Jennifer Peszka

Hendrix College · Psychology

Introduction Previously, active phone use at bedtime has been implicated in disrupted sleep and related complaints. To improve sleep, a recommendation following such findings is limiting phone use before and during bedtime. However, for those with the characteristic of “nomophobia”, fear of being out of mobile phone contact, this recommendation cou...

Introduction We examined the relationship between bedtime active and passive social technology use (self and bedpartner) and daytime sleepiness/sleep. We generated questions to differentiate participants with and without bedpartners and updated passive personal, active bedpartner, and passive bedpartner social technology questions of the Sleep Hygi...

Lucid and control dream states have been linked to a variety of positive psychological outcomes, but are uncommon and difficult to induce. Delineating connections between lucid and control dreaming and immersion in other virtual environments could aid in understanding the nature of those dream states and developing more effective induction training...

Introduction Research shows associations between technology use and disrupted and shortened sleep, leading to the suggested intervention of reducing technology use with the intention of improving sleep. However, whether all technology use or only that associated with bedtime is related to disrupted sleep has not yet been established. We examined th...

Introduction One third of Americans report bedpartner sleep problems negatively impact their sleep. Previously we found one third of participants reported passive bedpartner social technology use related to disrupted sleep and increased sleepiness. We examined the relationship of both passive and active bedpartner social technology use and one’s ow...

Introduction Sleep disruption is a recognized risk factor for impaired mental health and sleep hygiene is a recognized treatment component for sleep disruption. We examined correlational changes in sleep hygiene to determine if they predicted changes in mental health. Finding these modifiable behaviors are related to mental health changes could hel...

Introduction The relationships between maladaptive sleep hygiene with sleep disruption and between sleep disruption and impaired mental health are well established. We suggest sleep hygiene behaviors may predict mental health mediated and/or moderated by sleep disruption. Finding these modifiable behaviors are related to mental health will establis...

Introduction Previous research has shown technology use during and near bedtime can disrupt sleep. Much of this research has been conducted in college students, adolescents, and children. We compared bedtime social technology use in traditional age college students with working adults to determine group differences in frequency and disruptive natur...

Introduction One third of participants report that their partner’s sleep problems negatively affect their own sleep (supported by actigraph data). We have previously established that the use of bedtime social technology is related to poorer sleep quality and greater sleepiness. Here, we examined the relationship of partner passive social technology...

Introduction Lucid dreaming has been shown to reduce nightmares and symptoms of PTSD, anxiety, and depression; however, only 20% of adults report regular lucid dreaming and lucidity training techniques are not always successful. Improving induction techniques should enhance lucid dreaming’s therapeutic usefulness. Video game play, with a high level...

Introduction Social technology use today is virtually ubiquitous among younger cohorts resulting in students frequently sleeping with their smartphone in the bedroom, on the bedside table, on the bed, or under the pillow. We examined the relationship of active and passive social technology use with daytime sleepiness and sleep. Active social techno...

Psychology students completed a task with reinforcement for successful performance. We tested academic integrity under randomly assigned conditions of check mark acknowledgment of an honor pledge, typed honor pledge, or no pledge. Across all conditions, 14.1% of students inflated their self-reported performance (i.e., cheated). We found no signific...

Although, impairments following sleep deprivation have been clearly demonstrated in the literature, researchers have found a wide range of individual variation in response to sleep deprivation. The relationship between personality and the subjective and objective impact of sleep deprivation was examined using the Epworth Sleepiness Scale, Stanford...

This research assessed the impact of one night of sleep deprivation on the amplitudes of NREM-sleep event-related potentials (NREM ERPs) and on the frequency of occurrence of related electroencephalogram activity including sleep spindles, arousals, K-complexes, and vertex sharp waves (VSWs). The NREM ERPs identified included P220, N350, P450, N550...

This report describes night-time sleep and daytime sleepiness in a large (N=530) sample of patients meeting the International Classification of Sleep Disorders criteria for diagnosis of narcolepsy. Sleep data were obtained from polysomnographic recordings on two consecutive nights. Sleepiness was assessed using the Multiple Sleep Latency Test, the...

During normal olfaction, stimulation is dependent upon nasal inhalation. When collecting chemosensory event-related potentials (CSERPs), inhalations may produce artifacts such as respiration-related brain potentials that confound interpretation of the data. To avoid this type of artifact, CSERPs have often been collected using stimulation that is i...

Copy on microfilm. Typescript. Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Southern Mississippi, 1999. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 100-123).

Typescript. Thesis (M.A.)--University of Southern Mississippi, 1998. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 119-129).