Does lexicality or phonemic predictability affect cross-modal identification of monosyllabic items?

College of Professional Studies

Speech is both auditory and visual. Both modalities can carry the same underlying (articulatory) information. This relationship serves cross-modal matching abilities in a variety of conditions, but to what extent is cross-modal matching ability mediated by abstract, cognitive processes, representations, and linguistic experience (e.g. lexicality or phonemic predictability)?

Does the Thatcher Effect Extend to Infant Faces?

Adnan Alyna, Psychology Undergraduate Student

College of Professional Studies

You will spend more time looking at faces than any other type of object in your lifetime. Because faces are such an important social signal, humans have developed a perceptual expertise for faces. Decades of research on the mechanisms of face processing have demonstrated we more heavily on configural processing strategies when viewing faces due to this expertise. However, this work has been done using almost exclusively adult facial stimuli. The current study uses a well-established configural disruption known as the Thatcher Effect to investigate the use of configural processing for infant faces. We find evidence that infant face processing may be less reliant on configural information.

Does the Thatcher Effect extend to infant faces?

Adnan Alyan, Psychology Graduate Student

College of Professional Studies

You will spend more time looking at faces than any other type of object in your lifetime. Because faces are such an important social signal, humans have developed a perceptual expertise for faces. Decades of research on the mechanisms of face processing have demonstrated that although faces contain both featural and configural information humans rely more heavily on configural processing strategies when viewing faces. However, this work has been done using almost exclusively adult facial stimuli. The current study uses a well-established configural disruption known as the Thatcher Effect (TE) to investigate the use of configural processing for infant faces.

Does Women’s Interpersonal Anxiety Track Changes in Steroid Hormone Levels?

College of Professional Studies

Previous studies have suggested that women’s interpersonal anxiety will track changes in progesterone during the menstrual cycle. There have been few direct tests of this hypothesis. The present study used a longitudinal design to investigate whether interpersonal anxiety tracked changes in steroid hormones during the menstrual cycle. Women reported greater interpersonal sensitivity and anxiety in the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle compared to the follicular phase. More recent work did not replicate this effect of cycle phase on anxiety. Given results for attachment anxiety and progesterone, we predicted that women would report greater anxious jealousy when progesterone was high.

Don't get caught with a CAUTI

Jill Williams, Nursing Undergraduate Student

College of Professional Studies

Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are the 5th most common healthcare-associated infection. Of hospital-acquired UTIs, 75% are associated with urinary catheters. 12-16% of people hospitalized require a urinary catheter. There is a 3-7% increased risk of a UTI each day the catheter is in. The negative effects of catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI) are pain and discomfort, as well as longer hospital stays, increased cost, complications like secondary infections and mortality (estimated 13,000 deaths/year). The proposed outcomes of are after 1 year, there will be a 50% reduction in CAUTI rates and after 1 year, there will be a 2-day reduction in length of hospital stay.

Early Intervention for Young Children in Improving Future Outcomes

College of Professional Studies

The project is based on a review study being done to understand different types of early interventions (0-8 years) that are available to help young children and their families in improving the future outcomes of the children. In this paper, I define early intervention, present different areas and formats, list various programs available in the Humboldt County, and make recommendations for parents and professionals who work with them.

Effect of Foot Orthoses on Energetics and Lower Limb Mechanics in Healthy Adults During Cycling

College of Professional Studies

The use of custom foot orthotics and wedging techniques has been recognized in the literature as a method to mechanically alter or improve joint function at the hip and knee. This study investigated the effect of foot orthoses on energetics and lower limb mechanics in healthy adults during cycling. We hypothesized that alterations to medial foot support will affect lower limb mechanics as well as metabolic values. Participants completed an individualized protocol that involved cycling in four foot orthoses conditions at three power intensities. The results of this study provide insights into the use of foot orthoses for; correcting mechanics, improving energetics and reducing injury.

Effectiveness of nSuns Powerlifting Program on Increasing 1RM

College of Professional Studies

Study of a powerlifting power to increase 1RM on the bench press.

Effects of a Dual-Task Paradigm on Tandem Gait Performance After Concussion

College of Professional Studies

Sport-related concussions are defined as the somatic and cognitive instabilities caused by direct, biomechanical forces colliding with an individual’s head or body. Health professionals utilize a series of tests to identify these instabilities at the time of injury and throughout recovery; however, each test measures the deficits individually. Alternatively, by combining two tests into a dual-task assessment, subtle impairments are better detected after a concussion. The purpose of this study is to determine if the Tandem Gait with a secondary cognitive task is a valid and reliable tool to distinguish prolonged gait deficits after a concussion in collegiate athletes.

Effects of a Race Timer on the 3 Minute All Out Test for Critical Power

College of Professional Studies

The 3 Minute all-out Test (3MT) provides a lens with which to gain insight on an individual's performance capabilities by measuring both anaerobic capacity and maximal aerobic capacity in one short test. The 3MT measures maximal performance based on the assumption that the subject is giving the test maximal effort. However due to the design of the 3MT, test participants may not be able to accurately gauge their perceived exertion, which could potentially affect performance outcomes during testing. The aim of this study is to examine the effects of introducing a race timer to the 3MT on performance outcomes in healthy active males, and also carries the potential to refine the 3MT.