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Home / Undergraduate Research Highlights / Psychology
 
Psychology Highlights
Total Listing: 136    (Listed by the order of record adding time, Descending)
( 1 )   Recorded at: 1/13/2010      
Title Real-life decision-making: Parents: Choosing a first-grade placement
Journal American Journal of Psychology., 2009;122:455-468, Galotti KM, Tinkelenberg CE.
Description The purpose of the study was to investigate in detail a real-life important decision, made by motivated non-experts, as it unfolded over time. Parents of kindergarteners participated in a short-term longitudinal study, as they made a decision for educational placement for their child for the following year. Parents reported the number of options under active consideration to be about three and the number of criteria used to evaluate options to about five. About one-third of the options under consideration changed over a six- month period, while over half of the criteria did. Parents’ holistic appraisals of options displayed a moderate degree of calibration with predictions of linear models.
Faculty Kathleen Galotti is professor of cognitive science and director of the cognitive science program at Carleton College.
Student Carey Tinkelenberg graduated from Carleton in 2005. She originally served as an undergraduate RA in 2003-04 and 2004-05, and as a project manager the year following her graduation, in 2005-06. A former competitive figure skater, Carey is now the founder and director of the Northfield Skating School, and is considering graduate work in the near future.
Fund The project was funded by the National Science Foundation’s Decision and Risk Management Program for financial support through Research in Undergraduate Institutions Grant # 011185.
 
( 2 )   Recorded at: 1/13/2010      
Title Illicit use of prescription stimulants among college students: Prescription status, motives, theory of planned behavior, knowledge and self-diagnostic tendencies
Journal Psychol Health Med., 2009;14:97-104, Judson R, Langdon SW.
Description The online study investigated illicit stimulant medication use by college students. Results indicated that illicit use was higher in prescription holders than non-holders, and, in non-holders, it was higher in participants who self-diagnosed with ADD or ADHD. Primary motives for use were academic and findings were consistent with the theory of planned behavior. This study provided additional insight into student 's attitudes, beliefs, knowledge and practices related to illicit prescription stimulant use.
Faculty Su Langdon is a Lecturer in Psychology.
Student Rachel Judson did the work in 2006-2007 for her senior thesis project. She is currently enrolled as a Rehabilitation Technician in a long term care facility which specializes in spinal cord and traumatic injury and will be starting Nursing School in January.
Fund The research was supported by funds from the Psychology Department of Bates College.
 
( 3 )   Recorded at: 1/13/2010      
Title Attention and reaction time in university students following the consumption of Red Bull
Journal Open Nutr. J., 2009;3:8-10, Gendle MH, Smucker GS, Stafstrom JA, Helterbran MC, Glazer KS.
Description The present double-blind, placebo controlled study investigated the effects of consuming 250 ml of Red Bull, Sugar Free Red Bull, or a flavor and appearance-matched placebo beverage on sustained attention and reaction time, as measured by a computerized continuous performance task. No significant differences in task performance were related to ingestion of any of the drinks. The effects of Red Bull on reaction time and sustained attention are, therefore, minimal, and are no greater than enhancements in task performance resulting from placebo expectancies.
Faculty Mathew Gendle is an associate professor of psychology.
Student Darren Smucker, Jason Stafstrom, Melanie Helterbran, and Kimberly Glazer were all psychology majors or minors, and participated in this research for independent study credit. At present, Darren is enrolled in a master’s degree program in clinical psychology at Ball State University; Kim is completing her MSW degree at the University of Pennsylvania; Jason is currently employed as a laboratory technician at the University of Nebraska; and, Melanie is completing certification as a substance abuse counselor in New Jersey.
Fund This research was supported by the Elon College Fellows program.
 
( 4 )   Recorded at: 1/13/2010      
Title The Down syndrome advantage: Fact or fiction?
Journal Amer J on Intell & Devel Disabil, 2009;114:254-268, Corrice AM, Glidden, LM
Description The "Down syndrome advantage" is the popular conception that children with Down syndrome are easier to rear than children with other developmental disabilities. This research demonstrated that the advantage is a function of higher levels of child adaptive behavior and older mothers.
Faculty Laraine Glidden is Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Human Development
Student April is a 2008 graduate of St. Mary 's College of Maryland who majored in psychology. She did the work for this article in 2007-2008 as directed research. She is currently employed by the Association of American Medical Colleges and intends to go on to graduate school in psychology.
Fund This work was supported by Grant # 21993 from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and by faculty development grants to Laraine Glidden.
 
( 5 )   Recorded at: 12/16/2009      
Title Prefrontal control of trace eyeblink conditioning in rabbits: Role in retrieval of the CR?
Journal Behav Neurosci, 2008;122:841-848, Oswald, BB, Maddox, SA, Powell, DA
Description The present study examined the effects of post-training lesions on memory for a previously learned response. Animals received lesions to the medial region of the prefrontal cortex either immediately or one week following learning. Results demonstrated that immediate lesions had minimal effects, but lesions given one week following initial learning significantly impaired performance. These findings suggest that the medial prefrontal cortex mediates the retrieval of learned information, rather than initial encoding or storage processes
Faculty Barbara Oswald is an assistant professor of psychology, previously in the Department of Continuing Education Credit Programs at the University of South Carolina and now at Northern Kentucky University
Student Stephanie Maddox, a senior psychology major, participated in the research as part of a National Science Foundation Summer Research Institute in Experimental Psychology. Stephanie is currently in a doctoral program in Behavioral Neuroscience at Yale University
Fund The research was supported by Department of Veterans Affairs Merit Awards to Drs. Oswald and Powell, and a USC Magellan Scholar Award to Stephanie
 
( 6 )   Recorded at: 12/16/2009      
Title Biological challenge procedures used to study co-occurring nicotine dependence and panic disorder
Journal Addictive Behaviors, 2008;33:1463-1469, Abrams K, Schruers K, Cosci F, Sawtell S
Description A wide array of biological challenge procedures - including carbon dioxide inhalation, hyperventilation, and breath holding - have been used to model panic in laboratory settings. The goals of this paper were to review studies that have employed biological challenges to study the comorbid condition, identify the advantages and limitations of the various procedures, describe desirable outcome measures for use in biological challenges, and present recommendations for future challenge studies in this field. We argued that biological challenges, though in need of standardization, are useful for studying the development, maintenance, prevention, and treatment of comorbid nicotine dependence and panic disorder
Faculty Ken Abrams is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Carleton College
Student Koen Schruers and Fiammetta Cosci are from Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands. Shaun Sawtell was a senior psychology major who assisted with the manuscript in the Fall 2007 and Winter 2008. He did the work as non-credit independent study and plans to attend law school
 
( 7 )   Recorded at: 12/16/2009      
Title Isolation and confinement issues in long duration spaceflight
Journal In Proceedings of 2008 IEEE Aerospace conference, , Wickman L, Tsai AY, Walters R
Description As humankind prepares for further exploration of our solar system it is crucial to consider the wide range of potential psychological and physiological effects brought about by long duration spaceflight. This paper first reviews efforts to address these effects in three areas: human factors design, physiological health, and psychosocial issues. Finally, a fourth factor: interpersonal dynamics is proposed. Interpersonal dynamics will influence communications, crew compatibility, and coping. The role of group psychology will become especially salient during prolonged confinement during longer missions. This heightened potential for interpersonal problems demands attention, with important implications for crew training and mission design. While some countermeasures have previously been suggested - increased crew autonomy, selection of compatible crews, and training flight crews together to increase cohesiveness - a better understanding of social psychological issues during extended spaceflight is necessary. As NASA and other space faring organizations prepare for longer duration missions, efforts undertaken now to develop preventative measures for mitigating psychosocial challenges are far more preferable to the potentially much greater demands of managing and treating psychological crises real-time during a spaceflight mission
Faculty Leslie Wickman is currently Director of the Center for Research in Science at Azusa Pacific University. Annie Y. Tsai is currently Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology
Student Raymond Walters just graduated in December 2008 with major in Psychology and a double minor in Religion and Culture, and Philosophy. He is applying to PhD programs in Psychometrics
 
( 8 )   Recorded at: 12/16/2009      
Title A comparison of the cannabinoid CB1 receptor inverse agonist AM 251 and the CB1 antagonist AM 4113 on the behavioral satiety sequence in rats
Journal Behavioural Brain Research, 2008;193(2):298-305, Hodge J, Bow JP, Plyler KS, Vemuri VK, Wisniecki A, Salamone JD, Makriyannis A, McLaughlin PJ
Description The present paper reported on the effects of novel cannabinoid CB1 receptor antagonists and inverse agonists on satiation. These drugs, which should produce the opposite of effects of marijuana use, are useful in learning about the role of the CB1 receptor in behavior, and are potential appetite suppressant drugs. While the senior faculty member has previously published work indicating that these drugs reduce food intake in rats, it is not clear whether they produce these effects by reducing appetite. It was found that both drugs, despite differences in their actions, produced profiles of behavior that are similar to those shown by satiated animals. Using a novel, innovative wheel-running design, the authors disconfirmed a recent hypothesis in the field that the drugs reduce feeding by causing a motor side effect
Faculty Peter McLaughlin is an Assistant Professor of Psychology
Student Janel Hodge, a junior, and Joshua Bow, a sophomore, are in the Robert C. Weber Honors Program and are preparing for graduate study in neuroscience. Kimberly Plyler, a senior, entered graduate school in behavioral neuroscience at SUNY Buffalo in Fall 2008. Janel and Kimberly performed the research as part of an independent study project
Fund The work was supported by Edinboro Senate Research Grants
 
( 9 )   Recorded at: 11/24/2009      
Title Race comparisons of longitudinal changes in strength of police officers
Journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, May 2009; 41(5):3047, Nusca SM, Boyce RW, Joye SC, Jones GR, Boone EL
Description Strength profiles of police provide a basis for designing training, hiring, and retention procedures. PURPOSE: To identify differences in bench press strength scores from initial-recruit to in-service tests and to compare racial differences using a retrospective longitudinal design. CONCLUSION: With a properly designed physical fitness program, department can expect to see increases in strength of personnel over the first half of their careers; there are gender and racial differences in strength gain.
Faculty Robert W. Boyce, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor in the Department of Health and Applied Human Sciences, University of North Carolina at Wilmington.
Student Steve Nusca complete his work in 2008-2009 graduated from UNCW in May of 2009 with a major in Physical Education and a concentration in Exercise Science. Steve will begin pursue a Master’s Degree in Sport and Exercise Physiology at West Chester University of Pennsylvania this fall. Steve applied to the Honors/CSURF Program at UNCW and was awarded $1000 for travel to present his work at the American College of Sports Medicine Annual Meeting in Seattle Washington in 2009.
Fund No fuunding was provided.
 
( 10 )   Recorded at: 11/24/2009      
Title Longitudinal comparison of body mass index and percent body fat changes in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department
Journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, May 2009; 41(5):3046, Boulos MS, Boyce RW, Jones GR, Boone EL
Description Body composition is of primary concern in careers with high physical demands such as police. PURPOSE: To compare body mass index (BMI) classifications of obesity with percent body fat (BF) in police over 12 years with gender comparisons. CONCLUSION: BMI and BF showed considerable disagreement as to who was classified as obese over time and there were gender differences.
Faculty Robert W. Boyce, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor in the Department of Health and Applied Human Sciences, University of North Carolina at Wilmington.
Student Matt Boulos is a senior in the Exercise Science concentration in Health and Physical Education. He plans to continue his schooling to become a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine. Matt applied to the Honors/CSURF Program at UNCW and was awarded $1000 for travel to present his work at the American College of Sports Medicine Annual Meeting in Seattle Washington in 2009.
Fund No funding was provided.
 
( 11 )   Recorded at: 11/24/2009      
Title The role of mirror neurons in processing vocal emotions: evidence from psychophysiological data
Journal Int J Neurosci, 2009; 119(5):681-90, Ramachandra V, DePalma N, Lisiewski S
Description The current study employed psychophysiological techniques to understand the role of the mirror neuron system in processing vocal emotions. Skin conductance and heart rate were measured for undergraduate students while they were both listening to emotional vocalizations and also thinking (internal production) about them. The results revealed changes in skin conductance response and heart rate during both ‘listening’ and ‘thinking’ tasks. This suggests an active role of the mirror neuron system in processing vocal emotions.
Faculty Vijayachandra Ramachandra is an assistant professor in the department of communication sciences and disorders at Marywood University.
Student This study was a part of the independent study project conducted by Nina and Sara during their senior years. Nina graduated this year from Marywood University as valedictorian for the class of 2009. She will be beginning her Master 's in speech-language pathology at Gallaudet University from fall 2009. Sara is currently pursuing her doctoral degree in audiology from James Madison University.
Fund This research project was funded by Marywood University 's Office of Research and Community Collaboration.
 
( 12 )   Recorded at: 11/24/2009      
Title Stress, depression, cortisol and periodontal disease.
Journal J of Perio, 2009;80:260-266, Rosania A, Low KG, McCormick C, Rosania D
Description This study assessed the effects of psychological factors on periodontal disease through psychoneuroimmunologic changes and non-compliant behavior. This study included 45 periodontal patients referred by three dentists. Participants completed composite health, chronic stress, depression, and demographic questions and were asked to provide a saliva sample. During an exam, a hygienist assessed the degree of periodontal disease. Both stress and depression were correlated with measures of periodontal disease. After controlling for age, family history, brushing frequency, and depression and CORT were significant predictors of number of missing teeth. Stress and depression are associated with periodontal destruction through both behavioral and physiological pathways.
Faculty Kathryn Graff Low is a Professor of Psychology at Bates College, Cheryl McCormick is a Professor of Psychology at Brock University, and David Rosania is in private practice.
Student Amy Rosania was an undergraduate Psychology major at Bates College when she completed this research for her senior thesis. Amy is currently a dental student at the University of Pennsylvania.
Fund The research was funded by the Bates College Student Research Fund.
 
( 13 )   Recorded at: 11/24/2009      
Title The effects of a web-based intervention on college students' knowledge of HPV and attitudes toward vaccination.
Journal Inter J of Sexual Health, 2008; 20: 223-232, Doherty K & Low KG
Description The present study of 119 college students explored the effect of a web-based intervention on participants ' knowledge of HPV and attitudes toward HPV vaccination. Participants were randomized to a web-based, self-administered HPV educational intervention or to a control group. Knowledge and attitudes were assessed at baseline, after the completion of the intervention, and at one-month follow up. At baseline, women knew more than men about risk and symptoms of HPV. At immediate and long term follow up, the intervention group had better knowledge of HPV and more positive attitudes toward HPV vaccination than the control group. There were some gender differences in response to the intervention; increases in knowledge of HPV were greater in men, while changes in attitudes toward vaccination were larger in women.
Faculty Kathryn Graff Low, is a Professor of Psychology.
Student Kathryn Doherty was a senior at Bates College in Psychology when she completed this research for her undergraduate senior thesis. The first author is now a graduate student at Tufts University School of Education.
Fund The research was supported by the Bates College Student Research Fund.
 
( 14 )   Recorded at: 11/24/2009      
Title Explicit disassociation of a conditioned stimulus and unconditioned stimulus during extinction training reduces both time to asymptotic extinction and spontaneous recovery of a conditioned taste aversion.
Journal Learn. & Motivat, 2009; 40:209-220, Mickley GA, Disorbo A, Wilson GN, Huffman J, Bacik S, Hoxha Z, Biada JM, Kim, Y-H
Description We identified a behavioral method by which we could reduce the spontaneous recovery of a conditioned taste aversion in rats by explicitly disassociating the taste and feelings of malaise during extinction training. This elimination of the learned fear occurred more rapidly and was more persistent than that learned via more-traditional extinction methods. The data are relevant to the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorders, phobias and other learned fears.
Faculty G. Andrew Mickley is a Professor of Neuroscience and Psychology.
Student The work was performed as part of Dr. Mickley’s NIMH grant. The students were assistants on this project. Anthony DiSorbo is currently in a doctoral program in psychology at Temple University. Gina Wilson is serving as the Laboratory Director of Dr. Mickley’s Neuroscience lab at Baldwin-Wallace College. Jennifer Huffman is in a doctoral program in psychology at SUNY Binghamton. Stephanie Bacik is in an M.D., Ph.D. program at the University of Florida. Zana Hoxha is attending medical school in Kosovo. Jacqueline Biada is a Research Associate for the Palo Alto Institute for Research and Education at the V.A. Hospital of Palo Alto, CA. Ye-Hyun Kim is in a doctoral program in neuroscience at the University of Virginia.
Fund Supported by NIMH grant: 2-R15-MH063720-03.
 
( 15 )   Recorded at: 9/23/2009      
Title Explicit disassociation of a conditioned stimulus and unconditioned stimulus during extinction training reduces both time to asymptotic extinction and spontaneous recovery of a conditioned taste aversion
Journal Learn. & Motivat, 2009;40:209-220, Mickley GA, Disorbo A, Wilson GN, Huffman J, Bacik S, Hoxha Z, Biada JM, Kim, Y-H
Description We identified a behavioral method by which we could reduce the spontaneous recovery of a conditioned taste aversion in rats by explicitly disassociating the taste and feelings of malaise during extinction training. This elimination of the learned fear occurred more rapidly and was more persistent than that learned via more-traditional extinction methods. The data are relevant to the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorders, phobias and other learned fears
Faculty Andrew Mickley is a Professor of Neuroscience and Psychology
Student The work was performed as part of Dr. Mickley’s NIMH grant. The students were assistants on this project. Anthony DiSorbo is currently in a doctoral program in psychology at Temple University. Gina Wilson is serving as the Laboratory Director of Dr. Mickley’s Neuroscience lab at Baldwin-Wallace College. Jennifer Huffman is in a doctoral program in psychology at SUNY Binghamton. Stephanie Bacik is in an M.D., Ph.D. program at the University of Florida. Zana Hoxha is attending medical school in Kosovo. Jacqueline Biada is a Research Associate for the Palo Alto Institute for Research and Education at the V.A. Hospital of Palo Alto, CA. Ye-Hyun Kim is in a doctoral program in neuroscience at the University of Virginia
Fund Supported by NIMH grant: 2-R15-MH063720-03
 
( 16 )   Recorded at: 9/14/2009      
Title Rape myths among appalachian college students
Journal Violence and Victims, 2008;17: 373-389, Haywood H, Swank E
Description While rape attitudes have been studied in national and urban samples, the support of rape myths in rural populations is seldom investigated. To address this gap, this study surveyed 512 college students at a public university in Eastern Kentucky. In testing an Appalachian distinctiveness question, this study revealed that Appalachian students were less likely to criticize rape victims. Students were also less inclined to condemn rape victims when they were victims themselves, came from egalitarian families, stayed in college longer, rejected modern sexism, and felt little animosity toward women
Faculty Eric Swank is an associate professor of Social Work
Student Holly Haywood started this study in her undergraduate statistics class and is now in a PhD Sociology program at the University of Cincinnati
 
( 17 )   Recorded at: 9/14/2009      
Title Ground reaction forces and kinematics of plant leg position during instep kicking in male and female collegiate soccer players
Journal Sports Biomechanics, 2008;7(2):238-247, Orloff H, Sumida B, Chow J, Habibi L, Fujino A, Kramer B
Description This study compared the kinetics and kinematics of the plant leg position between male and female collegiate soccer players during an instep kick. Twenty-three subjects were filmed in both the sagittal and posterior views, while ground reaction forces were recorded during maximal kick efforts. Higher ball velocity was related to more upright posture and lower anterior force values. The women used the same distance from the ball to the plant foot as the males, but had increased trunk lean and lower leg angle resulting in greater peak medial/lateral forces. This may have implications for the type of heel counter support women need to reduce the chance of injuries
Faculty Heid Orloff is a professor in the exercise science department
Student Bryce Sumida, Janna Chow, LaLae Habibi, Aaron Fujino and Brian Kramer participated in this research project as part of an advanced biomechanics course in fall of 2006. Bryce is currently in Physical Therapy school at the University of Puget Sound, Janna is finishing her master's degree in sports psychology at Seattle University, Aaron finished his mechanical engineering degree at the University of Southern California this past May, while LaLae and Brian are currently employed in the Puget Sound area
Fund This research was supported by a University Enrichment Grant applied for by the students
 
( 18 )   Recorded at: 9/14/2009      
Title Psychology textbooks: Examining their accuracy
Journal Teaching of Psychol, 2008; 35: 160-168, Steuer FB, Ham KW, II
Description This study describes a technique for sampling textbooks’ content and evaluating their accuracy. Preliminary investigations indicated multiple errors in texts examined. The authors present a proposed taxonomy of such errors. They speculate on reasons for such errors and advocate discipline-wide measures for avoiding them
Faculty When this study was conducted (2003-2004) Faye Steuer was a professor of psychology. Faye is now Professor Emerita
Student Whit Ham was a senior psychology major doing an independent study project at the College of Charleston. Whit has recently graduated from Thomas M. Cooley Law School and is practicing law in New York city
 
( 19 )   Recorded at: 9/14/2009      
Title Correlates of high expressed emotion attitudes among parents of bipolar adolescents
Journal J Clin Psychol, 2008; 64: 438-449, Coville AL, Miklowitz DJ, Taylor DO, Low, KG
Description High expressed emotion (EE) attitudes among parents are associated with an increased likelihood of relapse among bipolar patients, but the origins of these attitudes are unclear. This study examined the characteristics of bipolar disorder in 44 adolescents that might be associated with high EE attitudes among parents. Current illness severity and functioning were not associated with high-EE attitudes. Parents of girls, however, were more likely to be high in criticism than parents of boys. Parents of girls expressed more critical comments when the child had an adolescent compared to a childhood onset of bipolar disorder, whereas the reverse pattern was evident among parents of boys
Faculty Drs. Miklowitz and Taylor are at the Department of Psychology at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Professor Low is in the Department of Psychology at Bates College
Student Allison completed the research as part of her senior thesis requirements at Bates. Allison is currently a doctoral student in psychology at University of North Carolina-Greensboro
Fund Allison Coville was supported by summer research funds from a Howard Hughes Medical Foundation grant to Bates College in 2006
 
( 20 )   Recorded at: 9/11/2009      
Title Parental defense of an empty nest after catastrophic brood loss
Journal Animal Behaviour, 2008;76:2059-2067, Wisenden BD, Snekser JL, Stumbo TD, Leese JM
Description Here, we showed that convict cichlids, which form monogamous pair bonds and jointly defend their free-swimming young for 6 weeks, continue to defend their territory against brood predator for at least 15 minutes after all the young have been eaten (we took the young away experimentally). The male began to give up within 5 minutes and began courting a new female but the females remained and defended the area as fiercely as if the young were still there. Both parents returned to normal when the young were returned. This mechanism may explain why and how this species adopts unrelated young from neighboring families
Faculty Brian Wisenden is on faculty at MSUM
Student Tony Stumbo was a senior at MSUM when he joined Brian Wisenden on sabbatical in Costa Rica to do field experiments on convict cichlids, joined by two graduate students, Jennifer Snekser and Joe Leese, from Lehigh University, PA. This is the first paper to come from this work. Tony will be starting graduate school this fall, and Jennifer and Joe are continuing their studies at Lehigh
 
( 21 )   Recorded at: 9/11/2009      
Title Comparison of efficacy between traditional and video game based balance programs
Journal Clinical Kinesiology, 2008;(62)4:26-31, Brumels K, Blasius T, Cortright T, Oumedian D, Solberg B
Description The purpose of this research was to compare the efficacy of traditional and video game based balance programs in improving balance performance measurements and compliance. This research was the first to examine efficacy of video game based balance programs. It was noted during this research that not only does the use of video game based research programs increase patient enjoyment and engagement, but they also improve selected balance performance measurements. Therefore, clinicians should feel comfortable prescribing video game based balance activities as a way to improve physical performance and patient compliance when balance improvement is a clinical treatment goal
Faculty Kirk Brumels is an Associate Professor of Kinesiology, Head Athletic Trainer, and Program Director for Athletic Training at Hope College
Student Troy Blasius and Tyler Cortright were Senior Athletic Training students who participated in the research project as a means to enhance their knowledge and experience. Daniel Oumedian and Brent Solberg were Senior Exercise Science majors who participated in the study for independent study credits. All four students expect to graduate in May 2009. Troy will continue his graduate school education at Minnesota State University, whereas Tyler is enrolled in graduate school classes through California University of Pennsylvania. Daniel and Brent are currently applying to graduate schools
Fund There was no external or internal funding associated with this project
 
( 22 )   Recorded at: 9/11/2009      
Title Understanding, connection, and identification: Friendship features of bilingual Spanish-English speaking undergraduates
Journal Journal of Adolescent Research, 2009;24:194-217, Sebanc AM, Hernandez MD, Alvarado
Description This study investigated whether bilingual college students had closer friendships with other bilinguals compared to their friendships with monolinguals. The friendship features of 46 bilingual Spanish and English speaking undergraduates were studied by combining quantitative analyses of surveys and qualitative analyses of interviews. Survey results indicated that participants rated their friendships with bilinguals to be more secure, closer, and to provide more help and companionship than their friendships with monolinguals. During interviews by bilingual undergraduates, including the second and third author, participants described understanding, connection, and identification with their bilingual friends
Faculty Anne M. Sebanc is an associate professor of child development at Whittier College
Student Maria D. Hernandez and Maria Alvarado both completed their bachelor’øs and master’s of arts in education at Whittier College and are currently elementary school teachers. Maria and Maria worked on this project in their junior and senior year and received course credit while working on the project that they helped design and complete
Fund The study was funded through a small faculty research grant through Whittier College and written while the first author had an RUI from the National Science Foundation
 
( 23 )   Recorded at: 9/11/2009      
Title A real time social norms intervention to reduce male sexism
Journal Sex Roles: A Journal of Research, 2008;59:264-273, Kilmartin C, Smith T, Green A, Kuchler M, Heinzen H, Kolar D
Description College males’ overestimation of peers’ sexism may result in reluctance to challenge these toxic attitudes. Researchers investigated the power of a brief intervention to correct these cognitive distortions in male college students. Participants first reported self-perceptions of attitudes toward women and then estimated the attitudes of other men present. Intervention participants attended brief presentations that included feedback on discrepancies between actual and perceived norms within their groups. At three week follow up, there was a significant decrease in perceptions of peers’ sexism for intervention groups
Faculty Christopher Kilmartin is a professor of psychology and David Kolar is an associate professor
Student The other authors were senior psychology majors
Fund The research was supported with grants from the Virginia Department of Health and the Mary Washington College (now University of Mary Washington) Council on Community Values
 
( 24 )   Recorded at: 1/6/2009      
Title Miscegenation: Exploring Motivation, Causation, and Resistance through Abolitionist Literature
Journal , Term Paper, 2007;11 pp, Southard, ME
Description Using the abolitionist authors Harriet Jacobs, author of Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, as well as William Wells Brown, author of Clotel, this paper explores the advantages and disadvantages of using abolitionist literature to research how and why miscegenation occurred, what it was like for its victims, how African Americans resisted. Study undertaken in 2007. Term Paper. Mary Southard is currently enrolled and will be graduating in June 2008
Faculty
Student
 
( 25 )   Recorded at: 1/6/2009      
Title All alone with your emotions: an analysis of student emotions during effortful problem solving activities.
Journal Proceedings of Workshop on Cognition and Emotion of the 9th International Conference on Intelligent Tutoring Systems, 2008;72-83, Lehman B, D'Mello S, Person K
Description The purpose of this research was to gain a greater understanding of the emotional experience of students during learning. The first study explored student affect during one-to-one expert human tutoring sessions and the strategic ways in which tutors regulate negative affective experiences to enhance learning. Anxiety, confusion, frustration, and happiness were the significantly occurring affective states during expert tutoring sessions. Expert tutors strategically utilized certain pedagogical and motivational approaches, such as direct instruction and positive feedback, in response to student affect. The second study investigated learners' affective states during problem solving activities that learners completed alone. Curiosity, boredom, frustration, confusion, happiness, and anxiety were the most frequently occurring affective states. Learners made affect judgments at three points in the problem solving process: new problem, midpoint of problem, and after feedback. Significant patterns emerged showing that certain emotions occur more frequently at specific phases, such as confusion occurs more frequently at the midpoint of problems. The results from this research will inform the next generation of intelligent tutoring systems by incorporating the affective component of the student learning experience, what emotions occur and when do they occur, and the ways in which expert tutors respond to student affect
Faculty Natalie Person, associate professor, is chair of the Psychology Department
Student Blair Lehman undertook this work in her senior year as part of an honors thesis, and as a research assistant in Dr. Person's lab. Melanie Matthews, a senior at the time of this work, also assisted as a research assistant. Sidney D'Mello is a junior research assistant at the Institute for Intelligent Systems at the University of Memphis
Fund This research was funded by a grant from the Office of Naval Research
 
( 26 )   Recorded at: 1/6/2009      
Title Functional relationships between serum total cholesterol levels, executive control, and sustained attention
Journal Nutr Neurosci, 2008;11:84-94, Gendle MH, Spaeth AM, Dollard SM, Novak CA
Description This study examined the relationship between serum total cholesterol levels and specific cognitive functions, and concluded that significant decrements in executive control and sustained attention are associated with elevations in blood cholesterol levels. These findings are of significant importance to public health, as they suggest that in addition to being detrimental to cardiovascular wellness, elevated levels of blood cholesterol may also have significant negative behavioral consequences in everyday life situations
Faculty Mathew Gendle is an assistant professor of psychology. Cindy Novak is the Elon University Wellness Coordinator
Student Andrea Spaeth and Sarah Dollard, both psychology majors who graduated in 2007, conducted this research for independent study credit. Andrea is currently in a psychology masters program at the College of William & Mary
Fund This research was supported by the Elon University Honors Program
 
( 27 )   Recorded at: 1/6/2009      
Title Self-efficacy and participation in physical and social activity among older adults in Spain and the United States
Journal Gerontologist, 2008;48:51-58, Perkins JM, Multhaup, KS, Perkins HW, Barton, C
Description In this study, 53 older adults in Spain and 55 older adults in the United States completed questions regarding their beliefs in their abilities to participate in physical and social activities (self-efficacy) and their anticipated outcomes of such participation (outcome expectancy). The results suggest that people’s beliefs in their abilities (self-efficacy) predicted their physical and social activity, but anticipated outcomes of participation (outcome expectancy) did not. This study built upon prior work exploring self-efficacy and outcome expectancy for physical activity, and it did the first work, to our knowledge, on self-efficacy and outcome expectancy effects on social activity. This paper also introduced new reliable measures for social self-efficacy and social outcome expectancy into the research literature
Faculty Kristi Multhaup is Associate Professor of Psychology at Davidson College and supervised Jessica Perkins’s thesis research that culminated in this publication. Cole Barton is a professor of psychology at Davidson and was also involved in the project. H. Wesley Perkins is Jessica’s father and a professor of sociology at Hobart and William Smith Colleges and was very helpful with some of our statistical analyses
Student Jessica Perkins conducted this thesis research in 2004-05. She collected the data in Spain in the summer of 2004 and returned to the U.S. to collect a sample here. Jessica has completed her MPH at Harvard University and is choosing between several prestigious PhD programs in medical sociology – if you need the final info, I can check in with Jessica, but she will be enrolled in a PhD program this fall
Fund She was supported by an Abernethy Award (Davidson College) and she was honored with the Sigma Xi award for best psychology senior thesis in May 2005
 
( 28 )   Recorded at: 1/6/2009      
Title Sex differences in Nintendo Wii performance as expected from hunter-gatherer selection
Journal Psychol Rep, 2008;102:745-754, Cherney ID, Poss JL
Description To test the hunter-gatherer theory of cognitive sex differences, men and women each played four video games on a Wii console: two games simulating skills necessary for hunting (navigation and shooting) and two games simulating skills necessary for gathering (fine motor and visual search). Men outperformed women on the two hunting games, whereas there were no sex differences on the gathering skill games
Faculty Isabelle Cherney is an Associate Professor of Psychology
Student Jordan Poss conducted the study for independent research credits as a senior psychology major. Jordan is currently in Dental School at the University of Iowa
Fund The research was supported by a small grant from the Creighton University graduate school awarded to Isabelle Cherney
 
( 29 )   Recorded at: 1/6/2009      
Title Dialogue modes in expert tutoring
Journal Proceedings of Workshop on Cognition and Emotion of the 9th International Conference on Intelligent Tutoring Systems, 2008;470-479, Cade WL, Copeland J, Person N, D’Mello S. (2008)
Description Previous studies have examined human-to-human dialogue in expert tutoring on the speech act level, but these analyses fail to provide the context necessary for understanding how a series of speech acts relate to each other. This research examined tutorial dialogue in terms of sustained, pedagogically-distinct phases, referred to as tutoring “modes”, which gives context to the finer-grained analysis of “moves” (speech acts). Our accomplishments were twofold: we developed a new annotation scheme for tutorial dialogue that takes into account clusters of multiple dialogue moves, and we determined the extent to which these modes occurred in the tutoring sessions. We also examined likely sequences of modes, all of which are important factors when building an ITS that reproduces the efforts of expert human tutors
Faculty Natalie Person, associate professor, is chair of the Psychology Department
Student Whitney Cade undertook this work in her junior year as part of a research methods class, and as a research assistant in Dr. Person’s lab. Jessica Copeland, a senior at the time of this work, also assisted as a research assistant. Jessica is now a graduate student in the community counseling program at Vanderbilt. Whitney is still enrolled at Rhodes and planning to continue this research in an Honors research project
Fund This research was funded by a grant from the Office of Naval Research
 
( 30 )   Recorded at: 1/6/2009      
Title An empirical basis for the admission of expert testimony on false confessions
Journal Arizona St Law J, 2008;40:1-45, Chojnacki DE, Cicchini MD, White LT
Description Courts often exclude expert testimony on the psychology of interrogation and confession, claiming that the subject matter is already within jurors’ common knowledge. This study surveyed 502 jury-eligible persons in 38 states to determine their knowledge of scientific findings concerning factors associated with false confessions by innocent suspects. Many respondents were poorly informed and sometimes held serious misconceptions that might infringe on a defendant’s right to receive a fair trial
Faculty Michael Cicchini is an attorney in private practice and Lawrence White is a professor of psychology
Student Danielle Chojnacki designed and conducted the survey as part of her senior thesis in psychology. Danielle will pursue a JD and MA in psychology at Valparaiso University School of Law, beginning in 2008
 
( 31 )   Recorded at: 1/6/2009      
Title The effect of diagnosis and perceived reward on perceptions of depressive symptoms and social support
Journal J Soc Clin Psych, 2008;27:1-35, Detweiler-Bedell JB, Detweiler-Bedell B, Hazlett A, Friedman MA
Description In three studies, we investigated the effect of illness diagnosis on social support. When participants imagined that they or a friend were experiencing "depression" (compared to a physical illness with identical symptoms), they considered social support to be crucial for improvement. However, when participants interacted with a depressed (compared to a physically ill) person, they tended to minimize the person's need for support, particularly if they found the interaction to be relatively unrewarding
Faculty Jerusha and Brian Detweiler-Bedell are associate professors of psychology at Lewis and Clark College (LC), and Michael Friedman is a clinical psychologist in private practice
Student Abigail Hazlett undertook this research as an undergraduate member of the Detweiler-Bedells’ Behavioral Health and Social Psychology research lab. Abigail conducted research during the academic years and summers of 2002-2005. Abigail is currently a doctoral student studying social psychology at Northwestern University
Fund This work was supported in part by an LC Student Academic Affairs Board grant and an LC Student-Faculty Research grant
 
( 32 )   Recorded at: 12/29/2008      
Title Images of life: siblings of children with Down syndrome
Journal Journal of Family Nursing, 2007;13(4):420-442, Rampton T, Rosemann J, Latta A, Mandleco B, Dyches T, Olsen S
Description Photography was to capture important symbols in the lives of siblings from families raising a child with Down syndrome (DS). Analysis revealed two categories: people (family members, friends) and non-people (objects, animals, buildings). Differences were noted according to age and gender. Younger children took more photos of themselves/parents; other age groups took more snapshots of the child with DS. Females took more snapshots of typically developing siblings, family members, and people not in their family than male siblings. Males took more photographs of parents and themselves. Results validate the importance of gathering qualitative data from children and confirm the use of photography as one of these methods
Faculty Barbara Mandleco, Susanne Olsen and Tina Dyches are on the faculty at Brigham Young University
Student Tammy Rampton, Jessica Rosemann and Aimee Latta graduated from Brigham Young University College of Nursing, and all currently work as registered nurses. They were research assistants on this project and responsible for collecting and analyzing the data
Fund This project was funded by the College of Nursing, the Family Studies Center, the Office of Research and Creativity, and the Marjorie Pay Hinckley Chair at Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah
 
( 33 )   Recorded at: 12/29/2008      
Title The effects of gender and family, friend, and media influences on eating behaviors and body image during adolescence
Journal J Youth Adolescence, 2007;36:1024-1037, Ata RN, Ludden AB, Lally MM
Description The current study examined how gender, self-esteem, social support, teasing, and family, friend, and media pressures relate to body image and eating-related attitudes and behaviors among male and female adolescents. Results indicated that adolescents were dissatisfied with their current bodies: males were concerned with increasing their upper body, whereas females wanted to decrease the overall size of their body. Low self-esteem and social support, weight-related teasing, and greater pressures to lose weight were associated with adolescents’ negative body esteem, body image, and eating attitudes
Faculty Alison Bryant Ludden is an assistant professor of psychology at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, MA
Student Rheanna Ata and Megan Lally completed this research as senior psychology majors at Holy Cross in 2006 for a capstone project in Women’s and Gender Studies. Rheanna is currently a research assistant interested in body image and eating disorders at the Weight Control and Diabetes Research Center, Miriam Hospital, Brown University and is applying to graduate programs. Megan is currently a graduate student in psychology at Pepperdine University.
 
( 34 )   Recorded at: 12/29/2008      
Title Why did I right that? Factors that influence the production of homophone substitution errors
Journal Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 2008;DOI:10.1080/17470210801943978, White KK, Abrams L, Zoller SM, Gibson SM
Description Despite considerable research on language production errors involving speech, little research exists in the complementary domain of writing. Two experiments investigated the production of homophone substitution errors, which occur when a contextually appropriate word (e.g., beech) is replaced with its homophone, e.g., beach tree. Homophone substitution errors were experimentally induced in the laboratory by having participants write down auditorily-presented sentences containing homophones. More substitution errors occurred when the context elicited a subordinate (i.e., low frequency) homophone relative to a dominant (i.e., high frequency) homophone. Furthermore, errors increased when homophones were preceded by words that overlapped in phonology (e.g., teacher) or orthography (e.g., headmaster) with the contextually inappropriate homophone (e.g., beach)
Faculty Katherine White is an assistant professor of psychology
Student Sarah Zoller and Samantha Gibson, both psychology majors who graduated from the College of Charleston in 2007, participated in the research for independent study credit. Sarah is currently pursuing a Masters of Science in Gerontology at the University of Southern California. Samantha is employed and in the process of applying to graduate programs
Fund The research was supported by a Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship and a Sigma Xi Grant-in-Aid of Research, both awarded to Sarah Zoller
 
( 35 )   Recorded at: 12/29/2008      
Title Extinction-induced response resurgence: a selective review
Journal Behavior Analyst Today, 2008;9(1):27-34, Doughty AH, Oken G
Description Resurgence refers to the recovery of previously extinguished responding when a recently reinforced response is extinguished. Although the topic of resurgence has received limited experimental attention, there recently have been an increased number of investigations involving the topic. This increased experimental attention also has been accompanied by conceptual analysis. This increased interest in resurgence by both basic and applied behavior analysts is noteworthy because the topic relates to several different areas in and outside behavior analysis. This paper is a brief and selective review of resurgence, and its aim is to illustrate the importance of continuing to investigate the topic. More specifically, the role of resurgence in understanding topics such as behavioral history, drug relapse, severe problem behavior, communication disorders, and cognition, is described
Faculty A. Doughty is an assistant professor in psychology
Student Gabi Oken undertook the project in the Fall 2007 as part of an independent study. She will graduate this May.
 
( 36 )   Recorded at: 12/29/2008      
Title Perceptions of relational and physical aggression among college students: effects of gender of perpetrator, target, and perceiver
Journal Psyc Women Q, 2007;31:85-95, Basow SA, Cahill KF, Phelan JE, Longshore K, McGillicuddy-DeLisi A
Description This study examined gendered perceptions of relational and physical aggressive behaviors and personal experiences with both types of aggression among college students using written scenarios. As predicted, relational aggression by female characters and physical aggression by male characters were rated as less acceptable and more aggressive/harmful than the same behavior by the other gender. However, there was no gender difference in actual experience with relational aggression. Thus, gendered expectations affect perceptions of aggressive acts
Faculty Susan Basow is the Dana Professor of Psychology and Ann McGillicuddy-DeLisi is the Metzgar Professor of Psychology
Student Kristen Cahill developed and conducted a portion of this project as part of her Honors thesis in psychology during her senior year. She completed her master’s degree in school psychology at the U of Penn and is currently employed as an elementary school counselor. Julie Phelan collected and analyzed more data during her junior and senior years, and then helped write an early version of the article. She now is in her third year in a doctoral program in social psychology at Rutgers University. Kathryn Longshore helped with updating the literature review and the final editing of the article during her senior year. She currently is a master’s student in sports psychology at Brunel University, UK
Fund Both Julie and Kat were funded by the college's EXCEL Scholars program over the summer and during the academic year
 
( 37 )   Recorded at: 12/29/2008      
Title Body objectification, social pressure, and disordered eating behavior in college women: the role of sorority membership
Journal Psyc Women Q, 2007:31:394-400, Basow SA, Foran K, Bookwala J
Description This study examined the relationship between sorority membership and levels of body objectification, perceived social pressure and disordered eating behavior among college women. Women already in sororities as well as those who intended to join scored higher than non-sorority women on all variables, and disordered eating behaviors increased the longer a woman lived in a sorority house. Thus sororities appear to attract at-risk women and further increase their likelihood of disordered eating
Faculty Susan Basow is the Dana Professor of Psychology while Jamila Bookwala is an Associate Professor of Psychology
Student Kelly Foran conducted this project as part of her Honors thesis in psychology during her junior and senior years. She now is in her third year in a doctoral program in clinical psychology at LaSalle University
 
( 38 )   Recorded at: 12/29/2008      
Title Cross-sensitization and cross-tolerance between exogenous cannabinoid antinociception and endocannabinoid-mediated stress-induced analgesia
Journal Neuropharmacology, 2007;161-171, Suplita RL II, Eisensteinm SA, Neely MH, Moise AM, Hohmann AG
Description The present study examined behavioral plasticity in opioid-independent cannabinoid pain suppression mechanisms following repeated activation using the tail-flick model. Repeated activation of the cannabinoid system by chronic treatment with synthetic cannabinoids produced behavioral tolerance to the analgesic effects of the cannabinoid system. However, repeated exposure to foot shock stress produced no deficit in endocannabinoid-mediated stress analgesia. These results may have clinical implications; in the future, therapeutic treatments involved in indirectly elevating endogenous cannabinoids, rather than administering direct cannabinoids agonists (such as ?9-tetrahydrocannabinol), might prove to be more effective at treating pain by failing to induce drug-tolerance
Faculty Andrea Hohmann is currently a professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Georgia and a leader in the expanding field of endocannabinoid research. Richard Suplita II is also currently a professor in the Department of Psychology
Student Sarah Eisenstein is enrolled in the doctoral Neuroscience and Behavior Program in the Department of Psychology. Anna Moise is currently a senior majoring in psychology and biology, has worked in the Neuroscience department with Andrea Hohmann for three years, and has been accepted into the M.D. program at the Medical College of Georgia
Fund Anna’s research has been supported by the University of Georgia’s Center for Undergraduate Research Opportunities (CURO). This study was supported by DA014022, DA14265, DA021644, and DA022478 (AGH).
 
( 39 )   Recorded at: 12/29/2008      
Title Prevalence and effects of rape myths in the media: the Kobe Bryant case
Journal Violence Against Women, 2008;14:287-309, Franiuk R, Seefelt JL, Cepress SL, Vandello JA
Description The present research included two studies that examined the prevalence and effects of rape myths in the print media covering a real-life case of alleged sexual assault. Study 1 was an archival study of 156 newspaper articles about the Kobe Bryant case. 65% of the articles mentioned at least one rape myth (with “she’s lying” being the most common myth). Study 2 exposed participants to a myth-endorsing or myth-challenging article about the case. Those exposed to the myth-endorsing article were more likely to believe that Bryant was not guilty and the alleged victim was lying
Faculty Renae Franiuk is an assistant professor of psychology at Aurora University. Joseph Vandello is an assistant professor at the University of South Florida
Student Jennifer Seefelt and Sandy Cepress both participated in this research while senior psychology majors at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point in 2005 as part of an independent study with Renae Franiuk when she was a faculty member there. Jennifer Seefelt won a UWSP Chancellor’s Excellence in Undergraduate Research and Creativity travel award to present this research at the National Conference for Undergraduate Research in Virginia in April 2005. Jennifer is currently applying to doctoral programs in social psychology. Sandy is currently employed at a center that arranges safe exchanges and supervised visitation between parents and children
 
( 40 )   Recorded at: 12/29/2008      
Title College students' attitudes towards mental illness: An examination of the stigma process
Journal J Applied Soc Psyc, 2007:37:2877-2902, Phelan JE, Basow SA
Description The present study explored a number of predictors of college students' attitudes toward mentally ill individuals using vignettes depicting either male or female characters with symptoms of depression, alcohol abuse, and common stress. Participants who labeled the target mentally ill were more likely to view the target as dangerous. This, in turn, led to an increased desire for social distance. In contrast, empathy decreased desire for social distance. The findings have implications for reducing the social stigma of mental illness
Faculty Susan Basow is the Dana Professor of Psychology
Student Julie Phelan developed and conducted this project as part of her Honors thesis in psychology during her junior and senior years. She now is in her third year in a doctoral program in social psychology at Rutgers University
 
( 41 )   Recorded at: 6/25/2008      
Title The relationship between PROP and ethanol preferences: An evaluation of 4 inbred mouse strains
Journal Chem Sens, 2007;32:847-854, White TL, Dishaw LV, Sheehe PR, Youngentob SL
Description Taster status for bitter 6-n-propylthiouracil (PROP) has been proposed as a genetic marker for alcoholism; however, human results are conflicting. We collected preference scores using a brief-access test for both tastants in 4 mouse strains selected on the basis of previously reported taste preference. We did not observe a significant relationship between PROP and ethanol references across strains, but did observe high variability within strains. This finding indicates that the bitter quality in ethanol may be more highly related to other bitter compounds that are mediated by different genetic influences
Faculty Theresa White is an associate professor of psychology at Le Moyne College, while both Paul Sheehe and Steve Youngentob are professors at SUNY Upstate Medical University
Student Laura Dishaw, who graduated from Le Moyne College in 2007 with degrees in psychology and biology, participated in the research as part of a departmental honors project. Laura is employed as a research support specialist and is applying to graduate programs in neurotoxicology
Fund The research was supported by the Le Moyne Research and Development Fund (TLW), the National Institute of Health grant (AA014871; SLY & PRS), and the Le Moyne Student Research Fund (LVD).
 
( 42 )   Recorded at: 6/25/2008      
Title Ecology of drowning risk at a public swimming pool
Journal J Saf Res, 2007;38:367-372, Schwebel DC, Simpson J, Lindsay S
Description The fourth-leading cause of death in middle childhood is drowning, but there is remarkably little known about swimmer or lifeguard behavior patterns at public swimming pools. This study used non-intrusive observational methodology to examine risk-taking by swimming patrons (predominantly children) and surveillance habits of lifeguards at a public swimming pool. The study also examined whether risk-taking behavior might be associated with density of swimmers, temperature, or lifeguard behaviors. It was concluded that no consistent correlates to risk-taking behavior by swimming pool patrons were identified. The study found there was a need to emphasize and increase awareness and adherence to safety rules by swimmers at swimming pools; to educate and remind lifeguards about proper swimming pool surveillance techniques; and to consider environmental changes at public swimming pools that might increase swimmer safety.
Faculty David Schwebel is associate professor and vice chair in the Department of Psychology
Student Jennifer Simpson and Sydneia Lindsay are psychology majors at Northwestern University and University of Alabama at Birmingham, respectively. Jennifer is currently a senior at Northwestern University applying for PhD graduate programs in clinical psychology. Sydneia works for the Social Security Administration
Fund The work was funded by the McNair Scholars Program and the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Department of Psychology and School of Social and Behavioral Sciences
 
( 43 )   Recorded at: 6/25/2008      
Title Identifying, rating, and remembering environmental sound events
Journal Behav Res Methods, 2007;39,561-569, Marcell M, Malatanos M, Leahy C, Comeaux C
Description Sound events are sequences of closely grouped and temporally related environmental sounds that tell a story or establish a sense of place. The goal of our project was to create a set of sound events depicting various scenarios (such as a car accident, cooking breakfast, and walking outdoors) and to gather normative data about how people understand them. Samples of college students listened to 22 sound events over headphones in three self-paced, computer-based studies. In the Identification Task, 43 participants used text boxes to type descriptions of what was happening in the sound events. In the Rating Task, 39 participants used Likert scales to rate the sound events on the attributes of familiarity, complexity, and pleasantness. In the Memory Task, 42 participants answered two multiple-choice questions immediately after listening to each sound event. Detailed tables are provided for the following: (1) Description of the sound events and their components; (2) Accuracy and response time measurements for each of the 22 sound events across the three studies; and (3) Rank-orderings of the sound events by ease of identification, recognition of details, and rated familiarity, complexity, and pleasantness. Digital files of the stimuli, which may be of interest to auditory cognition researchers and clinical neuropsychologists, may be downloaded from either www.psychonomic.org/archive or http://www.cofc.edu/~marcellm/sound event studies/sndevent.htm.
Faculty
Student
 
( 44 )   Recorded at: 6/25/2008      
Title Mixing memories: The effects of rumors that conflict with children’s experiences
Journal J Exp Child Psychol, 2007;98:1-19, Principe GF, Tinguely A, Dobkowski N
Description The study examined age differences in children’s vulnerability to be misled by two types of false overheard rumors, namely a rumor that suggested a reasonable explanation for an earlier unresolved experience and a rumor that suggested an explanation that conflicted with information already in memory. Results indicated that all of the children were highly susceptible to wrongly report the rumor as an actual experience when it merely filled a gap in memory. However, 5- and 6-year-olds were better able than 3- and 4-year-olds to resist the rumor when it suggested a conflicting explanation for a past event. Developmental changes in children’s understanding of conflicting mental representations were linked to their ability to resist being misled by the conflicting rumor
Faculty Gabrielle F. Principe is an assistant professor in the Psychology Department at Ursinus College
Student Alison Tinguely and Nicholas Dobkowski, both psychology majors, participated in the research as Summer Fellows in 2005, and both used data from this study to complete an Honors Thesis in 2006. Alison is currently a student at the NYU School of Clinical Social Work and Nicholas is participating in the Mission Year program
Fund The research was funded by the Ursinus College Summer Fellows program and a Support/Expense Grant from Ursinus College
 
( 45 )   Recorded at: 6/25/2008      
Title Transdisciplinarity, psychology and primary theories of origin
Journal Omega Indian J Sci Relig, 2007;6(1):10-38, Montoya CP, Montoya DE, Mackay G
Description The present publication puts forth the notion that science does not exist without the scientist as religion does not exist without the believer. Both endeavors are human constructions and as such both methods of knowing are inextricably bound in a quagmire of self-interest, emotion and faith. A better understanding of the psychology behind how and why humans are driven to create primary theories of existence, ostensibly apart from organized religion, is critical to future scientific progress concerning origins. In this paper primary views concerning ontogeny, phylogeny and cosmology are examined. It is argued that building primary theories with an eye on the transdisciplinary perspective highlights distortions caused by sub-conscious mechanisms. Finally, in contrast to popular thought, bringing subconscious distortions into conscious appreciation demonstrates that science and religion are currently in alignment with respect to these three primary views of origin.
Faculty Chris Montoya is a professor in the Department of Psychology
Student David Montoya is a senior psychology major and is applying to medical school. Graeme Mackay was a 3rd year physics student at University of British Columbia and is finishing work on a new book, The Unified Primary Perspective
Fund The research was supported by a grant from Canadian Psychometric Services
 
( 46 )   Recorded at: 6/25/2008      
Title ‘Fireworks exploded in my mouth:’ Affective responses before, during, and after the very first kiss
Journal Int J Sex Health, 2007;19:1-16, Regan PC, Shen W, De La Peña E, Gosset E
Description Although the very first kiss represents a developmental milestone for many people, it has received little empirical attention. This study examined the affective reactions that commonly accompany this important first interpersonal event. The most common responses experienced by both sexes prior to the kiss were subjectively unpleasant (e.g., fear, anxiety); however, more men than women reported positive affect during and after their first kiss. These findings suggest that a person’s very first kiss evokes a shifting array of positive and negative emotions
Faculty Pamela Regan is a professor of psychology
Student Senior psychology majors Winny Shen, Eric De La Peña, and Elizabeth Gosset participated in the research as part of the Career Opportunities in Research (COR) program. Winny is in the doctoral program in psychology at the University of Minnesota, Elizabeth is in the doctoral program in psychology at the University of Utah, and Eric is in the MA program in philosophy at CSU Los Angeles
Fund The research was supported by COR fellowships (grant T34 MH065184) awarded to all three students from the National Institutes of Health
 
( 47 )   Recorded at: 6/25/2008      
Title An alcohol policy evaluation of drinking and driving in Hillsborough County, Florida
Journal Criminal Justice Policy Review, 2007;18:434-450., Grohosky A, Moore KA, Ochshorn E
Description Driving under the influence (DUI) is a serious crime that contributes to approximately 9% of traffic-related crashes, injuries, and fatalities in the state of Florida. Specifically, Hillsborough County, which includes Tampa, has the highest rate of DUI-related occurrences in the state of Florida. There are several gaps in policy, enforcement, and treatment that need to be addressed before Hillsborough County can shed this dubious distinction. To this end, fifteen key stakeholders involved in alcohol policy were interviewed about law enforcement, judicial, and treatment issues. Several obstacles to reducing DUI crime emerged: inadequate case preparation time, case overload, prosecution challenges such as leniency and inconsistency in sentencing, and the need for more collaboration between law enforcement, the judicial system, and treatment providers. Suggested recommendations included the addition of a DUI court, stricter legal and treatment requirements, and mandatory blood testing.
Faculty Kathleen Moore is a Research Assistant Professor and Ezra Ochshorn is an Information Specialist at the University of South Florida’s Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute
Student Amanda Grohosky is a senior psychology major at Rice University. Amanda was accepted into the program and completed her program during the Summer of 2006. Amanda is currently a senior psychology student and is applying for graduate programs in school psychology.
Fund The research project was supported by a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant that funded a program entitled Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) during the Summer
 
( 48 )   Recorded at: 6/25/2008      
Title Musical performance anxiety: A review of literature
Journal Update: Applications of Research in Music Education, 2007;26(1):15-25, Taborsky C
Description The author reviews research literature about musical performance anxiety and its potential effects on musicians. He considers studies concerning middle school, high school, and college students, as well as professional and amateur musicians, including psychological causes, outside influences, and treatments for performance anxiety. He discusses implications of the research and makes suggestions for music educators
Faculty
Student Christopher Taborsky authored the article as a senior music education major at the State University of New York at Fredonia. The project was part of an honors thesis supervised by H. Christian Bernhard II, assistant professor of music education. Taborsky is currently employed as a music teacher at Pine Tree Elementary School in Monroe, NY
 
( 49 )   Recorded at: 6/25/2008      
Title Acute behavioral tolerance to nicotine in the conditioned taste aversion paradigm
Journal Drug Dev Res., 2008;68:1-7, Prus AJ, Maxwell AT, Baker KM, Rosecrans JA, James JR
Description The present study examined the characteristics of nicotine, the principle ingredient in tobacco, in a conditioned taste aversion paradigm in rats. Nicotine was shown to produce a significant aversion of a novel substance that had been given to the rats soon after nicotine administration (i.e., a conditioned taste aversion). Interestingly, a pre-injection of nicotine 90 minutes prior to pairing a nicotine injection with the novel substance prevented a nicotine-induced conditioned taste aversion. Thus, tolerance to nicotine was quickly developed after only one treatment
Faculty Adam Prus is an assistant professor of psychology at Northern Michigan University. John A. Rosecrans and John R. James are both professors in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology at Virginia Commonwealth University
Student Amy Maxwell and Kevin Baker are both senior psychology majors at Northern Michigan University. Amy and Kevin are applying to graduate programs in Experimental Psychology.
Fund The research was supported by the Northern Michigan University Psychology Department
 
( 50 )   Recorded at: 6/25/2008      
Title Brief report: Behavioral risk factors for youth soccer (football) injury
Journal J Pediatr Psychol, 2007;32:411-416, Schwebel DC, Banaszek MM, McDaniel M
Description This study prospectively examined behavioral risk factors for youth soccer injury. Sixty 11- and 12-year-old boys who played on six teams in a suburban recreational soccer league were followed over the course of a season. Greater skill and less experience playing soccer best predicted injury risk. Inhibition, aggression, and risk-taking did not emerge as predictors
Faculty David Schwebel is an associate professor of psychology
Student Mark Banaszek and McCall McDaniel were psychology and biology majors, respectively. For Mark, this research was conducted as part of his honors’ thesis. For McCall, the research was conducted for her pre-med curriculum. Mark Banaszek is currently in the MA program in Counseling at the UAB School of Education. McCall McDaniel is in medical school at Louisiana State University
Fund The work was funded internally through UAB Department of Psychology and School of Social and Behavioral Sciences funds
 
( 51 )   Recorded at: 2/14/2008      
Title Stereotypes of the elderly among care providers in residential care facilities: Examining the impact of contact and education
Journal J Gerontol Nurs, 2007;33:50-55, Reyna C, Goodwin EJ, Ferrari. JR
Description The number of seniors receiving some form of long-term care is on the rise. With this increase in need comes a growing concern about the quality of the care the elderly are receiving. One potential barrier to quality elder-care is stereotypes about the elderly held by those responsible for delivering services. In the present study, two models of stereotype reduction were compared among a group of workers at residential homes for the elderly: the effects of contact and the effects of education (both specific and broad) on prejudice reduction. Elder-care workers (182 women, 43 men) at a non-profit, residential program completed a survey assessing education, training, contact with elder clients, prior experience, and stereotypes toward the elderly. Results revealed that contact was not associated with reduced stereotypes but education (both specific and general) was associated with fewer stereotypes. Implications are discussed in terms of possible interventions and increasing optimal contact with elder clients
Faculty Joseph R. Ferrari is professor of psychology
Student Eric Goodwin conducted the research from 2005-2006 and is now completing his Master’s Thesis at DePaul
 
( 52 )   Recorded at: 2/14/2008      
Title The color of music: Correspondence through emotion
Journal Empirical Studies of the Arts, 2007;25:193-208, Barbiere JM, Vidal A, Zellner DA
Description Following listening to two song clips identified as “happy” and two identified as “sad”, participants indicated which color(s) corresponded to each of the four songs by distributing five points among eleven basic color names. There was more agreement in color choice for the songs eliciting the same emotions than for songs eliciting different emotions. Brighter colors such as yellow, red, green and blue were usually assigned to the happy songs and gray was usually assigned to the sad songs. It was concluded that music-color correspondences occur via the underlying emotion common to the two stimuli
Faculty Debra Zellner is a professor of psychology
Student J. Michael Barbiere recently graduated from Montclair State University and is in the process of applying to graduate programs in Psychology. Ana Vidal is a student in the MSW program at Rutgers, Newark.
 
( 53 )   Recorded at: 2/14/2008      
Title The categorization effect in hedonic contrast: Experts differ from novices
Journal Psychon B Rev, 2007; 14: 179-183, Rota LM, Zellner, DA
Description Flower experts and novices viewed either attractive irises or orchids prior to rating the attractiveness of hedonically neutral test orchids. While both experts and novices rated the neutral test orchids as less good when viewed after the attractive orchids (i.e., they showed hedonic contrast), only the novices showed such an effect when the test orchids were rated after viewing the attractive irises). This result is due to the fact that experts categorize stimuli into more independent categories (e.g., iris and orchids) than do novices (both iris and orchids are in the category “flower”)
Faculty Debra Zellner is a professor of psychology
Student Lauren Rota conducted the studies in the paper as her undergraduate honors thesis at Montclair State University and is currently a graduate student at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey
 
( 54 )   Recorded at: 2/14/2008      
Title Thinking of others: Feminist identification and the perception of others’ beliefs
Journal Sex Roles, 2007;56:611-616, Ramsey LR, Haines ME, Hurt MM, Nelson JA, Turner DL, Liss M, Erchull MJ
Description This paper explored whether concern over other people’s opinions of feminists may predict rejection of the feminist label. Participants rated feminists twice, once to indicate how they view feminists and again to indicate how they believe others view feminists. Results indicated that all women believed others view feminists negatively but feminists are more likely to disregard what others think
Faculty Miriam Liss is an associate professor and Mindy Erchull is an assistant professor in the psychology department
Student Laura Ramsey, Molly Hurt, and Dixie Turner completed this project as part of an independent study during their senior year. Laura Ramsey’s honors thesis was based on data collected for this project. Jaclyn Nelson and Megan Haines worked on this project as part of an independent study during their junior year. Laura Ramsey and Dixie Turner are currently enrolled in graduate psychology programs
 
( 55 )   Recorded at: 2/14/2008      
Title An examination of main and interactive effects of substance abuse recovery housing on multiple indicators of adjustment
Journal Addictions, 2007;102:1114-1121, Jason LA, Olson BD, Ferrari JR, Majer JM, Alvarez J, Scout J
Description Individuals (n = 150) discharged from residential substance abuse treatment facilities were randomly assigned to either an Oxford House or usual after-care condition and then interviewed every 6 months for a 24 month period. Hierarchical Linear Modeling was used to examine the effect of predictive variables on wave trajectories of substance use, employment, self-regulation, and recent criminal charges. Regressions first examined whether predictor variables modeled wave trajectories by condition (Oxford House vs. usual after-care), psychiatric co-morbidity, age, and interactions. At the 24 month follow-up, there was less substance abuse for residents living in Oxford Houses for 6 or more months (15.6%), both compared to participants with less than 6 months (45.7%) or to participants assigned to the usual after-care condition (64.8%). Results also indicated that older residents and younger members living in a house for 6 or more months experienced the most effective outcomes in terms of substance use, employment, and self-regulation. Oxford Houses, a type of self-governed recovery setting, appear to stabilize many individuals with substance abuse histories
Faculty Joseph R. Ferrari is professor of psychology
Student Jane Scout is completing a Masters degree
 
( 56 )   Recorded at: 2/14/2008      
Title Examining the self of chronic procrastinators: Actual, ought, and undesired attributes
Journal Indiv Differences Res, 2007;5:115-128, Ferrari JR, Driscoll M, Diaz-Morales JF
Description Little is known on how chronic procrastinators perceive their self-identity. In the present study chronic procrastinators (n = 36) and non-procrastinators (n = 32) sorted cards of self-concept and self-presentation attributes into actual-ought, and undesired selves. Procrastinators compared to non-procrastinators had greater actual-ought, actual-undesired, and ought-undesired discrepancies. Results indicated that procrastinators held negative attributes of their self-concept and self-presentational characteristics.
Faculty Joseph R. Ferrari is professor of psychology
Student Mark Driscoll conducted this research during 2004 – 2005 for his Honor’s Thesis. He is now a doctoral student in Clinical Psychology at Marquette University
 
( 57 )   Recorded at: 2/14/2008      
Title The reliability and validity of the Self-Ordered Pointing Task
Journal Arch Clin Neuropsych, 2007;22:449-458, Ross TP, Hanouskova E, Giarla K, Calhoun E, Tucker M
Description The reliability and validity of the abstract design version of the Self-Ordered Pointing Task was examined in 170 healthy persons. The test-retest reliability for SOPT total errors was ricc = .82, while the stability of other SOPT indices was modest to poor. SOPT scores correlated with measures of working memory and select aspects of executive functioning (i.e., strategy utilization) but not others (e.g., interference control). Reliability data better support the use of the total error score over other indices (e.g., span score).
Faculty Thomas P. Ross is an associate professor in the Psychology Department
Student Eva Hanouskova worked on this project as part of her independent study. She graduated in May 06 and is attending a Master's Program in Clinical Psychology in Czechoslovakia. Kat Giarla worked as a volunteer research assistant on this project. Emily Calhoun graduated in May 06. She worked on this project as a volunteer research assistant and is applying to Doctoral programs in Industrial/Organizational Psychology. Maggie Tucker worked as a volunteer research assistant on this project
Fund This project was funded in part by a URCA-sponsored AYRA grant and by the College of Charleston Psychology Department.
 
( 58 )   Recorded at: 2/14/2008      
Title Perception of personal attractiveness associated with vehicles
Journal Psychol J., 2007;4(3):102-108, Morere L
Description This study examines the influence of an automobile on perceived attractiveness. To see if attractiveness is influenced by the type of automobile a person drives, 4 different Ford automobiles (Mustang, Truck, Taurus, and Minivan) were paired with 4 male and 4 female average looking individuals. Sixty-seven college students rated 40 different individuals (8 target and 32 distracters). Male and female targets were rated significantly more attractive when paired with the truck than the minivan
Faculty
Student Lauren Morere completed this project during spring 2007 for Research Methods II in the Psychology department. She graduated from with a BA in Psychology in May 2007. She is currently in a Master's program in Mental Health Counseling at the University at Albany
 
( 59 )   Recorded at: 2/14/2008      
Title Dispositional optimism as a moderator of the relationship between negative life events and suicide ideation and attempts
Journal Cognitive Ther Res, 2007;31(4): 533-546, Hirsch JK, Wolford K, LaLonde SM, Brunk L, Parker MA
Description Relatively little research has focused on the role that positive psychological characteristics, such as optimism, might play in the mitigation of stressors and reduction of psychopathology. Dispositional optimism is a trait-like characteristic reflecting a positive attitude or mood regarding the future. This study examined the moderating effect of dispositional optimism on the relationship between negative life experiences and suicide ideation and attempts in a college student sample. Negative life events were associated with current suicide ideation and previous suicide attempts, and dispositional optimism moderated these relationships, after controlling for hopelessness and severity of depression. Individuals with greater optimism have reduced risk for suicide ideation and attempts in the face of low to moderate negative life events; however, this association is changed at the highest levels of negative life events. Implications for treatment include strengthening active and future-focused coping in patients who have experienced negative or potentially traumatic life events to protect against suicidal thoughts and behaviors. Jameson Hirsch was a post doctoral fellow with a joint appointment in the Department of Psychology at Rochester Institute of Technology and the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry when this research was conducted
Faculty Karen Wolford is a professor in the Psychology Department
Student Lisa Brunk and Amanda Parker Morris participated in this research in their senior year. Lisa is now at the Central Nassau Guidance and Counseling Service and Amanda is working on a PsyD in Clinical Psychology at the School of Professional Psychology, Pacific University
 
( 60 )   Recorded at: 2/13/2008      
Title The reliability and validity of qualitative scores for the Controlled Oral Word Association Test
Journal Arch Clin Neuropsych, 2007;22:475-488, Ross TP, Calhoun E, Cox T, Wenner C, Kono W, Pleasant M
Description The reliability and validity of two qualitative scoring systems for the Controlled Oral Word Association Test were examined in 108 healthy adults. The scoring systems demonstrated excellent interrater reliability, but modest to poor test-retest reliability. Correlations among COWAT scores and other neuropsychological measures were examined. The idea that qualitative scores represent distinct executive functions such as strategy utilization was not supported. We offer the interpretation that COWAT performance may require the ability to retrieve words in a non-routine manner while suppressing habitual responses and associated processing interference, presumably due to a spread of activation across semantic or lexical networks
Faculty Thomas P. Ross is an associate professor in the Psychology Department
Student Emily Calhoun worked on this project as part of her independent study. She graduated in May 06 and is applying to PhD programs in Industrial/Organizational Psychology. Tara Cox also worked on this project as part of her independent study. She is currently attending the Master's program in School Psychology at the Citadel. Carolyn Wenner worked as a volunteer research assistant on this project. She is currently attending the Doctoral Program in Social Psychology at the University of Tennessee. Whitney Kono worked as a volunteer research assistant on this project. She graduated in May 07 and is planning to apply to doctoral programs in clinical psychology next year. Morgan Pleasant worked as a volunteer research assistant on this project. She is attending the Master's program in experimental psychology at American University
Fund This project was funded solely by the College of Charleston Psychology Department
 
( 61 )   Recorded at: 2/13/2008      
Title Feminism: What is it good for? Feminine norms and objectification as the link between feminist identity and clinically relevant outcomes
Journal Sex Roles, 2007;57:355-363, Hurt MM, Nelson JA, Turner DL, Haines ME, Ramsey LR, Erchull MJ, Liss M
Description This study developed a model to explore the relationships between feminist self-identification, conformity to feminine norms, objectified body consciousness, eating attitudes, depression and self-esteem. Feminist self-identification was indirectly related to positive clinical outcomes through changes in conformity to feminine norms and self-objectification. Thus, we found that feminism is a distal, rather than proximal influence on clinical variables
Faculty Mindy Erchull is an assistant professor and Miriam Liss is an associate professor in the psychology department
Student Molly Hurt, Dixie Turner, and Laura Ramsey completed this project as part of an independent study during their senior year. Molly Hurt’s honors thesis was based on data collected for this project. Jaclyn Nelson and Megan Haines worked on this project as part of an independent study during their junior year. Laura Ramsey and Dixie Turner are currently enrolled in graduate psychology programs
Fund This project was supported by undergraduate research funding from the University of Mary Washington
 
( 62 )   Recorded at: 2/13/2008      
Title Forgiveness of sexual cheating within romantic relationships: Effects of discovery method, frequency of offense, and presence of apology
Journal N Am J Psych, 2008;10:1–10, Gunderson PR, Ferrari JR
Description In this study, likelihood of forgiving sexual infidelity was assessed with respect to how the transgression was discovered, how frequently the infidelity occurred, and whether an apology was offered to the partner for cheating. Participants (n = 196) read a vignette about an imaginary romantic partner cheating on them by having sex with another person and responded to a series of questions assessing variables associated with forgiveness. Method of discovering how the infidelity occurred and the frequency of cheating occurrence were manipulated between participants, while the presence or absence of an apology was manipulated within participants. Results indicated that, regardless of how the transgression was discovered, forgiveness was most likely when cheating was an isolated incident and when an apology was offered by the partner
Faculty Joseph R. Ferrari is professor of psychology
Student Patrick Gunderson worked on this research during 2004-2005 for his Honors Thesis. He is now a doctoral student in Clinical Psychology at Marquette University.
 
( 63 )   Recorded at: 11/19/2007      
Title Unrealistic optimism in internet events
Journal Comput Hum Behav., 2007;23(3):1273-1284, Campbell J, Greenauer N, Macaluso K, End C
Description This study assessed the tendency for individuals to be unrealistically optimistic about internet related activities. Ninety-seven participants estimated their chances of experiencing 31 positive and negative internet events compared to the average student at their school. The data indicated that students believed positive internet events were more likely to happen to them and negative events were less likely to happen to them compared to the average student. Heavy internet users reported more optimistic responses than did light users. Perceptions of event characteristics (controllability, desirability, and personal experience) were also significantly correlated with optimistic bias
Faculty Jamonn Campbell is an assistant professor of psychology at Shippensburg University. Christian End is an assistant professor of psychology at Xavier University
Student Nathan Greenauer and Kristin Macaluso participated in this research during their senior year (2004-2005) at Shippensburg University. Nathan is currently a PhD student in the Brain and Cognitive Science program at Miami University. Kristin currently works in the industry
 
( 64 )   Recorded at: 11/19/2007      
Title The categorization effect in hedonic contrast: Experts differ from novices
Journal Psychon B Rev., 2007;14;179-183, Rota LM, Zellner DA
Description Hedonic contrast it attenuated when the context and test stimuli are considered to be in different categories. In this paper we show that because experts make more categories among items in their area of expertise than do novices they show less hedonic contrast among those items. Thinking hedonically positive context stimuli are in a different category than hedonically neutral test stimuli prevents hedonic contrast among experts
Faculty Debra Zellner is professor of psychology
Student Lauren Rota conducted this research in her junior year as an undergraduate student. She is currently a graduate student at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey.
 
( 65 )   Recorded at: 11/6/2007      
Title Efferent projections of rat rostroventrolateral medlla C1 catecholamine neurons: Implications for the central control of cardiovascular regulation
Journal J Comp Neurol, 2006;499:840-859, Card JP, Sved JC, Craig B, Raizada M, Vazquez J, Sved AF
Description The catecholamine neurotransmitter system is one of the most extensive and functionally diverse systems in the mammalian brain. In this study a novel method was developed that defined the connections of brain stem adrenergic neurons that participate in the neural control of cardiovascular function. This was accomplished using a lentivirus vector that expresses enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) under the control of a synthetic dopamine-beta-hydroxylase promoter. Robust expression of EGFP in adrenergic neurons filled the axons of these neurons, revealing central cardiovascular regulatory circuitry. Validation of this novel technology in this system has important implications for functional microdissection of the catecholamine neurotransmitter system
Faculty J. Patrick Card is associate professor of neuroscience at the University of Pittsburgh. His collaborators in the study were Drs. Alan F. Sved and Judith C. Sved of the University of Pittsburgh and Drs. Mohan Raizada and Jorge Vazquez of the University of Florida.
Student Brian T. Craig participated in the study as an undergraduate researcher. A portion of the data contributed to his Honors Thesis in the Department of Neuroscience. He completes his undergraduate degree with a major in neuroscience in April and will pursue a medical degree at the University of Pittsburgh in fall 2007
Fund The research was supported by the NIH National Center for Neuroanatomy with Neurotropic Viruses that is Co-Directed by Dr. Card and Dr. Peter Strick, and by NIH Grants HL55786 and HL076312 awarded to Dr. Alan Sved
 
( 66 )   Recorded at: 10/25/2007      
Title Use of the electronic game SIMON® as a measure of working memory span in college age adults.
Journal J Beh Neurosci Res, 2006;4:1-7, Gendle MH, Ransom MR
Description A standardized procedure was developed for measuring working memory span using the SIMON®, a commercially available electronic game. Normative data gathered from the sample is also provided. The SIMON® game holds potential value as a rapid and portable measure of working memory span in adults, and it appears to have psychometric properties similar to common clinical measures of working memory span
Faculty Mathew Gendle is an assistant professor of psychology.
Student Michael Ransom participated in this research as an independent study project during his junior and senior years. Michael is currently a PhD student in psychology at Ohio University
Fund This research was funded in part by a grant from the Elon University Undergraduate Research Program
 
( 67 )   Recorded at: 10/25/2007      
Title Powerlessness and the use of indirect aggression in friendships
Journal Sex Roles, 2006;55:493-502, Duncan LE, Owen-Smith A
Description The greater use of indirect aggression perpetrated by girls toward other girls (vs. greater use of direct aggression in boys) has been explained by both biological and social explanations. We tested a social contextual explanation; that is, that powerlessness is associated with the use of indirect aggression strategies. In two studies, we found that for both men and women, lack of power in same gender friendships (defined as anxiety about one’s status in friendships) was associated with greater use of indirect aggression strategies. This shows that girls’ greater use of indirect aggression strategies is probably related to lesser social power
Faculty Lauren Duncan is an associate professor of psychology
Student Ashli Owen-Smith conducted Study 1 as her senior honor’s thesis, and collected the data for Study 2 while earning a MS in Public Health. She is currently in a PhD program in Public Health
Fund The research was supported through a grant from Smith College
 
( 68 )   Recorded at: 10/25/2007      
Title Gaining competitive advantage in university admissions: An application of strategic job modeling to tour guides
Journal J Acad Admin High Educ, 2006;1:2-8, Leupold CR, McCarthy EC, Smith KD, Stuart HW, Klopman S
Description Strategic job modeling (SJM) is a popular approach that Fortune 500 companies frequently use to define work activities and the competencies employees are required to perform so that they are in direct alignment with the broader goals, vision, and mission of the organization. Following SJM best practices, the project highlights how this intervention was applied to the tour guide role and ultimately resulted in a viable and validated model of performance for this key position in the university admissions process. In addition, the paper also outlines how course-based experiential learning activities were incorporated into the project. Implications and potential applications regarding how this output can be utilized as a framework for human resource initiatives are also discussed
Faculty Chris Leupold is a professor of psychology; Heather Stuart and Susan Klopman are Admissions Director for the Elon School and Dean of Admissions at Elon University respectively.
Student Emily McCarthy worked on this project as a junior and senior as part of an independent research project, and is currently earning her master's degree in industrial/organizational psychology at Fairfield University. Kristin Smith worked on this project as a sophomore and junior as part of an independent research project, and is currently a senior.
 
( 69 )   Recorded at: 10/25/2007      
Title Ibotenic acid lesions to the ventrolateral thalamic nuclei disrupts trace and delay eyeblink conditioning in rabbits
Journal Behav Brain Res, 2007;179:111-117, Oswald BB, Knuckley B, Maddox SA, Powell DA
Description Animals received ibotenic acid lesions to the ventrolateral thalamic nuclei (VLTN) prior to classical trace and delay eyeblink conditioning and extinction to examine the role of the VLTN in learning processes. Lesions to the VLTN resulted in significant acquisition impairment in both trace and delay procedures, and also impaired extinction performance. These findings indicate that the VLTN is an essential structure in the fronto-thalamic-cerebellar circuit responsible for associative learning
Faculty Barbara B. Oswald and Don A. Powell are Research Scientists at the Shirley L. Buchanan Neuroscience Laboratory at the WJB Dorn Veterans’ Medical Center in Columbia, South Carolina. They both serve as professors of psychology at USC and USC School of Medicine
Student Stephanie A. Maddox participated in this research during her sophomore year at USC as an independent study.She is completing her undergraduate education and is employed as a laboratory research technician in the lab
Fund She is currently funded by the USC Magellan Scholar Program. Support for this funding was provided by DVA research funds awarded to Barbara B. Oswald and Don A. Powell
 
( 70 )   Recorded at: 10/25/2007      
Title Self-imposed dietary restraint and food Stroop performance in college-age women
Journal J NC Acad Sci, 2007;123:49-59, Gendle MH, Finnegan EE
Description Relationships between selective attention and dietary restraint were investigated in a sample of non-clinical college-age women. Dietary restraint was associated with increased latencies to correctly complete all three components of a food Stroop task, but was not related to task errors. Individuals exhibiting increased latencies may have been more closely self-monitoring their behavioral responses, which may be part of a broad cognitive strategy to regulate behavior which manifests as an increase in measured dietary restraint
Faculty Mathew Gendle is an assistant professor of psychology
Student Erin Finnegan participated in this research as an independent study project during her junior and senior years.
Fund This research was funded by a grant from the Elon University Undergraduate Research Program
 
( 71 )   Recorded at: 10/25/2007      
Title HPA activity and neotic and anxiety-like behavior vary among Peromyscus species
Journal Gen Comp Endocr, 2007;151:342-350, Martin LB, Trainor BC, Finy MS, Nelson RJ
Description Neophilic behaviors were examined in four species of mice in the genus Peromyscus that differed in the size of their geographic range. One relatively widespread species (Peromyscus maniculatus) was predicted to be more attracted to novelty and possess a hypo-responsive hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis (i.e., stress response) compared to the other three species with small geographic ranges. Even though our hypothesis was not supported, variation among species in terms of neophilic and anxious behavior was complementary of differences in HPA axis architecture. Although it is too early to reject the hypothesis that behavioral flexibility accounts for geographic distribution in Peromyscus due to limitations of methodologies, this study demonstrates links between neophilic behavior and hormones, which have been understudied in non-domesticated species
Faculty Randy J. Nelson is a professor of psychology, neuroscience, and evolution, ecology, and organismal biology at The Ohio State University
Student M. Sima Finy participated in this research during her junior year as an independent research project and is currently an undergraduate at The Ohio State University
Fund The research was supported through grants from the NIH
 
( 72 )   Recorded at: 4/17/2007      
Title Dispositions, control strategies, and distress in the general public after the 2001 terrorist attack.
Journal Anxiety Stress Copin, 2006, 19:143-159, Thompson SC, Schlehofer MM, Bovin MJ, Dougan BT, Montes D, Trifskin S
Description Interviews were conducted with 501 adults during the second year following the September 2001 terrorist attacks. Hypotheses about the long-term effects and the factors that are associated with general distress and fear of flying were derived from primary and secondary control theory. Women, younger individuals, and Latinos reported more current distress. Lower levels of distress were associated with high personal control/mastery and the low use of avoidance coping. In addition, the higher use of two secondary control strategies for dealing with concerns about personal safety (understanding why the attacks occurred, and focusing on personal low risk for future attacks) and the low use of primary control strategies were associated with less distress. The implications for interventions to help reduce distress following terrorist attacks are discussed
Faculty Suzanne Thompson is a professor of psychology
Student Michele Schlehofer, Michelle Bovin, Brenda Dougan, and Sharone Trifskin were graduate students at the Claremont Graduate University. Desiree Montes was an undergraduate at Pomona College and is currently in medical school. She was a research assistant on this project during her junior and senior years
Fund The research was supported through an NSF grant.
 
( 73 )   Recorded at: 4/17/2007      
Title Affect biases memory of location: Evidence for the spatial representation of affect
Journal Cognition Emotion, 2006;20:1153-1169, Crawford LE, Margolies SM, Drake JT, Murphy ME
Description Three experiments examined how the association between valence and verticality that is captured in orientational metaphors influences memory for the locations of emotionally evocative stimuli. The findings suggest that affective responses evoke spatial representations, leading to systematic biases in spatial memory
Faculty L. Elizabeth Crawford is an assistant professor of psychology
Student Skye Margolies worked on this project during her MA program at Richmond and is now a doctoral student at Virginia Commonwealth University. John T. Drake and Meghan E. Murphy contributed to this research during the summer after their junior years at UR. Drake now works in communications and Murphy in public health.
Fund This research was supported through UR’s Arts and Sciences Undergraduate Research Summer Fellowships and a faculty research grant
 
( 74 )   Recorded at: 4/17/2007      
Title Psychological benefits of exercise paired with virtual reality: Outdoor exercise energizes while indoor virtual exercise relaxes
Journal Int J Stress Manage., 2006;13:108-117, Plante TG, Cage C, Clements S, Stover A
Description One-hundred and twelve introductory psychology students (47 males, 65 females) were randomly assigned to one of three 20-minute experimental conditions including: 1) a brisk outdoor walk around a college campus, 2) a walk on a laboratory treadmill combined with a virtual reality video presentation of the same college campus walk, or 3) viewing the virtual reality walk without participating in any actual exercise. Results suggest that greater energy was experienced while walking outside while less energy was reported when viewing the virtual reality walk with no actual exercise. Those walking in the laboratory with the virtual reality were more relaxed and experienced the least tension of the three conditions
Faculty Thomas Plante is professor and chair of psychology and adjunct clinical associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford University School of Medicine
Student Cara Cage, Sara Clements, and Alison Stover were psychology undergraduate senior students who are all now either in graduate school or applying to graduate school in health services.
Fund Research was supported by a Santa Clara University internal research grant.
 
( 75 )   Recorded at: 2/21/2007      
Title Strain differences in the distribution of dopamine (DA-2 and DA-3) receptor sites in rat brain
Journal Life Sci., 2006;79(8):772-6, Yaroslavsky I, Colletti M, Jiao X, Tejani-Butt S
Description The dopamine (DA) pathway mediates numerous neuronal functions that are implicated in psychiatric disorders. Previously, our lab investigated the status of the dopamine transporter in the Wistar-Kyoto rat, a purported rodent model of depressive behavior, and reported significant alterations in transporter binding sites in several brain regions when compared to control rat strains. Given that DA-2 and DA-3 receptors belong to the same class of DA receptors, are co-localized in the mesolimbic and nigrostriatal regions of the brain and function as autoreceptors, this study mapped the distribution of central DA-2 and DA-3 receptors in Wistar-Kyoto and Wistar rats. The results indicated that while the binding of 125I-sulpride to DA-2 receptors was higher in the nucleus accumbens (shell) and ventral tegmental area, it was lower in the nucleus accumbens (core), caudate putamen and hypothalamus in Wistar-Kyoto compared to Wistar rats. In contrast, the binding of 125I-sulpride to DA-3 receptors was higher in the caudate putamen, nucleus accumbens (shell and core) and islands of Calleja in Wistar-Kyoto compared to Wistar rats. Given that DA-2 like receptors in the ventral tegmental area function as autoreceptors, it is possible that the greater inhibitory effects exerted by DA-2 and DA-3 receptors in Wistar-Kyoto rats may lead to a net deficit in DA levels in areas receiving projection from this cell body area
Faculty
Student
 
( 76 )   Recorded at: 2/12/2007      
Title Children’s drawings: A mirror to their minds
Journal Ed Psyc, 2006;26:127-142, Cherney ID, Seiwert CS, Dickey, TM, Flichtbeil JD
Description We collected two drawings from 109 five- to thirteen-year-old children (three age groups). Each child drew their family and their school and participated in a recall task. The results indicated significant gender and age differences in the number of details depicted in the family drawings. There were also significant differences between boys’ and girls’ stereotyped drawings, usage of proportionality, and clothing. With age, children tended to draw more aerial views of their school. The results are discussed in terms of the contribution children’s drawings can provide to the study of cognitive development and vice versa as well as their importance for education
Faculty Isabelle Cherney is an associate professor of psychology
Student Claire Seiwert, Tara Dickey, and Judith Flichtbeil participated in this research during their junior and senior years as independent research. The three students are currently in graduate school. This study was presented at the cognitive development society conference in Park City, Utah.
 
( 77 )   Recorded at: 2/12/2007      
Title Effects of neuropeptide Y on feeding microstructure: dissociation of appetitive and consummatory actions
Journal Behav Neurosci, 2006;120:937-51, Baird JP, Gray NE, Fischer SG
Description The effects of intracerebroventricular application of Neuropeptide Y (NPY) on licking microstructure for sucrose, saccharin, and water solutions were evaluated. Results indicate that NPY induces both appetitive and consummatory feeding effects that can be dissociated depending on the caloric and taste properties of the ingestate. They suggest that NPY stimulates multiple orexigenic processes that are most likely mediated by separate sites of NPY action in the forebrain and the hindbrain
Faculty JP Baird is a professor of psychology
Student Nora Gray and Shannon Fischer participated in this research in the spring and summer of their junior year
Fund The research was supported through Amherst College and a NIH-R03 grant
 
( 78 )   Recorded at: 2/12/2007      
Title Research and intervention with adolescents exposed to domestic violence
Journal Fam Ther, 2006;33:45-52, Parker JS, Stewart GS, Gantt C
Description The present study examined characteristics of adolescents exposed to domestic violence and tested a group intervention protocol utilizing expressive writing (EW) as a coping method for this population. The experimental group used “Positive Points” a list of personal strengths, in the writing intervention based on the hypothesis that their use would increase cognitive insight and positive word usage. A significant group effect was found and all participants demonstrated positive overall emotional change as a result of EW
Faculty Jennifer Parker is an assistant professor of psycholog
Student Gina Stewart and Courtney Gantt, both senior psychology majors, participated in the research for independent study credit. Courtney Gant is employed and in the process of applying to graduate programs.
Fund The research was supported by a USC Scholarly Research and Development Award and a mini grant from the USC Upstate Center for Undergraduate Research, which was awarded to Gina Stewart. Gina is currently in a doctoral program in psychology at the University of Mississippi
 
( 79 )   Recorded at: 2/12/2007      
Title The effects of immediate forewarning of test difficulty on test performance
Journal J Gen Psychol, 2006;133:277-285, Weber CJ, Bizer GY
Description Whereas prior research demonstrated that warning students of an exam's difficulty well in advance of the exam enhances performance, the current research investigated the effect of such forewarning immediately before examination administration. Participants of low trait anxiety performed better when told that an exam would be difficult than when told that the exam would be easy. Conversely, participants of high trait anxiety performed worse when told the exam would be difficult than they did when told the exam would be easy or when provided with no such information
Faculty George Bizer is assistant professor of psychology
Student Charles Weber conducted the research as his Honors thesis in psychology at Eastern Illinois University. He is an assistant men’s tennis coach at the University of Miami
 
( 80 )   Recorded at: 12/8/2006      
Title Believing is seeing: How rumors can engender false memories in preschoolers
Journal Psychol Sci, 2006;17:243-248, Principe GF, Kanaya T, Ceci SJ, Singh M
Description This study examined how an erroneous rumor circulated within a peer group can influence preschoolers’ memories for a personally experienced event. This was accomplished by staging a situation in which some members of preschool classrooms overheard a conversation between two adults in which a fictitious rumor about what took place during a magic show was alleged. Results revealed that a substantial number of children who overheard the adults’ rumor conversation later recalled actually experiencing details consistent with the rumor, as opposed to merely hearing about them from someone. Further, claims of actually experiencing the rumor were elevated among those who were the classmates of the children who overheard the adult rumor conversation, demonstrating that preschoolers may naturally propagate certain types of rumors and that rumors discussed among peers can infiltrate children’s memories
Faculty Gabrielle F. Principe is an assistant professor of psychology at Ursinus College. Tomoe Kanaya is an assistant professor of Psychology at Muhlenberg College. Stephen J. Ceci is The Helen L. Carr Professor of Developmental Psychology at Cornell University
Student Mona Singh participated in this research during her junior and senior years at Ursinus College for independent research course credit. She is employed by the Franklin Institute, and currently applying for graduate programs in psychology
Fund The research was supported by an Individual Postdoctoral NRSA Fellowship from NIH and Ursinus College
 
( 81 )   Recorded at: 12/8/2006      
Title Nuclear physics problem solving: A case study of expert-novice differences
Journal Trans Neb Acad Sci, 2005;30:9-15, Cherney ID, Winter J, Cherney MG
Description Two studies examined problem-solving in nuclear science by gifted junior and senior high school students, first year undergraduate, undergraduate physics majors, and graduate teaching assistants. The results showed that with increased experience or expertise, students tended to solve the problems using higher levels of Bloom’s (1956) taxonomy. Junior high school students’ performance improved significantly after a week-long hands-on nuclear physics class. However, when solving a more conceptual nuclear physics problem, there were no significant differences in the pre- and posttests of the gifted students at the same grade level
Faculty Isabelle Cherney is an assistant professor of psychology, and Michael Cherney is a professor of physics at Creighton Universi
Student Jordan Winter participated in this research as an independent research student in her junior year. She is currently attending medical school in South Dakota
 
( 82 )   Recorded at: 12/8/2006      
Title Food selection changes under stress
Journal Physiol Beh, 2006;87:789-793, Zellner DA, Loaiza S, Gonzalez Z, Pita J, Janira Morales, Pecora D, Wolf A
Description Two studies investigate the effect of stress on food choice. Experiment 1 demonstrates experimentally that stress causes changes in food choice away from healthy low fat foods (grapes) to less healthy high fat foods (M & Ms). Experiment 2, a survey study, finds that more females than males report increasing food consumption when stressed. A much larger percentage of those who report increasing their food consumption when stressed (71%) are restrained eaters (i.e., dieters) than are people who undereat or who do not change the amount they eat when stressed (35%). The foods that they report overeating when stressed are foods they normally avoid for weight-loss or health reasons (i.e., highly caloric high fat snack foods). They report eating these foods to feel better. Both studies show that stress not only increases consumption in certain individuals but also shifts their food choice from lower fat to higher fat foods
Faculty Debra Zellner is a professor of psychology at Montclair State University
Student Susan Loaiza, Zuleyma Gonzalez, Jaclyn Pita, Janira Morales, Deanna Pecora, and Amanda Wolf started this project in their Experimental Psychology class and continued it as independent research. Loaiza, Gonzalez, and Morales are all employed in the social services field. Pecora is in an MA program. Pita is employed in industry and Wolf is employed for a company doing clinical trials
 
( 83 )   Recorded at: 12/8/2006      
Title Assessment of genuine and simulated dissociative identity disorder on the structured interview of reported symptoms
Journal J Trauma Dissoc, 2006;7(1):63-85, Brand BL, McNary SW, Loewenstein RJ, Kolos AC, Barr SR
Description Little is known about how to detect feigned dissociative identity disorder (DID), yet it is likely that some individuals are motivated to fake having this psychiatric disorder. This study presents preliminary data about the performance of DID patients on the Structured Interview of Reported Symptoms, considered to be a “gold standard” structured interview in forensic psychology to detect feigning of psychological symptoms. The results provide preliminary evidence that well informed and motivated simulators are able to fairly successfully simulate DID and avoid detection on the SIRS. Furthermore, the data suggest that many genuine DID patients may be at risk for being inaccurately labeled as feigning on the SIRS
Faculty
Student Stefanie Barr is currently enrolled in the PsyD Clinical Psychology Program at Loyola University. Amie Kolos is entering the MS in Clinical Community Counseling at Johns Hopkins University this fall
Fund This work was supported by a Towson University Faculty Development Research Grant.
 
( 84 )   Recorded at: 12/8/2006      
Title Children’s drawings: A mirror to their minds
Journal Ed Psychol, 2006;26:127-142, Cherney ID, Seiwert CS, Dickey TM, Flichtbeil JD
Description We collected two drawings from 109 five- to thirteen-year-old children (three age groups). Each child drew their family and their school and participated in a recall task. The results indicated significant gender and age differences in the number of details depicted in the family drawings. There were also significant differences between boys’ and girls’ stereotyped drawings, usage of proportionality, and clothing. With age, children tended to draw more aerial views of their school
Faculty Isabelle Cherney is an associate professor of psychology at Creighton University
Student Claire Seiwert, Tara Dickey, and Judith Flichtbeil participated in this research during their junior and senior years as independent research. The three students are currently in graduate school.
 
( 85 )   Recorded at: 12/8/2006      
Title Limited-access consumption of ascending ethanol concentrations in alcohol-preferring, nonpreferring, and Sprague-Dawley rats
Journal Alcoholism: Clin Exp Res, 2006;30:836-843, Martinetti MP, Lowery EG, Vona SR, Wichnick AM, Adler RA, Finch DG
Description Although the alcohol-preferring (P) and nonpreferring (NP) rats have been extensively used as animal models of high and low alcohol consumption, respectively, little is known about the range of ethanol concentrations preferred by these animals. P, NP, and randomly bred Sprague-Dawley rats were given daily one-hour access to an ethanol solution and water in the homecage. P and NP rats' ethanol consumption differed at concentrations as low as 1.8%, while differences among all three types of rats emerged at 4.0%
Faculty Margaret Martinetti is an assistant professor of psychology at The College of New Jersey (TCNJ)
Student Emily Lowery participated on the project as a rising senior during the 2005 Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP) at TCNJ. Sally Vona, Alison Wichnick, Reid Adler and Daniel Finch participated in the research as part of a Student-Faculty Research/Lab Learning course during their junior and senior years at TCNJ. All of the students are currently pursuing graduate or professional degrees
Fund The research was supported by the 2005 SURP at TCNJ and by Mini-Grants from the School of Culture and Society at TCNJ
 
( 86 )   Recorded at: 7/20/2006      
Title Effects of driver cell-phone use on driver aggression.
Journal J Soc Psyc, 2006;146(2):133-146, McGarva AM, Ramsey M, Shear SA
Description Using 2 field procedures, the authors assessed impacts of cell-phone use on mild forms of driver aggression. Participants were 135 drivers traveling within a city of approximately 17,000 people in an otherwise little-populated region of western North Dakota. The authors videotaped the participants while a confederate driver in a low-status vehicle frustrated them. In Experiment 1, the confederate was traveling well under the posted speed limit. In Experiment 2, the confederate remained motionless at a stoplight that had turned green. When the confederate visibly talked on a hand-held cell phone (/n/ = 67), male drivers exhibited their frustration by honking their horn more quickly and frequently than did drivers in no-cell-phone trials, and female drivers were more angry according to blind judgments of videotaped facial expressions that were compared to those of drivers in no-cell-phone trials (/n/ = 68). The present results suggested that driver cell-phone use contributes to the growing crisis of roadway aggression
Faculty Andrew R McGarva is an associate professor of psychology at Dickinson State University
Student Mathew Ramsey and Suzy Shear were involved with this research during their junior and senior years for independent study credit. Both are currently enrolled in graduate school.
Fund This research was supported by a Dickinson State University, Faculty/Student Collaborative Research grant
 
( 87 )   Recorded at: 7/20/2006      
Title Predictors of serious and violent offending by adjudicated male adolescents
Journal N Am Psyc, 2005;7:407- 418, Parker JS, Morton TL, Johnson KS, Lingefelt ME
Description Predictors of serious and violent offending by adjudicated male adolescents were investigated. Neither IQ nor MMPI-A scores predicted future serious nonviolent offending. Adolescents who went on to commit nonviolent serious offenses had significantly more prior nonviolent serious and nonserious offenses. MMPI-A scales Hysteria, Anxiety, Anger, Low Self-Esteem, Brooding, Persecutory Ideas and Deficient Inhibition predicted future violent offenses. These results indicate that personality characteristics are strong predictors of violent juvenile offending while past criminal behavior is a better predictor of non-violent juvenile offenses
Faculty Jennifer Parker is an assistant professor of psychology at the University if South Carolina Upstate. Todd Morton is the supervising psychologist at the South Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice Upstate Evaluation Center
Student Kathryn Johnson, currently employed in Human Resources, plans to apply to graduate school in 2007. Megan Lingefelt is a graduate student at Clemson University. Both students participated in this research in 2004 during their senior year as independent studies in psychological research
 
( 88 )   Recorded at: 7/20/2006      
Title Combined blockade of AMPA and NMDA glutamate receptors reduces levodopa-induced motor complications in animal models of PD.
Journal Exp Neuro, 2005;196:422-429, Bibbiani F, Oh JD, Kielaite MA, Collins MA, Smith C, Chase TN
Description The ability of the selective AMPA receptor antagonist GYKI-47261 and the selective NMDA receptor antagonists, MK-801 and amantadine were evaluated for their conjunctive therapeutic potential in alleviating motor response alterations associated with dopaminergic treatment in rodent and primate models of Parkinson’s disease. In rats, simultaneous administration of subthreshold doses of AMPA and NMDA receptor antagonists completely normalized the wearing-off response to acute levodopa challenge produced by chronic levodopa treatment (P < 0.05). In primates, the glutamate antagonists GYKI-47261 and amantadine, co-administered at low doses (failing to alter dyskinesia scores), reduced levodopa-induced dyskinesias by 51% (P < 0.05). The simultaneous AMPA and NMDA receptor blockade acts to provide a substantially greater reduction in the response alterations induced by levodopa than inhibition of either of these receptors alone.
Faculty Justin Oh-Lee is a professor of psychology at Central Michigan University
Student Mahlon Collins participated in this research as part of a summer project after his junior year at Central Michigan University. He is continuing this research as a senior
Fund The research was supported through a PRIF grant to Dr. Justin Oh-Lee
 
( 89 )   Recorded at: 7/20/2006      
Title Nuclear physics problem solving: A case study of expert-novice differences.
Journal Trans Neb Acad Sci, 2005;30:9-15, Cherney ID, Winter J, Cherney MG
Description Two studies examined problem-solving in nuclear science by gifted junior and senior high school students, first year undergraduate, undergraduate physics majors and graduate teaching assistants. The results showed that with increased experience or expertise, students tended to solve the problems using higher levels of Bloom’s (1956) taxonomy. Junior high school students’ performance improved significantly after a week-long hands-on nuclear physics class. However, when solving a more conceptual nuclear physics problem, there were no significant differences in the pre- and posttests of the gifted students at the same grade level.
Faculty Isabelle Cherney is an assistant professor of psychology, and Michael Cherney is a professor of physics at Creighton University
Student Jordan Winter participated in this research as an independent research student in her junior year. She is currently attending medical school in her home state of South Dakota
 
( 90 )   Recorded at: 7/20/2006      
Title Achievement goals, performance contingencies, and performance attainment: An experimental test
Journal J Ed Psyc, 2005; 97: 630-640., Elliot AJ, Shell MM, Henry KB, Maier MA
Description The effect of achievement goals on performance attainment was examined using performance contingencies as a moderating variable. In the absence of performance contingencies, performance-avoidance goals had a negative impact on performance relative to performance-approach or mastery goals. When performance contingencies were present, however, performance-approach and –avoidance goals had an even stronger positive and negative, respectively, effects on performance attainment, while mastery goals’ effect on performance seemed impervious to the use of contingencies
Faculty Andrew Elliot is professor of psychology at University of Rochester. Kelly Henry is associate professor of psychology at Missouri Western State University. Markus Maier is professor of psychology at University of Munich.
Student Mandy Shell conducted this research during the spring of her junior year and fall of her senior year at Missouri Western State University as her honor’s thesis. She is currently completing her final year of law school
Fund This research was supported by a grant from the William T. Grant Foundation and a Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Award from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation to Andrew J. Elliot.
 
( 91 )   Recorded at: 7/20/2006      
Title Human territoriality: The effects of status on personalization and demarcation
Journal J Psychol Inquiry, 2005;10:16-21, Reinsch JR, Spotanski CL
Description This field study investigated the effects of socioeconomic status on the personalization and demarcation of houses. The average cost of homes provided the study with three status levels. Results indicated that as status increased, demarcation increased in the form of bedding and shrubbery. There were no significant differences in personalization related to status.
Faculty Richard L. Miller, professor and chair of psychology, University of Nebraska at Kearney, mentored this project
Student Jessica Reinsch and Cory Spotanski began this project as an empirical project in a course in environmental psychology and completed it as in independent study. Jessica is currently in the graduate program in school psychology at UNK. Cory is employed in industry
 
( 92 )   Recorded at: 7/20/2006      
Title Evaluations of sexy women in low and high status jobs
Journal Psychol Women Quart, 2005;29:389-395, Glick P, Weber S, Johnson C, Branstiter H
Description Male and female participants exhibited more negative affect toward and lower competence ratings of a sexily-attired (versus neutrally-attired) female manager. In contrast, the appearance manipulation had no effect when the female target was said to be a receptionist, suggesting that a sexy self-presentation harms women in high, but not low, status jobs
Faculty Peter Glick is a professor of psychology at Lawrence University
Student The student co-authors -- Sadie Weber, Heather Branstiter, and Cathryn Johnson -- participated in the research as part of a sophomore-junior level Research Methods in Psychology class. Sadie Weber is currently in a PhD program in Clinical Psychology at the University of Illinois. Heather Branstiter and Cathryn Johnson are currently senior psychology majors at Lawrence
 
( 93 )   Recorded at: 7/20/2006      
Title Disclosing daydreams versus real experiences: Attitudes, emotional reactions, and personality correlates
Journal Imagination, Cognition and Personality, 2004-2005(24):101-138, Klinger E, Murphy MD, Ostrem JL, Stark-Wroblewski K
Description Two studies tested and supported the hypotheses that people are more reluctant to disclose their daydreams than their real experiences, are emotionally more distressed when contemplating such disclosures than when contemplating disclosures of similar real experiences, and are less relatively distressed if they scored lower on trait measures of negative emotionality, higher on positive emotionality, and lower on rumination.
Faculty Eric Klinger is professor, Kimberly Stark-Wrobewski is now associate professor of psychology at Central Missouri State University of psychology
Student The other authors were juniors and seniors at the University of Minnesota, Morris, at the time of the investigation, which was supported by departmental funds. Michael Murphy is now a librarian. Jill Ostrem is now a neurologist at University of California, San Francisco.
 
( 94 )   Recorded at: 7/19/2006      
Title Nuclear physics problem solving: A case study of expert-novice differences
Journal Transactions of the Nebraska Academy of Science, 2005(30):9-15, Cherney ID, Winter J, Cherney MG
Description Two studies examined problem-solving in nuclear science by gifted junior and senior high school students, first year undergraduate, undergraduate physics majors, and graduate teaching assistants. The results showed that with increased experience or expertise, students tended to solve the problems using higher levels of Bloom’s (1956) taxonomy. Junior high school students’ performance improved significantly after a week-long hands-on nuclear physics class. However, when solving a more conceptual nuclear physics problem, there were no significant differences in the pre- and posttests of the gifted students at the same grade level
Faculty Isabelle Cherney is an assistant professor of psychology, and Michael Cherney is a professor of physics
Student Jordan Winter participated in this research as an independent research student in her junior year. She is currently attending medical school in her home state of South Dakota
 
( 95 )   Recorded at: 7/19/2006      
Title Color enhances orthonasal olfactory intensity and reduces retronasal olfactory intensity
Journal Chemical Senses, 2005(30):643-649, Koza BJ, Cilmi A, Dolese M, Zellner DA
Description When odorants are smelled orthonasally (i.e., through the nostrils), color enhances perceived odor intensity. However, when odorants are smelled retronasally (i.e., when the odorous solution is in the mouth), color reduces perceived odor intensity. The findings support previous findings that retronasal and orthonasal odors are perceived differently
Faculty Debra Zellner is a professor of psychology
Student Brian Koza conducted one of the studies in the paper as his undergraduate honors thesis at Montclair State University and is currently working for a consulting company. Anna Cilmi participated in this research as part of an independent study. Melissa Dolese participated in this research as part of her graduate research assistantship.
 
( 96 )   Recorded at: 1/6/2006      
Title When Famililar Social Partners Are Selected in Open-ended Situations: Further Tests of the Socioemotional Selectivity Theory
Journal Experimental Aging Research, 2005, 31, 331-344, Nikki M. Dudley, Kristi S. Multhaup (Davidson College).
Description The socioemotional selectivity theory (SST) says that when the future is limited (e.g., by age or an impending move), people will choose familiar social partners over novel ones and, by contrast, when the future is open-ended, people will choose novel social partners. Our data support the future-limited prediction from the theory, but call the future-open-ended prediction into question. In addition, our examination of prior published data also suggests that in open-ended situations, social partner choice may be more variable than SST predicts, pointing toward how SST needs to be modified in order to account for social partner choice.
Faculty Kristi Multhaup is an associate professor of psychology at Davidson College.
Student Nikki Dudley recently defended her Ph.D. in industrial/organizational psychology and is now working in industry. The first study in this paper was part of Nikki Dudley's undergraduate senior honors thesis.
Fund The research was supported by a Davidson College Faculty Study & Research grant.
 
( 97 )   Recorded at: 9/29/2005      
Title Magnesium Deficiency Impairs Fear Conditioning in Mice
Journal Brain Research, 2005, 1038, 100-106, Mark E. Bardgett, Patrick J. Schultheis, Diana L. McGill, Raymond E. Richmond, Jordan R. Wagge (Northern Kentucky University).
Description Magnesium is an important ion in central nervous system physiology but little is known about how alterations in dietary magnesium affect specific behaviors. Mice maintained on normal or magnesium-deficient diets were tested for memory recall in a cued and contextual fear conditioning task. Magnesium-deficient mice demonstrated profound decreases in both forms of fear conditioning. This memory impairment could not be attributed to non-specific changes in anxiety, activity, or pain sensitivity.
Faculty Mark Bardgett is an assistant professor of psychology, Patrick Schultheis is an assistant professor of biological sciences, Diana McGill is an associate professor of chemistry, and the late Ray Richmond was an associate professor of biological sciences.
Student Jordan Wagge conducted this research during the summer of 2002 and worked on it through the 2002-2003 academic year as part of her senior honors thesis. She is currently a graduate student in the cognitive psychology program at Miami (OH) University.
Fund The research was supported by the National Center for Research Resources Grant P20 RR16481, the NKU Center for Integrative Natural Science and Mathematics, and an undergraduate research grant to Jordan Wagge from the Psi Chi National Honor Society in Psychology.
 
( 98 )   Recorded at: 9/12/2005      
Title Searching for Faces: The Effects of Personal Information
Journal Psychological Reports, 2005, 96, 259-265, Philip T. Dunwoody, Kelli N. Corl, David R. Drews, David R. Widman (Juniata College).
Description Participants searched for a target on a television monitor either after they viewed pictures and received physical information about the target or received that information augmented by personal information. Based on a levels of processing perspective we predicted that the addition of personal information would stimulate deeper processing and result in better identification performance. Personal information did increase identification accuracy, as anticipated and also increased the duration of time spent on the search task relative to a distracter task, suggesting that personal information may have done more than deepen the processing at the time of encoding.
Faculty Philip Dunwoody, David Drews and David Widman are psychology professors at Juniata College.
Student Kelli N. Corl conducted this study in partial fulfillment for a Senior Research in Psychology course.
 
( 99 )   Recorded at: 9/12/2005      
Title The Wane of Childhood Amnesia for Autobiographical and Public Event Memories
Journal Memory, 2005, 13, 161-173, Kristi S. Multhaup, Melissa D.Johnson, Jonathan C. Tetirick (Davidson College).
Description Undergraduate (Experiments 1a and 1b) and middle-aged adults (Experiment 2) labeled childhood events (e.g., your first permanent tooth came in) as know or recollect memories and estimated their age at the event's occurrence. The estimated transition from mostly know memories to mostly recollect memories was roughly 4.7 years. Undergraduates (Experiments 3a and 3b) did the procedure with public events (e.g., the Challenger explosion) and the estimated transition was roughly 6 years, ruling out a response bias in the earlier data. The wane of childhood amnesia appears to occur around 4.7 years of age.
Faculty Kristi S. Multhaup is an associate professor of psychology at Davidson College.
Student Both students participated in this research in their junior years (initially as part of a class project), the following summer and into their senior years. Melissa D. Johnson is a medical student at UNC Chapel Hill. Jonathan C. Tetirick is now in finance.
Fund The research was supported through a Davidson College Faculty Study & Research grant.
 
( 100 )   Recorded at: 6/3/2005      
Title Devazepide Fails to Reverse the Inhibitory Effect of Interleukin-1b on Food Intake in Female Rats
Journal Physiology and Behavior, 2004, 82, 777-783, Peter C. Butera, Christopher F. Briffa, Emmett E. Whitaker (Niagara University)
Description Cholecystokinin (CCK) is a neuropeptide released during a meal, decreases food intake, and previous research suggests that CCK mediates the anorectic action of interleukin-1 (IL-1). The effects of estrogen on feeding are also thought to involve CCK, as the satiety action of CCK is increased by estradiol. This experiment examined the ability of the CCK-A receptor antagonist devazepide to block the effects of IL-1b and estradiol on food intake in ovariectomized rats. Pretreatment with devazepide failed to reverse the anorectic action of IL-1, although the effects of estradiol on food intake were attenuated by devazepide. These data do not support a role for CCK in IL-1-induced anorexia, and suggest that cytokines may act directly on neural systems involved in the control of food intake.
Faculty Peter Butera is a professor of psychology at Niagara University.
Student Christopher Briffa completed this research as part of his senior honors thesis project, and Emmett Whitaker contributed to the work as an undergraduate research assistant. Mr. Briffa is in the Pharm.D. program at SUNY Albany and Mr. Whitaker is a student at the University of Rochester School of Medicine.
Fund The research was supported through a NIH AREA grant.
 
( 101 )   Recorded at: 6/3/2005      
Title Intermittent Ethanol Exposure in Adolescent Rats: Dose-dependent Impairments in Trace Conditioning
Journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 2004, 28, 1433-1436, Eric A. Yttri, Joshua A. Burk, Pamela S. Hunt (College of William and Mary)
Description This experiment tested the hypothesis that intermittent, “binge-like” administration of alcohol during adolescence produces impairments in hippocampal-dependent memory. Adolescent rats were given one of several doses of alcohol (0– 4.5 g/kg) at 48 h intervals for one week, and one week later were trained in one of two classical conditioning procedures: delay (hippocampal-independent) or trace (hippocampal-dependent). Conditioned responding assessed 24 h later indicated a dose-related deficit in trace, but not delay, conditioning. Results show that intermittent exposure to large quantities of alcohol (analogous to binge drinking) during adolescence produces deficits in a type of memory subserved by the hippocampus, and suggests alcohol-induced damage to this brain region.
Faculty Pamela Hunt is an associate professor and Joshua Burk is an assistant professor in the department of psychology.
Student Eric Yttri conducted this research as a senior thesis project. He is currently a graduate student at Washington University – Saint Louis.
Fund This research was supported by grants from NIAAA (PSH) and a NARSAD Young Investigator Award (JAB).
 
( 102 )   Recorded at: 6/3/2005      
Title Role of Strategies and Prior Exposure in Mental Rotation
Journal Perceptual and Motor Skills, 2004, 98, 1269-1282, Isabelle D. Cherney, Nicole L. Neff (Creighton University)
Description Two studies examined sex differences in strategy use and the impact of prior exposure on the performance on mental rotation. Strategy usage did not account for the superior male performance, although levels of guessing did. Previous exposure to mental rotation, ACT scores, and frequent computer/video game play predicted performance. These results suggest that prior exposure to spatial tasks may serve as a cue to improve participants' mental rotation performance.
Faculty Isabelle Cherney is an assistant professor of psychology.
Student Nicole Neff participated in this research during her junior and senior years as part of her honors independent research. She is currently working on her Ph.D. in psychology at Penn State.
 
( 103 )   Recorded at: 6/3/2005      
Title How Generation Affects Source Memory
Journal Memory & Cognition, 2004, 32, 819-823, Kindiya D. Geghman, Kristi S. Multhaup (Davidson College)
Description This research explores the underlying nature of memory, specifically whether the same mechanisms underlie information we remember (item memory) and where we learned that information (source memory). Our research suggests that the same mechanisms underlie these kinds of memory, contradicting a prominent paper in the literature. We found that generating information resulted in increased performance for both item and source memory, compared with memory performance for presented items and their source.
Faculty Kristi Multhaup is an associate professor of psychology.
Student Kindiya Geghman is currently employed as a research assistant at Rutgers University and is applying to graduate programs in neuroscience. Kindiya began this research as a sophomore as part of Dr. Multhaup's Memory course, continued it with an independent study in her junior year, and then improved the project for her senior thesis.
Fund The research was supported by Davidson College.
 
( 104 )   Recorded at: 6/3/2005      
Title Transient Disruption of Attentional Performance Following Escalating Amphetamine Administration in Rats
Journal Psychopharmacology, 2004, 175: 436-442, Robyn L. Kondrad, Joshua A. Burk (College of William and Mary)
Description Sensitization of the mesolimbic dopaminergic system contributes to the attentional deficits in schizophrenia. Rats’ attentional performance, after being trained to perform a sustained attention task, was assessed following an escalating amphetamine regimen and subsequent “challenge” amphetamine administration (1.0 mg/kg) to amphetamine-pretreated rats, and for three days after the challenge session. This regimen transiently increased incorrect “claims” for a signal when no signal was presented and decreased latency to lever press. The study demonstrates that escalating amphetamine regimens may be useful to model the attentional deficits symptomatic of schizophrenia.
Faculty Joshua Burk is an assistant professor of psychology.
Student Robyn Kondrad participated in this research the spring of and summer after her sophomore year and then continued in a similar line of research as a senior Honors project. She is currently a senior and plans to pursue her doctoral degree upon graduation.
Fund The research was supported through a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Summer Research Grant to Robyn Kondrad and a NARSAD Young Investigator Award to Joshua Burk.
 
( 105 )   Recorded at: 1/5/2005      
Title Do Alternative Names Block Young and Older Adults’ Retrieval of Proper Names?
Journal Brain and Language, 2004, 89, 174-181, Emily S.Cross, Deborah M. Burke (Pomona College)
Description This study evaluates whether tip of the tongue experiences (TOTs) are caused by a more accessible word which blocks retrieval of the target word, especially for older adults. In a "competitor priming" paradigm, young and older adults produced the name of a famous character (e.g., Eliza Doolittle) in response to a question and subsequently named a picture of a famous actor or actress depicting this character (e.g., Audrey Hepburn as Eliza Doolittle). Older adults produced more TOTs than young adults, but prior production of a related character name did not affect TOTs, although it did reduce incorrect responses. There were no age differences in knowledge of films and TV and thus the age-related increase in TOTs is not because older adults have more relevant knowledge. The findings are compatible with models in which alternate words are a consequence not a cause of TOT.
Faculty Deborah Burke is a professor of linguistics and cognitive science and psychology.
Student Emily Cross graduated from Pomona and is currently a graduate student in neuroscience at Dartmouth College.
Fund This research was supported by the National Institute on Aging.
 
( 106 )   Recorded at: 11/1/2004      
Title ‘The Black Struggle’: Metaphors of depression in Styron’s Darkness Visible
Journal Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 2004, 23, 325-346, Thomas J. Schoeneman, Katherine A. Schoeneman, Selona Stallings (Lewis & Clark College)
Description Content analysis of the metaphors in William Styron’s memoir Darkness Visible suggested that Styron characterized depression and suicide as having a directionality that is down, in, and away and as a sequential process of suffering and adversity that is a form of malevolence and annihilation. In contrast, recovery is up, out, and through and characterized as a sequential process of return to a life of goodness and light. The metaphor system of Darkness Visible is internally consistent as well as externally valid, in the sense that it reflects a number of interlocking cultural programs.
Faculty Tom Schoeneman is a professor of psychology.
Student Katie Schoeneman and Selona Stallings started this research as seniors and continued their participation after graduation while preparing to apply to graduate school. Katie Schoeneman is in the Ph.D. program in clinical/forensic psychology at the University of Nebraska. Selona Stallings received an MSW degree at Portland State University and is currently working with the Native American Youth Association.
Fund This research was supported by Lewis & Clark College.
 
( 107 )   Recorded at: 11/1/2004      
Title Cherry Pit Primes Brad Pitt: Homophone Priming Effects on Young and Older Adults’ Production of Proper Names
Journal Psychological Science, 2004, 15, 164-170, Deborah M. Burke, Jill Kester Locantore, Ayda Austin, Bryan Chae (Pomona College)
Description Why proper names are difficult to retrieve, especially for older adults, was investigated. On intermixed trials, young and older adults produced a word for a definition or a proper name for a picture of a famous person. Prior production of a homophone (e.g., pit) as the response on a definition trial increased correct naming and reduced tip-of-the-tongue experiences for a proper name (e.g., Pitt) on a picture-naming trial. Among participants with no awareness of the homophone manipulation, older but not young adults showed these homophone priming effects. We conclude that homophone production strengthens phonological connections, increasing the transmission of excitation.
Faculty Deborah Burke is a professor of linguistics and cognitive science and psychology.
Student Jill Kester Locantore and Ayda Austin are graduates of Pomona College. A substantial portion of this project was Locantore’s senior thesis. Bryan Chae is a graduate student at Claremont Graduate University.
Fund This research was supported by the National Institute on Aging.
 
( 108 )   Recorded at: 8/18/2004      
Title NR2B Selective NMDA Receptor Antagonist CP-101, 606 Prevents Levodopa-induced Motor Response Alterations in Hemi-parkinsonian Rats
Journal Neuropharmacology, 2004, 47(2), 184-194, Ryan H. Wessell, Syed M. Ahmed, Frank S. Menniti, Gary L. Dunbar, Thomas N. Chase, Justin D. Oh (Central Michigan University)
Description Sensitization of NMDA receptors containing the NR2B subunit has been in the pathogenesis of extrapyramidal motor dysfunction. To determine whether activation of NR2B containing receptors contributes to the development and maintenance of levodopa-induced response changes in parkinsonian animals, we evaluated the effects of the selective NR2B antagonist CP-101,606 on these response alterations in unilateral 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) lesioned rats. The CP-101,606 demonstrated both ameliorative and preventive effect. Furthermore, concurrent administration of CP-101,606 with levodopa potentiated the ability of levodopa challenge to reverse the 6-OHDA lesion-induced contralateral forelimb movement deficit as measured in a drag test. Our results suggest that activation of NR2B subunit containing NMDA receptors contributes to both the development and maintenance of levodopa-induced motor response alterations, through a mechanism that involves an increase in GluR1 phosphorylation in striatal spiny neurons.
Faculty Justin Oh is an assistant professor of psychology at. Gary Dunbar is a professor of psychology.
Student Ryan Wessell is a graduate student. Syed Ahmed was an undergraduate during the course of this study and carried out the research as part of a student-directed research course. Syed is now employed as a research assistant at the University of Michigan Medical School.
Fund The research was supported by CMU.
 
( 109 )   Recorded at: 8/18/2004      
Title Role of Strategies and Prior Exposure in Mental Rotation
Journal Perceptual and Motor Skills, 2004, 98, 1269-1282, Isabelle D. Cherney, Nicole L. Neff (Creighton University)
Description Two studies examined sex differences in strategy use and the effect of prior exposure on the performance of the Mental Rotation Test. Men outperformed women and strategy could not account for these differences, although guessing did. Previous exposure, ACT scores, and computer game play predicted performance. Results suggest that prior exposure may provide cues to improve spatial tasks.
Faculty Isabelle Cherney is an assistant professor of psychology.
Student Nicole Neff collected data for these studies during her junior and senior years as part of her honors research project. She is currently pursuing a Ph.D. at Penn State in Industrial/Organizational Psychology.
Fund The research was in part supported through a Creighton University Graduate School grant.
 
( 110 )   Recorded at: 8/18/2004      
Title Evidence for Time-place Learning in the Morris Water Maze Without Food Restriction but with Increased Response Cost
Journal Behavioral Processes, 67, 183-193, David R. Widman, Christina M. Sermania, Kylie E. Genismore (Juniata College)
Description We tested whether food system activation or heightened response cost allowed for time-place learning in the Morris water maze. We replicated prior findings of no time-place discriminations without food restriction or increased response cost. We found that increased response cost alone allowed for the formation of time-place discriminations. This is the first demonstration of time-place discriminations without involvement of the food system and suggests that the timing mechanism for time-place discriminations may not be dependent on the food system.
Faculty David Widman is an associate professor of psychology.
Student Christina Sermania and Kylie Genismore conducted this research during the summer between their junior and senior years. Christina is currently working in the pharmaceutical industry and Kylie has completed her Masters at Duke University in Environmental Science.
 
( 111 )   Recorded at: 8/18/2004      
Title A Test of the Generality of Perceptually-based Categories Found in Infants: Attentional Differences toward Natural Kinds by New World Monke
Journal Developmental Science, 2004, 7, 185-193, J. J. Neiworth, R. R. Parsons, J. M. Hassett (Carleton College)
Description A preference to novelty paradigm used to study human infants examined attention to novel animal pictures at the subordinate, basic, and superordinate levels in tamarins. Tamarins looked significantly longer at a novel species after being familarized with a single monkey species, a species-specific effect. Subjects attended equivalently to novel primate species after habituation to four monkey species, but looked significantly longer at pictures of mammals, marking a basic level inclusion and a superordinate exclusion.
Faculty Julie Neiworth is professor of psychology.
Student Richard Parsons conducted one phase of the experiment as his senior thesis and is in law school at Capital University. Janice Hassett conducted a second part of the experiment as an internship her junior year and is now a graduate student at Emory University.
Fund The research was funded in part through an NIH AREA grant.
 
( 112 )   Recorded at: 8/16/2004      
Title Mnemonic Effects of Testosterone and its 5α-reduced Metabolites in the Conditioned Fear and Inhibitory Avoidance Tasks
Journal Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Behavior, 2004, 78, 559-568, Kassandra L. Edinger, Bomi Lee, Cheryl A. Frye (University at Albany, State University of New York)
Description Androgens, such as testosterone (T), may benefit learning and memory: age-related decline in endogenous androgens and cognitive performance may co-vary. Using an animal model, we tested the hypothesis that androgen depletion reduces, and replacement improves, cognitive performance, by administration of T and/or its metabolites to castrated rats and comparing their learning with that of vehicle-administered rats. T- and 3α-androstanediol-administered rats had significantly better performance in the inhibitory avoidance and conditioned fear tasks (measures of emotional learning) than did vehicle-administered GDX control rats. These findings, which suggest that androgen can enhance learning, perhaps in part through actions of T and its metabolite, 3α-androstranediol, are particularly important given the aging population.
Faculty Cheryl Frye is an associate professor of psychology, adjunct professor of biological sciences, and member of the Center for Neuroscience Research.
Student Kassandra Edinger participated in the work as an undergraduate honor’s thesis during her junior year. Bomi Lee participated in this research project during her sophomore year, as an independent study project. Both students are currently undergraduates at University at Albany-SUNY.
Fund This research was supported by grants from the NSF.
 
( 113 )   Recorded at: 8/16/2004      
Title Dynamic Processing of Taste Aversion Extinction in the Brain
Journal Brain Research, 2004, 1016, 79-89, G. Andrew Mickley, Cynthia L. Kenmuir, Colleen A. McMullen, Anna M. Yocom, Elizabeth L. Valentine, Christine M. Dengler-Crish, Bettina Weber, Justin A. Wellman, Dawn R. Remmers-Roeber (Baldwin-Wallace College)
Description As a measure of neural activity, the expression of brain c-Fos protein was mapped in rats that learned a conditioned taste aversion (CTA) or had extinguished this response. Extinction of a CTA was not represented by a simple reversal of the c-Fos activity evoked by CTA conditioning. Rather, the data demonstrate that extinction of conditioned responses is a dynamic process in which the activity levels of particular nuclei along the brain’s taste pathway change, depending on the extent to which the conditioned response has been extinguished.
Faculty G. Andrew Mickley is a professor of neuroscience and an associate academic dean.
Student Cynthia Kenmuir is now in an M.D./Ph.D. program at the Medical College of Ohio. Colleen McMullen managed the Neuroscience Laboratory at Baldwin-Wallace College and is now working in a laboratory at Case Western Reserve University. Anna Yocom is working in a laboratory at the University of Arizona. Elizabeth Valentine is continuing her undergraduate studies. Christine Dengler is a graduate student in the Psychology Department at Vanderbilt University. Bettina Weber is a veterinary student at the Ohio State University. Justin Wellman is a graduate student in the Psychology program at the University of Toledo. Dawn Remmers-Roeber is now a Dean at the University of Texas-Arlington.
Fund The work was funded by an NIH AREA grant.
 
( 114 )   Recorded at: 5/5/2004      
Title The Verbal Nature of Representations of the Canonical Colors of Objects
Journal Cognitive Development, 2004, 19, 1-14, Tracy R. Gleason, Kate E. Fiske, Ruth K. Chan (Wellesley College)
Description In selecting the canonical colors of color-specific objects, children may use verbal mediation, a cognitive process whereby an object and its color are matched using verbal rather than pictorial representation. 108 2- to 5-year-old children were asked to identify 11 colors and to choose crayons to color pictures of color-specific objects. Canonical color choice was significantly predicted by color-labeling skill above the variance portion predicted by age alone. Children provided explanations for their color choices consistent with verbal mediation. These findings provide modest support for the idea that identification of canonical colors of objects is a verbal process.
Faculty Tracy Gleason is an assistant professor of psychology.
Student Kate Fiske and Ruth Chan participated in this research project as juniors in a research methods course, and subsequently continued the work the following summer. Since graduation, Kate has been a teacher at the New England Center for Children and will be starting graduate school in clinical psychology at Rutgers University in fall, 2004. Ruth is currently obtaining her masters in Art in Education from Harvard University.
Fund This research was supported by Wellesley College.
 
( 115 )   Recorded at: 5/5/2004      
Title Classical Conditioning of Sexual Arousal in Women and Men: Effects of Varying Awareness and Biological Relevance of the Conditioned Stimulus
Journal Archives of Sexual Behavior, 2004, 33, 43-53, Heather Hoffmann, Erick Janssen, Stefanie L. Turner (Knox College and Indiana University)
Description The role of Pavlovian conditioning in the activation of genital sexual arousal in both women and men was studied, and the effects of varying conditioned stimulus (CS) duration (subliminal/conscious) and relevance (sexually relevant/irrelevant) assessed. Both women and men showed more evidence of conditioning to the sexually relevant vs. irrelevant stimulus when the CS was presented subliminally. However, gender differences were evident for consciously presented CSs. This is the first study to compare the effects of a subliminal and conscious CS and to find classical conditioning of sexual arousal in women.
Faculty Heather Hoffmann is a professor of psychology at Knox College. Erick Janssen is an associate scientist at the Kinsey Institute at Indiana University.
Student This project was carried out at Knox College and Stefanie Turner became involved as a research assistant during her sophomore and junior year at Knox College. Stefanie will graduate from Knox in 2004 and seeks employment with a political campaign and in the future may attend graduate school in political psychology.
Fund The research was supported by a Grass Foundation grant and by Knox College.
 
( 116 )   Recorded at: 5/5/2004      
Title Boasting and Firsthand and Secondhand Impressions: A New Explanation for the Positive Teller-Listener Extremity Effect
Journal Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 2004, 26, 59-76, Mary L. Inman, Noelle McDonald, Alexander Ruch (Hope College)
Description People who receive secondhand information (listeners) make more extreme impressions (positive and negative) than people (tellers) who learn the information firsthand, directly from the source. We proposed and found that hearing personal descriptions presented in firsthand (in “I”) versus secondhand (in “She”) form elicits perceptions of boasting and dislike. These differential perceptions of boasting explained why secondhand perceivers made more extremely favorable judgments of kind actors.
Faculty Mary Inman is an associate professor of psychology.
Student Noelle McDonald participated in this research in her senior year and is in the clinical Ph.D. program at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. Alex Ruch participated in this research in his senior year, earned an M.A. in Industrial Labor Relations at Cornell University, and is currently working in industry.
 
( 117 )   Recorded at: 12/16/2003      
Title Blood, Sweat, and Jeers: The Impact of the Media's Heterosexist Portrayals on Perceptions of Male and Female Athletes
Journal Journal of Sport Behavior, 2003, 26, 272-284, Jennifer L. Knight, Traci A. Giuliano (Southwestern University)
Description Although heterosexist media coverage has been well documented, it is unknown how this affects people's perceptions of athletes. As such, 91 undergraduates read a profile of a male or female athlete with either a heterosexual or an ambiguous sexual orientation. As expected, heterosexual female and (especially) heterosexual male athletes were perceived most favorably.
Faculty Traci Giuliano is an associate professor of psychology.
Student Jennifer Knight conducted this research as part of her honor's thesis and will soon advance to candidacy in the Industrial/Organizational Psychology Ph.D program at Rice University.
 
( 118 )   Recorded at: 9/8/2003      
Title Food for Insects and Insects as Food: Viable Strategies for Achieving Adequate Calcium
Journal Journal of Wildlife Rehabilitation, 2003, 26, 4-13, Diane Winn, Shari Dunham, Szymon Mikulski. (Colby College)
Description Nutrionally balanced diets for captive birds are an elusive goal of bird rehabilitators. In particular, the calcium deficiency of insects leads to poor calcium content and dangerously low Ca:P ratios in diets of insectivores. Mealworms, waxworms, and crickets were cultivated on various media and evaluated for calcium and phosphorous content by microwave digestion/ICP-AES analysis. Improved Ca content and Ca:P ratios were acheived in all species studied by offering insects long-term, palatable, calcium-enriched media. When combined with calcium gluconate dusting of insects, these improvements were enough to achieve the diet calcium content required for captive birds.
Faculty Diane Winn is a professor of psychology and Shari Dunham an assistant professor of biochemistry.
Student Szymon Mikulski participated in this research as an independent project during the January term of his sophomore year. Szymon is pursing a double major in biochemistry and neuropsychology and is currently continuing biochemistry research at Colby.
 
( 119 )   Recorded at: 8/27/2003      
Title Cyclic AMP Responsive Element Binding Protein Phosphorylation and Persistent Expression of Levodopa-induced Response Alterations in Unilateral Nigrostriatal 6-OHDA Lesioned Rats
Journal Journal of Neuroscience Research, 2003, 72, 768-780, Justin D. Oh, Karnon Chartisathian, Syed M. Ahmed, Thomas N. Chase (Central Michigan University)
Description Activation of cAMP responsive element binding protein (CREB) has been increasingly implicated in the formationand maintenance of long-term memory. To explore molecular mechanisms that underlie the persisting alterations in motor response occurring with levodopa (L-dopa) treatment of parkinsonian patients, we evaluated the time course of these changes in relation to the activation of striatal CREB in 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) lesioned animals. Our behavioral, pharmacological, and biochemical analysis suggested that region-specific Serine 133 CREB phosphorylation in D1 receptor (a dopamine receptor subunit) containing spiny neurons contributes to the persistence of the motor response alterations produced by intermittent stimulation of striatal dopaminergic receptors.
Faculty Justin Oh is a professor of behavioral psychology and neuroscience at Central Michigan University.
Student Syed Ahmed is currently a junior at Central Michigan University and majoring in neuroscience and psychology. This work was undertaken in his sophomore year as a directed research project and continued as a research fellow at the Brain Research Laboratory in CMU.
Fund This research was supported by NINDS and NIH grants.
 
( 120 )   Recorded at: 8/20/2003      
Title Experiential Factors on Sex Differences in Mental Rotation
Journal Perceptual & Motor Skills, 2003, 96, 1062-1070, Isabelle D. Cherney, Kavita Jagarlamudi, Erika Lawrence, Nicole Shimabuku (Creighton University)
Description The effects of a prior exposure to either the adapted Cube Comparison test or to Legos on the performance on the Mental Rotation Test (MRT) were examined. Analyses showed that gender differences were significant only in the control condition, but not when the 113 participants were exposed to either of two experimental conditions, suggesting that a cueing effect may explain some of the robust sex differences in visual-spatial tasks.
Faculty Isabelle Cherney is an assistant professor of psychology.
Student Kavita Jagarlamudi, Erika Lawrence, and Nicole Shimabuku participated in this research during their junior and senior years as part of their experimental psychology class. Erika Lawrence continued to work on the project during her senior year for her honors project. All three students are currently attending medical school.
Fund The research was supported through funds from Creighton University.
 
( 121 )   Recorded at: 5/27/2003      
Title Human Group Foraging and the Ideal Free Distribution
Journal Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 2002, 78, 1-15, Gregory J. Madden, Blaine F. Peden, Tetsuo Yamaguchi (University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire)
Description The ideal free distribution describes how large groups of foraging animals will distribute their numbers between two or more resource patches. Our study sought to determine if this equation would predict the behavior of a group of college students “foraging” for points. In three experiments we found that the ideal free distribution accurately predicted human behavior.
Faculty Gregory Madden and Blaine Peden are faculty in the Department of Psychology.
Student Tetsuo Yamaguchi returned to Japan to pursue graduate study in experimental psychology.
Fund This research was funded by a grant from UWEC.
 
( 122 )   Recorded at: 5/27/2003      
Title Delay Discounting and Performance on the Prisoner's Dilemma Game
Journal The Psychological Record, 2002, 52, 429-440, Andrew C. Harris, Gregory J. Madden. (University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire)
Description Researchers have speculated that individuals who defect in the prisoner’s dilemma game tend to be impulsive. Because impulsivity is largely synonymous with extreme devaluing of delayed outcomes, we sought to explore the correlation between delay discounting a defections. We found a statistically significant positive correlation that supported the speculations of researchers in the prisoner’s dilemma literature.
Faculty Gregory Madden is an associate professor at UWEC.
Student Andrew Harris is now attending graduate school in experimental psychology.
Fund This research was funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
 
( 123 )   Recorded at: 5/16/2003      
Title Savage Affection: Exploring the Allure of Sexual Masochism
Journal Journal of Psychological Inquiry, 2003, 8, 27-35, Cynthia G. Gilger. (Emporia State University)
Description Sexual masochism, desiring pain, bondage and humiliation in sex, runs contrary to basic instincts and needs for avoiding pain, controlling one's environment and maintaining self-esteem. Four motivational theories were used to explain the behavior including dual instinct, needs for power and control, sensation seeking and the fantasy defense mechanism.
Faculty Cynthia's faculty sponsor was Dr. Cathy A. Grover in the Department of Psychology and Special Education.
Student Cynthia Gilger is a graduate student and teaching assistant at Emporia State University. She wrote the paper for a theories of motivation class in her junior year.
 
( 124 )   Recorded at: 10/21/2002      
Title Ways of Knowing as Learning Styles: Learning MAGIC with a Partner
Journal Sex Roles, 2001, 44, 419-436, Kathleen M. Galotti, Rebecca L. Reimer, David W. Drebus (Carleton College)
Description Ninety-six pairs of college students, relatively unacquainted with one another were asked to learn a novel and complex fantasy card game in a 50-minute videotaped session, using first a scripted set of turns and written explanations of game rules and procedures, then playing until the end of the session or until a clear winner emerged. They then filled out a series of rating scales about their perceptions of and reactions to the session and their partner, and a survey that measures individual differences in epistemological approaches to learning and knowledge. The findings suggest that epistemological approaches do not affect the amount of learning that occurs, but rather the attitude a learner holds toward the process.
Faculty Kathleen Galotti is a professor of psychology and cognitive studies.
Student Rebecca Reimer and David Drebus began working on this project as an independent study during their junior and senior years. Drebus is in graduate school in psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison; Reimer works at Harvard University performing institutional research.
 
( 125 )   Recorded at: 10/1/2002      
Title The Effects of Considering Non-list Sources on the Deese-Roediger-McDermott Memory Illusion
Journal Journal of Memory and Language, 2002, 47, 214-228, K. S. Multhaup, C. A. Conner (Davidson College)
Description In the Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) memory illusion, participants indicate that nonpresented words were on a list that contained the word’s associates. We compared standard DRM instructions with source-monitoring/strong-warning instructions that included both an example list and a source-monitoring test that allowed participants to identify non-study-list sources as the origin of words. In another experiment, source-monitoring instructions did not include a strong warning. In all experiments the DRM illusion in the source-monitoring/strong-warning or source-monitoring/no-strong-warning condition was reduced, but not eliminated, even with immediate testing. The illusion’s robustness is discussed in terms of the source-monitoring framework.
Faculty Kristi Multhaup is an associate professor of psychology.
Student Christa Conner began this project as part of a research methods class in memory. She is currently traveling and plans to attend graduate school in clinical psychology.
Fund Portions of this research were supported by Davidson College.
 
( 126 )   Recorded at: 10/1/2002      
Title Simple Behavioral Methods to Assess the Effect of Drugs or Toxins on Sensory Experience
Journal Journal of Neuroscience Methods, 2002, 115, 85-92, G. Andrew Mickley, Dawn R. Remmers-Roeber, Christine M. Dengler, Colleen A. McMullen, Cynthia L. Kenmuir, Benjamin Girdler, Carrie Crouse, Crystal Walker (Baldwin-Wallace College)
Description When behavioral pharmacologists/toxicologists study conditioned taste aversions (CTAs), or other conditioned responses, as a means to investigate the effects of various drugs or toxins on a learned response, failure to discover a CTA is frequently attributed to the treatment’s influence on the associative process. This kind of analysis may fail to identify drug-induced sensory changes that may influence conditioned stimulus (CS) or unconditioned stimulus (US) saliency. A simple method by which a drug’s influence on CS or US sensation may be determined is outlined.
Faculty G. Andrew Mickley is a professor of psychology.
Student Dawn Remmers-Roeber is now Director of Student Success Programs at University of Texas, Arlington. Christine Dengler is now a graduate student at the University of Illinois, Chicago. Colleen McMullen and Benjamin Girdler are laboratory technicians in academia and industry, respectively. Carrie Crouse is now in the Ohio State University Veterinary School. Crystal Walker is a recent graduate of the Cleveland State graduate school.
Fund The work was supported by NSF.
 
( 127 )   Recorded at: 10/1/2002      
Title Effects of Relaxation, Positive Self-Statement, and Distraction on Math Performance
Journal Psychology and Education: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 2002, 39, 27-35, Yasuko Yamamoto-Landrum, Joanne D. Altman. (Washburn University)
Description Two experiments were conducted to investigate the effects of relaxation, positive self-statement, and distraction on math test performance. Participants in both experiments took two 10-min. high school level math tests. Between tests, participants completed their respective interventions. In Experiment 1, a relaxation group listened to a progressive relaxation tape, and a positive self-statement group repeated two prepared positive statements. In Experiment 2, a specific positive self-statement group and a general positive self-statement group completed worksheets specific to their groups. Analyses showed a significant decrease in the percent of correct answers by the relaxation group and a significant decrease in cognitive-interference scores.
Faculty Joanne Altman is an associate professor of psychology.
Student Yasuko Yamamoto-Landrum conducted the research during her junior and senior years as part of her Honor's project, and is now a graduate student at the University of Kansas.
Fund This work was supported through institutional funds.
 
( 128 )   Recorded at: 10/1/2002      
Title Parallels Between Remembering and Predicting an Object’s Location
Journal Visual Cognition, 2002, 9, 177-194, M. P. Munger, J. H. Minchew (Davidson College)
Description Three experiments explore effects of rotational axis and velocity on observers’ predictions regarding an object’s future position, and begin to explore connections between this extrapolation task and representational momentum (RM). Previous work has found that prediction distortions are in the opposite direction of typical RM memory distortions, suggesting that these tasks are unrelated. Effects of velocity and axis are examined for RM and extrapolation tasks, and the overall pattern of distortions supports a link. Participants who misremember the location of an object as further along the implied path of motion also accept as “correct” positions relatively further along the extrapolated path of motion, suggesting that these apparently opposite types of errors are related.
Faculty Margaret Munger is an associate professor of psychology.
Student Joy Minchew conducted the research over one summer and as her senior thesis. Joy is currently working as a research assistant at the University of Maryland, Baltimore.
Fund Funding was provided by Davidson College.
 
( 129 )   Recorded at: 6/26/2002      
Title Parental Scaffolding During Joint Play with Preschoolers
Journal Conceptual, Social-Cognitive, and Contextual Issues in the Fields of Play. Play and Culture Studies, J. L. Roopnarine (Ed.), 2001, 4, 165-181, Maureen Vandermaas-Peeler, Catherine King, Amy Clayton, Mindi Holt, Kristen Kurtz, Lisa Maestri, Erica Morris, Emily Woody. (Elon University)
Description Parents' strategies for providing guidance, or scaffolding, to their young children during play in a home setting or in a laboratory setting was examined. There were some differences in mothers' and fathers' use of strategies, but most parents employed an educational focus during play with their preschooler. Smooth and disruptive teaching within the play context was examined and examples of both provided.
Faculty Maureen Vandermaas-Peeler and Catherine King are members of the Psychology Department.
Student Students conducted the research as independent study projects during the academic year. Amy Clayton is employed. Mindi Holt, Kristen Kurtz, Lisa Maestri, Erica Morris, and Emily Woody are enrolled in graduate school.
Fund The work was funded through the Undergraduate Research Program of Elon University.
 
( 130 )   Recorded at: 6/26/2002      
Title Validity of the MMPI-2 Basic and Harris-Lingoes Subscales in a Forensic Sample
Journal Journal of Clinical Psychology, 2001, 57, 1369-1380, Timothy M. Osberg, Danielle L. Poland. (Niagara University)
Description The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) correlates of criminal history in a sample of prison inmates was explored. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses supported the incremental validity of the MMPI-2 Harris-Lingoes subscales relative to traditional MMPI-2 clinical scales in relation to crime history. The findings have implications for the improvement of criminal risk assessment.
Faculty Timothy Osberg is a professor of Psychology.
Student Danielle Poland conducted the study as part of her senior honors thesis research. She is now a graduate student in the clinical psychology program at Kent State University.
Fund The project was funded by Niagara University Academic Year and Honors Program grants.
 
( 131 )   Recorded at: 6/26/2002      
Title Adenosine A1 Receptor Activation Selectively Impairs the Acquisition of Contextual Fear Conditioning in Rats
Journal Behavioral Neuroscience, 2001, 15, 1283-1290, Keith P. Corodimas, Hideaki Tomita. (Lynchburg College)
Description Three experiments were conducted to examine the importance of adenosine A1 receptors for the acquisition of hippocampal-dependent and hippocampal-independent forms of conditioned fear. Adenosine A1 receptor activation selectively impaired emotional (fear) learning to the conditioning context or environment while sparing, in the same rats, tone-shock associations. These results suggest that endogenous adenosine modulates the acquisition of emotional memories by acting on A1 receptors in brain regions underlying fear conditioning.
Faculty Keith Corodimas is an assistant professor of Psychology.
Student Hideaki Tomita conducted the study as part of an independent research project during his senior year. Hideaki is currently employed and plans on attending graduate school in neuroscience.
Fund The work was funded by The Whitehall Foundation and Lynchburg College.
 
( 132 )   Recorded at: 6/26/2002      
Title The Role of Personal Narrative in Bringing Children into the Moral Discourse of their Culture
Journal Narrative Inquiry, 2001, 11, 1-28, Marsha D. Walton, Christine L. Brewer. (Rhodes College)
Description Personal narratives written by 364 inner-city 4th-6th graders about an experience with interpersonal conflict were examined. Comparisons of stories by children from a high-crime, high-poverty neighborhood to those from a less dangerous environment raised questions about how we bring children into the moral discourse of a culture, and how their appropriation of interpretive repertoires to explain their own experiences may contribute to cultural change.
Faculty Marsha Walton is an associate professor of Psychology.
Student Christie Brewer worked in the summer and continued the research as an honors project.
Fund A grant from the Memphis Alliance for Public Health supported the data collection.
 
( 133 )   Recorded at: 3/25/2002      
Title Developmental Screenings in Rural Settings: A Comparison of the Child Development Review and the Denver II Developmental Screening Test
Journal The Journal of Rural Health, 2001, 17, 156?159, Allison Brachlow, Augustus Jordan, Raymond Tervo. (Middlebury College)
Description This study compared the sensitivity of two child developmental screening tests (the CDR and the Denver II) in two locations: the Cheyenne River Reservation in South Dakota, and in Sioux Falls, S.D. Findings suggested that for Native American, white and other minority children living on the reservation, the CDR may be undersensitive and/or the Denver II oversensitive to suspected developmental problems. Based on these findings, medical practitioners were advised to use these instruments with caution in rural settings.
Faculty Augustus Jordan is an Assistant Professor of Psychology. Raymond Tervo is an Associate Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Minnesota.
Student Allison Brachlow received her degree at Middlebury College. She completed the project as part of her senior thesis, and is currently a medical student at the University of South Dakota.
Fund The project was funded by a grant from Middlebury College and the Palen Fund.
 
( 134 )   Recorded at: 3/25/2002      
Title Effects of Ethanol on Flash-evoked Potentials of Rats: Lack of Antagonism by Naltrexone
Journal Alcohol, 2001, 25, 21?30, Bruce E. Hetzler, Ewa M. Bednarek. (Lawrence University)
Description The effects of ethanol and naltrexone hydrochloride (a nonselective opiate receptor antagonist) on flash evoked potentials recorded from both the visual cortex and the superior colliculus of chronically implanted hooded rats was examined. The results indicate that endogenous opioid systems do not play a major role in the acute effects of ethanol on flash?evoked potentials recorded from primary areas of the visual system.
Faculty Bruce E. Hetzler is a Professor of Psychology.
Student Ewa Bednarek undertook this work as an independent study project during her senior year. She is currently a graduate in Biology at the University of Utah.
Fund Funding was provided by Lawrence University.
 
( 135 )   Recorded at: 3/25/2002      
Title Neurofeedback Training and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in an Elementary School Setting
Journal Journal of Neurotherapy, 2001, 4, 5-27, Dennis P. Carmody, Diane A. Radvanski, Sonia Wadhwani, S., M. J. Sabo, and L. Vergara. (Saint Peter’s College)
Description EEG biofeedback (neurofeedback) training was conducted on children in a school setting. A group of eight non-medicated children (four diagnosed with ADHD and four non-ADHD) received neurofeedback over a four-month period. Attentional abilities were compared to a group of eight controls matched for age, gender, and diagnoses. The non-medicated ADHD participants improved on attentional tests, as compared to non-ADHD participants and non-treated controls.
Faculty Dennis Carmody is Professor of Psychology.
Student Diane Radvanski and Sonia Wadhwani worked on the project as an independent study. Diane is currently in a Master’s program in Health Psychology at the College of Mount Saint Vincent, Riverdale NY. Sonia is completing her Master’s in Psychology at Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey.
Fund The work was supported through a Faculty-Student Fellowship from Saint Peter’s College.
 
( 136 )   Recorded at: 3/11/2002      
Title The Correspondence Between Attachment Dimensions and Prayer in College Students
Journal The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 2001, 11, 9-24, Byrd, K. R. and Boe, A
Description Survey measures of two dimensions of adult social attachment (avoidance of intimacy and anxiety over abandonment) were used to predict self-reports of three types of prayer. A correlation was found between the score on intimacy avoidance and abandonment anxiety and different types of prayer. The results confirm that the religious behavior of American college students is influenced by attachment style in a manner predictable from attachment theory.
Faculty Kevin Byrd is a Professor of Psychology at the University of Nebraska at Kearney.
Student Andrea Doe began the research as an independent study project. The work was funded through department monies.
 
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