Journal of Undergraduate Research

Ann Clawson and Dr. Michael Larson, Department of Psychology Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is a complex mood disorder characterized by negative affect, psychomotor slowing, heightened levels of apathy, and a variety of cognitive deficits (Austin, Mitchell, & Goodwin, 2001). These characteristic symptoms putatively reflect underlying neurological irregularities, such as aberrant connectivity and decreased blood flow […]

Whitney Worsham and Dr. Michael Larson, Department of Psychology Introduction The purpose of this research project was to investigate underlying difficulties with social interaction in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Previous research has demonstrated that children with ASD are inhibited in processing social cues, including social threat (Krysko & Rutherford, 2009). We hypothesized that children with autism […]

Ryan Woodbury and Dr. Sam Hardy, Department of Psychology As mentioned in my proposal, we sought to understand adolescents’ and parents’ perceptions of religious norms and how those norms predicted adolescents’ positive and negative behaviors. We asked six questions to help guide our research: What do adolescents think their religions encourage and discourage? What behaviors do parents […]

Sarah White and Dr. Mickle South, Department of Psychology Anxiety is extremely prevalent in autism, with estimates of the co-occurrence ranging up to 84%. Surprisingly, even though anxiety in autism is implicated in behavioral symptoms ranging from avoiding eye contact with others to always insisting on the same menu for lunch, the majority of research […]

Rick Stone and Dr. Brock Kirwan, Department of Psychology This project has been worked on for nearly a year and a half. It began because research done by others indicated that there was greater hippocampal activity for an associative memory task than for a non-associative memory task. We believe that the greater hippocampal activity they observed may have […]

Quentin Smith and Dr. Brock Kirwan, Department of Pyschology Pregnancy is a complicated biological process that is often accompanied by reported cognitive changes among pregnant women. Pregnant women commonly report diminished cognitive functioning during pregnancy, with “forgetfulness” and “a poor memory” as the most common complaints (Brett & Baxendale, 2001; Crawley, 2002). However, despite these […]

Samuel Shin and Dr. Scott Steffensen, Department of Psychology Seizures are a disease that inflict millions with no reliable treatment or cure. One of the main difficulties behind treating seizures is the uncertainty behind the cause. In previous studies we performed we found that connexin-36 (Cx36) knockout (KO) mice may respond differently to stimuli that […]

Hannah Page and Dr. Dee Higley, Department of Psychology I used my ORCA grant to attend ASP, go on an internship at the CNPRC, and pursue research involving the oxytocin, or “cuddle hormone” genotype in titi monkeys. ASP is the American Society of Primatologists, and has a conference each year. I was able to attend […]

Peter Nielson and Dr. Scott Steffensen, Department of Psychology Purpose In order to further the knowledge of physiological contributions to addiction, this project’s purpose was to elucidate the neuronal processes involved in nicotine (NIC) addiction. We studied its effects on critical neuronal substrates in the ventral tegmental area (VTA), an area of the midbrain implicated […]

Carrolyn McMurdie and Dr. Sam Hardy, Department of Psychology For decades, research has shown religious involvement and religious belief to predict positive outcomes for adolescents and adults, including better physical and mental health, fewer risk-taking behaviors, and greater involvement in moral or pro-social and helping behaviors (Hood, Hill, & Spilka, 2009). However, the current body […]