MARS
MARS is a repository service of Mason Publishing and the Data and Digital Scholarship Services (DDSS) at the George Mason University Libraries. MARS provides enduring, stable, well-indexed access to a wide range of scholarship from the Mason community, such as Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs), articles, presentations, reports, and creative work. Learn more about publishing, sharing, and preserving research data with the George Mason University Institutional Dataverse, and our other repository services.
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Recent Submissions
Children’s Concepts of Creativity in Video Games: The Impact of Different Game Types
(2023-10-23) Stapleton, Darian; Goldstein, Thalia
Research on video games typically focuses on adolescents and young adults, and on the possible negative effects of gaming. However, ever younger children are given access to video games, making research with these younger age groups necessary, particularly as games may start to replace activities such as pretend play. Our study approaches the question of how video games for younger children may prime cognitive creativity after playing, as well as how children conceptualize creativity within video games. In study 1, children played one of two video games (Minecraft, with no plot or mission, or Dragon Quest Builders, which contains both) and provided several open-ended responses about their creativity in the game. Participants then completed a cognitive creativity task. In study 2, shortened video clips of children’s outputs in Minecraft from study 1 were shown to a separate group of children, ages 7 – 15 online. Children were asked about their prior experiences with video games, they rated the creativity of the Minecraft videos, and they explained each of their ratings. Results show that children with more gaming experience rated gameplay significantly lower for creativity than those with less experience, and that gameplay focused on building something was rated significantly higher for creativity than other types of gameplay.
These studies allow us to evaluate how video games could train children to be creative, in an age group typically excluded from video game research, to gather information on what creativity might look like in video games, and to understand how children of various ages conceptualize creativity within video games.
Effects of Enrichment on Behavioral Aspects of hTau Mice Modeling Alzheimer’s Disease
(2024-05-10) Perlberg, Alison; Flinn, Jane
This thesis investigated the effects of repeated exposure to a nesting task and different
forms of enrichment on Alzheimer’s disease (AD)-modeling mice. Using hTauexpressing
AD mice from strain rTg4510, the nesting study examined if continual
exposure to a nestlet could prevent the decay in nesting ability over time. Alternatively,
the aggression study explored the efficacy of cardboard tubes and nestlets in attenuating
aggression in the noncarrier/noncarrier mice from strain rTg4510. Behavioral assays and
survival analyses were conducted to assess nesting ability and aggression levels,
respectively. Two-way repeated-measures ANOVAs revealed no statistically significant
effect of treatment in the nesting study but there was a significant effect of time; Chisquares
revealed aggression levels varied across the aggression intervention groups with
some significant effects of, and driven by, sex. Implications for animal welfare and future
research are discussed, highlighting the need for further investigation into enrichment
protocols and their behavioral impacts on laboratory animals.
An Integrative Approach to Evaluating Metabolic indicators in Maned Wolves (Chrysocyon brachyurus)
(2024-07-26) Braswell, Jane; Hunt, Kathleen
Integrated datasets of physiology and behavior are critical to determining the impact of environmental threats on animal health. Continued advancements in biologging technology aid this effort; however, additional techniques, such as endocrinology, can help contextualize findings. Maned wolves (Chrysocyon brachyurus) experience broad-scale landscape alteration, presenting a need for reliable indices of metabolic health. I tested a protocol for long-term monitoring of metabolic health in free-ranging wildlife by integrating biologging and analysis of hair triiodothyronine (T3), a form of thyroid hormone, using captive maned wolves as a model. Hair samples were collected approximately every three months for just over one year from maned wolves (n=8) implanted with Reveal LINQ™ (Medtronic Inc., Minneapolis, MN) biologgers at the Smithsonian National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute in Front Royal, Virginia, USA. Daily average heart rate (HR) and heart rate variability (HRV), and daily total activity were calculated from raw biologger data. T3 was measured in guard hair via a T3
enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (Arbor Assays, MI), which passed analytical validations for maned wolf hair extract. To evaluate the feasibility of integrating these measures, I tested the impact of various determinants of metabolism (e.g. season, ambient temperature, activity, food intake, and body weight) on HR, HRV, and hair T3. I detected seasonal patterns in all metabolic indicators. Notably, HR increased and HRV decreased in winter, indicating increased activation of the sympathetic nervous system, and by inference, increased metabolic activity. Variation in HR and HRV was primarily explained by ambient temperature. Contrary to predictions, hair T3 was greatest in summer and lowest in winter and was positively impacted by ambient temperature. This may indicate that increased metabolic activity in winter was triggered by types of stressors that are not reflected in circulating thyroid hormone concentrations. Alternatively, apparent hormone concentrations in hair may reflect different time periods than expected or may not reflect plasma concentrations consistently. Ultimately, I demonstrate the feasibility of combining biologging metrics with analysis of T3 in hair, but also highlight the need for further investigation of hair T3 as a potential proxy of plasma T3, and of T3, in turn, as an indicator of energetic state. Because hormones are incorporated into hair as it grows, may be a particularly valuable sample type for retrospective analysis of animals’ physiological state over time. Thus, this integrated assessment of biologging parameters and endocrinology shows promise for application in situ, in combination with other ecological assessments, as the field aims to understand how free-ranging maned wolves’ meet the energetic demands of altered landscapes.
Investigating the Influence a Matrilineal Social Structure has on Mitochondrial Fixation and Genetic Diversity Within the Spotted Hyena, Crocuta Crocuta
(2010-05) Buckley-Beason, Valerie A.; Cox, Daniel N.
Spotted hyenas, Crocuta crocuta, live in social groups, or clans, characterized by a matrilineal hierarchy wherein the female is dominant over the male. Clans are based on female philopatry where juvenile hyenas acquire their social ranks based upon the ranks of their mothers. Females remain within their natal clan, and males typically disperse from their natal clan between 24-62 months of age to join new clans. Because the highest-ranking female and her offspring leave more surviving progeny for future generations, other lineages within the clan eventually go extinct. Field data indicates that within a period of 4-5 generations all members of the clan can be traced to a single dominant female. This analysis used modem molecular genetic techniques to examine the hypothesis that this social system, if stable over a long period, would lead to purified mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), or 'mtDNA signature', within a clan and a definite distinction among clans. Distinctive mtDNA signatures would allow for confirmation of natal clan affiliation and facilitate pedigree analyses, ultimately resulting in a better understanding of mating and social behaviors. This study examined 1400 base pairs of mitochondrial genes and an additional 1847 base pairs of nuclear genes to assess a distinctive mtDNA signature and compare genetic diversity in 243 spotted hyenas. Although nine clans were represented in the data set no clan distinctions were found only regional differences were observed. Furthermore, data indicates that the spotted hyena sequence haplotypes are shared with Pleistocene haplotypes and extant spotted hyenas exhibited a low level of mitochondrial and nuclear variation. These Pleistocene relics are all that remains of what was once a larger, more diverse species. Extant spotted hyenas are the survivors of the last glaciation and the haplotypes exhibited today are those haplotypes that existed thousands of years ago.
It’s All Language: Lessons as Storytelling. How Social Media and Digital Image Formats (GIFs) can enrich student engagement, drive enrollment and transform the classroom experience
(2025-12) Masterson. Assunta Gina Crocenzi
Foreign language teaching is at a crossroads between traditional classroom-textbook teaching styles and newer digital platforms which provide online and multimedia tools. Often students feel they are straddling the two learning styles yet not able to benefit from either or both. What I propose is a bridge between the two pedagogies: by incorporating social media and digital imaging formats (Instagram, facebook, youtube, GIFs) seamlessly into classroom presentations and discussions, instructors can bridge the gap between textbook and active learning tools, breathing new life into learning modules and helping students pivot to a robust, real-life learning environment.