Browsing by Author "Arbuthnott, Katherine D."

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Open Access
Advanced Music Training and Executive Function: A Neurocognitive Study
(Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research, University of Regina, 2011-12) Sabir, Shamma Miriam; Alfano, Dennis; Arbuthnott, Katherine D.; MacLennan, Richard; Maslany, W. George
The objective of this study was to assess the relationship between advanced music training and neurocognitive functioning, with specific focus on executive function, working memory, and tactile interhemispheric transfer. Twenty professional musicians and a comparison group of 19 individuals with no formal music training or performance experience completed a battery of measures of executive functioning, working memory, and interhemispheric transfer. The musician group had an average of 20.4 years (SD = 9.6) of formal music training and had started formal music training at a mean age of 5.8 years (SD = 2.5). Results revealed significantly better performance of the musicians group on the Word, Colour, and Interference portions of the Stroop Test and on a test of tactile interhemispheric transfer. These findings provide support for the idea that advanced music training has a positive relationship with some aspects of executive function and interhemispheric transfer, and may have implications for the potential use of music training for therapeutic purposes, as well as for educational programming and policies regarding early music education in the classroom.
Open Access
Any Risk Is Unacceptable
(Canadian Plains Research Center, 2010-10) Arbuthnott, Katherine D.; Dolter, Brett
In the spring and summer of 2009 the Saskatchewan provincial government held a consultation process to elicit citizen views on expanding the nuclear industry (UDP 2009). Thousands of citizens participated in the consultation process, and an overwhelming majority of participants opposed the expansion of the nuclear industry (Perrins 2009). We used qualitative methods to study stakeholder submissions to the Saskatchewan consultation process. We wanted to understand why the majority of citizens opposed the expansion of the nuclear industry, and why the government, the nuclear industry, and some citizens supported nuclear expansion. Our results suggest that those who oppose nuclear power do so primarily because they possess different cultural identities and value priorities than those who support nuclear power. Our findings offer insight into the academic literature around risk perception, environmental conflict, and environmental values.
Metadata only
Is self-regulation depletion graded?
(University of Regina, Graduate Students' Association, 2008-04) Schierle, Jade; Arbuthnott, Katherine D.
When we conceal our emotions, it is more difficult for us to subsequently perform other tasks that also require self-control (John & Gross, 2004). It has thus been hypothesized that self-regulation requires a depletable resource (Schmeichel & Baumeister, 2004). The present study examined whether this depletion is graded, increasing with greater time exercising self-control. Participants watched one or two emotionally evocative films, and half were asked to hide their emotions while watching the film(s). Their faces were recorded, and coding indicates that participants followed these instructions, as those in the suppression group were both less expressive and reported more difficulty with the task than those in the normal expression group. After participants were finished watching the film(s) they completed verbal and nonverbal fluency tasks which were previously found to detect self-regulation depletion (Schmeichel, Demaree, Robinson & Pu, 2006). However, in this study, fluency performance did not differ as a function of emotion expression. This finding suggests that self-regulation depletion does not occur under all conditions, either because expression control was not sufficiently effortful in this study, or that different types of self-control (i.e., emotional and cognitive) do not require the same resource. We hypothesized that the depletion of self-regulation occurs in a graded fashion. Upon investigation, this hypothesis was not supported, but suggests that there may be different ressources for emotional and cognitive self-regulation.