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- Title
- Predicting child maltreatment potential in mothers who are substance-involved: A study of childhood adversity, stress, affectivity, emotion dysregulation, and emotion regulation strategies as mechanisms of action.
- Creator
-
Lowell, Amanda, Renk, Kimberly, Paulson, Daniel, Sims, Valerie, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
Compared to the general population, parents who are substance-involved are both more likely to have experienced adversity during childhood and to exhibit elevated child maltreatment potential later in life. Within this population, mothers with young children are particularly at-risk. In order to enhance scientific understanding of this phenomenon, this study identified and examined several characteristics that were shown previously to be related to substance misuse and to the experience and...
Show moreCompared to the general population, parents who are substance-involved are both more likely to have experienced adversity during childhood and to exhibit elevated child maltreatment potential later in life. Within this population, mothers with young children are particularly at-risk. In order to enhance scientific understanding of this phenomenon, this study identified and examined several characteristics that were shown previously to be related to substance misuse and to the experience and perpetration of maltreatment. These characteristics included stress, affectivity, emotion dysregulation, and emotion regulation strategies. The current study examined these variables collectively in order to clarify the mechanisms at play in the intergenerational transmission of childhood adversity within the substance-involved population. As part of this study, 127 mothers who were in treatment for substance use problems and who had young children ranging in age from 0- to 5-years rated their own childhood adversity, parenting stress, positive and negative affect, emotion dysregulation, emotion regulation strategies, and child maltreatment potential. Correlational analyses demonstrated many significant relationships among these characteristics. In addition, hierarchical regression analyses suggested that several characteristics (i.e., adverse childhood experiences, childhood maltreatment, parenting stress, positive affect, negative affect, and emotion dysregulation) added unique incremental variance to the prediction of child maltreatment potential. Moderation analyses indicated that parenting stress moderated the relationship between childhood maltreatment and positive affect. Exploratory mediation analyses demonstrated that emotion dysregulation mediated the relationship between childhood maltreatment and child maltreatment potential. Finally, exploratory logistic regression analyses demonstrated that adverse childhood experiences predicted involvement with the child welfare system, even when other mechanisms of action were accounted for. In these analyses, emotion dysregulation approached significance. Overall, this study demonstrated the importance of emotion dysregulation as a central characteristic that links the experience of childhood adversity, an elevated likelihood of substance misuse, and increased child maltreatment potential. Accordingly, these findings suggested the need to address emotion dysregulation as part of trauma-informed intervention efforts for this population. Integrative strategies such as these may reduce emotional and behavioral symptoms following the experience of childhood adversity, increase the likelihood of maintaining sobriety, improve parent-child relationships, and decrease child maltreatment potential.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2017
- Identifier
- CFE0006760, ucf:51850
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006760
- Title
- Declarative Memory, Theory of Mind, and Community Functioning in Schizophrenia.
- Creator
-
Deptula, Andrew, Bedwell, Jeffrey, Paulson, Daniel, Sims, Valerie, Fiore, Stephen, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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Cognitive impairments are highly prevalent in individuals with schizophrenia and are now considered hallmark features of the disorder. Over the past decade, considerable evidence has demonstrated the functional significance of social and nonsocial cognitive impairments in individuals with schizophrenia. However, the nature of the relationship between specific domains of social and nonsocial cognition and how they relate to functional outcome in this population is less clear. In particular,...
Show moreCognitive impairments are highly prevalent in individuals with schizophrenia and are now considered hallmark features of the disorder. Over the past decade, considerable evidence has demonstrated the functional significance of social and nonsocial cognitive impairments in individuals with schizophrenia. However, the nature of the relationship between specific domains of social and nonsocial cognition and how they relate to functional outcome in this population is less clear. In particular, declarative memory impairment has been suggested to have critical consequences for the everyday life of individuals with schizophrenia and may play a role in their social integration difficulties. Preliminary evidence also indicates that theory of mind (ToM) may be an important intermediary between nonsocial cognition and functional outcome. The current study aimed to better understand the relationships between declarative memory, ToM, and functional outcome in individuals with schizophrenia.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2016
- Identifier
- CFE0006096, ucf:51207
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006096
- Title
- Building a Foundation for Goal-Attainment and Problem-Solving in Interdisciplinary Studies: Reimagining Web-Based Core Curriculum through a Classical Lens.
- Creator
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Jardaneh, Said, Fiore, Stephen, Sims, Valerie, McDaniel, Rudy, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
The core curriculum of interdisciplinary studies undergraduate programs represents interdisciplinarity as a consciously applied process, whether individually or collaboratively, of drawing and integrating insights from various disciplinary perspectives toward complex problem-solving and innovation. At the front-end of these programs students are often introduced to interdisciplinarity through terminology, metaphors, concepts, and context that are intended to familiarize them with the process....
Show moreThe core curriculum of interdisciplinary studies undergraduate programs represents interdisciplinarity as a consciously applied process, whether individually or collaboratively, of drawing and integrating insights from various disciplinary perspectives toward complex problem-solving and innovation. At the front-end of these programs students are often introduced to interdisciplinarity through terminology, metaphors, concepts, and context that are intended to familiarize them with the process. This initiation usually precedes what will ultimately entail a limited number of upper-division courses within the several disciplines or areas that will encompass a unique plan of study characterized by its breadth. The philosophy underlying current pedagogy in interdisciplinary studies appears in many ways to mirror the cognitive habitudes and socio-cultural zeitgeist that have emerged with our increasing connectedness with and reliance on digital technology.This dissertation proposes that through a revised front-end core curriculum revisiting both classical and Ramist pedagogy, and perhaps reframing how we think about interdisciplinarity itself, we need not sacrifice depth for breadth. Rather, we may be able to encourage a broadly applicable self-directed goal-centered mindset in our students that places equal emphasis on both breadth and depth in terms of deliberate knowledge acquisition. Through adapting the initial phases of a cognitivist instructional design model provisional week-by-week, curricular content is presented to illustrate how this endeavor might be realized within the context of interdisciplinary studies or like programs. This core curricular model is intended as an alternative well-suited to both the fully online and mixed mode format as well as the diversity of students within the typical undergraduate interdisciplinary studies program.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2016
- Identifier
- CFE0006120, ucf:51180
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006120
- Title
- Childhood Trauma, Reflective Functioning and Attributions, Self-Efficacy, and Perceived Parenting Competence: What Happens When the Traumatized Child Grows Up and Becomes a Mother?.
- Creator
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Cunningham, Annelise, Renk, Kimberly, Paulson, Daniel, Sims, Valerie, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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Previous research documented the relationship between self-efficacy and perceived parenting competence. Further, previous evidence supported the cognitive, emotional, and behavioral consequences of early exposure to trauma. To build on these previously noted relationships, the present study examined the relationships among reflective functioning and attributions, self-efficacy, and perceived parenting competence, with self-efficacy serving as a mediating variable. Specifically, this study...
Show morePrevious research documented the relationship between self-efficacy and perceived parenting competence. Further, previous evidence supported the cognitive, emotional, and behavioral consequences of early exposure to trauma. To build on these previously noted relationships, the present study examined the relationships among reflective functioning and attributions, self-efficacy, and perceived parenting competence, with self-efficacy serving as a mediating variable. Specifically, this study sought to focus on the cognitive variables associated with mothers' perceived self-efficacy and parenting competence and how those variables interact differently when early exposure to trauma is present. As part of this study, a national community sample of 126 culturally diverse mothers of young children who were between the ages of 1(&)#189;- to 5-years rated their own reflective functioning, attributions, self-efficacy, and perceived parenting competence as well as their young children's emotional and behavioral functioning. Correlational analyses showed significant relationships among the variables of interest. Further, mediation analyses indicated that, for the overall sample, mothers' self-efficacy mediated the relationship between both mothers' reflective functioning and attributions and perceived parenting competence. Interestingly, a varying relationship among reflective functioning was found among mothers with a trauma history in comparison to the total sample. Additionally, hierarchical regression analyses demonstrated that, for both samples, mothers' reflective functioning, attributions, self-efficacy, and perceived parenting competence collectively predicted young children's emotional and behavioral functioning. Lastly, through an auxiliary hypothesis, a curvilinear relationship was identified between mothers' perceived self-efficacy and parenting competence. Overall, this study contributed information regarding the importance of self-efficacy as a mechanism through which reflective functioning and attributions may potentially be related to perceived parenting competence. Accordingly, these findings suggested that mothers' perceptions about their own abilities may be a potentially important point of intervention.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2016
- Identifier
- CFE0006092, ucf:51191
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006092
- Title
- Mothers' Temperament, Adverse Childhood Experiences, and Psychological Symptoms: How Are Enduring Maternal Characteristics Related to Mothers' Perceptions of Children's Temperament, Behavior Problems, and Adaptive Functioning?.
- Creator
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Kolomeyer, Ellen, Renk, Kimberly, Cassisi, Jeffrey, Sims, Valerie, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
Extant literature documented the impact of mothers' characteristics and parenting behaviors on young children's psychosocial outcomes. Additionally, previous studies demonstrated the importance of mothers' adverse childhood experiences in the relationships among some of these constructs. To expand on the existing knowledge, the present study examined the relationships among mothers' temperament, reflective functioning, attributions, and specific parenting behaviors, with reflective...
Show moreExtant literature documented the impact of mothers' characteristics and parenting behaviors on young children's psychosocial outcomes. Additionally, previous studies demonstrated the importance of mothers' adverse childhood experiences in the relationships among some of these constructs. To expand on the existing knowledge, the present study examined the relationships among mothers' temperament, reflective functioning, attributions, and specific parenting behaviors, with reflective functioning and attributions serving as two potential mediating variables in these relationships. A community sample of 224 diverse mothers of young children who were between 2- to 5-years of age rated their own adverse childhood experiences, temperament, reflective functioning, attributions, specific parenting behaviors, satisfaction with their maternal role, and psychological symptoms. Additionally, mothers rated their children's temperament, behavior problems, and adaptive functioning. Statistical analyses were conducted on the overall sample as well as on a subsample of participants who reported a high exposure to adverse childhood experiences. Correlational analyses indicated a variety of significant relationships among the variables of interest. Next, mediational analyses indicated that mothers' attributions mediated the relationship between mothers' temperament and parenting behaviors in both the overall sample and the subsample of mothers who reported high exposure to adverse childhood experiences. Further, hierarchical regression analyses demonstrated that a number of maternal characteristics predicted young children's outcomes. Overall, this study identified unique predictors of mothers' parenting behaviors and of mothers' perceptions of the outcomes experienced by their young children. Most importantly, this study highlighted the importance of serving families as a whole when wanting to provide lasting improvements to individual and family functioning through intervention services.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2016
- Identifier
- CFE0006130, ucf:51167
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006130
- Title
- Automatically Acquiring a Semantic Network of Related Concepts.
- Creator
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Szumlanski, Sean, Gomez, Fernando, Wu, Annie, Hughes, Charles, Sims, Valerie, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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We describe the automatic acquisition of a semantic network in which over 7,500 of the most frequently occurring nouns in the English language are linked to their semantically related concepts in the WordNet noun ontology. Relatedness between nouns is discovered automatically from lexical co-occurrence in Wikipedia texts using a novel adaptation of an information theoretic inspired measure. Our algorithm then capitalizes on salient sense clustering among these semantic associates to...
Show moreWe describe the automatic acquisition of a semantic network in which over 7,500 of the most frequently occurring nouns in the English language are linked to their semantically related concepts in the WordNet noun ontology. Relatedness between nouns is discovered automatically from lexical co-occurrence in Wikipedia texts using a novel adaptation of an information theoretic inspired measure. Our algorithm then capitalizes on salient sense clustering among these semantic associates to automatically disambiguate them to their corresponding WordNet noun senses (i.e., concepts). The resultant concept-to-concept associations, stemming from 7,593 target nouns, with 17,104 distinct senses among them, constitute a large-scale semantic network with 208,832 undirected edges between related concepts. Our work can thus be conceived of as augmenting the WordNet noun ontology with RelatedTo links.The network, which we refer to as the Szumlanski-Gomez Network (SGN), has been subjected to a variety of evaluative measures, including manual inspection by human judges and quantitative comparison to gold standard data for semantic relatedness measurements. We have also evaluated the network's performance in an applied setting on a word sense disambiguation (WSD) task in which the network served as a knowledge source for established graph-based spreading activation algorithms, and have shown: a) the network is competitive with WordNet when used as a stand-alone knowledge source for WSD, b) combining our network with WordNet achieves disambiguation results that exceed the performance of either resource individually, and c) our network outperforms a similar resource, WordNet++ (Ponzetto (&) Navigli, 2010), that has been automatically derived from annotations in the Wikipedia corpus.Finally, we present a study on human perceptions of relatedness. In our study, we elicited quantitative evaluations of semantic relatedness from human subjects using a variation of the classical methodology that Rubenstein and Goodenough (1965) employed to investigate human perceptions of semantic similarity. Judgments from individual subjects in our study exhibit high average correlation to the elicited relatedness means using leave-one-out sampling (r = 0.77, ? = 0.09, N = 73), although not as high as average human correlation in previous studies of similarity judgments, for which Resnik (1995) established an upper bound of r = 0.90 (? = 0.07, N = 10). These results suggest that human perceptions of relatedness are less strictly constrained than evaluations of similarity, and establish a clearer expectation for what constitutes human-like performance by a computational measure of semantic relatedness. We also contrast the performance of a variety of similarity and relatedness measures on our dataset to their performance on similarity norms and introduce our own dataset as a supplementary evaluative standard for relatedness measures.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2013
- Identifier
- CFE0004759, ucf:49767
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0004759
- Title
- Social Skills and Social Acceptance in Childhood Anxiety Disorders.
- Creator
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Scharfstein, Lindsay, Beidel, Deborah, Rapport, Mark, Sims, Valerie, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
The present study examined the social skills and social acceptance of children with SAD (n=20), children with GAD (n=18), and typically developing (TD) children (n=20). A multimodal assessment paradigm was employed to address three study objectives: (a) to determine whether social skills deficits are unique to children with SAD or extend to children with GAD, (b) to assess whether skills vary as a function of social context (in vivo peer interaction Wii Task versus hypothetical Social...
Show moreThe present study examined the social skills and social acceptance of children with SAD (n=20), children with GAD (n=18), and typically developing (TD) children (n=20). A multimodal assessment paradigm was employed to address three study objectives: (a) to determine whether social skills deficits are unique to children with SAD or extend to children with GAD, (b) to assess whether skills vary as a function of social context (in vivo peer interaction Wii Task versus hypothetical Social Vignette Task) and (c) to examine the relationship between anxiety diagnosis and social acceptance. Parent questionnaire data indicated that both youth with SAD and GAD experienced difficulties with assertiveness, whereas children with SAD experienced a broader range of social skills difficulties. Blinded observers' ratings during the behavioral assessment social tasks indicated that compared to children with GAD and TD children, children with SAD have deficits in social behaviors and social knowledge across settings, including speech latency, a paucity of speech, few spontaneous comments, questions and exclamations, and ineffective social responses. In addition, vocal analysis revealed that children with SAD were characterized by anxious speech patterns. By comparison, children with GAD exhibited non-anxious speech patterns and did not differ significantly from TD youth on social behaviors, with the exception of fewer spontaneous comments and questions. Lastly, children with SAD were perceived as less likeable and less socially desirable by their peers than both children with GAD and TD children. Clinical implications of these findings are discussed.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2013
- Identifier
- CFE0004932, ucf:49631
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0004932
- Title
- Temperament and Child Maltreatment: A Closer Look at the Interactions Among Mother and Child Temperament, Stress and Coping, Emotional and Behavioral Regulation, and Child Maltreatment Potential.
- Creator
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Lowell, Amanda, Renk, Kimberly, Paulson, Daniel, Sims, Valerie, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
Several theoretical risk models were proposed previously regarding the prediction of child maltreatment. Although child maltreatment was predicted individually in these models by such variables as parent temperament, emotional and behavioral regulation, stress, coping, and child temperament, these variables were not yet examined collectively. As such, a new transactional theory was proposed for the current study. As part of this study, a national community sample of 158 culturally diverse...
Show moreSeveral theoretical risk models were proposed previously regarding the prediction of child maltreatment. Although child maltreatment was predicted individually in these models by such variables as parent temperament, emotional and behavioral regulation, stress, coping, and child temperament, these variables were not yet examined collectively. As such, a new transactional theory was proposed for the current study. As part of this study, a national community sample of 158 culturally diverse mothers of young children who were between the ages of 1(&)#189;- to 5-years rated their own temperament, emotional and behavioral regulation abilities, parenting stress, daily hassles, and coping behaviors as well as their young children's temperament. Correlational analyses demonstrated many significant relationships among the variables of interest. In addition, hierarchical regression analyses suggested that several parent (i.e., mother mood quality, mother flexibility/rigidity, emotion dysregulation, parenting stress, cumulated severity of stress, and emotion-focused coping) and child characteristics (i.e., young child mood quality) added unique incremental variance to the prediction of child maltreatment potential. Finally, mediation analyses indicated that mothers' emotion dysregulation mediated the relationship between mothers' flexibility/rigidity and child maltreatment potential. Overall, this study contributed information regarding the importance of emotion dysregulation as a mechanism through which difficult mother temperament may be related to increased child maltreatment potential. Accordingly, these findings suggested that emotion regulation skills may serve as a potential point of intervention for mothers who are at increased risk for child maltreatment due to difficult temperament characteristics.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2015
- Identifier
- CFE0005652, ucf:50172
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0005652
- Title
- Differential Parenting and Parents' Perceptions of their Children: Can Attachment Help Explain This Relationship?.
- Creator
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Mcswiggan, Meagan, Renk, Kimberly, Cassisi, Jeffrey, Sims, Valerie, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
Research has suggested that the differential experiences of children in the same family were often greater than those of children across different families. Although studies identified potential moderators (e.g., age, gender) associated with differential parenting, there has been less investigation of mediators. The current study examined attachment as a mediator in the relationship between differential parenting and parents' perceptions of their children. As part of this study, 132...
Show moreResearch has suggested that the differential experiences of children in the same family were often greater than those of children across different families. Although studies identified potential moderators (e.g., age, gender) associated with differential parenting, there has been less investigation of mediators. The current study examined attachment as a mediator in the relationship between differential parenting and parents' perceptions of their children. As part of this study, 132 culturally diverse mothers with children who ranged in age from 2- to 10-years rated how differently they treat their own children, their children's attachment, their parenting characteristics, and their children's functioning (i.e., temperament and emotional and behavioral functioning). Meditational and hierarchical regression analyses suggested the importance of examining both parenting characteristics as well as attachment variables in understanding how mothers rated both their older and younger children. In particular, results demonstrated that the parent-child attachment relationship is particularly important for older children in families with a younger sibling present. For younger siblings, this study corroborated existing research and found that punitive parenting was especially important in predicting parents' ratings of these children's emotional and behavioral functioning. These findings are particularly helpful for professionals working with families with multiple children and with parents who are reporting troubling behaviors in these children.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2015
- Identifier
- CFE0005664, ucf:50160
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0005664
- Title
- An Event-Related Potential Investigation of Error Monitoring in Adults with a History of Psychosis.
- Creator
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Chan, Chi, Bedwell, Jeffrey, Cassisi, Jeffrey, Sims, Valerie, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
Metacognition, which involves monitoring and controlling of one's thoughts and actions, is essential for guiding behavior and organization of information. Deficits in self-monitoring have been suggested to lead to psychosis and poor functional outcome. Abnormalities in event-related potentials originating from the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), a brain region associated with error detection, have been consistently reported in individuals with schizophrenia during error monitoring tasks....
Show moreMetacognition, which involves monitoring and controlling of one's thoughts and actions, is essential for guiding behavior and organization of information. Deficits in self-monitoring have been suggested to lead to psychosis and poor functional outcome. Abnormalities in event-related potentials originating from the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), a brain region associated with error detection, have been consistently reported in individuals with schizophrenia during error monitoring tasks. This study sought to examine whether these abnormalities are present in individuals with a history of psychosis across diagnostic categories and whether they are associated with subjective appraisal of self-performance and personality traits related to psychosis. The error-related negativity (ERN), the correct response negativity (CRN), and the error positivity (Pe) were recorded in 15 individuals with a history of psychosis (PSY) and 12 individuals without a history of psychosis (CTR) during performance on a flanker task. Participants also continuously rated their performance on the task and completed the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire (-) Brief Revised (SPQ-BR). Compared with the CTR group, the PSY group exhibited reduced ERN and Pe amplitudes during error trials, but normal CRN and Pe amplitudes during correct trials. The PSY group also was less accurate at identifying their errors than the CTR group but just as accurate at identifying correct responses. Across all participants, smaller ERN amplitudes were associated with greater scores on the Disorganized factor of the SPQ-BR and smaller Pe amplitudes were associated with greater scores on the Cognitive Perceptual factor of the SPQ-BR. Individuals with a history of psychosis regardless of diagnosis demonstrated abnormal neural activity during error monitoring. Error monitoring deficits may be associated with vulnerability for psychosis across disorders.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2013
- Identifier
- CFE0005312, ucf:50506
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0005312
- Title
- Examining the Effects of Interactive Dynamic Multimedia and Direct Touch Input on Performance of a Procedural Motor Task.
- Creator
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Marraffino, Matthew, Sims, Valerie, Chin, Matthew, Mouloua, Mustapha, Johnson, Cheryl, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
Ownership of mobile devices, such as tablets and smartphones, has quickly risen in the last decade. Unsurprisingly, they are now being integrated into the training and classroom setting. Specifically, the U.S. Army has mapped out a plan in the Army Learning Model of 2015 to utilize mobile devices for training purposes. However, before these tools can be used effectively, it is important to identify how the tablets' unique properties can be leveraged. For this dissertation, the touch interface...
Show moreOwnership of mobile devices, such as tablets and smartphones, has quickly risen in the last decade. Unsurprisingly, they are now being integrated into the training and classroom setting. Specifically, the U.S. Army has mapped out a plan in the Army Learning Model of 2015 to utilize mobile devices for training purposes. However, before these tools can be used effectively, it is important to identify how the tablets' unique properties can be leveraged. For this dissertation, the touch interface and the interactivity that tablets afford were investigated using a procedural-motor task. The procedural motor task was the disassembly procedures of a M4 carbine. This research was motivated by cognitive psychology theories, including Cognitive Load Theory and Embodied Cognition. In two experiments, novices learned rifle disassembly procedures in a narrated multimedia presentation presented on a tablet and then were tested on what they learned during the multimedia training involving a virtual rifle by performing a rifle disassembly on a physical rifle, reassembling the rifle, and taking a written recall test about the disassembly procedures. Spatial ability was also considered as a subject variable.Experiment 1 examined two research questions. The primary research question was whether including multiple forms of interactivity in a multimedia presentation resulted in higher learning outcomes. The secondary research question in Experiment 1 was whether dynamic multimedia fostered better learning outcomes than equivalent static multimedia. To examine the effects of dynamism and interactivity on learning, four multimedia conditions of varying levels of interactivity and dynamism were used. One condition was a 2D phase diagram depicting the before and after of the step with no animation or interactivity. Another condition utilized a non-interactive animation in which participants passively watched an animated presentation of the disassembly procedures. A third condition was the interactive animation in which participants could control the pace of the presentation by tapping a button. The last condition was a rifle disassembly simulation in which participants interacted with a virtual rifle to learn the disassembly procedures. A comparison of the conditions by spatial ability yielded the following results. Interactivity, overall, improved outcomes on the performance measures. However, high spatials outperformed low spatials in the simulation condition and the 2D phase diagram condition. High spatials seemed to be able to compensate for low interactivity and dynamism in the 2D phase diagram condition while enhancing their performance in the rifle disassembly simulation condition.In Experiment 2, the touchscreen interface was examined by investigating how gestures and input modality affected learning the disassembly procedures. Experiment 2 had two primary research questions. The first was whether gestures facilitate learning a procedural-motor task through embodied learning. The second was whether direct touch input using resulted in higher learning outcomes than indirect mouse input. To examine the research questions, three different variations of the rifle disassembly simulation were used. One was identical to that of Experiment 1. Another incorporated gestures to initiate the animation whereby participants traced a gesture arrow representing the motion of the component to learn the procedures. The third condition utilized the same interface as the initial rifle disassembly simulation but included (")dummy(") gesture arrows that displayed only visual information but did not respond to gesture. This condition was included to see the effects (if any) of the gesture arrows in isolation of the gesture component. Furthermore, direct touch input was compared to indirect mouse input. Once again, spatial ability also was considered. Results from Experiment 2 were inconclusive as no significant effects were found. This may have been due to a ceiling effect of performance. However, spatial ability was a significant predictor of performance across all conditions. Overall, the results of the two experiments support the use of multimedia on a tablet to train a procedural-motor task. In line with vision of ALM 2015, the research support incorporating tablets into U.S. Army training curriculum.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2014
- Identifier
- CFE0005376, ucf:50467
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0005376
- Title
- Visuo-spatial abilities in remote perception: A meta-analysis of empirical work.
- Creator
-
Fincannon, Thomas, Jentsch, Florian, Sims, Valerie, Bowers, Clint, Chen, Jessie, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
Meta-analysis was used to investigate the relationship between visuo-spatial ability and performance in remote environments. In order to be included, each study needed to examine the relationship between the use of an ego-centric perspective and various dimensions of performance (i.e., identification, localization, navigation, and mission completion time). The moderator analysis investigated relationships involving: (a) visuo-spatial construct with an emphasis on Carroll's (1993)...
Show moreMeta-analysis was used to investigate the relationship between visuo-spatial ability and performance in remote environments. In order to be included, each study needed to examine the relationship between the use of an ego-centric perspective and various dimensions of performance (i.e., identification, localization, navigation, and mission completion time). The moderator analysis investigated relationships involving: (a) visuo-spatial construct with an emphasis on Carroll's (1993) visualization (VZ) factor; (b) performance outcome (i.e., identification, localization, navigation, and mission completion time); (c) autonomy to support mission performance; (d) task type (i.e., navigation vs. reconnaissance); and (e) experimental testbed (i.e., physical vs. virtual environments). The process of searching and screening for published and unpublished analyses identified 81 works of interest that were found to represent 50 unique datasets. 518 effects were extracted from these datasets for analyses.Analyses of aggregated effects (Hunter (&) Schmidt, 2004) found that visuo-spatial abilities were significantly associated with each construct, such that effect sizes ranged from weak (r = .235) to moderately strong (r = .371). For meta-regression (Borenstein, Hedges, Figgins, (&) Rothstein, 2009; Kalaian (&) Raudenbush, 1996; Tabachnick (&) Fidell, 2007), moderation by visuo-spatial construct (i.e., focusing on visualization) was consistently supported for all outcomes. For at least one of the outcomes, support was found for moderation by test, the reliability coefficient of a test, autonomy (i.e. to support identification, localization, and navigation), testbed (i.e., physical vs. virtual environment), intended domain of application, and gender. These findings illustrate that majority of what researchers refer to as (")spatial ability(") actually uses measures that load onto Carroll's (1993) visualization (VZ) factor. The associations between this predictor and all performance outcomes were significant, but the significant variation across moderators highlight important issues for the design of unmanned systems and the external validity of findings across domains. For example, higher levels of autonomy for supporting navigation decreased the association between visualization (VZ) and performance. In contrast, higher levels of autonomy for supporting identification and localization increased the association between visualization (VZ) and performance. Furthermore, moderation by testbed, intended domain of application, and gender challenged the degree to which findings can be expected to generalize across domains and sets of participants.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2013
- Identifier
- CFE0004680, ucf:49858
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0004680
- Title
- Autobiographical Memory and Theory of Mind in Schizotypy.
- Creator
-
Deptula, Andrew, Bedwell, Jeffrey, Beidel, Deborah, Sims, Valerie, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
Individuals with schizophrenia exhibit marked impairments on tasks assessing theory of mind (ToM) and autobiographical memory (AM) qualities, and preliminary research has indicated a positive link between these abilities. This study is the first to systematically explore this relationship in the related personality trait of schizotypy. In a study of 47 undergraduate students (23 males) reporting a wide continuous range of schizotypy, we found that females, but not males, exhibited a negative...
Show moreIndividuals with schizophrenia exhibit marked impairments on tasks assessing theory of mind (ToM) and autobiographical memory (AM) qualities, and preliminary research has indicated a positive link between these abilities. This study is the first to systematically explore this relationship in the related personality trait of schizotypy. In a study of 47 undergraduate students (23 males) reporting a wide continuous range of schizotypy, we found that females, but not males, exhibited a negative correlation between ToM and schizotypy, and an unexpected positive correlation between AM qualities and schizotypy. Factor score analysis within females indicated that disorganized schizotypy was the strongest correlate of both ToM (i.e., affective ToM; ability to infer emotions), and AM qualities (i.e., mental imagery vividness). Finally, independent of schizotypy and sex, ToM was negatively correlated with AM qualities. This negative association between ToM and AM as well as the positive relationship between schizotypy and AM (in females) distinguish findings in schizotypy from those in schizophrenia. Although, the qualities of AM in schizotypy are relatively unexplored in schizotypy, overlapping and AM-related constructs (e.g., mental image vividness, creativity) are enhanced in schizotypy. This phenomenon is theorized to occur due to a reduced latent inhibition process, which also reveals distinct patterns of sexual dimorphism in schizotypy. In sum, the current study found sex to be a critical variable in each hypothesis, demonstrating a unique pattern in females, but not males. It could be that distinct underlying mechanisms account for sex differences on ToM and AM tasks in schizophrenia-related disorders.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2013
- Identifier
- CFE0004671, ucf:49855
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0004671
- Title
- Gestures and mental models: A triple coding hypothesis.
- Creator
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Austin, Maura, Gill, Michele, Sims, Valerie, Verkler, Karen, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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Gestures and speech have been intertwined since the beginning of human communication. Recently the role of gestures in cognition and learning has become a topic of interest in both cognitive and educational psychology. Some researchers have speculated that gestures inherently communicate information that is not provided in purely verbal communication, and that this supplemental information can lead to more thorough mental models in the receiver by acting on a physical/motor modality in...
Show moreGestures and speech have been intertwined since the beginning of human communication. Recently the role of gestures in cognition and learning has become a topic of interest in both cognitive and educational psychology. Some researchers have speculated that gestures inherently communicate information that is not provided in purely verbal communication, and that this supplemental information can lead to more thorough mental models in the receiver by acting on a physical/motor modality in addition to the two modalities proposed in the dual code hypothesis. To further understand this issue, in this study, we examined the effects of watching a gesturing or a non-gesturing lecturer on the learner's cognitive load and mental model development. The results have implications for cognitive psychology as well as educational psychology, particularly in multimedia learning.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2015
- Identifier
- CFE0005760, ucf:50083
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0005760
- Title
- Human Factor Effects of Simulating Battlefield Malodors in Field Training.
- Creator
-
Pike, William, Proctor, Michael, Shumaker, Randall, Sims, Valerie, Ness, James, Burgess, Deborah, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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In order to explore how to better utilize simulated odors for live training, a study of 180 United States Military Academy at West Point cadets was undertaken to determine whether pre-exposure to a simulated malodor may result in an amelioration of performance issues, as well as improving performance of a complex task. Exposure to malodors has long been shown to increase stress and escape behavior, and reduce performance of complex tasks, in addition to degrading other human factor areas....
Show moreIn order to explore how to better utilize simulated odors for live training, a study of 180 United States Military Academy at West Point cadets was undertaken to determine whether pre-exposure to a simulated malodor may result in an amelioration of performance issues, as well as improving performance of a complex task. Exposure to malodors has long been shown to increase stress and escape behavior, and reduce performance of complex tasks, in addition to degrading other human factor areas. However, desensitization to a particular odor through a process known as olfactory adaptation, could ameliorate these performance issues. In this study, cadets were assigned to one of three conditions: Adaptation (odor/odor, to denote presence or absence of the simulated malodor in each of two phases), No Adaptation (no odor/odor), or Control (no odor/no odor). Participants wore a device to track electrodermal activity, a predictor of stress. Participants spent 12 minutes in a tent taking a quiz involving a common military task. After two minutes, a scent delivery system was turned on, delivering either the simulated malodor (burnt human flesh) or no odor. Participants exited the tent after the full 12 minutes and rated the air quality of the tent. They repeated the exercise in a second tent, with a similar quiz. Metrics of interest included perceived intensity and detection time, common metrics for gauging olfactory adaption, as well as electrodermal activity, escape behavior, and task performance. Results indicate participants in the Adaptation condition were partially desensitized to the malodor. Performance metrics did not show any statistical significance for stress, escape behavior, or performance improvement for the Adaptation condition, although there was a strong negative correlation of performance and perceived mental demand. Performance improvement and stress results were trending in the expected directions. This study differed from previous work in olfactory adaptation studies by linking adaptation to performance during a relevant complex task, and provides valuable lessons for future olfactory studies. From a more applied viewpoint, this study also provides insight for future research into the incorporation of malodors in live training.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2018
- Identifier
- CFE0007357, ucf:52097
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0007357
- Title
- How is she managing? Examination of a woman's emotion regulation strategy in the relationship between anxiety, depression, and prenatal attachment.
- Creator
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Cunningham, Annelise, Alexander, Kristi, Neer, Sandra, Sims, Valerie, James, Shari-Ann, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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Pregnancy is often perceived as a time of positivity, joy, and happiness in anticipation of the birth of a child (La Marca-Ghaemmaghami (&) Ehlert, 2015). At the same time, pregnancy requires adaptation to physiological, social, psychological, and socioeconomic changes (La Marca-Ghaemmaghami (&) Ehlert, 2015). Such adjustments can evoke emotional distress for expectant women (Guardino (&) Schetter, 2014). Despite the stressful nature, pregnancy at the same time calls for the expectant mother...
Show morePregnancy is often perceived as a time of positivity, joy, and happiness in anticipation of the birth of a child (La Marca-Ghaemmaghami (&) Ehlert, 2015). At the same time, pregnancy requires adaptation to physiological, social, psychological, and socioeconomic changes (La Marca-Ghaemmaghami (&) Ehlert, 2015). Such adjustments can evoke emotional distress for expectant women (Guardino (&) Schetter, 2014). Despite the stressful nature, pregnancy at the same time calls for the expectant mother to be cognizant of her thoughts, feelings, and behaviors for the well-being of the fetus (Lindgren, 2001). Prenatal attachment is a construct based on women's cognitive representations of their fetus that manifests in behaviors that reflect care and commitment (Salisbury, Law, (&) LaGasse, 2003). How a woman regulates her emotions during pregnancy is largely understudied, further how she regulates in order to engage in behaviors beneficial to her unborn baby are unknown. Some individuals attempt to alter their emotional experience by suppressing their expression, while others reappraise the context to alter their experienced emotion (Gross, 1998. 2003, 2015). Considering the potential impact emotional regulation strategies can have on resulting physiological, behavioral, and experiential systems, the present study sought to evaluate the role of a woman's emotion regulation strategy (cognitive reappraisal, expressive suppression) on the relationship between symptoms of anxiety and depression, and prenatal attachment. It was expected that reported anxiety and depression would be correlated significantly and negatively with prenatal attachment, maternal emotion regulation strategies would be correlated significantly with prenatal attachment, and women's emotion regulation strategy would moderate the relationships among anxiety, depression, and prenatal attachment. Participants consisted of expectant women in their second-third trimester. Bivariate correlations showed no significant correlations among women's anxiety, depression, and prenatal attachment. Further, no significant correlations were found among women's emotion regulation strategies and prenatal attachment. Significant correlations were found among women's anxiety, depression, and expressive suppression scores. The finding suggests assessment of the use of suppression as a regulation strategy during pregnancy may be of clinical usefulness.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2019
- Identifier
- CFE0007796, ucf:52356
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0007796
- Title
- The Role of Teacher Perceptions of Response to Intervention, Racial/Ethnic Attitudes, and Self-Efficacy in Special Education Referral Decisions.
- Creator
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Cash, Kristine, Gill, Michele, Edwards, Oliver, Clark, M. H., Sims, Valerie, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
This study is an exploration of the aspects related to the disproportionate representation of minority students in special education. The investigation specifically focused on the relationship between teacher perceptions of Response to Intervention (RTI), teacher racial attitudes, and teacher self-efficacy with respect to their special education referral decisions. Teachers assigned to grades K-5 (n=51), from three Florida public school districts, completed an online survey. The survey...
Show moreThis study is an exploration of the aspects related to the disproportionate representation of minority students in special education. The investigation specifically focused on the relationship between teacher perceptions of Response to Intervention (RTI), teacher racial attitudes, and teacher self-efficacy with respect to their special education referral decisions. Teachers assigned to grades K-5 (n=51), from three Florida public school districts, completed an online survey. The survey included reading four vignettes each describing a fictitious 3rd grade, male, Black/African American student and rating the severity of the academic concern, the severity of the behavior concern, and the likelihood that they would refer the student for a special education evaluation. Participants also completed a revised RTI Survey, the Color-Blind Racial Attitudes Scale (CoBRAS), and the Teachers' Sense of Efficacy Scale (TSES). Spearman's correlation coefficients were calculated as well as an ordinal logistic regression. A statistically significant relationship was found between the Unawareness of Institutional Discrimination subscale score of the CoBRAS and the behavior concern for a student described as having mild behavior and academic concerns. A statistically significant relationship was found between the rating of the behavior concern and the Efficacy in Student Engagement and Efficacy in Classroom Management subscale scores on the TSES for the vignette describing a student with a severe reading concern and a mild behavior concern. The teachers' perceptions of RTI, racial attitudes, and sense of efficacy did not appear to have a statistically significant impact on their rating of the likelihood of referral for any of the students described in the vignettes.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2019
- Identifier
- CFE0007608, ucf:52545
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0007608
- Title
- The Impact of Degraded Speech and Stimulus Familiarity in a Dichotic Listening Task.
- Creator
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Sinatra, Anne, Sims, Valerie, Hancock, Peter, Szalma, James, Chin, Matthew, Renk, Kimberly, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
It has been previously established that when engaged in a difficult attention intensive task, which involves repeating information while blocking out other information (the dichotic listening task), participants are often able to report hearing their own names in an unattended audio channel (Moray, 1959). This phenomenon, called the cocktail party effect is a result of words that are important to oneself having a lower threshold, resulting in less attention being necessary to process them ...
Show moreIt has been previously established that when engaged in a difficult attention intensive task, which involves repeating information while blocking out other information (the dichotic listening task), participants are often able to report hearing their own names in an unattended audio channel (Moray, 1959). This phenomenon, called the cocktail party effect is a result of words that are important to oneself having a lower threshold, resulting in less attention being necessary to process them (Treisman, 1960). The current studies examined the ability of a person who was engaged in an attention demanding task to hear and recall low-threshold words from a fictional story. These low-threshold words included a traditional alert word, (")fire(") and fictional character names from a popular franchise(-)Harry Potter. Further, the role of stimulus degradation was examined by including synthetic and accented speech in the task to determine how it would impact attention and performance.In Study 1 participants repeated passages from a novel that was largely unfamiliar to them, The Secret Garden while blocking out a passage from a much more familiar source, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Each unattended Harry Potter passage was edited so that it would include 4 names from the series, and the word (")fire(") twice. The type of speech present in the attended and unattended ears (Natural or Synthetic) was varied to examine the impact that processing a degraded speech would have on performance. The speech that the participant shadowed did not impact unattended recall, however it did impact shadowing accuracy. The speech type that was present in the unattended ear did impact the ability to recall low-threshold, Harry Potter information. When the unattended speech type was synthetic, significantly less Harry Potter information was recalled. Interestingly, while Harry Potter information was recalled by participants with both high and low Harry Potter experience, the traditional low-threshold word, (")fire(") was not noticed by participants. In order to determine if synthetic speech impeded the ability to report low-threshold Harry Potter names due to being degraded or simply being different than natural speech, Study 2 was designed. In Study 2 the attended (shadowed) speech was held constant as American Natural speech, and the unattended ear was manipulated. An accent which was different than the native accent of the participants was included as a mild form of degradation. There were four experimental stimuli which contained one of the following in the unattended ear: American Natural, British Natural, American Synthetic and British Synthetic. Overall, more unattended information was reported when the unattended channel was Natural than Synthetic. This implies that synthetic speech does take more working memory processing power than even an accented natural speech. Further, it was found that experience with the Harry Potter franchise played a role in the ability to report unattended Harry Potter information. Those who had high levels of Harry Potter experience, particularly with audiobooks, were able to process and report Harry Potter information from the unattended stimulus when it was British Natural. While, those with low Harry Potter experience were not able to report unattended Harry Potter information from this slightly degraded stimulus. Therefore, it is believed that the previous audiobook experience of those in the high Harry Potter experience group acted as training and resulted in less working memory being necessary to encode the unattended Harry Potter information. A pilot study was designed in order to examine the impact of story familiarity in the attended and unattended channels of a dichotic listening task. In the pilot study, participants shadowed a Harry Potter passage (familiar) in one condition with a passage from The Secret Garden (unfamiliar) playing in the unattended ear. A second condition had participants shadowing The Secret Garden (unfamiliar) with a passage from Harry Potter (familiar) present in the unattended ear. There was no significant difference in the number of unattended names recalled. Those with low Harry Potter experience reported significantly less attended information when they shadowed Harry Potter than when they shadowed The Secret Garden. Further, there appeared to be a trend such that those with high Harry Potter experience were reporting more attended information when they shadowed Harry Potter than The Secret Garden. This implies that experience with a franchise and characters may make it easier to recall information about a passage, while lack of experience provides no assistance. Overall, the results of the studies indicate that we do treat fictional characters in a way similarly to ourselves. Names and information about fictional characters were able to break through into attention during a task that required a great deal of attention. The experience one had with the characters also served to assist the working memory in processing the information in degraded circumstances. These results have important implications for training, design of alerts, and the use of popular media in the classroom.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2012
- Identifier
- CFE0004256, ucf:49535
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0004256
- Title
- Measuring Trust in Virtual Worlds: Avatar-Mediated Self-Disclosure.
- Creator
-
Surprenant, Amanda, Sims, Valerie, Chin, Matthew, Rinalducci, Edward, Singer, Michael, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
This study investigated the development of trust between strangers interacting via avatars in virtual worlds. The first part of the study analyzed perceived trustworthiness based on the visual appearance of avatars; the second part makes observations of two strangers self-disclosing information via avatars in a virtual world; the third part analyzed an experimental situation of two individuals interacting via avatars, where avatar appearance was changed and participants were recruited based...
Show moreThis study investigated the development of trust between strangers interacting via avatars in virtual worlds. The first part of the study analyzed perceived trustworthiness based on the visual appearance of avatars; the second part makes observations of two strangers self-disclosing information via avatars in a virtual world; the third part analyzed an experimental situation of two individuals interacting via avatars, where avatar appearance was changed and participants were recruited based on their experience with interacting with others via avatars. Findings showed that perceived trustworthiness does vary based on the visual appearance of the avatar. A positive relationship was found for self-disclosure and experience, in that those who have previously chosen to participate in a virtual world were more likely to share more detailed information about themselves. Non-significant differences in self-disclosure were found for avatar appearance; however, experience in using virtual worlds was significantly different for the willingness to share information before engaging in a task: experienced participants shared more information than inexperienced participants. This suggests that self-disclosure might be influenced by appearance at the point of formation in that the experienced are willing to overlook the avatar, and less so when there are other sources of information to base trust-behavior on (Altman (&) Taylor, 1973; Nowak (&) Rauh, 2006).Recommendations were made for modifications for similar experiments trying to validate an objective measure of trust, and for continued research in the development of trust between strangers interacting via avatars
Show less - Date Issued
- 2012
- Identifier
- CFE0004291, ucf:49496
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0004291
- Title
- Exploration of the Impact of Affective Variables on Human Performance in a Live Simulation.
- Creator
-
Westerlund, Ken, Kincaid, John, Sims, Valerie, Chin, Matthew, VanderVeen, Cornelius, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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Live simulations play an important role in allowing users to practice and develop skills they learn in training. Although live simulations are playing an increasingly important role in training, ways to improve them are not well understood or documented. In order to improve the efficacy of live simulation and maximize results from funds spent on training; this research examines the relationship between the affective variables of the participants and their performance in the live simulation....
Show moreLive simulations play an important role in allowing users to practice and develop skills they learn in training. Although live simulations are playing an increasingly important role in training, ways to improve them are not well understood or documented. In order to improve the efficacy of live simulation and maximize results from funds spent on training; this research examines the relationship between the affective variables of the participants and their performance in the live simulation. Prior to participating in the instructor development live simulation used in this study two training preference scales were administered to a group of trainees. These scales measured the trainees' locus of control and immersion tendencies. During the live simulation the trainees' performance was evaluated by a panel of expert observers. The trainees also self-reported their performance through the use of a self-rating instrument. Analysis of the data revealed significant positive correlations between the trainees' internal locus of control and their performance in the simulation, both self-reported (p=0.026) and as reported by the expert observers (p=0.033). The correlation between immersion tendency scores and performance in the live simulation were mixed; while not always statistically significant they did reveal some slight positive correlation. This research did provide a number of lessons learned and implications for instructional and simulation developers wishing to employ live simulation in a training environment. These include performance of sub-populations within the greater population of subjects, consideration of roles assigned to participants, and the need to increase presence within the live simulation. Application of these lessons learned can reduce training costs and/or improve the effectiveness of live simulation in a training environment, this in turn can be of significant benefit to instructional and simulation designers. Additionally, understanding these relationships can lead to better assignments of roles or activities within live simulation and improve the transfer of experience from live simulation training to on the job performance. However, additional research needs to be conducted in order to make more conclusive statements regarding the most appropriate affective variable that would allow for predicting transfer of the simulated experience to the 'real' world, the individuals who would benefit most from live simulation, and to develop additional prescriptive methods for improving live simulation utilized in training environments.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2013
- Identifier
- CFE0004958, ucf:49578
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0004958