenacity.

Such tenacity is also what

distinguishes delusions and confabulations.

Between the fixedness and adherence to

most psychological models demonstrated by

delusions and the transience and marked

variability of confabulations, the two are

often viewed as discrete though closely

related phenomena [16]. However, this

consensus is not unanimous, with some

explaining that the phenomena are distinct

but potentially inclusive: spontaneous

confabulations are delusional by nature, and

confabulations provoked by direct

questioning are less persistent than their

spontaneous counterparts [13]. Regardless

of whether delusions and confabulations

overlap conceptually or actually, the merit

of their combined study is clear, as is that of


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 21

the inclusion of delusion-like déjà

phenomena and confabulatory false recall

phenomena. Thus, this literature review

refers to any instances of false recognition,

false recollection, déjà vu, déjà vécu, or

appropriately memory-related delusion and

confabulation collectively as “false memory

phenomena”, except where the differences

discussed become critically relevant.

Justification of the included study of

anosognosia

Presently, anosognosia and FMP are

not linked through direct experimentation or

observation. However, based on review of

the current body of literature, this study

proposes that research directly tailored to

establishing a causal link (or the lack

thereof) between anosognosia and FMP is

both important and necessary. Despite no

such research existing currently, several

studies propose implications and venture

post-hoc hypotheses, that anosognosia and

the onset of FMP may be casually linked.

Gallo et al. indicate that the relationship

between anosognosia and memory accuracy

(that is, whether a particular memory is true)

is modulated by retrieval monitoring

through both the demands of the task and the

capacity of the patient [9]. In addition to

retrieval monitoring, anosognosia has been

linked with memory error monitoring [24];

reduplicative paramnesia, a type of FMP-

related delusion [17]; and disinhibition in

patients demonstrating mild cognitive

impairment in multiple domains [6, 27].

This review will further explore retrieval

monitoring, error monitoring, and inhibition

as underlying cognitive mechanisms related

to the suppression of FMP, thereby making

the current, tangential relationship between

anosognosia and FMP more robust.

Importance of the study of false memory

phenomena and anosognosia

Several factors contribute to the

importance of this line of study, most

notable among them the prevalence of FMP


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 22

and anosognosia. Conclusions drawn on the

prevalence of anosognosia are varied. Where

some reports indicate anosognosia is present

in anywhere ranging from 20% to 80% of

dementia patients [6], others indicate 47% of

Alzheimer’s disease patients experience the

phenomenon [27]. Nevertheless, even a

phenomenon recorded in 1 patient in 5

merits attention. Concurrent phenomena

such as subjective quality of life and

negative affect are examined later in this

literature review, and a consideration of the

potential results of future study follow.

Correlates with false memory phenomena

Chief among any diagnostic model is

a series of identified correlates, including

risk factors, comorbidities and, especially

within the field of clinical psychology,

underlying cognitive mechanisms. As a

major component of intervention is

diagnosis, an examination of such correlates

is certainly warranted.

The first type of correlate to be

examined is risk factors (see Table 2.1). It

should be noted that this table is meant not

to provide a comprehensive compilation of

all risk factors linked with FMP, but to

provide a primer for such a compilation and

a framework for future research. For this

purpose, risk factors are any noncognitive

quality a patient may demonstrate that could

indicate a vulnerability to the onset of FMP.

The potential use of this compilation to a

diagnostic model is straightforward. With

knowledge of risk factors, a clinician may

develop a working predictive model for the

onset of FMP. Of course, to effectively

apply such a model,

one must develop or otherwise discern

methods that test, measure, or otherwise

quantify the presence of these risk factors.

Fortunately, the appropriate psychological

inventories and diagnostic tests for each of

these risk factors all already exist.


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 23

Of particular note among these listed

risk factors is the surprising fact that as

veridical memory improves susceptibility to

FMP increases. This notion contradicts what

may appear true on an intuitive basis.

Generally, FMP production is expected to

manifest alongside deficits in memory. The

identification of this risk factor grants

valuable insight into the necessities of a

carefully constructed, targeted intervention.

An intervention that addresses deficits in

veridical memory (e.g. amnesia) but

neglects the subsequent vulnerability to

FMP is inadequate. Though this effect has

not been demonstrated within individuals,

cross-sectional studies have indicated that

patients with increased capacities for

veridical memory also experienced more

frequent instances of FMP [3, 4]. The

implication of these studies’ results is that

the correlation between veridical memory

and FMP also applies not only between

individuals, but within individuals.

The second type of correlate to be

examined is behavioral and psychological

effects (see

Table 2.1 Identified risk factors of anosognosia and the production of false memory phenomena

Risk Factor Details Availability of veridical

memories When controlled for other variables like frontal-lobe dysfunction, amnesics demonstrate reduced rates of false recognition [3, 4]

Dysfunction of ventromedial prefrontal

cortex

The authors propose that among cases of behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia, disturbances of the activity of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex produce confabulations [16].

Frontotemporal dysfunction

Several authors identify that dysfunction in the frontal and temporal lobes, as well as the circuits linking them, positively correlates with false recognition, confabulation, and related phenomena [8, 14, 17, 18, 24].

Negative emotional valence

The authors propose that difficulty with or aversion to reliving past events brought about by negative emotional valence surrounding them is involved in the genesis of anosognosia [12, 24].

Prevalence of amyloid-β (1-42)

Prevalence of false recognitions positively correlates with concentration of amyloid-beta (1-42) in cerebrospinal fluid [10].

Stage of disease progression

Severity of the dementia positively correlates with the prevalence of anosognosia [31].


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 24

Type of dementia

A cross-sectional study found that patients with Alzheimer’s disease experienced FMP more often than patients with fronto-subcortical dementia, normal pressure hydrocephalus, and vascular dementia [11].

Table 2.2). As before, this table is meant to

serve not as a comprehensive list of

behavioral and psychological effects of FMP

and anosognosia but as a primer for one.

Many of these entries could be considered

noncognitive neuropsychiatric symptoms,

also called behavioral and psychological

symptoms, of dementia. However, this

concept is applied only to cases of dementia

in which anosognosia and/or FMP are

present, and it is additionally applied to

caregivers of patients present with

anosognosia and/or FMP. Entries in this

table are listed as such because they are

noticeably concurrent with FMP or

anosognosia but related neither to their onset

(as risk factors are) nor their underlying

cognitive mechanisms. Such comorbidities

further reveal the importance of this line of

study, as the entries are overwhelmingly

negative from a clinical viewpoint.

The final type of correlate to be

examined is underlying cognitive

mechanisms related to

FMP, either through suppression or genesis

(see Table 2.3). As before, this table is

meant not to

Table 2.2 Identified behavioral and psychological effects of false memory phenomena and anosognosia

Effect Details

Increased caregiver burden

Patients’ anosognosia as measured by the Experimenter Rating Scale (a clinical judgment) accounts for 14.7% of the total variance of self-reported caregiver burden [30].

Reduced reliability of patients’ self-reported

quality of life

Caregivers’ perceptions of their patients’ quality of life as measured by the Quality of Life (QoL)—Alzheimer’s Disease scale decreased with the onset of anosognosia, where patients’ self-reported scores increased [6]. Discrepancies between the QoL-proxy (report by caregivers) and QoL-dementia (self-report by patients) inventories increased with patients’ anosognosia as measured by the Clinical Insight Rating [2].

Agitation, Irritability, Anosognosic patients demonstrate increased levels of these


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 26

Aberrant Motor Behaviors, and Apathy

phenomena when compared to non-anosognosic patients [27]. Notably, apathy correlated only among patients with mild dementia [6].

provide a comprehensive list of underlying

cognitive mechanisms of FMP and

anosognosia but a primer for one. Notable

among these results is the aforementioned

relationship between retrieval monitoring,

inhibition, and anosognosia. Furthermore,

the anosognosic phenomenon of

cryptomnesia—in which a forgotten

memory returns to a person who recognizes

it not as a

Table 2.3 Underlying cognitive mechanisms related to false memory phenomena and anosognosia

Mechanism Details

Deficits in source monitoring

The authors propose that the impaired ability to identify and evaluate the source of experiential content is involved in the genesis of confabulation [16, 17, 18, 20, 24].

Deficits in inhibition5 The authors propose that the impaired ability to inhibit the translation of experiential content into beliefs is involved in the genesis of confabulation [4, 7, 11, 13].

Deficits in retrieval monitoring and

encoding

The authors propose that the conflation of memory encoding with memory retrieval leads patients to believe a recently encoded memory was actually just retrieved [4]. This conflation is amplified with unique (i.e. not routine) situations such as death [19].

Disruptions to temporal coding mechanism

The temporal coding mechanism describes neural activity downstream of the hippocampus that signals recollection [19].

5 In this context, “inhibition” is substituted for “memory inhibition”, applicably defined as the capacity to discriminate between memories of experienced information and information not actually experienced [11].


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 27

memory but a novel experience,

conceptually links anosognosia and source

monitoring. The relationships between

anosognosia and cognitive mechanisms

underlying FMP discussed both within this

study and in the current body of literature

provide support for the conceptual, causal

relationship between anosognosia and FMP

itself. Several of these cognitive

mechanisms, like anosognosia, are

understandably difficult to measure and

observe diagnostically. Options for

measuring anosognosia include a dual

questionnaire administered to both the

patient and their caregiver, clinical judgment

on the part of the presiding professional, and

the comparison of patients’ self-assessments

with examination results [24]. However,

Rosen notes that each of these methods

bears a particular shortcoming. The first

option is labor-intensive and requires the

presence of a caregiver, the second option

has no standardized scale and is thus

potentially inaccurate, and the final option

requires a substantial investment of time.

Inventories, questionnaires, or clinical

examinations designed to measure the

cognitive mechanisms at hand with both

sensitivity and specificity were not found.

Discussion

Moving forward from this survey of

literature to a model of intervention requires

considerable critical thought. Risk factors

and metrics, including the presence of

anosognosia, have been provided to aid in

the identification of both the predisposition

for false memory production and the actual

onset of FMP. Some underlying cognitive

mechanisms of FMP have been identified to

provide contextual understanding of

particular instances. Subsequent steps

include incorporating these risk factors and

cognitive mechanisms into both preventative

and responsive treatment models. These

models, however, must be abstract and

procedural. As with most clinical


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 28

applications of knowledge, textbook cases

are rare. Factors related to

neuropsychological function, affective

functioning, sociodemographic

characteristics, caregiver well-being, and the

nature of the relationship between the

patient and caregiver have all been identified

as factors contributing to the severity of

anosognosia [5]. Though the present

literature review is a suitable primer for

developing a case-specific, applied model of

intervention, particular care must be taken to

consider the contextual factors of the

patient’s anosognosia (if any) when doing

so.

Underscoring the caution with which

intervention must be approached are the

delicate balances that must be maintained in

designing a plan, among which are those

between routine and repetition. As discussed

above, unique stimuli can produce an

experience of déjà vécu, likely due to errors

involving the conflation of memory

encoding and retrieval [4, 19]. This suggests

a potential trend of routine across the

context-sensitive treatments. In order to

mitigate the frequency of unique stimuli,

caregivers might design, introduce, and

adhere to a particular routine with their

patient. However, researchers have noted an

increase in the frequency of false

recognition with repeated, similar stimuli

[1]. This in turn suggests that if a caregiver

implemented a routine as an intervention

against FMP, the rigidity with which they

would have to adhere to that routine (in

order to ensure the patient experiences no

stimuli that are not identical to those of the

routine) might render such a routine

impractical.

A potential solution lies in the

recognition that semantically-related FMP

are infrequent. With “gist-based” memory

rarely left intact, patients are left unable to

synthesize relationships across stimuli

presented to them [21, 26]. In response, a


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 29

caregiver may contrive a “routine” with

varied stimuli with the knowledge that once

every stimulus bears unique qualities, no

stimulus will be truly unique. However, the

detriments of such a complex intervention

are at this point plain. With both routines

with absolute rigidity and with absolute

variety demonstrating such problems, the

intuitive conclusion is that an optimal

intermediate must exist.

A similar balance presents itself

when we examine factors that correlate with

the progression of dementia. Anosognosia,

with which this study proposes concurrence

with FMP, also correlates positively with the

progression of the disease. However,

veridical memory impairment correlates

negatively with FMP and positively with the

progression of the disease. From these

established trends, the intuitive conclusion

that anosognosia and veridical memory

impairment correlate positively can be

drawn (by comparing the relationships of

each with disease progression), as can the

conclusion that they correlate negatively (by

comparing the relationships of each with

FMP)—notably, the relationship must be

modulated by a spurious variable in either

case. Research has previously proposed

cognitive reserve as that spurious variable,

reporting that low levels of cognitive reserve

correlate with earlier onset of anosognosia

and supporting the former conclusion [28].

Thus, records of FMP within both early and

late stages of the disease exist; in early

stages of the disease veridical memory

availability presents a risk factor for FMP,

and in late stages of the disease anosognosia

does the same, despite a recorded decline in

FMP among patients with more severe

dementia [4, 14]. FMP related to

anosognosia in late stages of dementia

would offset this decline. Though veridical

memory availability is certainly more

desirable than anosognosia as a quality,

clearly treatment design must take into


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 30

consideration both the level of anosognosia

and the level of veridical memory

availability to be optimal.

Within the current body of literature

are a number of studies that propose and

review potential treatments. Martin proposes

that a treatment targeting the reduction of

FMP and simultaneous preservation of FMP

is possible, offering proactive education and

warning of patients about particularly

sensitive phenomena as a candidate [15].

Martin’s research is corroborated by Gallate

et al., who propose inhibition of left anterior

temporal lobe activity through magnetic

pulse stimulation as a mechanism of

reducing semantically related FMP (the left

anterior temporal lobe is largely responsible

for semantic memory) without impacting the

availability of veridical memory [8]. Gallo

et al. propose that pairing words (i.e.

phonological stimuli with pictures (i.e.

visuospatial stimuli), thereby involving

more neural pathways, could potentially

reduce the frequency of FMP occurrence

[9], though a cohort study by Pierce et al.

providing contrary evidence must be noted

[20]. Ross, Spencer, Blatz, & Restorick

propose collaboration between couples as a

way to introduce conscious error-monitoring

into the memory retrieval process [25];

however, this method is reactive to FMP,

not proactive prevention. Finally, Romberg

et al. propose memantine as a

pharmacological intervention with

demonstrable results in mice [23]. Though

whether the FMP-related effects of

memantine translate to human subjects is

unclear, memantine is already an approved

medication for moderate-to-severe

Alzheimer’s disease and Lewy body

dementia.

Conclusion

Ultimately, the initial purposes of

this literature review have been fulfilled.

Several risk factors for FMP have been

examined and summarized. Based on the


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 31

findings outlined above and the conclusions

drawn from them, one may conclude that the

experimental development of a clinical,

multidisciplinary intervention for FMP in

dementia patients is both possible and

necessary. Of particular note among the risk

factors for FMP is anosognosia, which is

likely to be causally linked with FMP but

has yet to be studied with the purpose of

establishing such a link. Directions for

further research into the design of targeted

interventions for patients experiencing FMP

or risk factors associated with FMP have

been outlined.

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[27] Spalletta G, Girardi P, Caltagirone C, & Orfei MD. (2012). Anosognosia and neuropsychiatric symptoms and disorders mild Alzheimer disease and mild cognitive impairment. Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease: 29(4), 761–772.

[28] Spitznagel MB, & Tremont G. (2005). Cognitive reserve and anosognosia in questionable and mild dementia. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology: 20(4), 505–515.

[29] Turró-Garriga O, Conde-Sala J, Reñe-Ramírez R, López-Pousa S, Gascón-Bayarri J, & Garre-Olmo J. (2013). [Prevalence of anosognosia in Alzheimer’s disease]. Medicina Clinica: 13, 353-9.

[30] Turró-Garriga O, Garre-Olmo J, Vilalta-Franch J, Conde-Sala JL, de Gracia Blanco M, & López-Pousa S. (2013). Burden associated with the presence of anosognosia in Alzheimer’s disease. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry: 28(3), 291–7.

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anosognosia in Alzheimer’s disease]. Revista de Neurologia: 54(4), 193–8.


34

Empathy: Processes by Which We Simulate the Emotions of Others

Jessica H. Pivnik

Purchase College, State University of New York

Acknowledgements:

Dr. Meagan Curtis

Dr. Stephen Flusberg

Abstract- Empathy is an adaptive ability

that is unconsciously employed during

social interactions in order to foster liking

and facilitate the formation of positive

interpersonal relationships. Much of the

recent research on empathy suggests that

facial mimicry plays a major role in the

empathic process. It has been suggested that

the mimicry of an observed facial

expressions creates a mental representation

of the attached emotion in the mind of the

perceiver. Evidence of a self-other

differentiation in pain perception provides a

potential model for the differences and

similarities in the processing of self and

other affective states. Future research may

shed more light on the processing and

understanding of others’ affective states.

Humans are predisposed to search

for meaningful social connections. In order

for this basic need to be met, there must be a

communicative tool that is employed when

interacting with others. This tool would need

to be capable of aiding in the minimization

of conflict, the maximization of liking, and

the sharing and understanding of mental

states. Empathy is an unconscious, adaptive

ability that promotes altruistic behavior


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 35

(Decety & Jackson, 2004; de Waal, 2008),

fosters liking, and allows humans to sustain

relationships with others via the sharing of

mental states (Chartrand & Bargh, 1999).

Facial mimicry is believed to be the key to

activating the empathic response. The ability

to imitate facial expressions is considered an

innate ability. Findings that human neonates

(between 12 and 21 days old) are capable of

facial mimicry (Meltzoff & Moore, 1977)

support the idea that imitation and empathy

are important, innate abilities that aid in

human survival.

The role of mimicry

When empathizing with others, the

observer’s brain activity is similar to that of

the person being observed (Carr, Iacoboni,

Dubeau, Mazziotta, & Lenzi, 2003). Many

researchers believe mimicry to be what

allows such similar brain activity. According

to the concept of ideomotor action, thinking

about a behavior makes one more likely to

behave similarly (Iacoboni, 2009; James,

1890). This concept couples well with the

perception-action model of imitation by

Iacoboni (2009). According to this model,

perceiving an emotion would automatically

and unconsciously activate the neural

mechanisms that are involved with the

experience of that emotion (Jackson et al.,

2006). The observation of an action or

behavior should increase the likelihood that

one would both mentally and physically

respond similarly.

Chartrand and Bargh (1999)

investigated the role of unconscious

mimicry of behavior patterns on empathy

and liking between interactive partners. The

first experiment tested the existence of the

‘chameleon effect,’ in which different

behaviors and facial expressions are imitated

during social interactions. Participants took

part in two separate sessions with two

separate confederates. In both sessions, the

participant and the confederate took turns

describing different photographs to each


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 36

other. The only differences between sessions

were the bodily behaviors and facial

expressions performed by the confederate.

Participants mimicked the facial expressions

and movements of the confederate.

Participants also mimicked non-smiling

confederates more than smiling

confederates. Non-smiling confederates may

have been perceived as uninterested in the

participant or harder to impress. Therefore,

participants may have mimicked them more

in order to generate greater liking, indicating

that mimicry may be used as a tool to

generate smooth interactions and increase

liking. To expand on these findings, a

follow-up experiment was conducted to test

how empathy related to mimicry.

Participants’ empathic concern and

perspective-taking were scored using

Davis’s (1980) Interpersonal Reactivity

Index (IRI). The procedure remained the

same as in the first experiment; however,

participants took part in one session instead

of two. Participants with higher empathic

concern and perspective-taking scores were

found to mimic the confederates more.

These results reveal the use of facial

mimicry as an unconscious response to the

perception of another’s affective state.

Simulation theory

There have been many attempts to

find an explanation for the empathic

process. Two main theories at the forefront

of ‘mind-reading’ research may be able to

shed light on the concept of empathy. The

first, ‘Theory theory’ (Gallese & Goldman,

1998), is driven by theoretical reasoning and

causal laws. It posits that mental states are

unobservable and that understanding the

mental states of others is a strictly

computational process based on causal laws,

much like physics. In this context, humans

would have a specific ‘theory’ or system of

reasoning which would be employed when

attempting to understand the emotions of

others. Simulation theory is related to the


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 37

idea of ‘putting yourself in someone else’s

shoes.’ According to simulation theory, one

mentally replicates the perceived mental

state of the other. This ‘pretend’ emotion is

processed as if the observer were actually

feeling the emotion. The emotion is then

taken ‘off-line,’ or inhibited, and attributed

to the other instead of to the self (Gallese &

Goldman, 1998). In the primate brain, the

insula connects the limbic system

(emotional processing) and the mirror

neuron system (Iacoboni, 2009). In the

primate brain, individual mirror neurons

have been found that fire both when the

animal is observing and executing the same

action. While these individual mirror

neurons have not been identified in the

human brain, it is believed that a larger,

more complex mirror neuron system is

active in both the observation and execution

of actions (Carr et al, 2003; Iacoboni, 2009).

Activation of the limbic system by the MNS

demonstrates how mimicry may aid in the

understanding of another’s affective state.

In order to investigate the

involvement of mimicry in the empathic

process, an fMRI study compared brain

activation of participants observing facial

expressions and imitating facial expressions

(Carr et al., 2003). The superior temporal

and inferior frontal cortices (action

representation), limbic system (emotion

processing), and insula (critical in

translating motor/visual information into

emotional information) were active during

both observation and imitation. The

observation and mimicry of facial

expressions seems to activate the same

regions of the brain, indicating that mimicry

is an important step in the empathic process.

The imitation of facial expressions allows

the observer to form a mental representation

of the observed emotion.

Embodied cognition research

examining the relationship between facial


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 38

activity and cognitive affective responses

further supports simulation theory (Strack,

Martin, & Stepper, 1988). In one study,

participants held pens in their mouths in

formations that activated the zygomaticus

major muscles, the muscles used when

producing a smile (between their teeth), or

did not (between their lips). Those who held

the pen between their teeth reported feeling

more amused by presented stimuli than

those who held the pen between their lips.

To further expand on these findings, Larsen,

Kasimatis, and Frey (1992) placed golf tees

on the inner corners of participants’

eyebrows. In the affect condition,

participants were instructed to make the two

golf tees touch, unconsciously causing their

brow to furrow and replicating a ‘sad’ facial

expression. Those in the affect condition

reported feeling more sadness when viewing

unpleasant photographs than participants

that had been instructed to produce affective

facial activity. It is clear that the formation

of different facial expressions can change

the affective lens through which people

perceive different stimuli. Moreover, the

mimicry of another’s facial expression

during an empathic situation may activate

the other’s emotion within the perceiver.

These findings are consistent with

simulation theory, suggesting that the

emotions of the other and the emotions of

the self may be processed by similar neural

substrates.

The self-other differentiation

If observed emotions are processed via

the same neurological mechanisms as

experienced emotions, then there must be an

inhibitory mechanism to help discriminate

between emotions of the self and emotions

of the other (Gallese & Goldman, 1998).

Recent research shows that neural

processing of observed and experienced pain

actually differs in activation patterns (Singer

et al., 2004). Assuming that couples would

feel empathy for one another, 16 couples


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 39

were recruited to participate in an fMRI

study. Each couple was split to fill the roles

of the observer and the perceiver. The

observer then watched their significant other

(the perceiver) endure minor painful

stimulation. While the pain matrix was

found to be active in the perceiver, it was

not fully activated in the observer. Only the

affective components of the pain matrix

were activated in the observer. However,

both the observer and the perceiver did share

in the activation of regions involved in

processing the affective components of pain.

These results indicate that although some of

the same neurological mechanisms are

involved in the processing of both observed

and experienced pain, the patterns of

activation in these regions are not identical.

Another neuroimaging study provided

support for the existence of a self-other

differentiation in imagined observed pain

versus imagined experienced pain (Jackson,

Brunet, Meltzoff, & Decety, 2006). Two

major differences in activity were found.

First, imagined pain of the self was found to

activate the pain matrix more so than

imagined pain of another. Second,

imagining the self activated the insula

bilaterally, while imagining the other

activated only the right hemisphere of the

insula. While the imagination of observed

and experienced pain shared in certain

regions of activation, the specific patterns of

activation within those regions differed.

Although imagined pain is not the same as

experienced pain, these findings provide

further evidence of a self-other

differentiation. Despite the fact that sensory

processing is not the same as emotion

processing, these findings can be used as a

model for the differentiation of self and

other during empathic emotion processing.

Are emotions of the self and emotions of the

other utilizing the same neurological

mechanisms but following different

activation patterns? Further exploration is


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 40

necessary to see if empathic emotion

processing follows this same model.

Implications

Empathy is a complicated social-

cognitive ability. Previous research only

provides a basic understanding of human

empathy. As the above examples show,

recent research has provided some

interesting support for the simulation theory

as applied to empathic processing (Carr et

al., 2003; Gallese & Goldman, 1998;

Iacoboni, 2009; Larsen, Kasimatis, & Frey,

1992; Strack, Martin, & Stepper, 1988).

Empathy seems to begin with the

unconscious mimicry of another’s facial

activity (Iacoboni, 2009; Decety & Jackson,

2004). Facial mimicry then activates the

neural regions involved with the experience

of the perceived emotion (Carr et al., 2003).

These mentally simulated emotions are then

taken ‘off-line’ and attributed to other

through a slightly different pathway than

experienced emotions of the self. Models of

empathy for pain may provide a foundation

for a self-other differentiation in emotion

processing. Observed and experienced pain

share similar regions of brain activity;

however, they differ slightly in activation

pathways. Future research may be able to

apply these self-other differentiation models

of pain processing to empathic emotion

processing.

References

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Mazziotta, J. C., & Lenzi, G. L.

(2003). Neural mechanisms of

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neural systems for imitation to

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doi:10.1073/pnas.0935845100

Chartrand, T. L. & Bargh, J. A. (1999). The

Chameleon Effect: The perception-

behavior link and social interaction.

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Psychology, 76, 839-910.

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Decety, J. & Jackson, P. L. (2004). The

functional architecture of human

empathy. Behavioral and Cognitive

Neuroscience Reviews, 3, 71-100.

doi:10.1177/1534582304267187

de Waal, F. B. (2008). Putting the altruism

back into altruism: The evolution of

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279-300.

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6.093625

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neurons and the simulation theory of

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mirror neuron system and the

consequences of its dysfunction.

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951. doi:10.1038/nrn2024

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& Decety, J. (2006). Empathy

examined through the neural

mechanisms involved in imagining

how I feel versus how you feel pain.

Neuropsychologia, 44, 752-761.

doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2005

.07.015

James, W. (1890). The principles of

psychology (Vol. 1). New York:

Holt.

Larsen, R. J., Kasimatis, M., & Frey, K.

(1992). Facilitating the furrowed

brow: An unobtrusive test of the

facial feedback hypothesis applied to

unpleasant affect. Cognition &

Emotion, 6(5), 321-338.

doi:10.1080/02699939208409689

Meltzoff, A. N. & Moore, M. K. (1977).

Imitation of facial and manual


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gestures by human neonates.

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doi:10.1126/science.198.4312.75

Singer, T., Seymour, B., O'Doherty, J.,

Kaube, H., Dolan, R. J., & Frith, C.

D. (2004). Empathy for pain

involves the affective but not sensory

components of pain. Science,

303(5661), 1157-1162.

doi:10.1126/science.1093535

Strack, F., Martin, L. L., & Stepper,

S. (1988). Inhibiting and facilitating

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doi:10.1037/0022-3514.54.5.768


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 43

Relating Ego to Eco: A transfer study for improving pro-environmental behavior

Lauren A. Kiesel

Department of Psychology

Binghamton University

Committee Members ______________________________

Kenneth J. Kurtz, Advisor Psychology Department ______________________

Peter J. Donovick Psychology Department

______________________________ Robert Holahan

Environmental Studies Department

Abstract- Comparing analogies has

been shown to promote the transfer of a

learned principle to solving novel

problems (Catrambone & Holyoak,

1989; Kurtz, Miao, & Gentner, 2001;

Kurtz & Loewenstein, 2007). This study

aimed to promote the transfer of

knowledge into environmentally

responsible behaviors that included

shutting the lights and computer monitor

off when leaving the laboratory,

recycling a piece of paper, and picking

up and recycling a littered piece of

paper. We used a self-relevant principle

in which an individual takes an action,

this action affects the environment, and

the environmental change comes back to

harm the individual. We hypothesized

that participants who compared three

analogous, environmentally related

passages containing the principle would

be more likely than a direct instruction


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 44

group to solve a written environmental

problem and to take positive

environmental action. We observed a

strong trend in the predicted direction on

one important measure: the likelihood of

achieving at least partial transfer of the

target principle. The relational matching

group was also significantly better at

identifying the principle than the direct

instruction group. There were no

significant differences between groups

for any of the environmental behaviors

except for recycling, which the direct

instruction group did more often.

With the effects of global

warming starting to show as ice caps

melt and sea levels rise, and our entrance

into what is believed to be the sixth mass

extinction of Earth’s animal species, it is

increasingly important to find ways to

promote pro-environmental action in

order to sustain our planet. The use of

analogy to promote the transfer of

knowledge into green behavior is a

hopeful avenue but has not been studied

in the past. Conservation transfer

research has focused on amount and type

of knowledge as a precondition for

transfer rather than how to promote the

application of this knowledge into

appropriate action. Two conservation

studies examined the transfer of

childhood environmental knowledge to

solving written environmental problems

(Basile, 2000), and the transfer of

traditional ecological knowledge to

marine conservation behaviors (Drew,

2005). Another study conducted by eco-

psychologists examined how various

types of knowledge (action-related,

effectiveness, and systems) differ in

influencing green behavior (Frick,

Kaiser, & Wilson, 2004). The current

study is the first to examine the use of

analogy to promote the transfer

ecological and self-related knowledge to


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 45

green action. Through it, we aimed to

remove two of the major barriers that

inhibit individuals from taking green

action: (1) issues with transferring

environmental knowledge into

appropriate actions, and (2) a lack of

incentive to take those actions.

In order to improve the transfer

of knowledge, researchers often look to

analogies (Gick & Holyoak, 1980, 1983;

Kurtz & Loewenstein, 2007;

Loewenstein, Thompson & Gentner,

1999). Knowledge transfer refers to

transferring information learned in one

setting and applying it to another; such

as learning something in a laboratory

setting and applying it in every day life –

at home, at work, in the street, at the

park, etc. The goal of transfer research is

to apply learned concepts to solve real-

world problems. A successful

naturalistic transfer study by Thompson,

Gentner, and Loewenstein (2000)

examined the ability of Masters of

Management students to transfer

knowledge gained from analogical case

studies to in-person negotiations. They

found that the individuals who compared

cases, rather than simply giving advice

to the protagonist in each case, were

almost three times more likely to transfer

and use the principle in the face-to-face

negotiation. These studies leave us

optimistic about the possibility for

transfer of a learned concept into real

world action.

The current study utilized the

principle idea that humans affect the

environment, and these environmental

effects can come back to affect the

humans in a negative way. This principle

was chosen because it relates to the self

and therefore should be more deeply

encoded than a principle that simply

discusses the broad negative effects of

environmental destruction (Rogers,


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 46

Kuiper, & Kirker, 1977). We

hypothesized that individuals would be

more likely to take positive steps to care

for the world around them after realizing

how changes that occur within nature

affect their own personal lives and

welfare. Furthermore, studies have found

a correlation between feeling connected

to nature and taking positive

environmental action, and we believed

that realizing and encoding this

connectedness principle could also be

associated with taking positive

environmental action (Connectedness to

Nature Scale; Mayer & Frantz, 2004).

We hypothesized that

participants who performed a relational

matching (structure-mapping) task of the

aspects within three passages containing

the connectedness principle would be

more likely to solve a subsequent

transfer problem than a direct instruction

group. We also believed that those who

performed the relational matching task

would be more likely than controls to

take positive environmental action when

provided with the opportunity.

Background

Environmental impact. According to

the United States Environmental

Protection Agency, in 2008, the United

States was the second top carbon dioxide

emitter from fossil fuel combustion in

the world, following China. The

majority of these greenhouse emissions

come from the burning of coal, natural

gas, and oil for electricity and heat.

Energy is often wasted through leaving

lights on, and electronics that are not

being used – such as computers,

chargers, DVD players, beauty tools, and

kitchen appliances – plugged in or on

when not in use. Automobiles, and

airplanes even more, are major fuel

consumers and carbon dioxide emitters

and oftentimes cars only transport one


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 47

individual when they can fit up to 5 or

more. The impact we are making on the

world through using excessive energy

and resources not only affects us, but

also the plants and animals that live with

us on this planet, whose lives even

further affect ours, as humans are part of

an ecosystem in which we interact (too

often unknowingly) with other

organisms and the natural environment.

We depend on other species for energy,

nutrients, materials, stable land, oxygen,

and for survival in general. This study

examines how bringing this notion of the

self as connected to nature into

individuals’ minds can aid in motivating

them to care for the natural environment.

Barriers to pro-environmental

behavior. Getting people to change their

behavior is a complex task. There are

various internal and external factors that

inhibit individuals from taking positive

environmental action. A model by

Kolmuss & Agyeman (2010) shows that

barriers to taking positive action include

internal factors such as personality traits,

lack of environmental knowledge,

emotional blocking of new knowledge,

lack of internal incentives, and having

existing values or knowledge that

contradict environmental values.

External factors that inhibit pro-

environmental behavior include political,

economic, social, and cultural factors,

and a lack of external incentives.

Knowledge transfer issues also

inhibit individuals from taking pro-

environmental action. Recalling and

applying information that is learned in

one context (e.g. in a classroom) to

another (e.g. on the beach) is more

difficult than recalling it in the same

context (Barnett & Ceci, 2002). Because

of this, individuals do not always think

of taking productive action when

presented with a situation in which they


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 48

could. In other words, there is an issue in

recalling the pro-environmental ideals in

a situation that may not fit a standard

notion of where pro-environmental

behavior should occur. For example, on

a hike where it is expected that

individuals keep their garbage with them

and leave no trace on the environment, it

is easier to remember to take pro-

environmental action than it might be in

a city where the idea may not be cued by

environmental features as easily.

Another issue that we face is with

translating the accessed environmental

principle into an appropriate action. For

these reasons, the connectedness

principle was chosen. We believe that

this type of principle can be retrieved in

various situations since it has a self-

reference point and will be deeply

embedded and more easily recalled.

Connectedness to nature. It is difficult

to get people to take positive

environmental action, even when they

agree with statements such as “mankind

is severely abusing the environment”

and “when humans interfere with nature

it often produces disastrous

consequences” (New Ecological

Paradigm scale; Dunlap, Van Liere,

Mertig & Jones, 2000). Compared to

simply having this pro-ecological

worldview, feeling connected to nature

is stronger predictor of pro-

environmental behavior (r = 0.31; r =

0.64 respectively) (NEP scale; Dunlap et

al., 2000, Connectedness to Nature Scale

(CNS); Mayer & Frantz, 2004). This is

because according to the Value-Belief-

Norm (VBN) model put forth by Stern,

Dietz and Kalof (1993), an individual’s

personal values, rather than their

objective worldviews, are what motivate

his/her behavior. The CNS is a more

personal scale that measures one’s

affective, experiential, and personal


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 49

relationship to the natural world, while

the New Ecological Paradigm scale is

detached from the responder, measuring

cognitive, objective beliefs about the

relationship of humans and nature on a

grand scale (Mayer & Frantz, 2004).

We hypothesized that individuals

would be more likely to take green

action once they learned the

connectedness principle, because it

would allow them to see how their poor

environmental choices can harm them in

the long run. We believed that out of

concern for themselves, they would be

more likely to take positive

environmental action. We also believed

that individuals who scored highly on a

pre-intervention Connectedness to

Nature scale questionnaire would be

more likely than lower scorers to take

advantage of the opportunity to conserve

energy, recycle paper, and pick up litter.

Transfer of knowledge. Transfer

studies date back to Thorndike (1913)

who believed that the degree of transfer

from one situation to another depends on

the similarity of elements in the

situations. Cognitive psychologists have

found that analogical thinking promotes

the transfer of a principle idea to solving

a novel problem (Gentner, 1983; Gick &

Holyoak, 1980, 1983). According to

Gentner & Kurtz (2006), an analogy is

“a matching between two represented

situations in which common relational

structure is aligned.” It is important that

analogous stories have parallel structures

in order for the relations to be salient

(Gentner, 1983; Gick & Holyoak, 1983).

In analogical transfer studies by

Gick and Holyoak (1980, 1983),

participants read a passage about a

solution to a military problem and then

solved an analogous problem about

treating a tumor. In both stories the


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 50

solution is to disperse the power and

then converge the force for an effect: the

military divides into groups to avoid

heavy-weight activated mines that are on

each road that projects outward from a

fortress that they are aiming to attack,

and then converge at the fortress; and the

tumor is treated with multiple low

intensity rays that converge on the tumor

from different angles in order to have

enough intensity to destroy the tumor.

Gick and Holyoak found that

previously reading the fortress story led

to greater success in solving the tumor

problem than did previously reading a

lesser or non-analogous story.

Additionally, they found that

92% (11 out of 12) of the participants

successfully solved the problem when

reminded to think back to the fortress

story, but only 20% (3 out of 15) were

able to solve it spontaneously with no

hint. In the real world there are no hints;

one must spontaneously transfer one’s

previous knowledge to solve a present

problem. Because of this, the ultimate

goal of transfer research is to improve

spontaneous transfer.

One way to improve spontaneous

transfer is through comparing two (Kurtz

& Honke, 2013; Kurtz & Loewenstein,

2007; Kurtz, Miao, & Gentner, 2001) or

three (Catrambone & Holyoak, 1989)

analogous learning passages before

solving a novel problem. The reason that

comparison leads to greater principle

retrieval and problem solving is likely

because having multiple stories allows

individuals to generalize the relational

structure common to the stories into a

portable schema to be used later (Gick &

Holyoak, 1983; Kurtz & Loewenstein,

2007; Medin & Ross, 1989). This

process is referred to as involving

analogical encoding, schema abstraction,

and knowledge transfer. In the current


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 51

experiment, a structure-mapping task is

utilized in order for participants to break

down the relations within the passage

that make up the principle. By breaking

the relations down, the common theme

(principle) should become more salient

to the individual and more thus

transferrable to the target written

problem and into productive action.

Participants are asked to write the

principle common to the stories before

they move on to the transfer problem

because successful articulation of the

principle is generally associated with

success in solving the problem. This is

likely because when the principle is

retrieved and written down, it is made

portable for use (Loewenstein,

Thompson, & Gentner, 1999). We

hypothesized that participants would

similarly be more likely to transfer if

they correctly stated the principle at the

end of the learning phase. We also

expected more success in written

transfer than naturalistic transfer because

it is generally easier to transfer

knowledge to situations that are similar

in functional and modal context to the

way the knowledge was learned (Barnett

& Ceci, 2002).

Rationale for the present study. This

study aimed to extend transfer research

beyond the classic educational and

occupational setting applications with

the use of a wholesome principle that

could be transferred to solve pertinent

real world problems, such as

sustainability issues. Success in transfer

is difficult to consistently achieve, and

so is changing people’s behaviors, but

combining tools that increase transfer

and pro-environmental action can

provide fruitful outcomes. Applying this

sort of knowledge transfer research to

the environmental field can provide

individuals with new ways of thinking of


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 52

themselves with respect to the world and

lead to greater motivations to take

positive steps toward protecting our

ecosystem and our lives.

Methods

Participants

Undergraduate students in the

psychology participant pool at

Binghamton University (N=91) signed

up to participate through Sona Systems,

and were provided with a half credit of

research participation in exchange for 30

minutes of their time. Participants were

tested at times between 9 AM and 6 PM

from Monday to Friday in the Spring

semester of 2014.

Materials

As a pre-intervention measure of

participants’ feelings about themselves,

they filled out a questionnaire (Appendix

A) consisting of five questions from the

Connectedness to Nature scale (CNS;

Mayer & Frantz, 2004), five questions

from the Need for Cognition scale, four

questions to determine openness and

four to determine conscientiousness

from the Big Five Personality Test, and

five random filler questions. The

questions were scaled from 1 (I strongly

disagree) to 5 (I strongly agree). Our

main concern was whether high scores

for Connectedness to Nature would

predict subsequent pro-environmental

action, regardless of intervention.

The relational matching

condition (Appendix C) consisted of

three passages, each describing an action

that a human, who is referred to as the

second person “you,” takes, how that

action affects the environment, and what

the detrimental effects that come back to

harm the actor “you” are. Cautions were

taken to keep surface feature similarities

in these passages minimized, and thus

drew from actions that affect diverse

aspects of nature: fresh water quantity,


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 53

land and air toxicity, and atmospheric

heat and moisture levels. Additionally,

the human actor was affected

substantially yet differently in each

passage: through lack of necessary water

for survival, health issues due to toxins,

and loss of life or property due to a

natural disaster.

In this condition, one sheet of

paper contained two passages, one about

jeans and one about electronics. The first

passage described the effects that “you”

buying jeans has on the limited stores of

fresh water on Earth and thus on the

availability of fresh water for “you” to

survive off of. The second passage,

which was directly to the right of the

first, described how “you” disposing of

electronic devices puts toxic chemicals

into the earth which then come back to

harm “your” health. Below the jeans

passage were four aspects of the

passage’s structure. Participants were

asked to write the aspects of the

electronics passage that relate to those in

the jeans passage. Please refer to Table 1

to see the relational matching key. After

filling out the four electronics

components, participants were given a

second sheet of paper consisting of

another passage, regarding plane travel,

with an area below it to write the four

aspects from this passage that match

those aspects provided in the jeans

passage and those they wrote in the

electronics passage. This third passage

served to further aid in the encoding of

the principle. After the relational

matching exercise, participants wrote

down the main idea (principle) of the

three passages.

Our baseline task (Appendix B)

consisted of a direct instruction lesson.

This sheet of paper contained a

paragraph describing the principle and

then provided the same Planes passage


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 54

that the experimental group read.

Participants were then asked to write the

main idea of the reading.

Transfer of the principle was

tested by having participants read a short

story and question asking what the

potential consequences are of a man

dropping a glass bottle in the woods. The

transfer passage can be found in

Appendix D.

Naturalistic testing consisted of

measuring whether or not participants

took action in shutting off the lights and

monitor in their individual testing rooms

at the end of the experiment, whether

they recycled their scrap paper as they

left the experiment, and whether they

picked up and recycled a piece of

“littered” scrap that was planted in sight

between the recycling and garbage pails.

Procedure

Upon arriving to the testing site

in Science IV, each participant was

given a consent form to sign and then

directed to a particular room to fill it out.

This room had the door cracked closed,

lights off, and computer monitor off,

with purpose of making participants feel

comfortable with entering the room and

turning on the lights in a laboratory

setting. After the participant settled

him/herself into the room, the researcher

brought in the questionnaire and a piece

of scrap paper containing the

participant’s identification number. The

experimenter asked the participant to fill

out the questionnaire, and to leave the

scrap paper in the corner of their desk to

reference at the end of the experiment.

When the participant finished the

questionnaire, he was instructed to leave

it on his desk and inform the

experimenter. At this time, the

experimenter brought in either the first

sheet of the compare condition, or the

only sheet for the baseline condition.


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 55

Participants were assigned to conditions

in an alternating fashion in order to keep

the groups balanced. When participants

in the compare condition finished, the

second sheet was brought in to them and

placed to the right of the first sheet so

that it could be referenced when filling

out the second sheet.

After completing the learning

task, both groups were given the transfer

problem without any indication that it

was related to the previous activity.

When they finished they were set up on

a short demographic survey on the

computer in their room. At this time they

were told to reference the scrap paper on

their desk for their identification

number, which they needed to type into

the survey. In order to further make sure

individuals would feel comfortable

manipulating things in a laboratory

setting where they may feel like they

should only do what is asked of them, at

the end of the experiment they were told

that the experimenters were done using

the room for the day and to please shut

the door and dispose of their scrap paper

on their way out. Additionally, there was

a small sign by the light switch that says

“please turn off the lights when you

leave the room,” but they were not

verbally instructed to turn off the lights.

After participants left, the experimenter

recorded whether or not they turned off

the light and monitor in the room,

recycled their scrap paper, and disposed

of the “littered” scrap paper.

Results

In the direct instruction (DI)

group 46 participants were tested and in

the relational matching (RM) group 45

were tested. Of the 46 DI participants 16

(35%) were males and 30 (65%) were

females. Of the 45 participants in the

RM group, 12 (26%) were males and 33

(73%) were females.


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 56

Principle Identification

Identification of the principle

was considered correct if it the response

was something along the lines of

“humans take action, which affects the

environment and comes back to affect

them,” or “we buy things that affect the

environment, and in turn affect

ourselves.” Of the RM group, .53

correctly identified the principle while

only .26 did so in the DI group. A chi

squared test showed that the RM group

was significantly better at identifying the

principle than the DI group; X2 (1, N =

91) = 7.06, p < 0.01.

A further analysis focused on

more general abstractions of the

principle that were not specific to buying

things. Because the three passages in the

RM group were all consumer based,

participants in this group may have been

hindered by focusing on this specific

type of action (buying things) and thus

less likely to transfer, so we wanted to

examine whether abstracting the general

principle would be correlated with

transfer. Principle abstractions that were

general in saying “we take actions that

affect the environment…” were

considered successful and incomplete

principle abstractions and those which

focused on consumption, like, “the

things we buy affect the environment...”

were considered unsuccessful.

Individuals in the RM group (.40) had

higher rates of abstracting the general

principle than the DI group (.28) but this

difference was not significant X2 (1, N =

91) = 1.40, p = 0.24.

Transfer to the Written Problem

Full transfer was granted if the

individual wrote that the consequences

of Jack’s dropped bottle would

eventually affect Jack or the citizens of

the town. Partial transfer was granted if

they said that his action would affect the


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 57

ecosystem, or local plants or animals in

the area. With the use of a soft criterion

for transfer, in which any individual who

at least partially transferred the principle

was considered, the proportion of

transfer in the RM group was .73 and in

the DI group was .54. There was a trend

in the predicted direction just short of

statistical significance for soft transfer,

X2 (1, N = 91) = 3.55, p = 0.06.

However, using a strict criterion for

measuring transfer where only full

transfer was considered successful

showed no significant difference

between groups; (RM proportion = .56,

DI proportion = .43); X2 (1, N = 91) =

1.33, p = 0.25.

There was a significant

correlation between abstraction of the

general principle and full transfer, but

only in the DI group, R2 = 0.13, F(1, 89)

= 6.37, p = 0.015.

Relational Matching

Relational matching responses

were considered correct if they were on

the whole the same as those on the key

(see Table 1). If there was one incorrect

item match, the participant was

considered unsuccessful. Of the 45

participants in the RM group, 35 (.78)

were successful in this task. A measure

of whether participants kept the theme of

relating back to humans in their

responses on the relational matching task

was also examined. For example, a

response for #4 of Planes that said

“homes are jeopardized” would be

considered unsuccessful. One saying

“your home is jeopardized” would be

considered successful because it kept

“you” in it, thus keeping it personal. For

this “back to you” criterion, a response

was considered incorrect if there was

one response lacking the “you” on the

match. Results showed that 32 (.71)


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 58

participants kept the “you” in their

relational match responses.

Correlation between performance

on the relational matching task and

transfer was examined using a linear

regression. There was no correlation

between any of the three measures of

relational matching success that were

examined: for overall relational

matching and soft transfer, R2 = 0.006,

F(1, 43) = 0.28, p = 0.60; for relating

back to humans and soft transfer, R2 =

0.003, F(1, 43) = 0.15, p = 0.70; or for a

strict criterion where relational matching

was only considered successful if

relational matching was correct overall

and related back to the human “you” and

soft transfer, R2 = 0.001, F(1, 43) =

0.034, p = 0.86.

Transfer to Naturalistic Measures

Fisher’s exact and chi squared

tests showed that there was only a

significant difference between groups on

one of the four naturalistic measures:

paper recycling. Interestingly,

individuals in the direct instruction

group (.84) recycled their scrap paper

significantly more often than those in the

relational matching group (.56); p <

0.05, according to a Fisher’s exact test.

For the litter test, only 2 people of 91

picked up the scrap paper that was

littered between the garbage pail and

recycling bin, and both were in the direct

instruction group, but according to a

Fisher’s exact test this was insignificant,

p = 0.49. The majority of participants

shut the lights off upon leaving the room

(DI proportion = .82; RM proportion =

.89), but a Fisher’s exact test showed

that the difference between groups was

insignificant, p = 0.38. When shutting

off the computer monitors, a chi squared

test showed that groups were almost

equally as likely to take action (DI


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 59

proportion = .34; RM proportion = .36),

X2 (1, N = 91) = 0.06, p = 0.94.

Connectedness to Nature Scale and

Transfer

Linear regression analyses

showed that scores on the pre-

intervention measure of feeling

Connectedness to Nature (RM score M =

63.8%, SD = 12.0; DI score M = 62%,

SD = 11.1) had no significant correlation

with performance any of the naturalistic

measures: turning lights off, R2 = 0.01,

F(1, 89) = 0.98, p = 0.33; turning

monitor off, R2 = 0.02, F(1, 89) = 1.34, p

= 0.25; recycling scrap paper, R2 = 0.01,

F(1, 76) = 0.37, p = 0.55; or recycling

the planted scrap litter, R2 = 0.01, F(1,

89) = 0.15, p = 0.70; or with the written

transfer task (soft transfer), R2 = 0.10,

F(1, 89) = 0.81, p = 0.37.

Discussion

Principle Abstraction

The manipulation was successful

in that the relational matching group was

more likely than the baseline group to

identify the connectedness principle, but

it was lacking with regard to transfer.

The significant difference between

groups in identifying the principle

during the learning task supports the idea

that it is easier to extract the main idea

(principle) from a story when there is at

least one analogous story to help

generalize the relational structure, and

thus extract the principle. The high rate

of success in performance on the

relational matching task shows that it

was not a difficult task to do, but the

lack of correlation between relational

matching performance and transfer

suggests that success on this task itself

did not lead to transfer.

The direct instruction condition

lacked the repetition of the underlying

relations of the principle that the


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 60

relational matching condition had, and

therefore it was more difficult for

participants in this condition to extract

the principle.

Written Transfer

The manipulation was successful

in leading to significantly better transfer,

but only when successful transfer

included partial transfer. It is likely that

the relational matching group was better

than direct instruction at this “soft”

transfer because it provided fuller

examples than the direct instruction

passage of how systems (water, waste,

and air) are affected by our actions, and

could have led individuals to think of the

ecosystem, and that other species in the

area could be affected by the extinction

of a decomposer.

An explanation for the lack of

difference between groups with respect

to full transfer is that an earlier

undetected similarity in the surface

features of the direct instruction passage

and the transfer problem may have led

these participants to fully transfer more

often than they would have without this

surface cue. The direct instruction

passage mentions “supermarkets to get

our food” and the second sentence of the

transfer problem says, “in this area, the

town grows crops in a community

garden that is important for feeding

many of the citizens of the town.” This

statement in the transfer passage, which

was supposed to be more salient to the

individuals who had encoded the

connectedness principle and were then

concerned with how humans lives are

affected, also became salient to the

baseline group but for superficial

reasons. A study by Holyoak & Koh

(1987) showed that surface features play

a role in cuing transfer, and this is

something to be sure to limit in future

studies in order to ensure that the


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 61

measures themselves are promoting

transfer.

Naturalistic Transfer

There were no differences

between groups in naturalistic transfer

besides in recycling the scrap paper, but

it was in the opposite direction than was

predicted. This may be because

recycling is one of the more common

and basic ideas associated with caring

for the environment, and the direct

instruction passage may have inspired

individuals to feel they could reduce the

impact of their “daily activities” by

doing something as simple as recycling

their paper. The reason that the relational

matching group did not recycle as much

may have been because these individuals

were focusing on the consumerist aspect

of the passages (buying jeans, buying

electronics, buying a plane ticket) and

missed the bigger picture of reducing

damage on the environment in simpler,

non-consumerist ways.

The lack of effect of the

manipulation on pro-environmental

action on litter, the monitor, and the

lights can all be explained. The lack of

action on the littered scrap is possibly

due to participants seeing the waste on

the floor as someone else’s problem to

deal with and that it is not a threat to the

environment or human life because it is

in an unnatural setting and not outdoors.

The fact that paper material is

biodegradable may also play a role in the

level of concern for removing it from the

ground. Future studies should be

conducted in an outdoor environment

and with non-biodegradable waste so

that participants will be more motivated

to pick it up since they would see the

importance to their own lives and the

rest of the ecosystem of doing so. The

lack of difference between groups in


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 62

shutting off the lights is probably

because a ceiling effect was reached.

The rates of shutting off the lights were

high likely because the attempt to make

participants feel comfortable taking

action without being directly instructed

to do so was successful. This finding is

useful for promoting shutting off the

lights when not in use in the laboratory

setting. Future studies should more

deeply examine whether having

participants enter the room with the

lights off and doors closed will promote

them turning the lights back off when

they leave. Participants probably felt less

comfortable shutting off the monitor

because there was no sign saying to shut

it off, and computer monitors are not as

commonly associated with being shut off

to conserve energy as lights are.

Connectedness to Nature Scale

The lack of correlation between

the Connectedness to Nature scale and

written and naturalistic transfer suggest

that the laboratory environment may

hinder feeling connected to nature acting

as a motivator for taking positive

environmental actions. Additionally, the

5 questions from the scale that were

provided in the questionnaire cannot be

expected to be as predictive of action as

the full 14-question scale would be.

Future studies should explore whether

this scale can be applied at all in a

laboratory setting, and if manipulating

feelings of connectedness in novel ways

can improve pro-environmental behavior

as well.

Conclusions

Although this study found no

significant benefit for using relational

matching over direct instruction to

transfer the connectedness principle into

positive environmental action, it did find

support for previous research that using

multiple analogous passages aids in


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 63

principle abstraction. The use of a

comparison task consisting of two

simultaneously presented analogies

followed by a third is a new technique

that should be further assessed in

comparison transfer research. This

technique has potential to be a better

alternative to a simple two analogy

comparison because it provides an

additional example, and also better than

a simultaneous three analogy

comparison because it allows the

principle to first be encoded, and then

further solidified.

This study served as a reminder

that careful attention must be made to

assure that no surface similarities

between conditions and transfer

problems are present in order to ensure

that the manipulations are what are

driving the transfer.

Furthermore, it is important to

note that through this work, positive

environmental behavior was promoted

with regard to recycling, but in the group

that had been deemed the baseline. A

closer look into the direct instruction

passage can provide insight into possible

ways to promote recycling.

This research is groundbreaking

in utilizing analogical transfer methods

and a self-referent ecological principle to

promote green behaviors. It has real

world value in ultimately benefitting the

individual who is transferring the

knowledge, as well as the greater good

of the world. Further research should

continue to explore the power of

transferring self-referent information

into solving other pertinent social issues

by increasing internal incentive to take

action.

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68

General Overview of Principle in Passages

Provided To be filled in first To be filled in second

Jeans Electronics Planes 1. What you do

1. You buy jeans 1. You buy/dispose of electronic devices

1. You travel by plane

2. What is involved when you do this action

2. Making jeans uses a lot of water

2. Electronics are made with heavy metals

2. Planes create a lot of CO2

3. How your action affects the environment

3. Water is depleted from other supplies

3. Toxins released into ground; humans become exposed

3. CO2 leads to increased temp. & water vapor capacity; rising seas and stronger storms

4. How this environmental change affects you

4. Your access to fresh water is threatened

4. Your health is at risk 4. Your home and physical safety are jeopardized

Table 1. Relational matching condition answers. The column labeled “provided” is the one that participants saw and used to base the analogical matches they created for the electronics and planes examples.


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Appendix A Questionnaire


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70

Appendix A continued

Connectedness to Nature: 2, 7R, 13, 17, 21R Need for Cognition: 4R, 11R, 18, 25 Openness: 5, 8R, 14R, 20 Conscientiousness: 3, 10, 15, 19, 23R


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Appendix B Direct Instruction Condition


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014

72

Appendix C Relational Matching Condition


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014

73

Appendix C continued


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014

74

Appendix D Written Transfer Problem


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75

Depression and Anxiety as Mediators between Physical Illness and Somatization

Minsu Kim

University of California, Berkeley

Abstract- This thesis investigates whether

depression and anxiety mediate the

relationship between physical illness and

somatization. The present study uses data

collected by the Supporting Father

Involvement (SFI) Project, which was

conducted under the auspices of Professors

Phil and Carolyn Cowan at the University of

California, Berkeley between 2003 and

2012. Among the data collected by the SFI

project were indicators of the physical and

psychological health of 661 men and women

aged 20-75 years (mean = 32.0, SD = 8.3) in

primarily rural, agricultural, and low-income

communities. After controlling for

demographic features (i.e. sex, age, ethnicity,

education, income level, and employment

status), objective physical illness, subjective

physical illness, depression, anxiety, and

somatization were significantly correlated.

Additionally, subjective physical illness,

depression, and anxiety predicted the

occurrence of somatization while objective

physical illness did not. Multiple regression

analysis also indicated that depression and

anxiety were partial mediators between

subjective physical illness and somatization.

This research is particularly significant for

demonstrating the mediating effects of

depression and anxiety and the different

effects of subjective and objective health on

psychological illnesses. Furthermore, this

research indicates that physical illness and

somatization are not only in common in

terms of their physical manifestation but

also in their relation to depression and

anxiety.___________________________


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76

Somatization refers to the development

of somatic symptoms for which no

identifiable physical causes can be found

(McWhinney, 2001). Somatization disorder

is no longer named in the fifth edition of the

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental

Disorders (DSM-5; American Psychiatric

Association, 2013); it has been replaced

with somatic symptom disorder. However,

in the present study, somatization is still

used because the data was collected in 2009

with this terminology. Due to somatization's

non-association with any physical causes

despite its physical symptoms, it has been of

particular interest for researchers to study.

Most significantly, psychological factors

have been given unique attention and have

been researched and considered as important

variables in the development and persistence

of somatization (De Gucht, 2003).

Effect of physical illness on depression

and anxiety-Mood disorders, such as

depression and anxiety, have been the focus

of much study. A variety of studies on

physical diseases such as inflammatory

bowel disease (Leue, 2005), and cardiac

diseases (Herrmann-Lingen, 2007) have

been investigated to show how depression

and anxiety result from and contribute to the

onset, progression, and treatment of these

physical diseases.

Effect of depression and anxiety on

somatic symptoms-Conversely, other

studies have found that people with

depression and anxiety are more likely to

become physically ill when compared to

people who do not have any psychological

disorders (Tully, 2008). In other words,

those with depression and anxiety are more

likely to feel dissatisfaction with their

physical health.

Direct and indirect effects of physical

illness on Somatization-Given the common

experience of psychological distress

associated with somatization, it is not

surprising that this condition is highly


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77

comorbid with depression and anxiety

(American Psychiatric Association, 2013). It

has been suggested that these disorders play

an important role in the pathogenesis of

somatization. The role of depression and

anxiety as risk factors for somatization

rather than consequences of it may

contribute to establishing the directional

relationship between psychological causes

and physical manifestations (Yildiz, 2000).

The lowered level of satisfaction with their

physical health translates into negative

effects on their physical health, and thus, it

increases the probability of observing

somatic symptoms.

Consequently, one study found that poor

physical health predicts depression and

anxiety, and that depression and anxiety

predicts the total number of health

conditions and poor-rated subjective overall

physical health (Skarupski, 1997).

Considering that somatization is defined as

physical illness without direct physical

causes, this relationship shows that the

perception of physical illness, depression,

and anxiety alike are types of psychological

manifestations utilized to transfer

psychological distress to physical illness and

physical symptoms of somatization.

Aim and hypotheses-The aim of this study

was to examine if both physical illness and

somatization are correlated with depression

and anxiety and to further explore the role of

depression and anxiety as mediators

between physical illness and somatization.

This study hypothesized that depression and

anxiety would mediate the path from

physical illness to somatization because of

the merging effects of negative physical

experiences and psychological symptoms

through the use of Baron and Kenny's

methods.

Method

Participants

A total of 661 participants (333 men

and 328 women) completed measures of


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014

78

physical and psychological health as part of

a larger study investigating paternal

parenting behaviors in the Supporting Father

Involvement Project (Cowan et al., 2009).

Ages ranged from 20 to 75 years, with an

average age of 32.0 years (SD = 8.3; median

= 31). Demographic features of the

participants were also collected (Table 1).

Materials

Anxiety and Somatization-The anxiety and

somatization scales were selected from the

Brief Symptoms Inventory (BSI; Derogatis,

1992). For the present study, participants

rated each item on a 5-point Likert-type

scale ranging from not at all (0) to extremely

(4), with moderately (2) as the midpoint.

Among the BSI 8 derivable symptom

subscales (i.e. Somatization, Obsessive-

Compulsive, Suicide, Anxiety, Hostility,

Phobic, Paranoid, and Psychoticism), for the

present study, only somatization and anxiety

subscales were used. Somatization and

anxiety scores can range from 0 to 28 and

from 0 to 20 respectively, with higher scores

indicating more severe symptoms.

Depression-The Center for Epidemiological

Studies Depression Scale (CES-D; Radloff,

1977) was used to measure the depression

symptoms. This instrument consists of a 20-

item questionnaire and response options

range from rarely or none of the time (0) to

most or almost all the time (3). Scores range

from 0 to 60, with higher scores indicating

greater depressive symptoms. A score of 16

or higher indicates that the person who

provided the responses is most likely

clinically depressed.

Subjective Physical Illness and Objective

Physical Illness-Subjective physical illness

and objective physical illness were

measured with the Health Status/Health

Behaviors Scale (HHB; Murphy et al., 1998).

The HHB consists of 7 questions to

investigate health issues and substance

usage. Subjective health was measured by

the question, "In general, how is your


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79

health?" Participants rated their health on a

scale from "1" (excellent) to "5" (poor).

Objective health was measured by the self-

reporting question, "Number of overall

health issues."

Data Analysis

Intercorrelations among subjective

physical illness, objective physical illness,

depression, anxiety, and somatization were

calculated with Pearson correlation

coefficients. Correlations and partial

correlations were computed in conditions of

controlling and non-controlling

demographic features to investigate their

influence. A regression analysis was also

conducted to determine the contribution of

each variable in predicting somatization

symptoms. The predictor variables, most

importantly, were tested to determine

whether depression and anxiety acted as

mediators in the relation between physical

illness and somatization. To test for the

mediating effect, three regression equations

were computed according to the four

conditions below (Baron & Kenny, 1986).

For the variables in this study, the three

regression equations were:

(1) Depression (or Anxiety) =

B1Physical Illness

(2) Somatization = B2Physical Illness

(3) Somatization = B3Physical Illness

+ B4Depression (or B4Anxiety)

where Bs represent the unstandardized

regression coefficients. With these three

equations, the four conditions are: (a) B1

must be significant; (b) B2 must be

significant; (c) B4 must be significant; and (d)

B3 must be smaller than B2. If B3 is zero

correlation, a complete mediating effect is

concluded. If B3 is not zero correlation but

still significant, then partial mediation is

demonstrated.

Results

Preliminary analyses and

intercorrelations-Prior to statistical

analyses, the data for each scale were


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80

examined for outliers and for assumptions of

normality. For the subjective health

inventory, the distribution of data was

within the normal range while for the

objective health inventory, and for the

depression, anxiety, and somatization scales,

the distribution of data were skewed.

Therefore, all data were transformed

following logarithmic transformation in

order to use in the computations (Delucchi,

2004). A one-way MANOVA revealed no

significant differences between men's and

women's mean scores on the subjective and

objective health, depression, anxiety, and

somatization scales, F(5,653) = 18.45, p <

0.0005; Wilks' Λ = 0.876, η2 = 0.12.

Therefore, data from men and women were

combined in subsequent analyses. The

intercorrelations among the variables as well

as their means and standard deviations are

shown in Table 2. Without any exceptions,

there were no significant changes in the

correlations when controlling for the

demographic features. Subjective physical

illness was significantly related to

depression (r = 0.30, p < 0.001), anxiety (r =

0.26, p < 0.001), and somatization (r = 0.32,

p < 0.001) while objective physical illness

significantly correlated with depression (r =

0.17, p < 0.001), anxiety (r = 0.16, p <

0.001). Whereas the correlation of

depression and anxiety was significant (r =

0.62, p < 0.001), the correlation of

subjective physical illness and objective

physical illness was not (r = 0.07, p > 0.05).

Objective physical illness and

somatization were not significantly

correlated (r = 0.07, p > 0.05). Moreover, a

regression analysis with objective health as a

predictor of somatization revealed that

objective health's contributions to

somatization through depression (β = 0.00, p

> 0.05) and anxiety (β = 0.00, p > 0.05)

were all negligible (Table 3). Thus,

objective physical illness scores were

omitted in the tests for mediating effects on


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81

the relation between physical illness and

somatization.

Mediating effects of depression and

anxiety in the path from subjective

physical illness to somatization-The

Spearman correlation between subjective

physical illness and somatization described

in Table 2 supports the claim that the two

variables are significantly related. The

results of the regression analyses, which

predicted somatization as an outcome of

subjective physical illness and which

showed the mediating effects of depression

and anxiety, appear in Table 3. All three of

the conditions specified by Baron and

Kenny (1986) were met at or beyond the

0.001 levels of significance for both

depression and anxiety when subjective

physical illness was used as a predictor

variable. Specifically, for depression: (a)

subjective physical illness significantly

accounted for variations in depression (B1D

= 0.54), F(1, 659) = 53.47, (b) the

relationship between subjective physical

illness and somatization was significant (B2

= 0.61), F(1, 659) = 67.20, (c) depression

significantly accounted for variations in

somatization (B4D = 0.45), F(2, 658) =

127.23, and (d) with depression in the

equation, the unstandardized regression

coefficient for subjective physical illness on

somatization was smaller than B2 (B3D =

0.36). Additionally, because B3D was still

significant, depression had a partial

mediating effect on the prediction of

somatization from subjective physical illness.

For anxiety: (a) subjective physical

illness significantly accounted for variations

in anxiety (B1A = 0.48), F(1, 659) = 47.49,

(b) the relationship between subjective

physical illness and somatization was

significant (B2 = 0.61), F(1, 659) = 67.20, (c)

anxiety significantly accounted for

variations in somatization (B4A = 0.59), F(2,

658) = 19.17, and (d) with anxiety in the

equation, the unstandardized regression


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014

82

coefficient for subjective physical illness on

somatization was smaller than B2 (B3A =

0.32). Further, because B3A was still

significant, anxiety also had a partial

mediating effect on the prediction of

somatization from subjective physical illness.

Discussion

The present study found that

depression and anxiety partially mediated

the relationship between subjective physical

illness and somatization.

Subjective physical illness and objective

physical illness-Not surprisingly, numerous

studies have suggested that objective

physical conditions cannot be indicators of

psychological health (Lipowski, 1979).

There is much research supporting

comorbidity of physical diseases with

depression and anxiety, and despite their

lack of relation to the objective conditions, it

is possible to think that the severity, duration,

or even the kind of disease may not be as

crucial as the perception of its severity when

gleaned from the pathology of somatization

(Lipowski, 1979). Moreover, as revealed in

this research, subjective physical illness had

a significant effect on somatization.

Considering that complications resulting

from severe and chronic illnesses are not

uncommon (Silber, 1997), even though the

severity, duration, and type of disease were

not elaborately considered in this research,

the extent of the clear distinction between

subjective and objective health in relation to

depression and anxiety was noteworthy.

Mediating effects of depression and

anxiety-Even though the study of

depression and anxiety that function as

predictors of somatization has been

supported in recent studies (Yildiz, 2000),

there were few studies examining the

relationship between somatization and

subjective physical illness. Taking into

account the numerous studies on the

relationships among physical illness,

depression, and anxiety, and among


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014

83

depression, anxiety, and somatization, it is

surprising that research on the relationship

between psychological reasons of

somatization and subjective perception of

other physical illnesses has not been

extensively discussed, especially in light of

the physical and psychological

commonalities. This study supports not only

the mediating effect of depression and

anxiety in the path from subjective physical

illness and somatization, but also reveals the

commonality of somatization and other

physical illnesses in psychological aspects.

Therefore, in order to prevent the

psychological effects of physical illness

from developing into somatization, it is

necessary to look at the mediating factors,

such as depression and anxiety, which

would contribute to this development. In

other words, it is important to isolate these

mediating factors in order to treat the causal

relationship. Isolating these factors and

treating them individually will prevent this

development of physical illness to

somatization.

Limitations and future studies-The present

study was collected from couples rather than

from independent individuals. Therefore, it

is possible that the relationship between the

couples may significantly influence the

results of depression and anxiety for both.

According to the research of Lombardo

(2005), the amount of time spent and the

closeness of the relationship between a

caregiver and an ill person can be a key

predictor of psychological distress

symptoms such as intrusion, avoidance, and

dissociation; all of which are related to

depression and anxiety.

Further research should be conducted

to determine whether depression and anxiety

has an "actual" causal mediating effect and

whether only subjective physical illness

predicts depression, anxiety, and

somatization with experimental and

longitudinal data. For example, the future


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014

84

research may need to distinguish among

three temporal markers (e.g., early-age,

middle-age, and old-age) in order to

examine the sequential and causal effects of

the variables and the mediating effect of

depression and anxiety. Alternatively, it

would be possible to utilize the medical

reports of participants that contain both

physical and psychological medical histories

from their early/middle ages. Such work

could utilize my findings as evidence to

support that mood disorders predict

somatization.

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Table 1 Demographic features Sex Men Women 333 (50.4%) 328 (49.6%) Employment

Employed Unemployed

333 (50.8%) 321 (48.9%) Income ($) Mean SD 27931.0 21639.4 Ethnicity Frequency Percent (%)

Hispanic American 347 52.5

European American 212 32.1

African American 54 8.2

Asian American 8 1.2

Combination 23 3.5

Other 17 2.6

Total 661 100 Education Frequency Percent (%)

Less than or High school diploma 431 65.2


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Table 2 Intercorrelations Variables 1 2 3 4 5 Subjective Illness - 0.10* 0.30** 0.28** 0.33** Objective Illness 0.07 - 0.18** 0.17** 0.14* Depression 0.30** 0.17** - 0.59** 0.50** Anxiety 0.26** 0.16** 0.61** - 0.67** Somatization 0.32** 0.09* 0.51** 0.58** - Mean 2.81 1.13 13.34 0.68 0.52 SD 1.01 1.25 10.7 0.75 0.62

Table 3

Regression Analyses for Direct and Indirect effects of Objective Physical Illness Variable B SE B β Partial R2 Regression of objective physical illness on depression Constant 0.94** 0.02 OPI 0.28** 0.06 0.18 0.03** Regression of objective physical illness on anxiety Constant 0.43** 0.02 OPI 0.24** 0.06 0.16 0.03** Regression of objective physical illness on somatization Constant 0.45** 0.02 OPI 0.15* 0.06 0.10 0.01* Regression of objective physical illness and depression on somatization (R2 = 0.28) Constant -0.02 0.04 OPI 0.01 0.06 0.00 0.09** Depression 0.50 0.03** 0.50 0.25** Indirect 0.10 Regression of objective physical illness and anxiety on somatization (R2 = 0.37) Constant 0.18** 0.02** OPI -0.01 0.05 0.00 0.09** Anxiety 0.63** 0.03** 0.59 0.35** Indirect 0.10

Some college, 2 year degree, or technical/trade school 196 29.6

Bachelor's degree or higher 34 5.2

Total 661 100


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 88

Note. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.001. Summary of regression analyses appear for direct and indirect

effects of objective physical illness (OPI) on somatization via depression and anxiety (N = 661).

Table 4

Regression Analyses for Direct and Indirect effects of Subjective Physical Illness Variable B SE B β Partial R2 Regression of subjective physical illness on depression Constant 0.79** 0.03 SPI 0.54** 0.07 0.27 0.07** Regression of subjective physical illness on anxiety Constant 0.29** 0.03 SPI 0.48** 0.07 0.26 0.07** Regression of subjective physical illness on somatization Constant 0.24** 0.03 SPI 0.61** 0.07 0.30 0.09** Regression of subjective physical illness and depression on somatization (R2 = 0.28) Constant -0.11 0.04* SPI 0.36** 0.07** 0.18 0.09** Depression 0.45** 0.03** 0.45 0.25** Indirect 0.12 Regression of subjective physical illness and anxiety on somatization (R2 = 0.37) Constant 0.07* 0.03* SPI 0.32** 0.06** 0.16 0.09** Anxiety 0.59** 0.03** 0.55 0.35** Indirect 0.14 Note. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.001. Summary of regression analyses appear for direct and indirect

effects of subjective physical illness (SPI) on somatization via depression and anxiety (N =

661).


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 89

Figure 1. **p < 0.001. Residuals appear in-circles. Path model and standardized regression

coefficients depicting the role of depression and anxiety in mediating the effects of subjective

physical illness on somatization are shown.


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 90

Online Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Training: A Randomized Controlled

Trial

Anqi Li, Craig Christie, Fan Zhang, Songqi Liu, Ph.D.

Pennsylvania State University

Author Note: Songqi Liu, Ph.D. mentored this project. Craig Christie and Fan Zhang assisted the

project. The research was funded by Penn State Liberal Arts Enrichment Funds to Anqi Li.

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Anqi Li at

[email protected].

Abstract- The research interests in

mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs)

have been burgeoning in recent years. MBIs

that are delivered via the Internet may serve

as a convenient and cost-effective

alternative to reach the individuals in need.

The present study examines the effects of

online mindfulness-based stress reduction

training in decreasing perceived stress while

improving mindfulness and life satisfaction

using an experimental design. Fifty-six

university students were randomly assigned

to an experimental group that received the

training and a wait-list control group. The

online training consisted of a four-week

course that focused on different aspects of

mindfulness during each week. All

participants completed both pre-training and

post-training questionnaires that measured

perceived stress, mindfulness and life

satisfaction. Results showed a significant

interaction between groups for perceived

stress over time. No substantial

improvements in mindfulness or life

satisfaction were found. While the benefits

of practicing mindfulness were evidenced in


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 91

the present study, future studies should

consider applying web-based MBIs to

professional samples in the workplace where

stress is prevalent and could be

counterproductive.

Keywords: mindfulness, perceived

stress, mindfulness-based intervention,

workplace

Mindfulness, originally rooted in

Zen Buddhism, has attracted growing

research interests within the Western

psychological science community in the past

few decades. Various forms of

conceptualization and operationalization of

the construct of mindfulness have emerged

as it has been translated and interpreted from

Buddhist messages to Western culture.

Many definitions of mindfulness coexist in

literature. Brown and Ryan (2003) describe

mindfulness as one of the attributes of

consciousness that emphasizes the attention

and awareness of the present moment.

Despite that some features of mindfulness

may be weighed more importantly than

others, mindfulness generally concerns a

lucid, flexible, and continuous awareness of

present-focused reality without being

judgmental and intrusive to the experience

that is occurring (Brown, Ryan & Creswell,

2007).

Positive associations between

mindfulness and psychological well being

have been established across different

methodologies. There has been convergent

evidence that suggests that mindfulness is

positively linked to psychological health

(i.e., positive affect, life satisfaction) and

negatively to psychopathological symptoms

(e.g., depression, social anxiety) in

correlational studies (Keng, Smoski, &

Robins, 2011). In controlled laboratory

studies, potential positive psychological

effects resulting from brief mindfulness

training (e.g., improving mood states;

Broderick, 2005) have also been found. In

addition, results from randomized controlled


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 92

trials (RCTs) of Mindfulness-Based Stress

Reduction (MBSR) and Mindfulness-Based

Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) have shown

moderate effects in reducing stress, anxiety,

and depression symptoms and improving

mental health well being in both clinical and

non-clinical populations (Fjorback, Arendt,

Ørnbøl, Fink, & Walach, 2011).

Besides manualized group based

interventions such as MBSR and MBCT that

are commonly used in clinical trials,

trainings that utilize mindfulness techniques

aiming to improve psychological well being

have also shown positive outcomes in non-

clinical populations. For example, in one of

the RCT studies, 239 employees were

randomized into a mindfulness yoga

program, a mindfulness meditation program

either online or in-person, and a control

group (Wolever et al, 2012). Greater

reduction in perceived stress was found in

mindfulness-based groups compared to the

control group. However, improvements in

mindfulness were not reported. Sauer-

Zavala, Walsh, Eisenlohr-Moul, and Lykins

(2013) specifically compared three different

strategies commonly used in mindfulness-

based interventions (MBIs): mindful yoga,

sitting meditation, and body-scan. The

results showed that while mindful yoga was

found to be more effective in improving

mental health and wellbeing, students

assigned to sitting meditation were more

likely to take a nonjudgmental stance.

As computers and the Internet

become more accessible to households and

individuals in the 21st century (File, 2013),

another line of research has considered using

modern Internet technologies as an

alternative method of delivering MBIs.

Web-based interventions have great

advantages over the traditional face-to-face

delivery method in terms of cost-

effectiveness and flexibility in choosing

physical locations and times. Comparison of

an online mindfulness meditation program


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 93

and the same program delivered in-person

found similar results after using the two

different delivery venues in terms of

improved perceived stress, sleep quality, and

heart health indicators (Wolever, 2012).

Another recent RTC of online mindfulness

training, conducted among a UK student

sample, demonstrated promising outcomes.

Specifically, significant interactions were

found for mindfulness, perceived stress and

depression/anxiety symptoms between two

groups across two time points (Cavanagh et

al., 2013). However, the study was limited

in that the intervention, which consisted of a

two-week online course, was relatively brief

and the large attrition of the sample might

have affected the results.

Research Questions

There has been a small number of

RTCs of web-based, mindfulness-based

training. Some of the limitations of these

existing studies include no significant

improvement on self-report mindfulness (see

Wolever et al., 2012) or only brief

intervention tested on a non-US population

(see Cavanagh et al., 2013). The present

study aims to expand current literature on

online mindfulness-based training by using a

randomized controlled design in a US

student sample. Previous research has shed

light on the positive outcomes following

MBIs (Sauer-Zavala et al., 2013; Wolever et

al., 2012; Cavanagh et al., 2013) and the

positive link between mindfulness and life

satisfaction (Keng et al, 2011). Our primary

interest, therefore, is to test whether

participating in an four-week online

mindfulness-based stress reduction training

would improve self-report mindfulness,

perceived stress, and life satisfaction.

Method

Participants

Participants were recruited from a

university located in the Northeastern

United States. Individuals who were

interested in participation were directed to


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 94

complete an initial screening questionnaire.

In order to be considered eligible to

participate, participants needed to meet our

inclusion criteria including (1) being

university affiliates; (2) registering for at

least 3 credits of summer classes or working

at least one part-time or full-time job over

the summer. These inclusion criteria were

adopted to ensure that participants had a

certain amount of stress at the baseline level

prior to the online training program, which

was scheduled to begin during summer. Of

the 75 individuals who responded to the

screening questionnaire, 56 met the

inclusion criteria and agreed to sign the

informed consent to participate. Participants

were 71.4% female with an average age of

22.27 and the majority (41.4%) were college

seniors. The majority of the participants

identified themselves as White (66.1%),

followed by Asian (14.3%), Hispanic

(7.7%), and Multiracial (7.7%). Participants

received $25 or $35 upon completion of the

training depending on their online

discussion participation during the training.

Measures

Stress. The Perceived Stress Scale

(PSS, Cohen, Kamarck, & Mermelstein,

1983) was used to measure participants’

distress-related thoughts and feelings during

the past month. Respondents were asked

how often they experienced each situation

on a five-point Likert-type scale (ranging

from 0 = never to 4 = very often). Items

include statements such as “In the last

month, how often have you been upset

because of something that happened

unexpectedly?” The PSS demonstrated good

internal consistency at the baseline in our

sample with Cronbach’s alpha (α = 0.88).

Mindfulness. The Five Facet

Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ, Baer,

Smith, Hopkins, Krietemeyer, & Toney,

2006) was used to assess dispositional

mindfulness. FFMQ has been shown to

better reflect mindfulness as a trait that


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 95

internalized over time rather than

momentary state of mindfulness (Brown,

Ryan, Creswell, 2007). The instrument

contains 39 items that intend to measure five

facets of mindfulness: Observe, Describe,

Act with Awareness, Nonjudge, and

Nonreact. Respondents indicated their

mindfulness on a 5-point Likert-type scale

(ranging from 0 = not at all to 4 = very

much). A sample item from the Observe is

“When I’m walking, I deliberately notice the

sensations of my body moving.” One of the

Describe items is “I’m good at finding

words to describe my feelings.” A reverse

coded item from the Act with Awareness is

“When I do things, my mind wanders off

and I’m easily distracted.” A sample item

(reverse coded) from the Nonjudge is “I

criticize myself for having irrational or

inappropriate emotions.” A sample item

from the Nonreact is “I watch my feelings

without getting lost in them.” The FFMQ

demonstrated good internal consistency at

the baseline in our sample with Cronbach’s

alpha (α = 0.74).

Life satisfaction. The 5-item

Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS, Diener,

Emmons, Larsen, & Griffin, 1985) was used

to assess general life satisfaction. A sample

item includes “In most ways my life is close

to my ideal” (responses range from 1=

strongly disagree to 7=strongly agree). The

SWLS demonstrated good internal

consistency at the baseline in our sample

with Cronbach’s alpha (α = 0.85).

Training Intervention

To administer the intervention, a

custom-designed website was built

containing training materials, a course

syllabus, study information, and a discussion

board. Each week during the four-week

course, participants randomly assigned to

the experimental group were introduced to a

new module topic about mindfulness. These

module topics include (1) introduction to

mindfulness, (2) cultivate mindful


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 96

awareness through mindfulness meditation,

(3) common problems during practice, and

(4) apply mindfulness to everyday life. Each

module is comprised of readings

(Gunaratana, 2002), videos and audio clips

of guided mindfulness meditation

(Kornfield, 2010; UCLA Mindful

Awareness Research Center, 2013). In

addition to following the guidance from

readings and multimedia materials,

participants were also encouraged, but not

required, to participate in the online forum

discussion by contributing blog entries. An

extra $10 was offered to participants who

contributed at least one blog entry

throughout the course.

Procedure

The participants in this study were

recruited during the spring semester from

200-level psychology classes as well as

through recruitment posters around campus.

Interested participants were directed to

complete the screening questionnaire online.

After informed consents were obtained, all

of the eligible participants were randomly

assigned to one of the two groups:

Experimental group (n=30) and Control

group (n=26). Participants in the Control

group were informed that they were on a

waiting list and their training course would

begin after the first group’s training was

completed. A pre-training questionnaire

(Time 1) was distributed between both

groups before the training began. Once the

Time 1 data had been collected, access to

the training materials was activated for the

Experimental group participants only. At the

beginning of each week, participants in the

Experimental group received an email

reminding them about the new weekly

materials as well as a suggestion to join

online discussion. The link to the post-

training questionnaire (Time 2) was sent in

emails to both groups after 4 weeks. The

Control group was then given access to the

online training materials. Of the total 56


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 97

participants enrolled in the study, 48 (86%)

remained throughout the study. There were

no significant differences between study

dropouts and those who completed both

Time 1 and Time 2 questionnaires in

demographics and baseline measurements.

All procedures were approved by the

Institutional Review Board.

Results

A series of repeated ANOVAs were

performed to test the group differences in

outcome variables across two time points.

The results, as presented in Table 1, showed

a significant interaction between the

Experimental group and the Control group

for perceived stress (F = 4.5, p < .05). No

significant interactions were observed

between the two groups for life satisfaction

or mindfulness. Figure 1 demonstrates the

positive effects of training on the

Experimental group, who experienced

reduced level of stress, while the wait-list

control group had an increase in perceived

stress levels.

Discussion

Mindfulness practices are over two

millennia old, and have been exercised by

people in an attempt to find awareness,

enlightenment, and balance between their

true individual self and the world around

them. Unfortunately, as time goes on, people

seem to be more disconnected from

themselves and their surroundings. It may be

no coincidence then that overall life and job

stressors seems to be a major problem in

society today. In this paper, our goal was to

examine the effects of a controlled, web-

based mindfulness training program.

Specifically, we posit that increasing one's

awareness and mindfulness can be an

effective way to decrease stress levels.

Our primary hypothesis that stress

reduction would result after mindfulness

training was supported. The cause of this

effect, however, is unclear. It was expected


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 98

that, because of an increase in mindfulness,

participants would be able to cope with

stressful stimuli better. The fact that no

mindfulness increase was observed implies

that the training directly decreased stress.

Perhaps the readings, meditation periods,

and mindful breathing exercises that were

included in training offered enough of a

respite from everyday stresses to create an

observable effect.

In most cases, when any training is

administered, the hope of the trainer is that

the trainee develops an increased

knowledge, understanding, and ability of the

skill set being focused on. While the focal

point of our program was to decrease stress

levels, the training curriculum focused on

improving the mindfulness of our

participants. As such, we expected

mindfulness to increase as a result of the

training. However, this was not the case. In

other words, our hypothesis that mindfulness

would increase as a result of training was

not supported.

Implications

As these results stand, given our

sample, we can only generalize our findings

to university students attending a U.S.

university. Stress among college students is

a common problem, and has been heavily

researched in recent years. Rice and Van

Arsdale (2010) discussed the stress cycle

that college students participate in,

suggesting that perfectionism, stress, and

drinking to cope are all related and prevalent

in the life of a typical college student.

Understandably, the authors denounced the

drinking to cope behavior and implored

future research to combat this problem,

stating, “learning how to productively cope

with distressing feelings or situations may

be essential for longer term adjustment of

these students.” Our findings meet this call,

providing empirical support that this


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 99

productive and healthy stress-reduction

technique works among college students.

If successfully applied to a

professional sample, the potential practical

implications are vast. Theoretically,

individuals’ personal, work, and family lives

could improve, as was hinted at by our

observations. In constructing a whole and

successful stress reduction program with

enhanced awareness as the focal point, we

hope that the effects should lead to more

efficient and mistake-free work. Further,

pending problems such as employee burnout

or motivation loss stemming from work

stress may be effectively combated.

Circumventing these costly issues usually

proves to be paramount to organizational

leaders. We hope that this study and others

like it catalyze mindfulness research in

larger, more professionally geared samples.

It should not be overlooked that,

although this study was completed on a

student sample and from the perspective of

Industrial/Organizational psychology, the

findings could practically apply outside of

the working and academic worlds.

Understanding the value of mindfulness in

reducing perceived stress could also be

helpful in the everyday lives of those who

do not operate in a typical working or

educational environment. For example,

while stay-at-home parents do not commute

to an office building or receive a paycheck

from their work, their responsibilities still

often cause major stress. These techniques,

organized in a stress training or intervention

model, could prove useful to people who fit

in that (or a similar) demographic.

Limitations

First, it is impossible to gain full

awareness and conscious enlightenment in

only a month’s time. By the nature of our

study, our participants were asked to

understand a lot of information and attempt

to make a lifestyle change in a very short

amount of time. Our utilization of the


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 100

FFMQ, which is designed to measure

mindfulness cultivated over time, may have

also limited our findings due to our short

training period. It undoubtedly would have

been beneficial for us to administer a longer,

more in-depth training. However, this was

impossible. Because mindfulness is expected

to be an ongoing and continuous practice, it

is conceivable that we did not observe an

increase in the construct after only a month

of training.

Second, our small final sample size

(N=48) might have also limited our findings.

While we knew our sample would be

relatively small due to our limited ability to

recruit, we still hoped for over 60

participants. Although we originally had

almost 100 participants sign up during our

recruitment phase, only 75 took the

eligibility survey and 56 passed. 8 more

participants were dropped due to request or

inactivity.

The self-reported nature of our data

collection allowed for the possibility of

response biases such as demand

characteristics. Knowing that we were

aiming to improve their lives by means of

stress reduction may have put participants in

a position to be confirmatory in their survey

answers. This, of course, would skew the

data in favor of our hypotheses. In this

hypothetical case, however, we would

expect a larger increase in self-reported

levels of mindfulness than we observed.

This implies response biases may not be a

major concern for our findings.

We were unable to monitor our

participants’ activity and behavior regarding

our training program. Although we

explained to our participants that we

expected a certain time and effort

commitment from them, we were unable to

monitor their progress and activity. For

example, a certain portion of our training

had them practice “mindful breathing”. It


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 101

was impossible for us to know whether they

truly considered the guidance of the training

and took the time to effectively practice this

technique. It remains a possibility that

participants did not fully engage in the

training, which could explain why a

mindfulness increase was not observed. In

any event, if certain participants did not take

the training seriously, our existing data may

be inaccurate.

Lastly, some assumptions were made

that may have limited the value of our

findings. Although we ensured that all of our

participants were at least working or taking

a part-time class schedule during their

involvement in the study, we did not control

for hours or type of work. For example, it is

entirely possible that some participants were

doing the absolute minimum work required

for eligibility in our study (3 credits or a

part-time work schedule) while others were

taking more than three credits and

simultaneously working 20 or more hours

per week. Even further, two participants,

both doing the minimum work required,

might have had different experiences. If they

both took one 3-credit course, and one was

taking a lower level general education class

while the other was taking an upper level

major requirement, their stress levels

regarding their work could have differed

greatly. As such, it should be considered a

limiting assumption of our study that we

treated expected stress-inducing activities to

be similar, if not the same, across all

participants who met eligibility requirements

Directions for Future Research

As mentioned, Western interest in

mindfulness has grown rapidly in recent

years, especially in psychological circles.

Future research is needed to fully understand

the impact that mindfulness training can

have on stressed individuals, and the causes

of those impacts. Understanding these

properties is the only way to develop an

effective and efficient program. The fact that


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 102

our findings were similar to those of

Wolever et al. (2012) indicates there may be

a problem with the translation of Eastern

mindfulness techniques to Western practice.

Ideally, a training program with a focus on

mindfulness techniques should, as we

hypothesized, improve mindfulness levels.

With the improvement in awareness should

come other effects such as stress reduction,

ultimately leading to more perceived

satisfaction in the lives of participants. Liu,

Huang, and Wang (2014), in their study

regarding job search interventions, suggest

that combining skill development and

motivational enhancement techniques

provides maximum training effectiveness in

intervention programs. We may have failed

our participants by only attempting to

develop their coping skills, foregoing

considerations about their motivation or

desires to partake in these activities.

Approaching mindfulness and stress

reduction training by improving both the

participants’ skills and motivation to

practice these techniques may prove to be

most effective.

As mentioned, our sample consisted

of current university students or recent

graduates. Future literature should be

directed towards a more professional sample

to observe the effects on older, working

individuals. In professional domains, the

value of the training will be considered by

companies and organizations in terms of

financial benefit, so constructing the

program to produce the desired outcomes

while remaining time and cost effective is of

the utmost importance. Thus, it would be in

the best interest of the research community

to differentiate between the effective and

ineffective portions of the training

curriculum. For example, if our participants

gleaned more from the videos and hands-on

practices than they did from the readings,

removing the readings could save time and

money without sacrificing results.


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 103

Cultural differences should also be

taken into account. Given the eastern nature

of the mindfulness construct, it may be

hypothesized that participants with an

eastern background may assimilate the

mindfulness construct more effectively, or

just in a different way. Effective training

strategies may be very different between

eastern and western culture, so one training

regimen may not be suitable for schools and

companies across the world. Understanding

these potential differences may be a useful

venture for the research community,

providing a better perspective on how to

address stress in our global society.

Conclusion

While this mindfulness-based, web-

based training did not improve mindfulness

per se, it did help to effectively decrease

stress levels. While there is more work to be

done on the issue of stress reduction, the

present study contributes a unique and

organized coping method. With more

research and some fine-tuning of the

techniques provided, we hope that even

more beneficial outcomes can be achieved.

Whether practiced in dorm rooms of young

college students, the offices of middle-aged

professionals, or the homes of stay at home

parents, mindfulness training seems to be a

promising path towards a more satisfying

and stress free life. Combining these

traditional, millennia-old techniques with

modern technology, participants can benefit

in an efficient and conveniently delivered

way.

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106

Appendix

Table 1. F tests for Group × Time differences between control and experimental groups. Outcome Measures Control (n=25) Experiment (n=23) F PSS 4.500*

Time 1 15.88 (6.53) 17.57 (7.77) Time 2 18.24 (5.18) 16.17 (7.40)

Observe 0.332 Time 1 3.03 (.57) 3.13 (.71) Time 2 2.99 (.71) 3.20 (.74)

Describe 0.504 Time 1 3.23 (1.05) 3.16 (.79) Time 2 3.23 (1.10) 3.02 ( .96)

Act with Awareness 0.043 Time 1 3.14 (.64) 3.03 (.63) Time 2 3.16 (.77) 3.09 (.83)

Nonjudge 2.696 Time 1 3.24 (.83) 3.08 (.90) Time 2 3.21 (.79) 3.36 (.96)

Nonreact 1.955 Time 1 2.89 (.77) 2.69 (.60) Time 2 2.83 (.60) 2.87 (.61)

SWLS Time 1 22.44 (6.29) 23.61 (6.17) 1.28 Time 2 24.12 (5.90) 24.17 (6.96)

* p < .05

Note. PSS = Perceived Stress Scale; SWLS = Satisfaction with Life Scale; Observe, Describe,

Act with Awareness, Nonjudge, and Nonreact are the five facets in the Five Facet Mindfulness

Questionnaire.


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 107

14.5

15

15.5

16

16.5

17

17.5

18

18.5

Time 1 Time 2

Experiment

Control

Perceived Stress Between Experimental and Control Groups

Figure 1. Interaction effect between the experimental group and the control group for PSS.

Perc

eive

d St

ress


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 108

Self-Efficacy as a Predictor of Change in Post-Traumatic and Post-Concussive

Symptom Reporting in a Mild Traumatic Brain Injured Military Population

Melanie Midkiff

University of South Florida

Abstract- Chronic post-concussive

symptoms (PCS) in a mild traumatic brain

injury (mTBI) military population have been

associated with psychological distress, in

particular PTSD (Hoge et al., 2008). To

date, there is no empirically validated

intervention for chronic PCS in this

population. Given the nonspecific nature of

PCS and its high correlation and overlap

with PTSD in this military population, this

study sought to examine PCS within the

context of PTSD, rather than as a single

indicator of distress. Moreover, in an effort

to find a possible avenue of intervention,

this study examined another psychological

variable that has not frequently been

assessed in a military population; perceived

self-efficacy (SE). In other rehabilitation

populations, SE has been shown to impact

chronic symptom management and for this

reason warrants further examination in a

military population. A composite score,

created based upon the combined change in

PCL-C and NSI scores, served as the

dependent variable. Self-efficacy was

entered in the last step of a hierarchical

regression equation, after controlling for

age, education and time since injury, gender,

and ethnicity.

The findings were null, indicating

that self-efficacy was not a significant

predictor of symptom reporting. Self-

efficacy did not add unique variance as a

predictor of the composite changed score. In

this population, where PTSD is highly

comorbid with PCS, treatment not focused


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 109

on alleviating PTSD symptoms may result in

little change. These findings suggest that for

a chronic mTBI/post-deployment

population, investment in PTSD treatment,

rather than symptom management, may

better serve to alleviate chronic PCS.

Since the start of the Operation

Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom

operations, the hallmark injury in the wars

has been traumatic brain injury (TBI). In

2012 alone, approximately 30,000 military

personnel suffered a TBI. Of those injured,

85.5% were mild TBI, otherwise known as

concussion ("DoD Numbers for Traumatic

Brain Injury Worldwide Totals," 2012).

Symptoms associated with concussion

include headaches, dizziness, fatigue,

balance problems, depression, anxiety,

irritability, and memory and attentional

difficulties (Belanger et al., 2011). These

symptoms are typically transient in nature

with the majority of individuals returning to

baseline functioning within hours to days

after being injured. For those with a history

of multiple concussions or advanced age,

recovery may take longer (Guskiewicz et al.,

2003; Iverson, Gaetz, Lovell, & Collins,

2004). Post-concussive symptoms (PCS) are

nonspecific in nature and are not unique to

brain injured patients (Belanger, Barwick,

Kip, Kretzmer, & Vanderploeg, 2013;

Iverson & Lange, 2003).

While the majority of individuals

experiencing PCS recover swiftly and fully,

15-30% (Alexander, 1995) continue to

experience symptoms for months, or even

years following the initial injury. For many,

these chronic symptoms can be debilitating

and negatively impact daily functioning. As

symptoms persist, many seek treatment from

multiple medical providers as a way to

manage their physical, cognitive and

emotional discomfort. Despite engaging in

several treatment modalities, symptoms

often remain refractory. This pattern can

result in over-utilization of the healthcare


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 110

system and increased health care costs

(Taylor et al., 2012); many individuals with

persistent PCS do not return to work and

instead seek disability (or service

connection) (Guerin, Kennepohl, Leveille,

Dominique, & McKerral, 2006; Iverson,

2005). This loss of workforce, refractory

symptoms, and the greater health care costs

resulting from PCS has led to an

increasingly higher focus by both

researchers and clinicians on treatment

options.

Research in civilian PCS populations

has consistently demonstrated that in the

chronic stage, factors other than the initial

injury underlie continued symptom reporting

(Ettenhofer & Abeles, 2008). Factors

including litigation (Feinstein, Ouchterlony,

Somerville, & Jardine, 2001), gender,

education level, expectancy of symptoms

(Ferguson, Mittenberg, Barone, &

Schneider, 1999; Mittenberg, DiGiulio,

Perrin, & Bass, 1992) and mood

disturbances, often underlie persistent

concussive complaints. While the majority

of empirical studies examining PCS have

been completed within civilian populations,

over the past several years increasing studies

have begun to examine military related

concussion. To date, these studies have

consistently demonstrated that persistent

military related PCS has greater association

with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

and depression rather than unique military

related injuries (Belanger, Kretzmer,

Vanderploeg, & French, 2010; Hoge et al.,

2008).

Recently, these disorders have been

found to overlap, not only clinically but on

several items in subjective measures;

including forgetfulness, anxiety, irritability,

poor concentration and sleep difficulties

(Benge, Pastorek, & Thornton, 2009;

Donnell, Kim, Silva, & Vanderploeg, 2012).

Given this overlap of symptoms, the high

comorbidity between PTSD and PCS, as


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 111

well as the nonspecific nature of PCS, it can

be called into question the appropriateness

of making an assessment of an individual’s

functioning based only on one variable of

interest: post-concussive symptoms. Many

researchers have moved from examining

single indicators to combining multiple

related measures, as it can be a valid and

reliable method for complex theoretical

constructs (Bernd, 2006). Examining only a

single measure in a restricted population,

such as the military, with commonly co-

occurring disorders may otherwise result in

the creation of an artificial condition that

does not accurately depict the everyday

functioning of individuals. In a population

where research efforts are aimed at being

translated into clinical practicality, it is of

the utmost importance to examine not only

those research conditions of interest on their

own, but to assess how different conditions

may affect one another when occurring

comorbidly. Doing so could alter the

outcome of many studies and how these

conditions/disorders are treated in real life

populations. Conceptual evidence that PCS

and PTSD are highly comorbid (Hoge et al.,

2008; Tanielian, Jaycox, & al., 2008) as well

as highly correlated with one another

(Cooper et al., 2011) provides incentive to

examine these variables together and create

a measure more representative of this

military population’s overall distress, even

though the variable of prime interest here is

PCS.

While there is strong empirical

evidence demonstrating the benefit of

psychological intervention in the acute stage

of concussion (Mittenberg, Canyock,

Condit, & Patton, 2001), there has been little

research focused on treatment of chronic

PCS, and even less within a chronic PCS

military population. While many individuals

benefit from these treatments in the acute

stage, numerous military service members

may go months, sometimes years, without


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 112

intervention given their in-theatre status. To

date there has been no empirically validated

intervention demonstrated to reduce chronic

PCS in a military population. While

guidance from acute interventions may be

helpful, chronic symptomology often

requires a separate treatment focus.

Individuals experiencing chronic

refractory symptoms often have a difficult

time coping and adapting to their

circumstance. As a result, they may

experience a malady of secondary issues that

further negatively impact their daily life

such as mood changes (Mathias & Coats,

1999), disability, withdrawal from social

participation (Levin & Grossman, 1978),

and lower quality of life. In addition to these

outcomes, they can also undergo other

psychological changes that may limit their

ability to participate in treatment, such as

poor self-efficacy (Moore & Stambrook,

1995).

Self-efficacy is the belief that one is

capable of carrying out a behavior necessary

to reaching a specific goal. That is, when

one is faced with having to cope with a

demand, does one feel he/she has the ability

to cope and, to what extent does one feel

that he/she is capable of carrying out the

actions necessary to overcome the demand

needed to attain the end goal (Bandura,

1977). Research has consistently shown that

an individual’s perceived self-efficacy can

impact a person’s motivation, quality of life,

and overall health (Holden, 1991). Those

with poor self-efficacy tend to experience

poorer outcomes and are often at increased

risk for developing depression and

anxiety. For individuals with chronic

medical conditions, self-efficacy can be

central to symptom management; as a result,

it has become a targeted area of intervention

for many chronic medical populations,

including cancer, pulmonary, fibromyalgia,

chronic pain and multiple sclerosis patients


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 113

(Altmaier, Russell, Kao, Lehmann, &

Weinstein, 1993; Buckelew, Murray,

Hewett, Johnson, & Huyser, 1995; Clark &

Dodge, 1999; Garfield & Lincoln, 2012;

Lorig et al., 1999; Mystakidou et al., 2012).

Research on self-efficacy within a

traumatic brain injury (TBI) population has

not been well explored. Of the limited

research to date, recent studies have

demonstrated that self-efficacy predicts

social participation and life satisfaction

following moderate-severe TBI (K. D.

Cicerone, Mott, Azulay, & Friel, 2004;

Keith D. Cicerone & Azulay,

2007). However, this has rarely been

explored within a mild TBI military

population, with only one study aimed at

treatment of self-efficacy and other

resiliency factors through mindfulness

training (Azulay, Smart, Mott, & Cicerone,

2013). The results showed that after this 10-

week intervention, perceived self-efficacy

and perceived quality of life significantly

improved. Moreover, post-concussive

symptoms significantly decreased, most

prominently for the cognitive and emotional

PCS symptoms. These findings indicate that

self-efficacy may be predictive of PCS

reporting in this population and warrants

further examination. The hypothesis of the

current study is that baseline self-efficacy

will predict the change in a pre- and post-

treatment global distress score made up of

the Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Checklist-Civilian Version (PCL-C) and

Neurobehavioral Symptom Inventory (NSI),

while controlling for age, and time since

injury, gender, ethnicity, and education.

Method

Participants: This study was a

retrospective chart review of consecutive

patients admitted to the James A. Haley

Veteran’s Administration rehabilitation unit.

Inclusion criteria included a history of

concussion and continued post-concussive

symptom complaints, as well as the


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 114

completion of all subjective measures used

in this study: PCL-C, Self-Efficacy Scale for

Symptom Management (SEsx), and NSI.

Those not meeting DoD/VA consensus

criteria for mTBI/concussion, or those with

a history of severe psychiatric illness (e.g

psychosis) were excluded. Of the 249 cases

reviewed, 55 participants were included.

This population sample consisted of 72%

Caucasians, 98% of which were male, who

were on average 33.75 (SD= 8.6) years of

age with a mean education level of

13.12(SD=2.2) years. The mean Time Since

Injury was 147.72(SD=214.4) months.

Neurobehavioral Symptom Inventory (NSI)

scores averaged at 52.64(SD=17.3) at pre-

treatment, and 47.17(SD=20.8) at post-

treatment. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Checklist (PCL-C) scores averaged at

61.81(SD=16.2) at pre-treatment, and

56.55(SD=18.8) at post-treatment. The

average baseline score on the Self-Efficacy

for Symptom Management (SEsx) was

62.10(SD=27.1).

Setting: The Post-deployment

Rehabilitation & Evaluation Program

(PREP): is an 8 bed inpatient Polytrauma

rehabilitation program for service members

and veterans that provide evaluation and

treatment of mTBI and post-deployment

difficulties. An interdisciplinary team

provides each individual with specialized

evaluations and therapies for physical and

psychological post deployment injuries.

Medical and mental health services include:

psychiatry, cognitive rehabilitation,

physical/vestibular therapy, vocational

rehabilitation, speech therapy, multisensory

and occupational therapies. The average

length of stay is 3 weeks, depending upon

rehabilitation goals.

Measures:

The Neurobehavioral Symptom

Inventory (NSI) (K. D. Cicerone, & Kalmar,

K, 1995; Meterko et al., 2012)is a self-report


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 115

inventory of 22 items measuring post-

concussive symptoms associated with TBI.

Though it is a relatively new inventory, it

has demonstrated high internal (alpha= .95)

and external validity (King et al., 2012) and

has been used in numerous studies since its

introduction in 1995.

The Self-Efficacy for Symptom

Management scale (SEsx) (Keith D.

Cicerone & Azulay, 2007) is a 13 item self-

report measure that assesses one’s perceived

ability to manage symptoms associated with

TBI. It has good internal (alpha=.92) and

external validity.

The Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Checklist- Civilian Version (PCL-C) is a

self-report measure of 17-items that

indicates the degree to which an individual

perceives that they are experiencing

symptoms consistent with those of someone

diagnosed with PTSD. A measure frequently

used in scientific literature, it also has high

internal reliability, alpha=.92 (Blanchard,

Jones-Alexander, Buckley, & Forneris,

1996).

Analysis: All statistical evaluations

were made using the statistical package

SPSS (version 19.0). We created a

composite score based on prior research

(Jacobson & Truax, 1991). In order to create

a composite score (global distress score) all

measure items of the NSI and PCL-C, pre-

treatment and post-treatment, were totaled

for each participant separately. We then

obtained a Z-score for each total in order to

set the NSI and PCL-C on the same scale

and to a mean of zero. Doing so did not

change the distribution of each measure, but

rather allowed the two measures to be

compared on the same scale, thus

eliminating differences in scale range

(Coyne, 1994). The creation of the

composite score was done by adding

together pre-treatment (T1) NSI and PCL-C

together and post-treatment (T2) NSI and


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 116

PCL-C, which formed two global distress

scores at two different time points. To assess

change from baseline (T1), T1 was

regressed onto T2 following the advice of

Cronbach and Furby (1970). In this way, the

portion of scores on T1 measures that would

predict scores on T2 measures is taken out,

leaving a residual score made up of what is

not already accounted for by testing at two

time points (Allison, 1990).

Results

Correlations of the host factors (SE),

outcome measures (NSI and PCL-C), and

demographic variables found in previous

studies to be associated with post-

concussive symptom reporting and post-

traumatic stress disorder (i.e. age, education,

time since injury, gender, ethnicity) were

examined. This was done to assess the

relationship between each variable, in order

to confirm the validity of regressing each of

our variables on the global distress score.

We found that each of our demographic

measures, excluding time since injury, was

significantly correlated with at least one

outcome measure used to compose the

global distress score. Pre-treatment and post-

treatment measures of NSI and the PCL-C

were highly positively correlated with one

another, further validating the finding that

post-concussive symptoms and post-

traumatic stress symptoms are highly related

to one another. Self-efficacy was

moderately, but significantly, negatively

correlated with all pre- and post-treatment

NSI and PCL-C, with the exception of post-

treatment NSI scores- though it approached

significance (p <.06). See Table 2 on page

8.

Validation of these relationships

allowed us to run each of the multiple

regressions using each of the demographic

variables as the first level predictor,

followed by baseline self-efficacy scores as

the second level predictor of the global

distress score. The findings were null in


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 117

each of the three conditions, indicating that

self-efficacy was not a significant predictor

of symptom reporting, with or without the

item overlap in the NSI and PCL-C. See

Table 3 below for more detailed

information.

Table 3

Multiple regression including all items in the NSI and PCL-C composite score

R B SE B β p

Model 1: ΔGDS Age Time Since Injury Gender Ethnicity Education

.195 .044 .000 .076 -.190 .104

.022 .001 .977 .303 .068

.387 -.027 .011 -.086 .218

.050 .889 .938 .534 .131

Model 2: ΔGDS .204

SEsx .004 .005 .104 .473

Note: ΔGDS= change in global distress score


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 118

Table 2

Correlations between demographic variables and outcome measures

Notes: *p< .05. **p< .01

Discussion

Conclusions: The focus of this study is to

examine the predictive value of perceived

self-efficacy on treatment outcomes. While

pharmacological (Fann, Uomoto, & Katon,

2000) and cognitive rehabilitation treatments

(K. D. Cicerone, 2002) have been shown to

be efficacious in PCS symptom reduction in

civilians, there has been much less research

conducted within a military mTBI

population. Of the limited studies examining

similar interventions with a military

population, outcomes have been less than

positive. This study attempted to examine a

slightly different avenue by evaluating the

role self-efficacy may play in the reduction

SEsx Baseline NSI

Post-tx NSI

Baseline PCL-C

Post-tx PCL-C

Age Education Time Since Injury

Gender Ethnicity

SEsx 1 -.331* -.243 -.415** -.358** -.001 -.113 .134 .161 .104

Baseline NSI -.331* 1 .832** .797** .647** .101 .210 -.113 -.150 -.219

Post-tx NSI -.243 .832** 1 .692** .796** .252 .293* .064 -.168 -.232

Baseline PCL-C

-.415** .797** .692** 1 .771** .241 .065 .138 -.310* -.226

Post-tx PCL-C

-.358** .647** .796** .771** 1 .366** .222 .162 -.259 -.286*

Age -.001 .101 .252 .241 .366** 1 .137 .658** -.165 -.197

Education -.113 .210 .293* .065 .222 .137 1 -.139 -.011 .068

Time Since Injury

.134 -.113 .064 .138 .162 .658** -.139 1 .006 -.188

Gender .161 -.150 -.168 -.310* -.259 -.165 -.011 .006 1 .080

Ethnicity .104 -.219 -.232 -.226 -.286* -.197 .068 -.188 .080 1


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 119

of perceived PCS following treatment. The

results of this study indicated that neither

self-efficacy nor demographic variables

were significant predictors of the global

distress score.

Although there are a multitude of

possible reasons for these findings, which

will be addressed in the next paragraph, the

most eminent is that of the high comorbidity

between PCS and PTSD. Studies examining

chronic PCS interventions by way of self-

efficacy in civilian populations with mTBI

have demonstrated improvements in self-

efficacy also resulted in PCS improvement

(Azulay et al., 2013). However, this study

may not be directly translatable to a military

population, for a number of reasons; in

particular the presence of PTSD found so

commonly in military personnel. Multiple

studies have demonstrated not only the

overlap of PTSD and PCS in a military

population, but also that when PTSD is

present, PCS diagnosis is confounded

(Cooper et al., 2011; Hoge et al., 2008).

Therefore, until a pilot intervention study is

conducted using a military population with

PCS and PTSD, no real conclusions can be

drawn about the efficacy of addressing self-

efficacy for symptom improvement in this

population.

These findings may have also been

due to the fact that the population used was

a treatment seeking population which

introduces possible bias. As seen in Table 1,

self-efficacy scores were, on average, very

low (~62) indicating that this population

may either be comprised predominately of

severe cases, and is therefore not

representative of the general population of

those with PTSD/PCS not seeking treatment,

or that this group of people characteristically

have low self-efficacy scores which may

have biased the results. This latter statement

implies that self-efficacy may be more of a

trait than a state, in that it is more a part of

an individual’s personality, rather than say, a


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 120

transient mood. Therefore, if this is in fact

the case, an intervention lasting only 3

weeks, and one that does not address self-

efficacy directly, may not be long enough or

direct enough to see any significant changes

in the self-efficacy and thus in PTSD/PCS

symptoms. Furthermore, this study did not

examine secondary gain, so factors such as

litigation may be the reason that there was

no overall change from pre-treatment to

post-treatment outcomes.

Limitations: This study had a number of

methodological limitations that may have

impacted our findings. The most obvious of

which is the use of subjective measures,

which rely on the individual to not only

accurately endorse symptom levels but to

fully complete the measures they are given.

The latter explains the small sample size, as

we had to reduce the sample from 249 cases

to 55, solely because of incompletion of

subjective measures. This in turn leads to

another limitation, the small sample size.

Having only 55 cases significantly lowers

the statistical power of our analyses and may

not be an accurate representation of the

population being studied. A look at the

standard deviation of both the outcome

measures and the host factor (SE), illustrates

this point as variability around the mean is

extremely high for all measures.

The reliance on accurate

endorsement of symptoms creates another

potential limitation, not only because no

validity measures on the self-reporting

scores were used, but because as previously

noted, this study does not account for issues

of secondary gain; therefore mitigating

factors that may be responsible for the

generally very high endorsement of post-

concussive symptoms and post-traumatic

symptoms, as well as the moderately low

self-efficacy scores (Feinstein et al., 2001).

Additionally, the use of retrospective data

versus prospective data is an area of possible

limitation as this data is prone to selection


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 121

bias. In this case, the data is made up only of

individuals who sought treatment; therefore

it is not a randomized sample of the military

population. These individuals could differ

from those that did not seek treatment in

both symptom severity and a number of

other factors that might confound our

results.

Future Directions: This study serves to

emphasize the finding that PTSD drives

symptom reporting in a mTBI military

population, and further demonstrates that in

this population, where PTSD is highly

comorbid with PCS, treatment not focused

on alleviating PTSD symptoms may result in

little change. This is not to say that

constructs such as self-efficacy should not

be studied within the context of a PTSD

specific treatment. Increasing self-efficacy

has proven to show positive outcomes in a

number of populations, both with and

without head injury. The difference here is

that PTSD symptoms must also be taken

into consideration for this specific

population.

To date, there is no known study that

examines how PTSD treatment in a military

population might be augmented by

improving factors such as self-efficacy prior

to PTSD intervention. This may be a

particularly valuable avenue of examination,

given the limitations of PTSD interventions

(especially exposure-based). These

limitations include drop-out rates, and both

premorbid and comorbid factors that

preclude some individuals from engaging in

exposure based treatments (e.g., anger, bi-

polar). This area of examination may

provide fruitful insights and open additional

doors that may be able to assist our military

personnel to be more successful in engaging

in PTSD treatments.

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How do High Achieving Women and Men Manage Work and Non-work Lives? An Analysis of Gender Differences in Strategies Used to Deal with Conflicts

Among Work, Family, and Social Lives

Sayeeda Rashid, Kathleen Campos-Banales & Lydia Varon

Mount Holyoke College

Acknowledgements:

We would like to thank Francine M. Deutsch, Ph.D., for serving as a faculty mentor on this research and Irem Durman for assisting with the development and implementation of this project. *The authors’ names proceed in alphabetical order after the name of the first author.

Abstract- The purpose of our study was to

examine the strategies that are used to

manage work and non-work lives among

high-achieving individuals and to investigate

the differences between men and women in

respect to these two domains. A total of

twenty recipients of high-achievement

awards, such as the Pulitzer Prize and

Presidential Early Career Awards for

Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), were

asked a series of questions pertaining to the

dynamics of their work, family, and social

lives. There was no significant difference in

the hours worked by men and women, nor

was there a significant difference between

the hours of housework performed by men

and women. However, female participants

spent significantly more time on childcare

duties than male participants.

A thematic analysis of the

participants’ open responses yielded various

positive and negative spillovers between

work and non-work lives. When discussing

non-work to work spillovers, most

participants expressed that their non-work

lives gave them perspective and stability in

their work lives, whereas others reported

that having a family interfered with their

work responsibilities. When reporting work


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 130

to non-work spillovers, most participants

reported negative effects of long hours of

work on the amount of time they were able

to spend with their family and friends.

Finally, most of the participants reported the

importance of either establishing temporal

boundaries or having family support as

strategies used to mitigate any conflicts

between the two domains.

As men and women in many

industrialized societies are increasingly

employed in the labor force, conflicts

between their work and homes are

magnifying (Eagles, Miles & Icenogle,

1997; Greenhaus & Powell, 2006). In

particular, women suffer from conflicts

between the two domains. Although their

roles in the workplace have changed, their

roles in the home have not changed

commensurately. Furthermore, the demands

of their family roles often not only intrude

upon, but also overlap with, the demands of

their workplace allowing the boundary

between the two domains to become

permeable (Pleck, 1977). Some women are

choosing part-time or more flexible jobs in

order to more effectively balance their time

between their career and family, especially

during the years they may be raising

children (Hill et al., 2008). Other women

who are pursuing careers in higher-level

positions are choosing to postpone having

children until after they obtain a secure

position in their field (O’Laughlin &

Bischoff, 2004). Even women who assume

higher-level positions still perform more

household duties and childcare than their

male counterparts (O’Laughlin & Bischoff,

2004).

Many women are still searching for

the best way to balance having both a family

with children, and a successful high-level

career. O’Laughlin and Bischoff (2004)

found that women with high-level jobs who

reported having less conflict between their

careers and their families also highlighted


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 131

the importance of having partner support.

According to Hobfall (2001), family support

was a mechanism that increased an

individual’s ability to successfully fulfill his

or her responsibilities within their family.

Other research was also consistent with this

finding, in that support at home and work

was correlated with fewer work-family

conflicts for both men and women (Rupert,

Stevanovic, Hartman, Bryant, & Miller,

2012). Past research also revealed that when

people found satisfaction by fulfilling their

role either at work or at home, their

satisfaction in the other area was augmented.

The more satisfied people were with their

homes lives, the happier they were in their

jobs, and vice-versa (Hailin & Xinyuan,

2011).

The present study aims to investigate

the relationship between the work and non-

work lives of high-achieving people, who

are among the recipients of either the 2011

Pulitzer Prize or the 2011 Presidential Early

Career Award for Scientists and Engineers.

Based on the findings of O’Laughlin and

Bischoff (2004), we will address the nature

of partner support among high achieving

individuals, and specifically examine partner

contribution to housework and childcare. In

addition we will examine possible gender

differences in the interaction between work

and non-work domains that allow for both

positive and negative spillovers between the

two (Pleck, 1977; Kinnunen, Feldt, Geurts,

Pulkkinen, 2006).

Method

Participants

The pool of participants consisted of

all 2011 Pulitzer Prize recipients and a

selected group of 2011 Presidential Early

Career Award for Scientists and Engineers

recipients nominated by the National

Institute of Health (NIH); they were

recruited with the assistance of a social

psychology professor at the College. A total

of 24 people responded to an initial email,


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 132

indicating either their willingness to

participate or their unavailability at the time

of the study. The final sample consisted of

20 participants, 10 men and 10 women with

an average age of 43.15 years (SD = 8.46).

Eighteen participants were married, of

whom 8 were female and 10 were male.

Sixteen participants had children, of which

15 had children under the age of 18, and 12

had children under the age of 10. The

distribution of ethnic identifications of the

participants was 16 White/Caucasian

American, 3 Asian/Asian American, and 1

Hispanic/Hispanic American.

Materials

The interview guide consisted of a

series of both open-ended and closed-ended

questions that investigated the degree to

which the participants’ work and non-work

lives interfered with each other and the

strategies, if any, they implemented to

mitigate these conflicts. The interview began

with questions about the participants’ daily

routines and characteristics of their jobs and

families. Participants were also asked to

provide the number of hours devoted to

specific chores in their household and to rate

the division of labor between themselves

and their partners on a scale from 1 to 7 (1=

“My partner does all of it”; 7= “I do all of

it”). Subsequent open-ended questions were

asked with regards to the positive and

negative spillovers between work and non-

work lives. Finally, the participants were

asked basic demographic questions. We

recorded the interviews through a device

connected to the telephone, and then

transcribed them.

Results

There was no significant difference

in the mean number of hours per week

worked by men (M = 56.55; SD = 12.90)

and women (M = 60.75 hours; SD = 11.56),

[t(18) = .77; p = .45]. Similarly, there was

no significant difference between the hours

of housework performed per week by men


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 133

(M = 10.14, SD = 6.01) and women (M =

12.30, SD = 10.30), [t(19) = .55; p = .59],

nor was there a significant difference

between the hours of paid childcare per

week utilized in the households of men (M =

22.93, SD = 21.29) and women (M = 25.38,

SD = 22.39), [t(13) = .22; p = .83] (Figure 1).

In fact, an almost equal number of men (N =

7) and women (N = 8) reported employing a

nanny or day care service.

Regardless of these similarities

between male and female participants in

regards to their work, household duties, and

paid childcare, female participants spent

significantly more time per week on

childcare duties (M = 38.25, SD = 15.52)

than male participants (M = 19.50, SD =

12.09), [t(18) = 2.58; p = .023]. We also

found that male participants’ partners

worked an average of 32.95 hours per week

(SD = 24.62) whereas female participants’

partners worked an average of 43.44 hours

(SD = 14.45), [t(18) = .06; p = .30] (Figure

1). Given that, on average, female

participants’ partners worked full time

whereas male participants’ partners did not,

male participants’ partners were presumably

available to provide more support. In fact,

male participants’ partners (M = 2.71, SD =

0.76) performed a larger proportion of

childcare in their families than female

participants’ partners did in theirs (M = 4.29,

SD = 1.799), [t(16) = .06; p = .03]. In the

male participants’ households, their partners

did the majority of childcare, whereas in the

female participants’ households, childcare

was divided more equally.

We analyzed the responses to the

open-ended questions thematically to

identify patterns among participants. Overall

we found minimal differences between

genders in our qualitative analysis. When

discussing their daily routines, an almost

equal number of men (N = 9) and women (N

= 7) reported spending quality time with

their family as part of their daily activities.


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 134

Participants who had children were more

likely to report spending time with their

family by going to a park, taking walks in

their neighborhood, and playing sports than

participants without children.

In the responses to questions about

spillovers from non-work to work lives,

most participants (N = 14) expressed that

their non-work life gave perspective and

provided stability for them in their work

lives. One participant expressed that,

“Spending time with my family is very

relaxing and it helps me feels refreshed after

I interacted with them then I can come back

to work with a calmer mind.” Participants (N

= 5) also reported that when they are happier

with their homes lives, then they are more

satisfied with their work lives. Meanwhile,

participants (N = 9) who reported any

negative spillovers from their non-work to

their work lives stated that having a family

interfered with their work responsibilities.

The second most common response (N = 8)

was that there were no negative spillovers

from family to work lives.

Our analysis of the positive

spillovers from work to non-work lives

showed that the most frequent response (N

= 8) was that satisfaction in the workplace

leads to satisfaction in non-work life. One of

these participants stated: “If I am happier at

work, I come home happy and much more

easygoing and maybe a little bit more

confident.” Another common response (N =

6) was that the participants’ work enabled

them to be a better role model for their

children. For negative spillovers from work

to non-work life, most participants (N = 15)

reported that the amount of time they spent

at work interfered with the amount of time

they were able to spend with their families.

A participant expressed that “By the time I

get home, my son is already asleep, so it

always makes me feel bad to deny my son

the opportunity to interact with his father.”

In contrast to the non-work to work


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 135

spillovers, only one participant reported

having no spillovers from work to non-work

lives.

Nearly half of the participants (N =

9) reported the importance of establishing

temporal boundaries, such as having certain

times reserved for work or for non-work-

related activities, as a strategy they

implemented to mitigate conflicts between

their work and non-work lives. Other

responses included asking for support from

family members (N = 7) and having separate

places designated for work and family,

which we identified identified as “spatial

boundaries” (N = 2). Lastly, two

participants mentioned communication with

their spouses as one of their strategies.

Discussion

The purpose of our study was to

examine the ways in which high-achieving

people, such as the recipients of 2011

Pulitzer Prize and 2011 Presidential Early

Career Award for Scientists and Engineers,

manage their work and non-work lives. We

found that although male and female

participants worked almost equal hours in

the labor force and performed the same

number of hours of housework, mothers

spent considerably more time on childcare

per week than fathers. Presumably, however,

male participants’ partners had more time to

dedicate to childcare and housework, which

can be seen by the large difference between

hours worked outside of the home by the

partners of female or male participants.

Our analysis of the open responses

showed that high-achieving men and women

were almost equally represented in the

various types of positive and negative

spillovers between work and non-work lives.

The responses for positive spillovers

between work and non-work domains in our

study are consistent with the findings of

Hailin and Xinyuan (2012) that showed that

satisfaction in one domain lead to increased

satisfaction in the other domain.


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 136

Furthermore, the majority of the participants

in our study with children expressed the

importance of spending time with their

families daily. Their emphasis on family

time might be a strategy for avoiding any

negative impact their long work hours may

have on their relationship with their children.

This is consistent with the findings of

Roeters, Van Der Lippe, and Kluwer (2010)

that showed that parents who spent more

time with their children experienced less

conflict with them.

Female participants in our study

received less partner support in childcare

duties than male participants. Although it

might be expected that the extensive home-

life responsibilities of the female

participants would be detrimental to the

quality of their work lives, the level of their

success argues against this point. Despite the

inequality between support for male and

female participants, in comparison to

average women, high achieving women

receive more support. Female participants

reported that their partners contribute almost

half of all child-care while “on average,

fathers participate in about 26 percent of the

total hours spent in direct child-care

activities” (Ishii-Kuntz & Coltrane, 1992).

In addition, male and female participants

equally reported utilizing paid childcare.

Finally, we found that our female

participants did not perform significantly

more housework than their male

counterparts, and that they performed less

housework than other women (M = 12.3 vs.

M = 18.3, respectively) (Bianchi, Sayer,

Milkie and Robinson, 2012). Consistent

with a study by O’Laughlin and Bischoff

(2004), partner support is critical to a

woman’s success both at work and at home.

Our data is also consistent with that of

Furguson, Carlson, Zivunska and Whitten

(2012) who found an inverse relationship

between partner support and conflicts

between a woman’s family and her career.


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 137

Further research in the area may

include further operationalization of

childcare by specifying various aspects that

include homework help, play dates, and

monitoring other daily activities. By not

modifying the variable childcare, the

participants in our study listed a wide range

of activities when reporting the amount of

time they dedicated to childcare, which may

have played a role in the gap between the

hours reported by the high-achieving people

and average individuals. Additionally, our

study did not specifically address paid

housework; future research may examine

paid housework in the households of the

participants to understand how it affects the

participants’ management of work and non-

work lives.

References

Bianchi, S.M., Sayer, L.C., Milkie, M.A., &

Robinson, J.P. (2012). Housework:

Who did, does or will do it, and how

much does it matter? Social; Forces,

91, 55-63.

Eagle, B. W., Miles, E. W., & Icenogle, M.

L. (1997). Interrole conflicts and the

permeability of work and family

domains: Are there gender differences?

Journal of Vocational Behavior, 50(2),

168-184. doi: 10.1006/jvbe.1996.1569.

Furguson, M., Carlson, D., Zivunska, S., &

Whitten, D. (2012). Support at work

and home: The path to satisfaction

through balance. Journal of Vocational

Behavior, 80, 299-307.

Greenhaus, J. H., & Powell, G. N. (2006).

When work and family are allies: A

theory of work-family enrichment.

Academy of Management Review, 31,

72-92.

Hailin, Q., & Xinyuan (Roy), Z. (2012).

Employees’ work-family conflict

moderating life and job satisfaction,

Journal Of Business Research 6522-28.

Doi: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2011.01.010


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 138

Hill, E.J., Jacob, I.J., Shannon, L.L.,

Brennan, R.T., Blanchard, V.L., &

Martinengo, G. (2008). Exploring the

relationship of workplace flexibility,

gender, and life stage to family-to-work

conflict, and stress and burnout.

Community, Work & Family, 11(2),

165-181.

Hobfall, S. E. (2001). The influence of

culture, community, and the nested-self

in the stress-process: Advancing

conservation of resources theory.

Applied Psychology; An International

Review. 503((3), 337-370.

Ishii-Kuntz, M., Coltrane, S. (1992).

Predicting the sharing of household

labor: Are parenting and housework

distinct? Sociological Perspectives,

35(4), 629-647.

Kinnunen, U., Feldt, T., Geurts, S., &

Pulkkinen, L. (2006). Types of work-

family interface: Well-being correlates

of negative and positive spillover

between work and family.

Scandinavian Journal of Psychology,

47(2), 149-162. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-

9450.2006.00502.x

O’Laughlin, E., & Bischoff, L. (2005).

Balancing parenthood and academia:

Work/family stress as influenced by

gender and tenure status. Journal of

Family Issues, 26(1), 79-106.

Pleck, J. H. (1977). The work-family role

system. Social Problems, 24(4),417-

427.doi:10.1525/sp.1977.24.4.03a0004

0

Roeters, A., Van Der Lippe, T., & Kluwer,

E. S. (2010). Work Characteristics and

Parent-Child Relationship Quality: The

Mediating Role of Temporal

Involvement. Journal Of Marriage And

Family, 72(5), 1317-1328.

Rupert, P. A., Stevanovic, P., Hartman, E.,

Bryant, F. B., & Miller, A. (2012).

Predicting work–family conflict and

life satisfaction among professional


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 139

psychologists. Professional

Psychology: Research And Practice,

43(4), 341-348. doi:10.1037/a0026675

Figure 1. Distribution of Hours Dedicated to Responsibilities Within Work and Non-Work

Domains.

Figure 1. Mean number of hours dedicated to responsibilities within work and non-work

domains reported by high-achieving male and female participants. No significant differences

were found in the hours dedicated to work, housework, and paid childcare between men and

women. However, women spent significantly more time on childcare than men.

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Work Housework Childcare Paid Childcare

Hou

rs

Work and Non-Work Related Responsibilities

Women

Men


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 140

Relationship Between Competitiveness and the Presence of a Prize

Francis J. Szyjkowski

State University of New York at Oswego

Abstract: Levels of competitiveness

were studied based on scores of a survey

and number of words found on a word

search. The participants in this study

consisted of (N=23) SUNY Oswego

students (9 men, 14 women). The age

range of these participants was 18-25.

Participants were asked to complete a

survey to gather information about

competitiveness. After the survey, the

participants were separated into two

groups, High Competitiveness and Low

Competitiveness. Each group was then

given a word search to complete. The

High Competitive group was made

aware of a prize, while the Low

Competitive group was not made aware

of a prize. Subjects within the High

Competitiveness group found fewer

words, on average, than did people

within the Less Competitiveness group.

The number of words found for the High

Competitive group was M= 16.3,

SD=3.0, while the number found for the

Low Competitive group was M= 17.2,

SD= 6.9. This study suggested that

competiveness of individuals was not

influenced by the presence of a prize.

Keyword: competitiveness,

prizes, word search

“I have a competition in me. I want

no one else to succeed.” (Anderson and

Anderson, 2007). This quote serves as

the inspiration and basis for this study.

Competition is a crucial part of everyday

life, whether individuals are aware of it


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 141

or not. Throughout the world,

individuals come in contact with

situations that bring out their inner-

competitiveness. Whether it comes out

while trying to find the best parking spot

in a parking garage or while watching

Game 7 of the NBA Finals, this inner

“fire” guides us to strive to be the best

and achieve the goals that have been set.

Previous research has been

directed towards the sport and business

worlds where competiveness reigns

supreme. Lam (2004) found that

dispositional competitiveness does

indeed have a positive relationship with

discretionary performance for the

organization. The study looked at work

performances of salespersons with a

competitive disposition (Lam, 2004).

Brewer (1994) stated, “The personality

trait of competitiveness is a good fit for

salespeople, because the trait promotes a

relentless drive to win and outperform

rivals.” This quote describes

competitiveness as a good attribute, to

ascribe to athletes. Sports and

competitiveness go hand in hand.

Throughout the years, many studies have

been conducted involving the

relationship between sports and

competitiveness. Ryska (2003) has

found that participation in sports has the

potential to foster both positive and

negative perceptions among its young

participants. Competition in sports is

normally healthy, although some

participants can be relentless. Even

when it comes to team sports, individual

performance and achievement is often

more highly sought after, while team

performance and achievement are left in

the dust. There is also a degree of

competitiveness in individual sports.

Athletes competing in individual sports

often work and train with other athletes

within the sport. Evans, Eys, and Bruner


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 142

(2012) stated that most individual sport

settings involve groups, as athletes often

train in a team environment even though

they officially compete individually and

often in opposition to their training

teammates. In addition to this, Evans et

al, (2012) defined both team and

individual sports. Team sports include

those where athletes train together and

compete in events that require frequent

interaction between members to achieve

a group objective, says Evans. In

contrast, an individual sport team is a

group of athletes who train together and

may contribute to total team

performance but compete individually

and often in opposition to their

teammates. Serrao (2008) found that

student- athletes who are accustomed to

competing with both teammates and

opponents may transfer these behaviors

to the realm of alcohol consumption,

where their competitiveness may cause

them to try to keep up with or “out-

drink” other students. Although effect

sizes are modest, these results indicate

that higher levels of competitiveness are

generally associated with greater alcohol

use, though not with alcohol-related

problems (Serrao, Martens, Martin, and

Rocha, 2008).

Sports are not the only arena

where competition and competitiveness

are common. In the business world,

competiveness is often required in

employees by employers in order for the

business to maintain functioning and

outperform the competition. As opposed

to sports, business competition requires

some degree of ethical behavior.

Research by Mudrack, Bloodgood, and

Turnley, (2012) discusses business

competiveness and ethics. Mudrack et al,

(2012) looked at “ethical implications of

two different individual competitive

orientations.” These two different


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 143

orientations were

“hypercompetitiveness,” and “personal

development.” Mudrack et al, (2012)

also quoted Psychoanalyst Karen

Horney, who defined “neurotic

competitiveness’’ as something which “

involves a constant, not always

appropriate, measuring of the self

against others…” (Mudrack et al, 2012).

Mudrack et al, (2012) found that in

hypercompetitiveness, winning (and

others’ losing) is all that matters. Studies

have found that competitiveness has

been associated with depression, stress,

and avoidance of work (King,

McInerney, and Watkins, 2012). In this

study, we will be looking at and trying to

understand a few questions.

Competitiveness has usually been

viewed as a negative trait as it can lead

to suboptimal outcomes (King et al,

2012). Competitiveness and narcissism

seem to have a strong correlation with

each other. Luchner, Houston, Walker,

and Houston (2011) found, “that both

types of narcissism were significantly

related to both types of competitiveness.

Specifically, the findings showed a

positive relationship between overt

narcissism and general competitiveness.”

There are two questions to be analyzed;

what makes someone more competitive

than others, and is competiveness goal-

oriented? Here, the hypothesis to be

tested is the idea that people who receive

a prize for completing a task will be

more motivated towards that tast than

those who do not receive such a prize.

This experiment will take a small sample

and compare scores based on a

competitiveness survey and number of

words found on a word search, to

determine if competitiveness is actually

goal-oriented.

Method

Participants


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 144

The participants in this study

consisted of N=23 SUNY Oswego

students (9 men, 14 women). The age

range of these participants was 18-25.

The majority of participants were

students from within the Research

Methods in Psychology class, section

840. Acquaintances of the students made

up the remaining participants.

Materials and Procedure

The “Competitiveness Survey”

was adapted from multiple, previously

used scales. The majority of this survey

consisted of questions selected from

Chen, Xie, and Chang, (2011). Chen et

al, (2011) used a 5-point likert scale,

ranging from (1) Strongly Disagree to

(5) Strongly Agree. Inspiration was also

drawn from Fletcher and Nusbaum

(2010) and Franklin and Brown (1995).

The researcher also created some

original questions. Both the survey and

the word search were formed on paper

and they were completed using pen or

pencil. The word search was an original

design created by the researcher. For

further research any type of word search

can be used.

The first part of the experiment

was for each subject to complete a

competitiveness survey. 25 participants

filled out the competitiveness survey.

The final survey was 10 questions in

length. Each participant had 10 minutes

to complete the survey. Two days after

the surveys were completed, the

researcher scored each survey. Two

groups were formed from the scored

surveys; one group consisted of

participants who were classified as

Highly Competitive (n=11), and the

other was participants classified as Less

Competitive (n=12). The Highly

Competitive group scored on the survey

between 29 and 50, 50 being the highest

score possible. The Less Competitive


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 145

group scored between 10 and 28, 10

being the lowest score possible. For the

second part of the experiment, subjects

were asked to complete a word search

containing words, names, and phrases

associated with basketball. On the

second day, 23 participants remained, 2

did not participate, so their scores were

excluded from the data. The word search

contained 30 words to find. The word

searches contained the same puzzle. The

difference between the two word

searches was that the Highly

Competitive groups’ directions stated

that each participant would receive a

prize after the word search was

completed, while in the Less

Competitive group’s directions that was

left out. Each subject had 10 minutes to

find as many words as possible. The

final step in the experiment was to score

each word search to see which

participants scored the highest. To keep

things organized, each participant was

randomly assigned a number. This

number was written both on the

competitiveness survey and the word

search puzzle so they could be kept

together.

Results

The analysis focuses on the

participant’s classification on the

competitiveness survey and their score

on the word search. Out of 23

participants, the highest score on the

survey was 40. The range of scores on

the survey is 40. The highest number of

words found was 24. The range of words

found on the word search is 29.

To determine if competitiveness

is truly influenced by the presence of a

prize, the researcher ran a one-sample t-

test. The one-sample t-test was

conducted to determine the differences

in mean (M) and standard deviation (SD)

of the Highly Competitive and the Less


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 146

Competitive group’s scores on the

survey and the number of words found

on the word search. The number of

words found for the High Competitive

group was M= 16.3, SD=3.0, while the

Low Competitive group was M= 17.2,

SD= 6.9. Results indicate that mean and

standard deviation for the survey scores

is (M=28.8, SD=5.9) and the mean and

standard deviation for the number of

words found on the word search is

(M=16.8, SD= 5.3). Within the same

one-sample t-test indicated for survey

scores, t (22) =19.407, p< .000. This

value of .000 is a significant difference.

In the same one-sample t-test for number

of words found, t (22) =10.707, p< .000,

also had a significant difference. The

researcher also conducted a one-way

analysis of variance (ANOVA) to

determine whether scores on a survey

influenced number of words found on a

word search, (F (1, 21)=. 155, p< .698).

This determines if each individual score

on the survey contributed to significant

differences within the two different

groups. With the significant value of p<

.698, there is no significant difference

between individual scores. Based on the

results of this experiment, the null

hypothesis was retained.

Discussion

The hypothesis of the research

was to determine if the presence of a

prize influenced competitiveness levels

of the individuals tested. According to

the test results, the individuals who were

classified as Less Competitive scored, on

average, higher than individuals who

were classified as High Competitive.

The Less Competitive group was not

given notice of the prize, while the High

Competitive group was given notice of

the prize. From this research, it appears

that individuals who are aware of a prize

are actually less successful than those


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 147

who are not aware of the prize. This is

interesting because being competitive is

often associated with winning and

getting a prize, award, or trophy. Lam,

(2012) stated, “The most successful

salespeople are often competitive and

assertive.” As Lam (2012) has found,

competitiveness has been knownto

positively predict both performance and

mastery goals.

Since the hypothesis was not

supported by this research, various

threats to the validity of the experiment

were noted. One of these threats was

how close the participants were to one

another. Feeling crowded or constricted

could have made the participant feel

uncomfortable, thus making them

answer the survey incorrectly or

inaccurately, which could influence

which group they were assigned to.

Another threat could have been the time

constraints on both the survey and the

word search. For both the survey and

word search, there was a 10-minute time

limit. If the participants were given more

time, they could have found more words

on the word search, increasing their

score and changing the means of the

respective groups. The word search itself

could have been a problem for the

participants for several reasons. One

reason could be that the subjects were

unfamiliar with the content of the words

they were asked to find. The universal

theme of the word search was basketball

and some participants could have been

unfamiliar with names of players or

other terminology.

Another possible problem with

the word search is that not all the papers

were uniform, some had the word bank

on the back of the paper and some had a

separate paper containing the word

search. This could have caused an

inconvenience to the subjects.


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 148

This study has a few limitations

that also could have contributed to the

results. One obvious limitation was that

the sample size was extremely small.

With the sample size being (N=23), the

researcher might not have had an

accurate or complete representation of

the population. Future studies with larger

samples could support the hypothesis or

determine how effectively the presence

of a prize influences or does not

influence a person’s competitiveness.

Another limitation could be the

inexperience of the researcher. With lack

of training or experience, the researcher

could have made mistakes collecting or

interpreting data.

This experiment could be a

possible stepping-stone for future

research in the area of competitiveness

in the presence of a possible prize. In

future research, one interesting idea to

study might be the effect of gender on

competitiveness. Another would be

assessing if the participant was an athlete

or non-athlete and how that influences

competitiveness. Further research is

necessary to evaluate the hypothesis that

the presence of a prize has an effect on a

person’s competiveness.

References

Anderson, P.T. (Producer), & Anderson,

P.T. (Director). (2007). There

Will Be Blood [Motion Picture].

United States. Paramount

Vintage & Miramax Films.

Brewer, G. (1994, May). Mind reading:

what drives top salespeople to

greatness? (Found within: Lam,

L. W. (2012). Impact of

competitiveness on salespeople's

commitment and performance.

Journal Of Business Research,

65(9), 1328-1334.

doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2011.10.02

6)


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 149

Chen, X.P., Xie, X., & Chang, S. (2011).

Competitive Orientation Scale.

Retrieved from PsycTESTS. doi:

10.1037/t08379-000

Evans, M., Eys, M. A., & Bruner, M. W.

(2012). Seeing the “we” in “me”

sports: The need to consider

individual sport team

environments. Canadian

Psychology/Psychologie

Canadienne, 53(4), 301-308.

doi:10.1037/a0030202

Fletcher, T. D., & Nusbaum, D. N.

(2010). Competitive Work

Environment Scale. Retrieved

from PsycTESTS. doi:

10.1037/t05788-000

Franken, R. E., & Brown, D. J. (1995).

Competitiveness/Mastery

Questionnaire. Retrieved from

PsycTESTS. doi:

10.1037/t14895-000

King, R. B., McInerney, D. M., &

Watkins, D. A. (2012).

Competitiveness is not that

bad…at least in the East: Testing

the hierarchical model of

achievement motivation in the

Asian setting. International

Journal Of Intercultural

Relations, 36(3), 446-457.

doi:10.1016/j.ijintrel.2011.10.00

3

Lam, L. W. (2012). Impact of

competitiveness on salespeople's

commitment and performance.

Journal Of Business Research,

65(9), 1328-1334.

doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2011.10.02

6

Luchner, A. F., Houston, J. M., Walker,

C., & Houston, M. (2011).

Exploring the relationship

between two forms of narcissism


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 150

and competitiveness. Personality

and Individual Differences,

51(6), 779-782.

doi:10.1016/j.paid.2011.06.033

Mudrack, P. E., Bloodgood, J. M., &

Turnley, W. H. (2012). Some

ethical implications of individual

competitiveness. Journal Of

Business Ethics, 108(3), 347-359.

doi:10.1007/s10551-011-1094-4

Ryska, T. A. (2003). Sportsmanship in

young athletes: The role of

competitiveness, motivational

orientation, and perceived

purposes of sport. Journal Of

Psychology: Interdisciplinary

And Applied, 137(3), 273-293.

doi:10.1080/0022398030960061

4

Serrao, H. F., Martens, M. P., Martin, J.

L., & Rocha, T. L. (2008).

Competitiveness and alcohol use

among recreational and elite

collegiate athletes. Journal Of

Clinical Sport Psychology, 2(3),

205-215.


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 151

Figure 1. Number of Words Found on a Word Search based on Scores of a Competitiveness Survey.


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 152

Digging Method for Object Recognition in Pigeons

Gregory John Vitale, Winnie Chen, Charles A. Lizza, Jill E. Kelly, Mengdi Xu, Johann M. Schmidt, Zachary E. Michel, Kara A. Cochran, Samuel Sittenfield, Muhammad A. Qadri

& Robert G. Cook

Tufts University

Abstract- A pigeon’s visual system is

capable of functioning at higher levels of

acuity than a human’s, yet it is much

smaller. If there is a different cognitive

pathway by which pigeons see the world, it

may be illustrated in the way they manage

real world situations. Previous research has

looked at how both pigeons and humans see

objects that have had portions removed. The

present research addresses a need to further

investigate which aspects of objects serve as

the most identifiable parts (i.e. what makes a

square, a square). Pigeons were presented

with stimuli and were positively reinforced

to choose the “most square-like” shape.

Over time, they would learn this distinction.

Partial squares, with either line segments or

vertices removed, were used to examine the

question of which aspect was more

important for the object’s recognition.

Results showed that the pigeons learned the

“most square-like” condition (Experiment

1), and that they were choosing line

segment-only squares more often than

vertices-only squares when the two were

presented together (Experiment 2). There

was no preference for line segments or

vertices observed in the other trials. These

observations were not affected by rotational

changes (Experiment 3). The experiments

suggest that pigeons, unlike humans, find

lines more essential for object recognition,

and propose these animals’ visual systems

function differently from a human’s.


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 153

Do humans see and process visual

stimulation in the same way as other

animals? The vision of a bird, for example,

although similar in some ways, is much

stronger than that of a human’s. Whereas

most humans have 20/20 vision, some birds

manage to see the world with 20/4 vision,

which means they can see at 20 ft. what

most humans see only at 4 ft.. That is not to

say that birds necessarily have “better”

vision than humans, but, as a group, they

have a higher visual acuity. The eyes of

birds make up the bulk of their heads, a side-

effect of their development into better and

better flyers; the higher you fly, the further

you will need to see to catch food. Birds can

do all this, however, with a brain about the

size of a human thumb. The present seeks, in

part, to reveal aspects of how birds manage

this.

As it turns out, the pigeon brain has

some similar visual pathways as the human

brain. Nguyen et al. (2004) found evidence

that there is a separation of visual motion

and spatial-pattern perception in both the

pigeon brain and the human brain. This

separation occurs via the tectofugal pathway

in pigeons, while it is the thalamofugal

pathway in humans. In Kelly, Bischof,

Wong-Wylie, and Spetch (2001), both

pigeons and humans had a decrease in

performance of pattern discrimination with

the addition of noise, but humans showed

detection differences among the four

patterns, whereas the pigeons did not,

suggesting a difference in neural processing.

As the patterns became more distorted, it

appeared the pigeons processed at a local

level, while humans tended to miss small

cues and instead saw the global scale. A

local model for pigeon object recognition

called “particulate perception” was proposed

by Cerella (1986). This theory was disputed

ten years later by Wasserman et al. (1996),

which showed considerable, but not

comprehensive, evidence that pigeons do not


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 154

necessarily register rotational changes to

objects, which has global implications.

Kirkpatrick, Wilkinson, and Johnston (2007)

also contributed to this area of interest and

helped uphold the findings of Kelly et al.

(2001) when they worked with pigeons that

discriminated continuous and discontinuous

line segments that humans could not.

How pigeons see specific objects and

not just lines or patterns has also been tested

in the laboratory setting. Rilling, De Marse,

and La Claire (1993) used contour deletions

in experiments of pigeon recognition and

found evidence to suggest that the line

segments of shapes are more important in a

pigeon’s recognition process than the

vertices. These findings were different from

the Van Hamme and Wasserman (1992)

paper published just a year earlier that

claimed geons and particulate features as

important for pigeon recognition of objects.

The question of lines vs. vertices has

implications on a larger scale because

Biederman (1987) found evidence that

humans rely more on contour-deleted

vertices than line segments. Finding

evidence that suggests pigeons prefer one

method or the other might reveal something

about their visual systems and how they

differ, if at all, from humans.

In this experiment, we attempted to

establish whether or not we would find

results analogous with the Rilling et al.

(1993) paper, the Van Hamme and

Wasserman (1992) paper or if we would

form a different conclusion altogether. The

experiment relied on the pigeons’ ability to

learn to dig for reward (Wright & Delius,

1994) and to partially understand what it

meant for something to be inside of

something else (“insideness”), a concept

Hernstein, Vaughan, Mumford, and Kosslyn

(1989) showed that pigeons could

comprehend if given enough practice and a

simple shape with which to learn.


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 155

For this experiment, the pigeons will

be trained to learn that squares have food

inside of them. Deleting the vertices and line

segments of these squares yields two new

stimuli that are incomplete squares. When

these incomplete squares are presented

alongside a complete square (Type 1), a

triangle (Type 2), or the other incomplete

square (Type 3), they should choose which

shape they see as the “most square-like.” We

predict that line segments are the keys for

pigeon object recognition and that this will

be revealed by their choosing of the line

segment-only partial squares more often

than the vertices-only. When the shapes are

rotated in Experiment 3, it is our hypothesis

that the pigeons will still be able to perform

the task above chance, suggesting a global

visual system rather than local.

Method

Subjects

Two White Carneaux and two Silver

King pigeons with no previous experience

with digging served as the subjects. The

birds were housed in individual cages on a

12:12-hour light-dark cycle. Water and grit

were available to the pigeons as needed. The

pigeons were fed ProGrain pigeon feed

(both during and in between experiment

sessions) and were weighed every day to

ensure maintenance at 85% of their free-

feeding weights. The White Carneaus were

nine years old and the Silver Kings were

four years old.

Apparatus

The experiment was conducted in an

operant chamber box (Figure 1) with

dimensions (length X width X height) of

68.0 X 44.0 X 44.0 cm. The pigeons were

positioned within the box in a back

compartment which was 36.3 X 24.6 X 44.0

cm. A hinged door with a metal clasp was

used as the point of access for placement of

the birds. This door, two solid-wood sides,

and one side of two plastic panes surrounded

the pigeon. A gap (8.0 cm) was left between


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 156

the plastic panes and a shelf 15 cm above

the bottom of the box so that experimenters

could present the pigeon with the stimulus in

a plastic container (33.5 X 18.5 X 8.0 cm).

Procedure

All pigeons were first trained for up

to two weeks (two sessions per day) on

using their beaks to dig for food underneath

sand and inside a wooden shape. A neutral

circle was used as the shape during these

training trials so as not to condition the

pigeons toward shapes with edges and

corners. After the birds were pecking into

the circle on 80% of trials, they moved on to

the experiment trials once per weekday.

For every trial, the experimenter

embedded two wooden shapes into the sand,

side-by-side, leaving a finger-sized gap

between the two and making sure the

surface of the shapes were visible. Food was

submerged inside for the shape deemed the

S+ and covered with sand. The S- was

simply embedded within sand with no food.

The experimenter would then slide the tray

under the plastic panes so that the pigeon

could peck and dig into it. The first location

where the pigeon’s beak touched the sand

was recorded. If the pigeon chose the S+,

the pigeon was allowed to dig and eat the

food inside. If the S- or a peck outside either

shape was chosen, then the tray was

immediately taken away. If a pigeon took

more than five minutes to respond to the

trial, a no response was marked and these

trials were later thrown out of the data. Four

different wooden shapes were used as visual

stimuli: a triangle (height X base X legs X

depth) (7.8 X 8.0 X 8.5 X 2.2 cm), a square

(sides X depth) (9.5 X 2.2 cm), a square

with only line segments (the vertices

deleted) (4.7 X 1.9), and a square with only

vertices (the line segments deleted).

Experiment 1

In this experiment, pigeon object

recognition was operationalized as their

ability to learn that food would be placed in


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 157

the “most square-like” object. The pigeons

that pecked and dug into the S+ shapes

(always the “most square-like” option

available) would be positively reinforced by

that shape and would, theoretically, choose

objects of similar shape in future trials. This

would be taught over a length of 15 sessions

per bird. It is hypothesized that this

reinforcement would drive the pigeons’

future decisions on pecking at what they see

as the square.

Method

There were four possible pairings of

stimuli (triangle vs. line segments, triangle

vs. vertices, square vs. line segments, and

square vs. vertices) and each pairing was run

and run again in its mirrored orientation

(Figure 2). A random-trial generator was

used to split sessions into four sets of eight

trials for a total of 32 trials for each session,

which served as the maximum for each

session (as few as 16 trials were run for

some sessions).

Results

The major result from the data is that

there is a significant interaction between

session number and trial type. There was a

main effect observed over session in the

birds’ ability to choose the “most square-

like” object presented to them (Figure 3) and

this was supported by a two-way ANOVA

that showed a significant result, F (14, 42) =

2.651, p = 0.007. A main effect for trial

type, F (1, 3) = 13.183, p = 0.036, was also

observed, suggesting that the pigeons were

consistently doing better on trials where the

triangle was the S- than on trials where the

full square was the S+ (Figure 4). However,

when an interaction of the two main effects

was analyzed, it was found to be statistically

significant, F (14,42) = 2.208, p = 0.024.

The interaction was such that the birds’

accuracy on both trial types began

statistically the same and improved over

session, but improved quicker on trials

where the triangle was the S- (Type 2). In


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 158

this way, the two effects appear to be related

to each other.

In regards to vertices and line

segments, there appears to be no significant

main effect for session, F (14, 42) = 0.871, p

= 0.593. There is also no significant main

effect for negative stimulus, F (1, 3) =

0.0431, p = 0.849, when it comes to the

birds’ choosing the incomplete squares..

Without significant main effects or a

significant interaction, this part of the

experiment did not reject the null hypothesis

and did not suggest whether pigeons rely

more on vertices (Figure 5a) or line

segments (Figure 5b) during object

recognition processes.

Discussion

The statistical results show that the

pigeons learned the task and did so with

more proficiency over session. In other

words, it was apparent that they learned that

the “most square-like” shape for any given

trial had the food. This result gives support

for the digging method as a viable option for

testing pigeons in a laboratory setting. It also

suggests that the pigeons were able to

differentiate the difference between a square

and a non-square. It makes sense that this

result was expressed more when the S- was

a triangle (Type 2 trials) because it shares

fewer physical properties to a square than an

incomplete square. The higher accuracy on

this trial type suggests the pigeons are

performing some type of mental object

completion and raises questions about how

or why the pigeons made that distinction so

easily (questions addressed in Experiment

3). However, whether or not line segments

or vertices were more important in the

pigeons’ ability to recognize “square-ness”

was unclear in Experiment 1. This could

possibly be attributed to the fact that the

pigeons were still learning the primary task:

associating the squares with positive

reinforcement. Not until this task was

learned could we directly and fairly test their


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 159

distinction between the two incomplete

squares, so this was further tested in

Experiment 2.

Experiment 2

The pigeons did not show a

distinction between the line segment-only

squares and the vertices-only squares from

Experiment 1. Experiment 2 sought to more

directly test this aspect of the pigeons’

object recognition processes through probe

trials (Type 3 trials), which prompted the

pigeons to choose when both partial squares

were the stimuli. A statistical interpretation

of new data for Type 1 and Type 2 trials was

also recorded. We hypothesized that this

experiment would yield more line segment-

only choices during probe trials, which

suggests to us that pigeons see those partial

squares as “more square-like” and that they

rely more heavily on line segments when

distinguishing objects.

Method

For each session, one warm-up set of

8 trials (Figure 2) was run, followed by two

new sets of 10 trials each for a total of 28

trials per session. In the two latter sets, an

additional comparison was presented within

the normal procedure: line segments vs.

vertices (Type 3 trials). This stimulus type

was randomly inserted and done twice to

account for side bias. The experiment

yielded 4 of these “probe trials” (Type 3

trials) per day, per bird. They are called

probe trials because neither partial square

shape contained food (there is no S+ and S-

in these trials). They are not intended to

further establish a “square-ness” rule as are

the other trials, and instead, in a sense,

directly ask the pigeon which object they

think looks more like a square (which one

will have the food).

Results

Experiment 2 evaluated the pigeons’

preference to lines or vertices directly (Type

3 trials) and indirectly (Type 1 and Type 2


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 160

trials). Through probe trial tests (Type 3

trials), the pigeons were found to choose

lines more than vertices when given the

choice between the two. After removal of no

responses, the data show that they chose

lines 61.9 percent of the time. Although all

four birds chose the lines more often (Figure

6), a one-sample t-test found this number not

quite enough to reject the null, t (3) = 2.919,

p = 0.06, that the difference was a matter of

chance. No statistical support was given for

Type 1 or Type 2 trials across sessions

either. On Session 2, the pigeons appeared

to mistake lines more often than vertices

when a square was the S+, but that trend

was not seen in any of the other five

sessions (Figure 7a), resulting in a

statistically non-significant difference, t (10)

= -0.625, p = 0.546. When triangles were the

S- (Figure 7b), the pigeons did not show a

statistical preference for one S+ partial

square over the other, t (10) = 0.964, p =

0.358.

Discussion

The results from Experiment 2

suggest that pigeons depend more on line

segments for object recognition than

vertices, but this trend was not statistically

significant, nor was it seen within Type 1 or

Type 2 trials. Only when the choice between

line segments or vertices is directly

proposed do the pigeons show any apparent

preference. The possibility of the differences

being due to chance still exists, however, so

we cannot reject the null. Despite the

statistics, the numbers suggest a trend

toward line segments. More data would

provide clarification to this claim. Beyond

just data improvement, these extra trials

might be a truer picture of the pigeons’

object recognition preferences. The pigeons

can be expected to more clearly illustrate

their visual cognitive processes the better

they understand the stimulus being

presented. If they are better at determining

the “most square-like” object because they


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 161

understand that object will have food, the

more likely their incorrect answers are due

to mistaken identity and not merely chance.

In this way, Experiment 2’s results may

better answer how the birds are seeing.

Experiment 3

Whether vertices or line segments

are more important factors for object

recognition in pigeons is just part of the

larger question at hand: do pigeons see

globally or do they only distinguish objects

due to local characteristics? If the pigeons

were recognizing squares vs. non-squares by

one aspect of the shape (e.g. seeing a line

running parallel in front of them triggers a

square recognition), then rotating the shapes

may lower the accuracy on trials. To test

this, we rotated the stimuli presented to the

pigeons, still making the “most-square-like”

shape the S+, but presenting them with a

novel orientation. We hypothesized that the

pigeons would be minimally affected by the

rotated stimuli, suggesting they see the

shapes as whole objects.

Method

The same shape pairings from

Experiment 1 were used, except either one

or both of the shapes were rotated for any

given trial. Squares and partial squares were

rotated 45 degrees and triangles 180

degrees. A comparison of the Experiment 3

overall accuracy to Experiment 2’s

corresponding data will yield an answer to

whether or not rotation affected the pigeon’s

ability to recognize the shapes.

Results

The data suggested rotational

variance has no effect on object recognition

for these pigeons, which was supported by a

two-sample t-test, t (6) = 0.158, p = 0.880..

Within the many incarnations of rotational

stimuli pairs, the square as S+ condition

(Type 1) showed a significant difference

within Experiment 3 (Figure 8). When the

partial square (either vertices-only or line


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 162

segments-only) was rotated, the pigeons

chose the square 67.5 percent of the time,

but when the square was rotated and the

partial square was not, they identified the

square only 48.2 percent of the time.

Another two-sample t-test found this

difference to be statistically significant, t (6)

= -2.830, p = 0.030. Similar to Experiment

1, there was no statistical difference between

line segments and vertices across all trials

for Experiment 3, as yet another two-sample

t-test showed, t (6) = 0.631, p = 0.551.

Discussion

Rotation did not impair the pigeons’

ability to perform the object recognition task

because rotational variance was not found to

have a significant effect on their accuracy.

The implications of this result are that

pigeons saw the whole object and

recognized it despite the different

orientation. If they were operating on the

local level, one would expect more mistakes

to be made when the square and square-like

shapes were rotated 45 degrees because of

the points a square makes where it used to

make flat sides. This could possibly have

confused the bird into rejecting it as a

“square-like” shape, lowering their overall

accuracy. The one statistically significant

result from Experiment 3, however, leaves

some room for speculation on this claim, as

there was clearly a drop in accuracy when

the square was rotated and the partial square

was not. This could possibly be evidence for

local visual processing, but this was not

observed over the better part of the

experiment.

General Discussion

The results of this research have

implications for pigeon vision, and pigeon

visual systems in general. The current

research showed in its direct comparison

trials (Type 3) the existence of a trend

toward line segments as a more important

factor in object recognition than vertices,

although the data did not quite reach


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 163

significance. Because Biederman (1987)

showed evidence for the importance of

vertices in human object recognition, this

raises an interesting distinction between

pigeon and human vision. While the

implications of this difference are not yet

established, future studies directly

comparing performance of pigeons and

humans on the same object recognition tasks

might prove beneficial to this end.

The present research supports what

Rilling et al. (1993) found, but it goes

beyond merely repeating previously

established trends. The experiments

performed in the current research have

vastly different methods from previous

literature. Having the pigeons dig makes the

experiment more realistic, as a pigeon would

be much more likely to dig through sand in

the wild than peck at drawings or computer

screens. Despite the large difference

between these two methods, both found the

pigeons to select line segments over

vertices, suggesting an overarching model of

object recognition that emphasizes line

segments. This method of object recognition

is likely global because the pigeons were not

affected by rotation overall. There is a

possible error in this conclusion, however,

because simply rotating objects does not

change the shape itself, only the angle at

which it is viewed. Nonetheless, the data

that has been collected here suggests the

pigeons work through some sort of global

visual system, whether that system follows

the recognition-by-components theory or a

template model.

References

Biederman, I. (1987). Recognition-by-

Components: A Theory of Human

Image Understanding.

Psychological Review, 94(2), 115-

147.

Cerella, J. (1986). Pigeons and Perceptrons.

Pattern Recognition, 19, 431-438.


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Herrnstein, R.J., Vaughan, Jr., W.,

Mumford, D.B., Kosslyn, S.M.

(1989). Teaching pigeons an

abstract relational rule: Insideness.

Perception & Psychophysics, 46(1),

56-64.

Kelly, D.M., Bischof, W.F., Wong-Wylie,

D.R., Spetch, M.L. (2001). Detection

of Glass Patterns by Pigeons and

Humans: Implications for

Differences in Higher-Level

Processing. Psychological Science,

12(4), 338-342.

Kirkpatrick, K., Wilkinson, A., Johnston, S.

(2007). Pigeons Discriminate

Continuous Versus

Discontinuous Line Segments.

Journal of Experimental Psychology,

33(3), 273-286.

Nguyen, A.P., Spetch, M.L., Crowder, N.A.,

Winship, I.R., Hurd, P.L., Wylie,

D.R.W. (2004). A

Dissociation of Motion and Spatial-

Pattern Vision in the Avian

Telencephalon: Implications for the

Evolution of “Visual Steams.” The

Journal of Neuroscience, 24(21),

4962-4970.

Pinto, N., Cox, D.D., DiCarlo, J.J. (2008).

Why is Real-World Object

Recognition Hard? PLoS

Computational Biology 4(1), 0151-

0156.

Riesenhuber, M., Poggio, T. (2000). Models

of object recognition. Nature

Neuroscience, 3,

1199-1204.

Rilling, M., De Marse, T., La Claire, L.

(1993). Contour Deletion as a

Method for Identifying the

Weights of Features Underlying

Object Recognition. The Quarterly


46B(1), 43-61.


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Van Hamme, L.J., Wasserman, E.A. (1992).

Discrimination of Contour-Deleted

Images by Pigeons. Journal of

Experimental Psychology, 18(4),

387-399.

Wasserman, E. A., Gagliardi, J.L., Cook,

B.R., Kirkpatrick-Steger, K., Astley,

S.L., Biederman,

I. "The Pigeon's Recognition of

Drawings of Depth-Rotated

Stimuli." Journal of Experimental

Psychology: Animal Behavior

Processes 22.2 (1996): 205-

21. ProQuest. Web. 19 Dec. 2013.

Wright, A.A., Delius, J.D. (1994). Scratch

and Match: Pigeons Learn Matching

and Oddity With Gravel Stimuli.


20(1), 108-112.

Appendix

Figure 1. The operant box where the experiment was conducted. Plastic panes and gap where tray was placed can be seen in a) the angle and b) the frontal view . The pigeon was placed behind the panes. The hinged door where the pigeon was placed can be seen in angle view and c) the side view. The white device on top of the box was a camera used to observe the pigeons.

a) b)

c)


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 166

Figure 2. The eight possible set-ups with which the pigeons were presented. In each session, the order was randomly generated four times to produce a session of 32 trials, broken into four sets of eight. The experimenter would then mark the corresponding Trial #s on the sheets and present the trials to the pigeon in that order, recording on the sheet where digging occurred. There were four possible pairings and each was presented in its two possible orientations to avoid side bias: a and e, b and f, c and g, d and h. Type 1 trials were defined as any trial where the full square was S+ (a,b,e,f), and Type 2 any trial where the triangle was the S- (c,d,g,h).


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 167

Figure 3. The pigeons’ average accuracy over 15 sessions. A best-fit line shows a positive slope over time, suggesting an improvement in their performance throughout the experiment. According to the best-fit line and the line by session, the pigeons were choosing the S+ shape at a rate above chance (0.5 since there are two options) after just the first session.

Accuracy over Sessions

Session #

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16

Acc

urac

y

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

By sessionBest-fit


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 168

Average Accuracy by Trial Class

Session Number

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16

Ave

rage

Acc

urac

y

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

1.0

Type 1: S+, square, S- partial squareType 2: S+ partial square, S- triangle

Figure 4. Accuracy over session for both Type 1 and Type 2 trials. Both trials are steadily improving over time, but Type 2 has been consistently higher. Both Types have been above chance (0.5) since Session 3, however.


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 169

Figure 5. The average accuracy of the S+ is reported for both graphs. a) Type 1 trials over sessions and split to show the results of both S- conditions (lines and vertices) when the full square is the S+. There has been no statistical evidence to suggest whether vertices or line segments are confused more with the full square by the pigeons during Type 1 trials. b) Accuracy over session of Type 2 trials and split into both pairings when a triangle is the S- and either a vertices-only or line segment-only square is the S+. There is no statistical evidence supporting a preference for vertices or line segments in Type 2 trials.

0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

1

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

Average Accuracy

Type1_Sqr -‐ Square -‐ Lines

Type1_Sqr -‐ Square -‐ Vertices

0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

1

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

Average Accuracy

Session #

Type2 -‐ Lines -‐ Triangle

Type2 -‐ Vertices -‐ Triangle

a)

b)


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 170

Figure 6. The percent of line segment choices made on probe trials (Type 3 trials) for each bird. The null hypothesis would expect the probability to hover at 0.5 (50 percent). All birds are above chance, but this was not found to be statistically significant enough to reject the null.

0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

Cedric Kit Kat Stewie Twix

Accuracy for Lines (%

)

Birds


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 171

Figure 7. The same graphing format and comparisons as Figure 5, but using data collected during Experiment 2. The results from trials where a) the squares are S+ (Type 1) and b) the triangles are S-‐ (Type 2) are graphed over session number. Both trial types show no significant preference for either line segments or vertices.

0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

1

1 2 3 4 5 6

Accuracy

Square -‐ Lines

Square -‐ Vertices

0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

1

1 2 3 4 5 6

Accuracy

Session #

Triangle -‐ Lines

a)

b)


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 172

Figure 8. Square as S+ (Type 1) and triangle as S-‐ (Type 2) trials graphed out by number of rotated objects (either 1 or 2) and by bird. Blue lines are trials when the partial square was not rotated but the other shape was. Red lines are trials when the partial square was rotated but the other shape was not. Green lines are trials when both the partial square and the other shape were rotated. As was found previously, the pigeons do better on Type 2 trails. The difference between blue and red conditions in Type 1 trials was statistically significant.

0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1

cedric

Kit Kat

Stewie

Twix

cedric

Kit Kat

Stewie

Twix

cedric

Kit Kat

Stewie

Twix

cedric

Kit Kat

Stewie

Twix

1 2 1 2

Type 1 Type 2

Accuracy

no -‐ yes

yes -‐ no

yes -‐ yes


VOL. 2, NO. 1, JUNE 2014 173

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