Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Psychology, Cognitive. Psychology, Behavioral'

The current investigation examined the nature of the activation-competition process that is the hallmark of spoken word recognition (Luce & Pisoni, 1998). The present experiments focused on acquisition of new nonword forms that are carefully designed to compete with existing lexical items (e.g., "cathedruke" → "cathedral"; "shum" → "shun"). The specific aim of the research was to examine the processing costs for recognition of established neighboring words following exposure to new items. Experiments 1a and b examined processing for both mono- and multisyllabic words for which listeners have learned a new competitor in an attempt to contrast claims about the nature of lexical competition made by two prominent models of spoken word recognition, Cohort Theory and the Neighborhood Activation Model. Experiments 2a and b delved further into an examination of the nature of the competitive environment by manipulating the number and exposure frequency of novel items in an attempt to directly assess the costs of multiple activation. In both Experiments 2a and b, effects of more training (additional novel neighbors or increased exposure frequency, respectively) were facilitative, not competitive. The results are discussed within the context of Vitevitch and Luce's (1999) two-stage model of spoken word recognition.

Emotional Reaction of Experiencing Crisis in Virtual Reality (VR)/360° Immersive technology is being used to provoke emotion and move millions of people to action. Because organizations and filmmakers are exploring more ways to use the immersive technology of VR and 360-degree video to evoke emotion, it is important to investigate what emotional reactions are experienced. Both VR and 360° fall under the category of immersive media and the terms are used interchangeably in this study. NVivo 11 is used for the analysis of 1,700 Twitter texts between the years 2015 and 2017 after people view the crisis Clouds Over Sidra in VR/360°. The appraisal theory of emotion serves as the framework to explore the interpretation of the subject’s emotional reactions. Sentiment and thematic analysis reveal (a) an increase in empathy, (b) reports of emotional reactions including feelings of sadness, grief and anger, (c) greater understanding of the crisis (d) intentions to act related to the crisis, (e) importance of VR/360° for educational use, and (f) the power of VR/360° and its ability to alter fields of education, humanitarian work, and politics. This study finds the immersive experience of viewing a crisis in VR/360° generates a range of highly emotional reactions. It is an important goal to understand the role VR/360° plays in generating emotional reactions and behavioral change, particularly in view of the accelerating development of emotional VR/360° content and people’s access to immersive technology.

Survival processing posits that our memories become enhanced when faced with a survival situation. The current study investigates how the survival processing effect is influenced by two memory processes well-known for enhancing memory, the self-referential effect and cueing.

One key question that can be posed is whether self survival provides a richer ("deeper") memory cue than imagining survival of an other (a third person). Depth of processing in relation to the participants' (self vs. other) perspective is manipulated to understand the role perspective and the self-referential effect play in the survival processing advantage.

The current study found that indeed the self survival scenario does provide a significantly better memory cue than the third person "other" perspectives. This highlights the possibility that the survival processing advantage is not a unique process so much as the combination of other known processes.

This thesis documents a correlational study of wayfinding experience and survey and route knowledge in a large, complex building. Twelve patient transport personnel who work in a very large, regional hospital facility participated as wayfinding subject matter experts. This correlational study addresses three primary research questions. Do more experienced patient transport personnel have more accurate survey knowledge of a large, complex building than less experienced patient transport personnel? Do more experienced patient transport personnel have more accurate route knowledge of a large, complex building than less experienced patient transport personnel? Do more experienced patient transport personnel choose more efficient routes in a large, complex building than less experienced patient transport personnel? The study measures survey knowledge using a pointing task and a mapping task. The study measures route knowledge and route efficiency using a route diagramming task. Linear and nonlinear regression analyses are used to analyze the data. The results of this study may contribute to a deeper understanding of the relationship between wayfinding experience and survey and route knowledge, as well as offer insights into how to better design wayfinding training materials and methods and building signage.

To date, research on Binge Eating Disorder is limited compared to studies on other eating disorders, including Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa. Given that Binge Eating Disorder recently became an independent diagnosis in the DSM-5, has significant medical implications, and commonly involves psychiatric comorbidity, it is worthwhile to explore contributing factors and evidence-based treatment for the disorder. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is an evidence-based treatment for Binge Eating Disorder, and most experts agree that while it yields positive treatment results, there is room for improvement in treatment. Shame is an important contributing factor in the development and maintenance of Binge Eating Disorder. The purpose of this review of the literature was to examine shame literature in order to explore potential methods for improving evidence-based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Binge Eating Disorder. The importance of researching Binge Eating Disorder is reviewed, and then shame is explored from a cognitive behavioral standpoint. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Binge Eating Disorder is outlined, and limited techniques that address shame in treatment are identified. Recommendations for addressing shame more directly in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Binge Eating Disorder are then made prior to suggestions for future research.

Cognitive science has been beset for thirty years by foundational disputes about the nature and extension of cognition—e.g. whether cognition is necessarily representational, whether cognitive processes extend outside the brain or body, and whether plants or microbes have them. Whereas previous philosophical work aimed to settle these disputes, I aim to understand what conception of cognition scientists could share given that they disagree so fundamentally. To this end, I develop a number of variations on traditional conceptual explication, and defend a novel explication of cognition called the sensitive management hypothesis.

Since expert judgments about the extension of “cognition” vary so much, I argue that there is value in explication that accurately models the variance in judgments rather than taking sides or treating that variance as noise. I say of explications that accomplish this that they are ecumenically extensionally adequate. Thus, rather than adjudicating whether, say, plants can have cognitive processes like humans, an ecumenically adequate explication should classify these cases differently: human cognitive processes as paradigmatically cognitive, and plant processes as controversially cognitive.

I achieve ecumenical adequacy by articulating conceptual explications with parameters, or terms that can be assigned a number of distinct interpretations based on the background commitments of participants in a discourse. For example, an explication might require that cognition cause “behavior,” and imply that plant processes are cognitive or not depending on whether anything plants do can be considered “behavior.” Parameterization provides a unified treatment of embattled concepts by isolating topics of disagreement in a small number of parameters.

I incorporate these innovations into an account on which cognition is the “sensitive management of organismal behavior.” The sensitive management hypothesis is ecumenically extensionally adequate, accurately classifying a broad variety of cases as paradigmatically or controversially cognitive phenomena. I also describe an extremely permissive version of the sensitive management hypothesis, arguing that it has the potential to explain several features of cognitive scientific discourse, including various facts about the way cognitive scientists ascribe representations to cognitive systems.

The purpose of this quantitative research study is to analyze the relationship between individual cognitive, behavioral, and motivational characteristics and sales quota attainment for three industrial sales organizations in West Virginia. The intent of the study is to learn more about organizational efforts to implement an effective system for hiring to identify top performing talent in order to accomplish sales goals. From a human performance improvement perspective, this research study applies both the Behavior Engineering Model (Gilbert, 1978) and the Human Performance Improvement / HPT Model (Van Tiem, Moseley, & Dessinger, 2012). The Behavior Engineering Model allowed the researcher to determine which individual characteristics are relevant for the purpose of this study. The Human Performance Improvement/HPT Model further allowed the researcher to define the issue of the recruiting approach of sales as a performance gap. Individual cognitive, behavioral, and motivational characteristics of 238 sales representatives were assessed using a psychometric assessment tool, the ProfileXT© (Profiles International, I, 2007). A stepwise multiple regression was conducted to evaluate which ProfileXT© scale scores were most effective at predicting sales performance. The only factor significantly related to sales performance was Independence, F (1,236) = 18.286, p < .001, with a multiple correlation coefficient of .268, indicating that approximately 7.18% of the variance in sales performance could be accounted for by independence alone. Further analysis indicated no other significant predictor variables from the ProfileXT© scales. The researcher concluded with recommendations for future research.

Rats appear to use a cognitive chunking strategy during the presentation of an interleaved pattern where two distinct subpatterns are interleaved within one another (Fountain, Rowan, & Benson, 1999) . However, it is unclear how these distinct subpatterns are cognitively represented. Experiment 1 was designed to determine the extent to which rats may be chunking the subpatterns in an interleaved pattern. Groups were presented with a target subpattern (123456) akin to the second experiment of Fountain et al. (1999), and an interleaved subpattern (787878) which was manipulated between groups. Following acquisition, groups were transferred to a new interleaved subpattern (878787). Results from both initial acquisition and transfer conditions indicate that although the presence of pattern structure and cueing did improve initial pattern acquisition, rats did not solely employ a chunking strategy. Experiment 2 was designed to replicate Experiment 1 and to further explore possible interleaved pattern learning strategies. Rats were presented a target subpattern (123456) and a manipulated interleaved subpattern. Subpattern manipulations included changes in structure, cueing, and complexity of the interleaved subpattern. A transfer presented rats with the same interleaved pattern in a novel context. Results replicated Experiment 1 as structure and cueing manipulations affected interleaved pattern acquisition. Complexity of the subpattern did not show a consistent effect. Pattern performance was also affected during transfer to a novel context. The results from these experiments indicate that rats may be using a complex cognitive strategy to acquire and produce interleaved patterns. Rats may be combining several strategies including ordinal position, conditional discrimination learning, rule abstraction and chunking in order to complete this difficult task.

Youth-initiated mentoring that focuses on a mentee’s academic goals has the potential to positively influence academic, social-emotional, and identity development in older adolescents while building enduring mentor-mentee relationships (DuBois et al., 2011, Schwartz & Rhodes, 2016; Bayer, Grossman, & DuBois, 2015; Karcher & Nakkula, 2010). While the majority of youth mentoring research has focused on long-term (12 months or more) resiliency-based mentoring models, new emerging models like youth-initiated and academic instrumental mentoring need to be investigated (Rhodes, 2002; DuBois et al., 2002; Schwartz & Rhodes, 2016). The purpose of this quantitative study was to explore the influences of short-term youth-initiated mentoring on higher order cognitive skill development and mentor-mentee relationship quality. Participants included 145 high school students enrolled in an International private school’s youth-initiated academic mentoring program who completed a digital survey twice over three months. The survey instrument included a descriptive section that collected participants’ demographic information while quantifying their youth mentoring experience, a Mentor-Youth Alliance Survey that assessed mentor-mentee relationship quality (Zand, Thomson, Cervantes, Espiritu, Klagholz, et al., 2009) and two measurement tools that assessed higher order cognitive skills including the Developmental Assets Profile internal assets (Scales, Benson, & Mannes, 2006) and the future expectations the Survey of Academic Youth Outcomes Youth Survey future expectations (NOIST, 2013). Findings indicated that short-term youth-initiated academic mentoring positively influenced high order cognitive development in older adolescent students. In addition, youth-initiated mentoring may promote higher quality mentor-mentee relationships within 3 to 12 months.

The purpose of the current study was to assess a model of college completion at a 2-year community college based on Tinto's Theory of Student Drop Out and current factors known to impact college completion. A freshman cohort (n = 2,846) that attended a large-urban community college was assessed. Logistic regression analysis found student age and math proficiency when entering college were significant factors in the model. The older the student was when first enrolling, the lower their likelihood of completing college. The more remediation a student needed in math skills, then the less likely she or he was in completing college. Placement into developmental (remedial) English writing courses did not seem to suppress completion, and was a non-significant finding in the model. Reading proficiency and participation in a student success course (first-year seminar) were not significant factors in the model, though estimated coefficients aligned with research literature.

This project provides a broad exploration of factors that can enhance or inhibit creative performance in professional artists, including writers, visual artists, and musicians. Potential causes of the difficulties creative clients contend with are surveyed, as well as a range of interventions to address them. The first section reviews six major factors that can impact artistic creativity (also called Big C or eminent creativity) both positively and negatively, including the relatively stable and enduring factors of artists’ personality traits, cognitive makeup, and psychopathology. This section also reviews more malleable elements of creativity that the therapist may be able to affect directly, namely, motivational orientation, mood, and environmental influences. The second section is an investigation of creative block: its antecedents, phenomenology, and proposed classifications of different types of block. The final section focuses on interventions to facilitate creative performance in artists, both those who are suffering from artist block and those who are seeking to boost their creative achievement more generally. Interventions reviewed include cognitive-behavioral, Gestalt, psychodynamic, meditative, and compassion-focused approaches. In addition, field interviews conducted with psychologists with expertise in the clinical treatment of professional artists are summarized. The project concludes with a discussion of possible reasons for the scarcity of empirical literature on the subject of creative block and potential avenues of exploration for future research.

Keywords: Arts, artists, musicians, writers, creativity, psychotherapy, self-compassion, perfectionism, self criticism.

This research aims to provide evidence that will serve to better the quality of treatment in residential care settings for the at-risk adolescent population. Because of the various factors associated with iatrogenic effects in residential care settings and because of the impact that the developmental stage of adolescence has on later adulthood, attempts to increase this treatment quality type becomes salient. Contemporarily, dialectical behavioral therapy is utilized in residential care settings with the at-risk adolescent population and has research supporting its’ efficacy. Although dialectical behavioral therapy is utilized in this context and has demonstrated effective, it is often only provided in therapy and not in the milieu. Because of the quantity of time clients in residential care settings spend in the milieu with milieu staff, these experiences likely influence their overall therapy progress. Therefore, this research hypothesizes that dialectical behavioral therapy’s use in the milieu in addition to therapy will increase overall therapy progress for the client population than if treatment as usual were to proceed. This research was conducted in a residential care setting for at-risk adolescents and collected data during a treatment as usual assessment period; provided the intervention of training milieu staff in dialectical behavioral therapy theory, strategies, and adolescent adaptations; and collected data during a dialectical behavioral therapy treatment assessment period. Concluding is a statistical analysis of the measurable changes between assessment periods, an interpretation of the results, a discussion regarding generalization of the findings, limitations, and future considerations.

Social learning has been shown to have a significant impact on moral development. Research has established that the progression of moral development is consistent and universal. Several factors can impact the rate at which children progress through the moral stages. Children's moral reasoning can be shaped by observations of media characters. Due to their recent resurgence in popular culture and the media, as well as their consistent popularity with children, superheroes have been identified as potential social models of morality. In a sample of 108 fifth grade students, a significant positive correlation was revealed between superhero knowledge and exposure. The sample was divided by gender due to significant differences in superhero knowledge and exposure as well as level of moral judgment. A linear multiple regression for the males approached but did not reach significance. A linear multiple regression for females also failed to reach significance. Limitations of the current study and implications for future research are discussed.

The primary goal of the present study was to examine whether avoidance and intolerance of uncertainty predict depression and anxiety through rumination over a two week time period. Results indicated that cognitive, behavioral, and experiential avoidance all individually predicted depressive and anxious symptoms over two weeks. Cognitive, behavioral, and experiential avoidance all predicted rumination one week later. Intolerance of uncertainty predicted higher levels of anxiety and depression but not rumination. No evidence emerged that rumination acted as a mechanism of action between any of the hypothesized mediational models for depressive symptoms. Only the cognitive and experiential avoidance mediational models indicated mediation for anxiety.

The three studies that follow were designed to advance the field's knowledge of positive coping patterns in response to insidious, ongoing natural and human-generated disaster threat. They will address the following three aims: 1) to create a psychometrically sound measure of self-efficacy as it applies to human-generated and natural disaster events; 2) to test a theory-driven moderation model of emergency preparedness self-efficacy and its role in the relationship between perceived risk and psychological outcomes; and, 3) to examine how the role of emergency preparedness self-efficacy might vary in ethnically diverse populations. Although numerous assessments of disaster mental health functioning exist, the field has lacked continuity of measurement across disasters; a parsimonious, all-hazard measure is needed in order to identify important psychological risk and resilience factors across disasters. In Paper 1, the psychometric properties of the Emergency Preparedness Self-Efficacy (EPSE) scale are evaluated; this scale assesses an individual's perceived self-efficacy with respect to preparation for, and response to emergencies arising in natural and human-generated disasters. Results from undergraduate and community samples suggest reliability and validity of this emergency preparedness self-efficacy measure. Paper 2 examines the moderating roles of both general self-efficacy and domain-specific (emergency preparedness) self-efficacy on the relationship between the ongoing perceived risk of human-made disaster (terrorism) and mental health outcomes. As hypothesized, emergency preparedness self-efficacy (but not general self-efficacy) moderated the relationship between perception of risk and anxiety and perception of risk and general distress. Greater emergency preparedness self-efficacy reduced the impact of risk perception on both mental health outcomes, highlighting the protective function of the contextually specific belief in one's capacity to overcome hardship and exercise control. Paper 3 examines how the moderating effect of emergency preparedness self-efficacy might differ for the ethnic minority subgroup as compared to the Caucasian subgroup. Results revealed that the relationship between perceived risk and anxiety was stronger for individuals with lower levels of emergency preparedness self-efficacy, compared to those with higher levels of emergency preparedness self-efficacy, in the Caucasian subsample. However, the relationship between perceived risk and anxiety did not differ according to level of emergency preparedness self-efficacy in the ethnic minority subgroup. Although preliminary, findings reveal a differing role of self-efficacy in response to ongoing terrorism threat for Caucasian versus ethnic minority individuals. Limitations of these studies are noted and recommendations for future research are provided. However, in combination, these studies provide evidence to support the psychometric properties of a scale for self-efficacy for disasters, which is noticeably absent from the field; highlight intervention opportunities at the individual level; and, demonstrate the need to tailor interventions to differing protective mechanisms across cultural populations.

Psychotherapist personal factors, often referred to as countertransference reactions, are widely believed to impact the therapeutic process. While the existence of the countertransference is commonly accepted by contemporary psychotherapists, there is continued debate over its nature, quality and therapeutic utility. Further, there have been relatively few empirical studies on the countertransference reactions of practicing psychologists and other mental health professionals. This study aimed to address this lack by examining the frequency and nature of countertransference experiences as reported by psychoanalysts. Additionally, this study sought to explore the relationship between countertransference reactions and patient symptomology as suggested by recent findings (Betan, Heim, Conklin, & Western, 2005; Brody & Farber, 1996; Rossberg, Karterud, Pedersen, & Friis, 2007, 2008, 2010). Seventy psychoanalysts with memberships to national psychoanalytic organizations completed a brief, web-based survey on countertransference. The results of this study indicated that psychoanalysts report constantly experiencing countertransference reactions and that these reactions are mostly positive in nature, independent of the clinician's background or demographic information. The results also showed that most psychoanalysts defined the CT phenomenon as "all of a therapist's reactions," during the psychotherapy, reflecting the "totalist" perspective of CT. A small but significant association was found between CT definition and reported CT frequency, suggesting the role of theory in shaping clinical experience. While respondents were just as likely to report CT reactions with patients diagnosed with Axis I and Axis II disorders, Cluster B personality disorders were most specified amongst the Axis II endorsements. The findings of this study provide a contemporary outlook on the countertransference phenomenon. This study's limitations relate to its homogenous sample population and abnormal distribution rate.

This project employed the Development and Research Utilization Model (DRU) to compile a counseling group manual to help transition freshman college students from divorced homes. Analysis revealed that divorce is unfortunately a common occurrence affecting approximately four out of every eight marriages. Research showed that children from divorced homes are more likely to become anxious or depressed. Further study showed college campuses do not have the on-campus support needed for freshmen who were adversely affected by their parents’ divorce. The development phase of the DRU consisted of a literature review which affirmed the need for specific resources and help for this freshmen population. College students from divorced homes struggled with academic achievement and showed emotional, mental health, economic, and adjustment issues. Counselors at colleges and universities need to have support for students coming from divorced homes, and this manual will equip group leaders.

Contrary to the dominant view that generally equates feelings with poor thinking, converging evidence indicates that decisions – including those involving risk – are influenced by affective experiences. Research, however, is limited to studies on undifferentiated, global positive versus negative mood states; less is known about the influence of discrete emotions. The purpose of this research was to extend the affect-cognition literature by (a) examining the effects of discrete emotions varying along the dimensions of valence and arousal, and (b) identifying the systematic ways that discrete emotions underlie risky decision making. We used a set of emotion-laden IAPS images to elicit and compare the impact of incidental emotions on risky decision making. One hundred and twenty-two undergraduate students were randomly assigned to one of the four affective conditions: excitement, contentment, fear, and sadness. Following the emotion induction procedure, participants completed the Choice Dilemmas Questionnaire (CDQ) to assess their risk-taking propensity. Results indicated an interaction effect between valence and arousal for positive emotions, such that excited participants were significantly more risky in their decision making compared to contented participants. The discussion focuses on the theoretical and practical health implications of these findings. We recommend that future research capitalize on the insights gained from emotion research and use it favorably to improve decision making under risk.

This study presents a group therapy program for injured athletes recovering from a traumatic physical injury to address and provide coping skills for the trauma-related symptoms athletes may experience post-athletic injury. Eleven expert reviewers in the field of sport psychology, injury rehabilitation, and athletic development reviewed the program and provided feedback regarding the utility, accuracy, organization, applicability, and additional factors. Although reviewers noted traumatic reactions are experienced by a sub-group of athletes, they also generally agreed the group therapy program could aid in clinical work and reduce trauma-related distress experienced by athletes after an injury and provide social support within a safe environment, allowing discussion and sharing of experiences with one another.

The present study compared the validity of a new graphic probe presentation technique for the Situation Awareness Present Method (SPAM) with the established traditional text-based probe presentation method. Three primary research questions were to be answered: 1) Which method of assessing situation awareness will best predict air traffic controller (ATCo) performance? 2) Will the method of probe administration, graphics-based vs. text-based, affect the time to respond to the question?, and 3) Will the method of administration, graphics-based vs. text-based, affect the accuracy of probe responses? Participants performed a simulated air traffic control task using a Multi Aircraft Control System (MACS), which is a simulated mid-fidelity ATCo environment. SPAM probe questions were presented on an adjacent computer. Two manipulations were used during the course of this study: 1) the amount of aircraft in the sector at a given time (traffic density), and 2) the probe presentation technique (Graphic vs. Text-based), with the traditional SPAM dependent variables of probe accuracy, subjective workload, workload latency, and probe question latency. First, the findings of the present study show the shorter response time of text-based probes. Second, the findings of the present study show text-based probes to generate more accurate participant responses. Lastly, the findings of the present study suggest both text-based and graphic probes predict aspects of ATCo performance. However, only specific text-based probe questions predict Losses of Separation, the primary measurement of ATCo safety. While significant findings were discovered during the course of the present experiment, further research is needed to determine the validity and reliability of the present findings.

Limited research on creativity in delinquents concluded they were generally not creative, and delinquents who were creative tended to express creativity in the domains of crime and violence. None of this research examined creativity in delinquents with testing validated to measure both the divergent-exploratory and convergent-integrative thinking processes, now considered essential and interdependent elements of creative thinking. Further, no studies empirically examined creative products for violent and criminal content. The present study used archival data from an adapted Evaluation of Potential Creativity (EPoC) to analyze the creative potential of adolescents in a juvenile detention center relative to a reference group of adolescents in the general population. The adapted EPoC assessed creative potential in the graphic and verbal domains of divergent-exploratory thinking and the graphic domain of convergent-integrative thinking. Drawings from the adapted EPoC were also analyzed for presence and level of unsolicited violent content.

Delinquents demonstrated lower levels of creativity than adolescents of the general population in the graphic domain of both divergent-exploratory and convergent-integrative thinking. However, there was no difference in level of creativity between delinquents and adolescents of the general population in the verbal domain of divergent-exploratory thinking. In addition, delinquency did not moderate the relationship between creativity and production of unsolicited violent content in drawings; high levels of creativity in both delinquents and adolescents of the general population were associated with the production of high levels of unsolicited violent content in drawings.

The finding of no difference in levels of verbal creativity between delinquents and adolescents of the general population may suggest both groups share a common deficiency in verbal creativity due to environmental and pedagogic factors; specifically, an art bias equating creativity with graphic but not verbal creativity, and a teacher preference for students oriented toward the visual arts. The finding associating high levels of creativity with high levels of unsolicited violent content in drawings for both delinquents and adolescents of the general population may be related to the observed tendency of all creative adolescents to draw a greater volume of content overall, indicating drawing violent content is commonplace and disassociated from delinquency.

The Ironman Triathlon is an epic endurance event consisting of a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bike ride, and a 26.2-mile run. There is paucity in the literature relating to how athletes learn how to negotiate this event. This qualitative study was conducted over a 9 month period, to align with the 2013 Ironman training and racing season. Seven athletes were selected for participation in the study. Utilizing a case study approach, the Ironman athletes' learning pathways were examined through in-depth interviews and audio and video content personally captured by the participants.

The learning pathways revealed the athletes initially learned through cognitive means, i.e. social interaction, reading, Internet sources, and the observation of others. As athletes traversed the learning pathway, they subsequently operationalized the knowledge they learned and constructively made it meaningful to their respective personal training and racing situations. At the terminal end of the learning pathway, the athletes operationalized the learned content in an experiential learning cycle. During the entire learning pathway, the athletes practiced the learned content, which is best characterized as behavioral learning. The audio and video content provided by the athletes empirically validated the interviews.

The interviews with the athletes were coded. Some unifying themes emerged from the data independent of cognitive, constructivist, behavioral, or experiential learning theories; e.g. the importance of mental toughness, the understanding of pain during the training and racing process, how success is measured, the importance of training with a power meter, and motivating factors.