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Memory Representations Recruited in Visuo-Haptic Cross-Modal Matching of Novel Objects and their Associations with Cognitive Styles
Full text linkTo perform many everyday tasks, one must be able to use touch to find what has previously been
seen. Interestingly, recent research has identified that when individuals view or touch an object,
they may create a verbal memory representation; however, this research involved object naming,
which may have prompted the use of verbal strategies. Past research has also identified
variability in memory representations for objects, which may indicate that there are individual
differences at play. To investigate memory representations and their association with individual
differences in cognitive styles, we measured the cognitive styles of 127 undergraduate
participants, and had them complete a non-verbal matching task where they viewed an object and
then touched an object – or vice versa - and indicated whether the two objects were congruent or
incongruent. Participants completed the task without distractors, or with verbal or visual
distractors. Participants responded consistently faster for trials where they touched an object first.
On these trials, they were also more likely to erroneously respond that the objects were different;
whereas in trials where participants viewed an object first, they were more likely to erroneously
respond that the objects were identical. On trials where different objects were presented,
participants responded consistently more slowly and made more matching errors for similar
objects compared to distinct objects. Finally, the representations that participants used in
cross-modal object matching may be verbally facilitated, since higher scores on the verbalizer
cognitive style were associated with faster reaction times on the matching task when no
distractors were present. Overall, this indicates that cross-modal object processing in short-term
memory may be facilitated by a verbal code; however, the addition of distractors may prompt
participants to recruit more idiosyncratic strategies
The Effects of Education About Deathbed Visions (DBVs) on Undergraduate Students’ Levels of Death Anxiety and Knowledge About DBVs
Full text linkPrevious research has looked at the effects of education about end-of-life phenomena (EOLPs) on knowledge about EOLPs. The current study aimed to add to the literature by studying the effect of education about deathbed visions (DBVs) on knowledge about DBVs and death anxiety. A total of 51 undergraduate students enrolled in an introductory psychology class were randomly assigned to either the control or experimental condition.
Participants in both conditions completed a questionnaire about death anxiety and knowledge
about DBVs. Participants in the experimental condition were subsequently invited to attend a brief education session about DBVs. Finally, participants in both conditions recompleted the questionnaires. Results showed that at the post-test level, participants in the experimental condition were more knowledgeable about DBVs but did not differ in levels of death anxiety. Suggestions for future research are provided
Vauban at Beauséjour
Full text linkResting upon a ridge overlooking the majestic Beaubassin Bay is Fort Beauséjour. Often
called a work in the style of the famed French Architect Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban, the
star-shaped bastions were built by French forces, with the help of Acadian labor, from 1750 until
1755, when British forces sieged the fort and captured it. They held onto it until 1835.
This work takes a closer look at the designation of Fort Beauséjour as a “Vauban style”
fortification. We will explore the varied writings and works of Vauban himself and compare
them with the defense works at Beauséjour.
We will also explore first-hand accounts from the building of Fort Beauséjour thanks to
the translation efforts of JC Webster, as well as numerous secondary sources. Building upon a
paper by Lirette and Negulic (L&N, 2021), who demonstrated using ArcGIS Pro that the high
ground was not secured by the French, we will use the Viewshed Analysis tool in ArcGIS Pro to
demonstrate the visibility from the fort and from the ridge, to expand on their elevation thesis.
Finally, we put these elements together to define what makes a Vauban fort so unique,
and whether Fort Beauséjour encompasses these elements. We explore Vauban through our
literature review and exploration of his defense works, and we then add to the literature with our
own ArcGIS Pro viewshed analysis of Fort Beauséjour
Legacy impacts of historical gold mines on the cladocera assemblages of two Nova Scotian lakes
Full text linkHistorical gold mines in Nova Scotia released toxic tailings into nearby environments
from the 1860s to ~1945. Tailings high in contaminants, such as arsenic and mercury, were
disposed of, untreated, into nearby surface waters, which can negatively impact ecosystems and
biota. There are now ~360 inactive gold mines from 64 mining districts throughout Nova Scotia
and little is known regarding the long-term ecological harm historical mining has caused. I used
a paleolimnological approach for two Nova Scotia lakes located downstream of historical gold
mines, to investigate contaminant levels within sediment cores before, during and after the
mining periods. I then examined Cladocera assemblages to determine the bioindicator responses
to environmental changes associated with mining, as well as post-mining stressors such as
urbanization and climate change. Changes in contaminant concentrations and zooplankton
assemblages were more pronounced at deep and oligotrophic Lake Thomas, as opposed to
shallow and dystrophic Gegogan Lake. Cladoceran assemblages showed statistically significant
(P < 0.05) differences between the pre-mining, mining, and post-mining periods at both study
lakes. Sedimentary mercury levels peaked at ~6 and 65 times Canadian Council of Ministers of
the Environment (CCME) guidelines, and ~165 and 58 times for arsenic, at Gegogan Lake and
Lake Thomas, respectively. While geochemical recovery is underway, my findings can inform
decisions regarding development of areas near historical mines and management of aquatic
ecosystems impacted by mining contaminant
The Effect of Rejection Resiliency Education on University Students’ Experiences of Sexual Rejection
Full text linkSexual and romantic rejection have been shown to have clear connections to increased
aggressive and manipulative responses, including physical and sexual assault. Sexual education
programs have attempted to target this through evidence-based consent education curriculum;
however, to date, no research has been done on the efficacy of education directly targeting
rejection resiliency. The current study aimed to create a rejection resiliency program to decrease
negative reactions to sexual rejection. Participants (N = 114) were university students assigned
to receive either rejection resiliency education or a program on transitioning to university.
Participants in both conditions completed a survey before the education session, immediately
after, and three months after. Prior to the education, participants who reported more
aggression, manipulation, and sexism also reported poor reactions to rejection, which is
consistent with past research. Participants in the rejection resiliency condition reported feeling
better able to handle rejection and more comfortable saying no to a sexual advance immediately
after completing training. Contrary to expectations, participants who received the rejection
resiliency training did not report significantly lower responses of aggression and manipulation
compared to their initial responses nor the control group. Qualitative responses did support the
importance of fostering open discussion about reacting to rejection and implied that more
research should be done on effective education programming. Quantitatively assessing
behaviour change in rejection resiliency may be challenging to do since many of the behaviours
may be affected by social desirability bias. Participants may be reluctant to report their negative
behaviours
Exploring connections between urban planning and climate justice in Halifax, Nova Scotia (Kjipuktuk, Mi’kma’ki)
Full text linkGlobally, urban populations are growing, and cities continue to be high emitters
of carbon dioxide. As climate change intensifies and as cities face the impacts of climate
change, urban climate planning becomes all the more important. In addition, climate
change impacts are felt unequally on both global and local scales, along the lines of
existing structural inequalities. Terms such as “climate justice” have emerged to address
these inequalities and to emphasize that climate change has social justice implications in
both its causes and impacts. While these terms have been used in activist circles for some
time, it is more recently that academic and policy language has incorporated a nuanced
understanding of climate change as a social issue. This paper examines urban planning in
Halifax, Nova Scotia, with a focus on whether Halifax plans incorporate climate justice.
This is done through an analysis of the HalifACT 2050 climate plan from 2020 and the
Regional Municipal Planning Strategy from 2014, as well as interviews with key
informants on planning processes in Halifax. The research reveals that a consideration of
climate justice is beginning to emerge within the last three to four years, but that there are
still potential areas for improvement, such as specifically addressing structural inequality
and setting out clear actions to address climate injustic
The relationship between the development of empathy and executive function in preschool-aged children
Full text linkThe developmental advances that occur during the preschool years can play a crucial
role in setting a child up for later success. The present study examined the performance
of 91 preschoolers on an empathy task, the Happy/Sad Baby Task, two hot executive
function (EF) tasks, the Preschool Gambling Task and the Reversal Task, and on two
cool EF tasks, the Working Memory Task and the Attention Shifting Task. The results
revealed a significantly more developed empathic response during the happy episode of
the empathy task compared to during the sad episode. Findings also demonstrated a
significant association between empathy and hot EF, as well as some evidence for an
association between empathy and cool EF. These findings are mostly in line with
previous research, adding to the growing body of work focused on establishing a
connection between empathy and EF
The Effects of Meditation and Meditative Practices on the Attentional Blink Effect
Full text linkInvestigating the moderating effects of meditation on our cognition has become a popular area of
study. Much of this research suggests that extensive experience with meditation leads to a variety
of benefits, including enhanced performance on tasks that measure selective attention. The
present study used the Rapid Serial Visual Presentation task to investigate the influence of
meditation on temporal selective attention, measured by the attentional blink (AB) effect. In
Experiment 1, it was hypothesized that experienced meditators would produce a reduced AB
effect when compared to novice meditators. Although both groups produced an AB effect, there
was no difference in the size of the effect across the two groups. Experiment 2 was designed to
test whether a brief bout of meditation completed just prior to the RSVP task would produce a
reduced AB effect compared to a brief control thought exercise. Similar to the first experiment,
both groups produced an AB effect, but there was no difference in the size of the AB effect
across groups. These results are considered using the overinvestment hypothesis and alongside
previous research that has demonstrated modulations of the AB effect using meditation
Does gender role orientation make a difference? Type of support and emotional exhaustion among employed mothers
Full text linkAlthough the importance of social support is well-established, little is known about the
type of social support that is the most effective for reducing work-family conflict among
employed mothers. The purpose of the current study was twofold: a) to examine the
effects of emotional and instrumental support from spouses and supervisors on work-family
conflict, and b) to explore the moderating effect of gender role orientation on
different types of spousal support and job-related emotional exhaustion. The data were
collected from 274 Canadian employed mothers with at least one child under 18 who live
with their spouses. Participants were between the ages of 19 to 60 years old (M = 36.57,
SD = 6.96). Most participants worked full-time (93.8%, n = 257) and had a child younger
than six years old (66.2%, n = 149). Both supervisory and spousal support were
negatively associated with work-family conflict. Moreover, emotional spousal support
and instrumental supervisory support were the strongest predictors of work-to-family
conflict, and instrumental supervisory support was the strongest predictor for
family-to-work conflict. In contrast, gender role orientation did not affect the relationship between
social support and emotional exhaustion. These findings demonstrate that women
employees can benefit from different sources of social support when dealing with work-family conflict
