Induction of Neuromelanin in Live Tissue

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Corrine Morrison, Dr. Scott Steffensen, Psychology and Neuroscience Center Introduction: An estimated seven to ten million people worldwide are living with Parkinson’s Disease (PD) and about 60,000 Americans are diagnosed with the disease each year (Parkinson’s Disease Foundation, 2013). The underlying cause of the movement disorders in PD is dopamine (DA) neuron degeneration in the […]

Predictive Factors of Gender, Attitudes Towards Sec, and Relationships on Signs of Dating Violence in Japan

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Joshua Murphy, and Niwako Yamawaki, Psychology Introduction: Domestic violence is on the rise and poses serious societal and health concerns. Studies have shown that between 21% and 34% of all women in the United States will be physically assaulted by an intimate partner (Browne, 1993). Shockingly, 1 of every 5 female high school students have […]

Effects of Chronic Ethanol on GABA(A) Receptors in the VTA

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Ashley Nelson and Dr. Scot Steffensen, Psychology Introduction The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention attributes approximately 80,000 deaths annually to excessive alcohol use (CDC), and alcohol consumption is the third leading cause of preventable deaths in the United States (Mokdad et al., 2004). These statistics do not even describe the detrimental effects alcohol addiction […]

The Effect of Second Language Reading on Eye Movement on Second Language Learners

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Kyle Nelson and Dr. Steven Luke, Psychology Due to the difficulty of finding valid and reliable testing material for our subjects to read, this current study has been significantly delayed. Finding reading passages that can be rated for difficulty for a non native speaker to read has been difficult and only in recent weeks have […]

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 […]

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 […]