College of Behavioral & Social Sciences

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    Essays on the Cognitive Foundations of Economics
    (2024) Yegane, Ece; Masatlioglu, Yusufcan; Economics; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    In Chapter 1, I model a decision maker who observes available alternatives according to a list and stochastically forgets some alternatives. Each time the decision maker observes an item in the list, she recalls previous alternatives with some probability, conditional on those alternatives being recalled until this point. The decision maker maximizes a preference relation over the set of alternatives she can recall. I show that if every available alternative is chosen with strictly positive probability, the preference order and the list order must coincide in any limited memory representation. Under the full support assumption, the preference ordering, the list ordering and the memory parameters are uniquely identified up to the ranking of the two least preferred alternatives. I provide conditions on observable choice probabilities that characterize the model under the full support assumption. I then apply our model to study the pricing problem of a monopolist who faces consumers with limited memory. I show that when the probability of forgetting is high, the monopolist is better off charging a lower price than the optimal price in the perfect memory case. In Chapter 2, Yusufcan Masatlioglu and I study how the allocation of attention to different options and the accessibility of options from memory affect decision making. To distinguish between attention and memory, we propose a two-stage stochastic consideration set formation process. An alternative enters the decision maker’s consideration set if it is investigated in the initial attention stage and is remembered in the subsequent recall stage. In the initial attention stage, the decision maker investigates each available alternative with some alternative-specific probability. In the recall stage, the decision maker recalls each alternative that she investigated in the attention stage with some probability. The probability of recalling an alternative depends on the memorability of the alternative and its position in the order of investigation in the attention stage. Investigating an alternative more recently enhances the probability of recalling it. The decision maker chooses the option that maximizes her preference relation over her consideration set. Under the assumption that the investigation of alternatives is observable, we provide testable implications on choice behavior and show that the revealed preference, attention parameters and memory parameters can be uniquely identified from observable repeated choices.
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    Spatial cueing by a novel agent in preschool children and adults
    (2015) Terrizzi, Brandon; Beier, Jonathan S; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    In the current study we assessed preschool children and adults' reflexive, covert spatial attentional response to a novel entity. In particular, we assessed whether covert attention was selectively engaged after construing the novel entity as an agent. Previous research has demonstrated that children and adults' covert spatial attention may be flexibly engaged by a non-directional cueing stimulus (e.g., a circle), however this attentional response is neither spontaneous nor is it reflexive (i.e., participants were told that the stimulus predicted the eventual target's location). For the first time we have shown that covert spatial attention is spontaneously and reflexively engaged by a morphologically unfamiliar cueing character when it is interpreted as an agent but not otherwise. The implication of this finding for theoretical accounts of the development of covert attention and agency attributions more generally are discussed.
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    A review of the effects of prenatal cocaine exposure among school-aged children
    (American Academy of Pediatrics, 2010) Ackerman, John P; Riggins, Tracy; Black, Maureen M
    CONTEXT: Studies through 6 years have shown no long-term direct effects of prenatal cocaine exposure (PCE) on children’s physical growth, developmental test scores, or language outcomes. Little is known about the effects of PCE among school-aged children aged 6 years and older. OBJECTIVE: We reviewed articles from studies that examined the effects of PCE on growth, cognitive ability, academic functioning, and brain structure and function among school-aged children. METHODS: Articles were obtained by searching PubMed, Medline, TOXNET, and PsycInfo databases from January 1980 to December 2008 with the terms “prenatal cocaine exposure,” “cocaine,” “drug exposure,” “substance exposure,” “maternal drug use,” “polysubstance,” “children,” “adolescent,” “in utero,” “pregnancy,” “development,” and “behavior.” Criteria for inclusion were (1) empirical research on children aged 6 years and older prenatally exposed to cocaine, (2) peerreviewed English-language journal, (3) comparison group, (4) longitudinal follow-up or historical prospective design, (5) masked assessment, (6) exclusion of subjects with serious medical disabilities, and (7) studies that reported nonredundant findings for samples used in multiple investigations. Thirty-two unique studies met the criteria. Each article was independently abstracted by 2 authors to obtain sample composition, methods of PCE assessment, study design, comparison groups, dependent variables, covariates, and results. RESULTS: Associations between PCE and growth, cognitive ability, academic achievement, and language functioning were small and attenuated by environmental variables. PCE had significant negative associations with sustained attention and behavioral self-regulation, even with covariate control. Although emerging evidence suggests PCErelated alterations in brain structure and function, interpretation is limited by methodologic inconsistencies. CONCLUSIONS: Consistent with findings among preschool-aged children, environmental variables play a key role in moderating and explaining the effects of PCE on school-aged children’s functioning. After controlling for these effects, PCE-related impairments are reliably reported in sustained attention and behavioral self-regulation among school-aged children. Pediatrics 2010;125:554–565
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    Infant speech perception in noise and early childhood measures of syntax and attention abilities
    (2008) Blayney, Elizabeth Sarah Sanford; Newman, Rochelle; Hearing and Speech Sciences; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Childhood outcomes in syntactic and attention abilities were measured for 23 children (mean age = 5:3) who, as infants, had either succeeded or failed at identifying their name in the presence of multitalker background noise. Children from the unsuccessful infant group were rated by parents as having significantly more difficulty with attention-related behaviors than children from the successful infant group. The two groups did not perform significantly differently on standardized measures of morphosyntactic ability, but the unsuccessful group was found to have significantly lower MLUs on narrative language samples than the successful group.
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    Development and Preliminary Testing of a Brief, Behavioral Intervention to Address the Homework-Related Problems of Middle School Students with ADHD
    (2008-05-31) Raggi, Veronica Lee; Chronis-Tuscano, Andrea M; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    In contrast to the vast literature on treatments for children with ADHD, there is a relative paucity of research examining the efficacy of psychosocial treatments for adolescents with ADHD. Furthermore, only a handful of these studies employ educational interventions designed to improve academic functioning, and no study has examined the use of a specific intervention targeting the homework-related difficulties of this group. This is despite the majority of parents of adolescents with ADHD reporting school and academic issues as their primary concern (Robin, 1990; Power et al., 2006). Intervening at this critical juncture may be ideal for preparing youth with ADHD to handle the increased academic demands of middle school and high school. In order to address this treatment need and gap in the literature, a behaviorally-based, family-school homework intervention program (HIP) for middle school students with ADHD was developed. This five-session program is integrative and evidence-based, with an emphasis on the functional analysis of homework problems, parent training in homework management principles, goal setting and contingency contracting, organizational and time management skills training, and parent-teacher consultation. Participants included 11 middle school students diagnosed with ADHD and their mothers. A multiple-baseline (MB) across participants design was used to assess intervention effects. Results from this single-subject design suggest that the HIP is beneficial in improving homework-related problems across multiple indicators of change. Positive effects were also observed on some measures of overall academic progress and ADHD symptoms. This intervention demonstrated high levels of acceptability and satisfaction as perceived by both parents and adolescents.