Journal of Undergraduate Research

Jacob Curtis and Sam Hardy, Department of Psychology Adolescent sex and alcohol use are issues today in America. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2012), about a third of high school students report having had sex in the previous three months, and 79% of twelfth graders have drunk alcohol at least once […]

Jacqueline Solomon and Dr. Scott Steffensen, College of Family, Home, and Social Science Introduction: Cocaine as a stimulant drug causes Dopamine (DA), a neurotransmitter, to be released in the Accumbens Nucleus (NAc). It accomplishes this by its well-known actions on the DA transporter (DAT). When the DAT is blocked, more DA stays in the synaptic […]

Jordan Spencer and Dr. Scott C. Steffensen PhD, Department of Psychology and Center for Neuroscience Introduction: Alcohol abuse is prevalent in today’s society, causing an economic burden to the US of several hundred billions of dollars annually in direct costs alone. Several reports have estimated that 80% of those with a dependence on alcohol are […]

Seth Spencer and Dr. C. Brock Kirwan, Psychology Introduction: Many studies have shown a correlation between physical exercise and healthy cognitive processing. It has been shown extensively that regular exercise has a positive impact on brain health. One example is a study that linked increased exercise with greater performance on as shown via a Stroop […]

Michaela Squire and Dr. Scott Steffensen, Psychology Introduction With today’s society’s alcohol abuse, there has been a large economic burden of several hundred billion dollars annually. In addition, 80% of those who are dependent on alcohol are also smokers, and the use of nicotine has remained relatively high in those who use alcohol, displaying the […]

Cassie Widdison and Dr. Christopher Kirwan, Psychology Regions of the brain, such as the medial temporal lobe (MTL), including the hippocampus and the adjacent MTL cortex, facilitate recognition memory performance (Squire, Stark, & Clark, 2004). The hippocampus is known for its ability to encode and retrieve memories through two processes called pattern separation and pattern […]

Dallin Christensen and Ben Ogles, Department of Psychology INTRODUCTION While training for and participation in marathons provides substantial health benefits, there is also a high incidence of musculoskeletal injury in marathon runners. Previous research has identified correlation between various cognitive running strategies and running related injury. In particular, association, which is exemplified when runners focus […]

Kaylie Carbine ande Michael Larson, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience Introduction Obesity is a prominent public health concern associated with increased risk of high blood pressure, chronic diseases, and mortality (National Institutes of Health, 2011). Understanding the neural underpinnings of obesity may prove beneficial for effective weight control interventions. Specifically, decreased ability to inhibit responses […]

David Payne Bennett and Dawson Hedges, Psychology Introduction Developing a biomarker for accurate assessment and detection of Alzheimer’s disease was the goal of our research. The P300 component of the event-­‐related potential has been indicated to apparently change with the progression of Alzheimer’s disease. As measuring the P300 is non-­‐invasive and relatively easy, we sought […]

Brian Behnke and Scott Steffensen, Psychology Project Purpose The purpose of my experiment was To study the effects that ethanol (EtOH) has on the D2 receptors (D2R) in the nucleus accumbens (NAc) and ventral tegmental area (VTA), in order to determine if D2 is a key contributor to an alcohol addictive state. Project Summary Through […]