Date of Award

7-2026

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

School

Psychology

Committee Chair

Dr. Stephanie Smith

Committee Chair School

Psychology

Committee Member 2

Dr. Kristy McRaney

Committee Member 2 School

Psychology

Committee Member 3

Dr. Megan Renna

Committee Member 3 School

Psychology

Committee Member 4

Dr. Kruti Surti

Committee Member 4 School

Psychology

Abstract

Rumination is a maladaptive coping strategy that is associated with the emergence and maintenance of several psychological disorders and related symptomatology and thus has been proposed as a transdiagnostic risk factor. Recent work has focused on patterns of brain activation during rumination to sadness; however, less is known about brain activation patterns in response to anger-inducing events and how anger rumination may influence working memory. This study sought to identify potential neurophysiological correlates (through electroencephalography; EEG) of anger rumination, examine how anger rumination subsequently impacts working memory performance, and determine whether neurophysiological correlates of anger rumination are associated with working memory performance. A sample of 82 participants were randomly assigned to either write about an angry memory (rumination condition) or a daily routine (neutral condition) and then reflect on the angering event or visualize the routine while EEG data were collected. Participants were then administered three working memory tasks. Although resting state neural oscillations were not significantly associated with self-reported rumination, alpha oscillations during induced rumination were negatively correlated with overall negative mood, and these oscillations significantly predicted subsequent working memory performance on a Digit Span task. These results suggest that alpha oscillations were capturing overall negative mood state, rather than serving as a specific marker of anger rumination and may offer some predictive utility regarding performance on certain types of working memory tasks. Future studies should consider how specific mood states and subsequent maladaptive coping strategies (e.g., rumination) may influence working memory performance in emerging adults, and further evaluate which negative mood states alpha oscillations best capture.

ORCID ID

0000-0003-4580-4240

Download

Share

COinS