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- Title
- THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PSYCHOMETRICALLY-DEFINED SOCIAL ANXIETY AND WORKING MEMORY PERFORMANCE.
- Creator
-
Paskowski, Timothy, Bedwell, Jeffrey, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
Anxiety disorders are among the most commonly diagnosed class of mental illness in the United States, and often involve abnormally high levels of stress and social fear. Despite high lifetime prevalence rates, social anxiety disorder (SAD) has remarkably low diagnosis and treatment rates. Furthermore, while individuals with other specific psychiatric disorders tend to exhibit significant neuropsychological deficits, neuropsychological functioning in individuals with SAD remains largely...
Show moreAnxiety disorders are among the most commonly diagnosed class of mental illness in the United States, and often involve abnormally high levels of stress and social fear. Despite high lifetime prevalence rates, social anxiety disorder (SAD) has remarkably low diagnosis and treatment rates. Furthermore, while individuals with other specific psychiatric disorders tend to exhibit significant neuropsychological deficits, neuropsychological functioning in individuals with SAD remains largely untested. A majority of the few existing studies concerning neuropsychological performance in SAD samples focus on specific functions, and their limited results are highly mixed. The primary objective of this investigation was to provide a more thorough, broad assessment of both auditory and visual working memory as related to psychometrically-defined social anxiety disorder. In addition, this study aimed to help clarify as to whether such deficits are related to the construct of social anxiety, or whether any potential deficits are better explained by generalized state and/or trait (in-the-moment) anxiety. The implications of a deficit in the visual and/or auditory working memory domains are multifaceted. For example, such a deficit may lead to the inability to detect visual cues in social situations. The inability to process these social cues has the potential to exacerbate some SAD- related symptoms, such as fear of humiliation and judgment. Twenty-nine college students completed both phases of this study, including an assessment of state and trait anxiety as well as social phobia and a four-part working memory battery. An analysis of the Phase II data indicates that individual scores on the four measures of both visual and auditory working memory did not relate to trait and/or state anxiety or psychometrically-defined social anxiety. Thus, it appears that social, generalized trait, and generalized state anxiety do not relate to a neuropsychological deficit in either type of working memory in this sample population. However, we did find a statistical trend suggesting that as social anxiety increased, there was a relative decrease in visual vs. auditory working memory. This statistical trend remained after covarying for state and trait anxiety respectively. Therefore, future research in this area should examine the discrepancy in performance between the auditory and visual working memory domains as it relates to both diagnosed social phobia and psychometrically-defined social anxiety.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2011
- Identifier
- CFH0003798, ucf:44744
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFH0003798
- Title
- The Gasoline Tree.
- Creator
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Manning, Brianne, Thaxton, Terry, Stap, Donald, Milanes, Cecilia, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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In exploration of Millennial anxieties and the power of dreaming, The Gasoline Tree imagines a soundtrack for the revelations, defeats, and curiosities of leaving childhood behind. This is a collection of 40 poems that examines eating disorders, gender roles, physical abuse, sex, infidelity, loneliness, and the fear of losing one's parents. This collection also contemplates the brutalities and muted delights of what drives us all: love, in all of its forms. (")The Gasoline Tree,(") (")Wolf of...
Show moreIn exploration of Millennial anxieties and the power of dreaming, The Gasoline Tree imagines a soundtrack for the revelations, defeats, and curiosities of leaving childhood behind. This is a collection of 40 poems that examines eating disorders, gender roles, physical abuse, sex, infidelity, loneliness, and the fear of losing one's parents. This collection also contemplates the brutalities and muted delights of what drives us all: love, in all of its forms. (")The Gasoline Tree,(") (")Wolf of Chocorua,(") and many other poems construct New England landscapes that pay homage to the pastoral uniqueness of Maxine Kumin and Galway Kinnell, while poems in the latter half of the collection, such as (")Home Alone(") and (")Little Big Econ,(") rouse depictions of southern environments and intensify the narrator's budding sense of displacement. There are many voices within, but there are three particular voices that can be heard above the rest: the child struggles with the complexities of divorce and identity; the young woman struggles with the complexities of remorse and relationships; the woman struggles with reminiscence and loss. Yet, each voice works toward expressions of awareness and acceptance of the enduring captivation with impermanence and consequence in a disposition influenced by W.S. Merwin, Anne Sexton, Kay Ryan, and Louise Gl(&)#252;ck. Whether driving by a homeless man, staring at the ceiling fan, or lying awake late into the night, this collection examines the transient nature of everyday occurrences and the buried meanings that might govern them all.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2016
- Identifier
- CFE0006139, ucf:51181
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006139
- Title
- Does Virtual Reality Elicit Physiological Arousal in Social Anxiety Disorder.
- Creator
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Owens, Maryann, Beidel, Deborah, Cassisi, Jeffrey, Bowers, Clint, Neer, Sandra, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
The present study examined the ability of a Virtual Reality (VR) public speaking task to elicit physiological arousal in adults with SAD (n=25) and Controls (n=25). A behavioral assessment paradigm was employed to address three study objectives: (a) to determine whether the VR task can elicit significant increases in physiological response over baseline resting conditions (b) to determine if individuals with SAD have a greater increase from baseline levels of physiological and self-reported...
Show moreThe present study examined the ability of a Virtual Reality (VR) public speaking task to elicit physiological arousal in adults with SAD (n=25) and Controls (n=25). A behavioral assessment paradigm was employed to address three study objectives: (a) to determine whether the VR task can elicit significant increases in physiological response over baseline resting conditions (b) to determine if individuals with SAD have a greater increase from baseline levels of physiological and self-reported arousal during the in vivo speech task as opposed to the VR speech task and (c) to determine whether individuals with SAD experience greater changes in physiological and self-reported arousal during each speech task compared to controls. Results demonstrated that the VR task was able to elicit significant increases in heart rate, skin conductance, and respiratory sinus arrhythmia, but did not elicit as much physiological or self-reported arousal as the in vivo speech task. In addition, no differences were found between groups. Clinical implications of these findings are discussed.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2013
- Identifier
- CFE0004906, ucf:49624
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0004906