Developing Utah Juniper into a Useful Species for Dendrochronology

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Calli Nielsen and Dr. Matthew F. Bekker, Geography Utah juniper is rarely used by dendrochronologists in tree-ring applications. In the global species database, Utah juniper has a score of 1, which means that it typically only crossdates within its own site, and is therefore not useful in tree-ring research. This mentored research project was conducted […]

Fear of Negative Evaluation in Autism Spectrum Disorders

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Catie Nielson and Mr. Mikle South, Psychology Introduction Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are characterized by social communication deficits and restricted repetitive behaviors. Studies have found co­‐morbidity of ASD and social anxiety disorder (SAD), but it is unclear how the anxiety experienced in ASD is socially mediated (White, Oswald, Ollendick and Scahill; 2009). In this study, […]

The Effects of Trilostane and DHEAS on Dopamine Release in the Nucleus Accumbens

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Tyler Okelberry and Dr. Scott Steffensen, Psychology Department Introduction Alcohol dependency is a serious, widespread problem in the United States. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration reported that “In 2009, the number of persons aged 12 or older needing treatment for an alcohol use problem was 19.3 million (7.7 percent of the population […]

The Effect of Exercise on Inhibitory Control to Images of High and Low Calorie Food

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Cory Pettit and Michael J. Larson, PhD, Psychology and Neuroscience Introduction The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of exercise on the neural correlates of response inhibition to high and low calorie foods. Specifically, we aimed to explore whether engaging in forty-five minutes of moderate intensity exercise affects brain activity that denotes […]

The Efficacy of Neurofeedback in Improving Physical Balance

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Christopher Schow and Dr. Scott C. Steffensen Ph.D., Department of Psychology Introduction: Biofeedback is a process by which a person may learn to control physiological functions of their body they would otherwise not be aware of e.g. heart rate. This is accomplished by relaying real-time information back to the user. The user then changes their […]

Assessing Gender Differences in Cognitive Processes Using Event Related Potentials

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Jack Silcox and Dr. Bruce Brown, Psychology Department Introduction Many have recognized the importance of identifying biomarkers for cognitive disorders (Casey, Craddock, Cuthbert, Hyman, Lee and Ressler, 2013). This is due to the amount of subjectivity that exists in current diagnostic methods. A patient with a mental disorder has to rely upon a psychiatrist’s experience […]

Opportunism in Ugandan NGOs: A Randomized Field Experiment

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Eric Reuben Smith Abstract Corruption undermines the effectiveness of international development. The financial integrity of non-governmental organizations (NGO) can be improved by donor-to-organization contact, but foreign donors rarely travel to countries such as Uganda. This project involved a randomized design to compare the size of project bids by NGO management when approached by potential donors […]

Assessing the Impact of Spiritual and Relational Teaching on Student Learning

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Jillian Ferrell and Jeffrey Reber, Department of Psychology Introduction According to the mission and aims of Brigham Young University, one of the outcomes of a BYU experience should be that it is spiritually strengthening. BYU is not alone in desiring this kind of experience. A faculty and student survey collected by UCLA’s Higher Education Research […]