Psychology Commons^™

Individual Differences In Categorization, Urooj Anees

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

The appearance of individual differences used to be regarded as noise in psychological experiments, but is slowly becoming a tool used to enhance and solidify findings in various fields of cognitive psychology. This presentation aims to very briefly discuss individual differences and categorization and what questions future research could aim to answer.

Gbsv Resource Guide And Review For The University Of Western Ontario And Surrounding Area, Alyssa J. Madhani

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

During the 2021-2022 academic year, gender-based violence and sexual assault became a major topic of discussion due to a number of troubling incidents throughout the year. One of the largest calls to action by the student body was for more resources and trainings. This paper compiles the resources and trainings that can be found on campus of the University of Western Ontario and in the surrounding areas into a cohesive list of major relevant sources. The goal of this paper is to amplify the many different programs already in place that can be added to the training cohorts or made …

Endorsement (And Rejection) Of Normative Fitness Culture: Qualitative Evidence For A Novel Construct, Sara M. Stanley, Eva Pila, Katarina Huellemann

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

“Normative fitness culture” is a phenomenon within the disordered eating literature that comprises the endorsement of sociocultural fitness norms (e.g., “no pain, no gain” rhetoric). Endorsement of normative fitness culture is hypothesized to contribute to maladaptive body, eating, and exercise attitudes and behaviours, though it has never been formally operationalized and examined in the psychological literature. Qualitative explorations of how women endorse (and reject) normative fitness culture may inform how these norms are promoted and maintained, and their impact on individual psychosocial experiences. Therefore, the objective of the current study was to explore and characterize the endorsement and rejection of …

Humor Styles And Job Interests, Trinity Ho

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

The goal of this study was to investigate the possible relationships between humor styles and vocational interests by using the correlations between the two variables. Previous research suggests that humor in general plays an important role regarding work/job satisfaction individual and job performance (de Sousa et al., 2017), or the atmosphere at work place in general (Romero & Cruthirds, 2007).

This study aims to investigate the possible relationships and fill the gap, between humor styles and vocational interests.

Usri Summer Experience - Psychological Intern, Jessica Ierullo

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

I had the pleasure of working with Colin King under the Mary J. Wright Child and Youth Development Clinic to aid in their new research project. Studying children, the goal for the project is to assess the psychological impacts that long-term, intensive PCCU care has on the youth. Throughout the summer, I worked as an intern, helping to establish a base from which the project can stem from. This short slide show highlights the current progress that has been made towards setting up the study. I am looking forward to inspecting the study results once it is completed.

A Psychological Profile Of The Digitized Economy: Who Buys Cryptocurrencies, Nfts, And Meme-Stocks (And Why)?, Nicole Wolfe

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

As the global digital economy continues to grow in interest and financial worth, it is imperative to harvest data to gain early information on this nuanced economy. Already, we have witnessed billions of dollars in losses and wins at the blink of an eye, encouragement to invest from well-known celebrities and politicians, and high anxiety from the newness, power consumption, and potential outcomes of this nuanced system. Stemming from the lack of solid evidence in this emerging field, we hope to gain more insight on the early players and variation within the digitized economy. Similarly, we hope to identify specific …

Multisensory Integration In Children With Adhd: A Behavioural Investigation, Bernice Leung

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is one of the most prevalent neurodevelopmental disorders in children. Sensory processing difficulties are often reported in individuals with ADHD. Multisensory integration (MSI) refers to the ability to integrate multiple sensory inputs into a single consistent perceptual experience. The purpose of this project is to investigate whether children and adolescents with ADHD have altered multisensory integration and multisensory temporal processing, as compared to typically developing (TD) youth.

Changes In Audiovisual Integration In Aging, Alyssa S. Lynn

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

The proposed study will examine changes in audiovisual integration between younger and older adults. Audiovisual integration enables us to associate and bind related auditory and visual information and experience it as a single percept (Spence, 2007). Being able to properly integrate is crucial in our everyday lives. When perceiving speech, audiovisual integration binds visual information from lip movements with auditory information from the speaker's utterances so that speech can be perceived multimodally. With age, our auditory and visual sensory acuity tends to decline with audiovisual integration being impacted as a result (Brooks et al., 2018; Mahoney et al., 2011). We …

Music And Movement: Techniques And Directions In Parkinson's Research, Verena Rafael

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

Parkinson’s disease is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by the loss of dopaminergic neurons in the basal ganglia. This causes abnormal movements/gait among other symptoms. The basal ganglia is also involved in beat perception; the loss of neurons in this area decreases beat-based rhythm discrimination. This may have implications for walking as impaired beat perception may affect rhythm generation, and walking is a rhythmic movement. Music has the potential to benefit Parkinson’s patients in gait rehabilitation by providing external rhythmic cues. Various aspects of music are currently being investigated to determine which ones most prominently improve gait in Parkinson’s disease. One …

Assessing The Impact Of Lipopolysaccharide On Learning And Memory In Rats, Anahat Luthra

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

The immune system and the central nervous system (CNS) have a bi-direction relationship, modulating one another.⁴ Proinflammatory cytokines released from CNS immune cells have an impact on cognitive processes such as learning and memory.¹ Liposaccharide (LPS), a cell wall component of Gram-negative bacteria, which is used to activate proinflammatory cytokine release has been found to impact learning and memory processes, such as in the anticipatory nausea paradigm (ANP).² Anticipatory nausea and vomiting is that which may occur before a chemotherapy treatment session begins in a patient who has had chemotherapy before. It is caused by triggers like …

Research Output For Usri, Malak Sadek

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

My project is a systematic review on Neural Representations of Stimulus Category Membership Across Modalities.The review is about neural evidence for categorical perception (equivalently, dimensional modulation, perceptual warping, or representational change) induced by artificial category learning.

Finding Meaning In Life, Pedro Baeta

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

This poster describes a review of the Meaning in Life psychological research. The project aimed to find current issues with the field and to provide new directions for it, along with a research proposal to be done in the fall.

The Effects Of The Aromatase Inhibitor, Letrozole, On Lithium Chloride (Licl)-Induced Conditioned Disgust Behaviour (Anticipatory Nausea) In Male Rats, Vangel Matic

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

Anticipatory Nausea (AN) is a form of classical conditioning in which the effects of a nausea-inducing toxin become associated with a specific environmental context. AN is often experienced by individuals receiving chemotherapy treatment, whereby the emetic effects of the chemotherapy agents become associated with the treatment context (i.e. hospital, clinic), such that exposure to the context alone can cause an individual to experience nausea and potentially withdraw from treatment. Chemotherapy-associated AN is suggested to have a higher incidence in females compared to males.

AN can be represented in a rodent model (conditioned disgust) through the occurrence of conditioned gaping behaviour …

Teaching Psychology In V2: To Stream Or Not To Stream, That Is The Question, Andrew L. Vincent Mr.

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

University education has historically occurred in face-to-face settings such as the traditional campus lecture hall. However, university teaching has increasingly been instructed online, especially since the recent lockdowns that took place during the COVID19 pandemic. During the pandemic period, many post-secondary institutions took to online teaching formats which often included asynchronous lessons provided by pre-recorded video or synchronous lessons conducted over video conferencing software. Unfortunately, online courses potentially limit the amount of communication possible between student and professor and therefore the engagement between the two may have been limited. Due to this, concerns have been expressed that students may feel …

Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy: A Quick Summary, Catherine S. Lin

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

Functional Near-InfraRed Spectroscopy (fNIRS) is a type of optical imagery technology that is used to visualize changes in the hemodynamic response (changes in hemoglobin concentrations in response to increased neural activity) near the surface of the brain. Researchers use fNIRA to visualize which brain regions show increased activity during specific experimental conditions. fNIRS is a portable and relatively inexpensive neuroimaging technology, and works well in studies that require many participants, movement, or social environments and interactions.

A Qualitative Look Into Repair Practices, Jumana Labib

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

This research poster is based on a working research paper which moves beyond the traditional scope of repair and examines the Right to Repair movement from a smaller, more personal lens by detailing the 6 categorical impediments as dubbed by Dr. Alissa Centivany (design, law, economic/business strategy, material asymmetry, informational asymmetry, and social impediments) have continuously inhibited repair and affected repair practices, which has consequently had larger implications (environmental, economic, social, etc.) on ourselves, our objects, and our world. The poster builds upon my research from last year (see "The Right to Repair: (Re)building a better future"), this time pulling …

Connecting The Hostile Attribution Bias With Habit Formation, Mackenzie C. Smith

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

Within Social and Personality Psychology, we have not done a good job of integrating the knowledge base of habit formation into our theoretical models, even though it is clear that habits fall within the larger domain of traits. This project reviewed the literature on the hostile attribution bias as well as habits, and found a connection between these two topics that has scarcely been explored. Both context cues and self control were found to be important for the development of bad habits as well as the presence of the hostile attribution bias. Based on the connections made, habit formation may …

Using A Musical Beat To Influence Linguistic Statistical Learning, Aspen Leung

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

The similarities between music and language continue to provide research questions in the area of psychology. Despite the large amount of research on this area of knowledge, there are still many existing questions in regards to the processing of musical and linguistic stimuli. Statistical learning involves the ability to extract statistical regularities from a stimulus and continues to be studied in both domains due to the similar hierarchical structure of music and language. Recently, neural entrainment (the synchronization of neural oscillations with the rhythm of an external stimulus) has been studied as a mechanism of statistical learning. Music has been …

Characteristics Of Those Who Identify As ‘Incels’, Amelia Hamilton

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

‘Incels’ are an online community of single men who endorse toxic worldviews about women stemming from their dissatisfaction with singlehood. Approximately 50 deaths have been tied to the incel community. Incels have been identified as an emerging domestic terrorism threat in Canada, the US and UK. Yet, little is known about the characteristics of this community, the potential level of threat, or what we can do to prevent this threat from escalating. In an online study of 1714 single individuals, we examined what personality traits are associated with one’s identification as an incel. Participants completed a survey consisting of various …

Yoga In Virtual Reality (Vr), Helena J. Amyot

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

Virtual reality (VR) technology involves computer visualization of a simulated (virtual) environment (e.g., coral reef) presented using a head mounted display (HMD), typically together with accompanying audio (music, sounds, e.g., sea creatures, passing boat). The user may simply view the environment but typically interacts with it in some determined way, e.g., through selection of buttons or hand movements that mimic behaviors appropriate to the virtual environment (e.g., snorkeling in the reef). Research including our own previous studies have already shown that practicing guided meditations using a HMD is associated with positive affect as compared with non-VR meditation. Amidst the COVID-19 …

Relationship Between Humor Styles And Individual Difference Variables, Mira Ismail

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

Humor styles provide a better understanding of one’s personality and may vary based on individual difference variables. This study explores humor by looking at how different humor styles may correlate with other variables such as, loneliness, depression, the Big Five traits, self-esteem, age and sex. The following poster outlines the methodology used, as well as the proposed means of data analysis that will be conducted.

Entropic Voxels Indicate Large Brain-State Repertoires, Adam Hull

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

Brain entropy is a measure that has been increasingly studied in neuroscience over the past decade. It is based on Shannon Entropy, a measure from Information Theory that quantifies the information capacity of a system from the probability distribution of its states. Brain entropy is thus posited to reflect the information capacity of the brain and has been linked to various cognitive abilities and states. However, most studies on brain entropy measure the time-series entropy of each voxel independently, ignoring any patterns that emerge from the relations between voxels. Here, we measured brain entropy of resting-state fMRI data based on …

The Influence Of Personality Trait Variation On Curiosity Seeking Behaviours, Brian Krivoruk

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

Curiosity is defined as our desire to acquire new information and leads us to engage in information-seeking behaviours. The present study investigates how personality influences curiosity-based information-seeking behaviours during a state of curiosity induced by unsuccessful memory recall. Specifically, this study assessed the personality traits of deprivation-type (D-type), interest-type (I-type), and intolerance of uncertainty to explore their role in curiosity-based decisions making. Information-seeking choices were examined during unsuccessful recall in a paradigm using face-name pairs. The behaviour was correlated with responses from a series of questionnaires that looked at personality traits associated with curiosity and information-seeking. The findings suggested that …

Category Learning - Studies In Mood Induction And Neural Representations Across Modalities, Raha Afkhami Nemati

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

In this powerpoint presentation, I discuss the two projects I worked on this summer: study focusing on how mood induction impacts categorization and a systematic review on stimulus categories across modalities. Throughout the presentation, I show the work I have done this past year, this summer and what I plan to continue with over the year. I discuss the papers, applications and criteria used throughout.

The Ommaba Project, Katsiaryna Buchko

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

The Open Multimodal Music and Auditory Brain Archive (OMMABA) is the first multimodal (behavioural, EEG, and neuroimaging) database characterizing normal human auditory processing. My project aims to shed light on the importance of this collaborative project that is transforming the field of auditory cognitive neuroscience.

Parent-Youth Similarities On Negative Affect: Analyses Of Language Parameters In Semi-Structured Interviews, Leo Ye

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

Abstract

Emotion is a crucial component of verbal communication that conveys messages besides the semantic meanings in speech. The phonological and locutionary cues reflect various emotional effects that are detectable for interpretation. Past research suggests that people who are physically and psychologically close to each other tend to express similar emotions through speech. This relationship has been scrutinized under empirical research for parent-infant relations. However, it is unclear whether the effect exists between parents and youths. This study analyzes recorded speeches of n = 8 parent-youth pairs from semi-structured Zoom interviews and compares them based on their similarities in negative …

Motor Learning By Observing The Movements Of A Computer-Animated, Human-Like Actor And A Non-Limb Observational Video, Mudia Iyayi

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

Our project is looking at the phenomenon of observational motor learning using a two-joint robotic manipulandum (robotic arm). When someone learns a new motor skill (i.e. throwing a football to a wide receiver) the brain must make and map an internal model of the forces required for that movement. The plasticity of the brain in constructing these representations is termed “motor learning” and can occur through physical practice or—for the purposes of our investigation—observation. Previous studies have used videos of human actors learning new skills to drive motor learning in the observer, however, it is not known what components of …

Auditory Sensory Filtering And Development In Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Hiruthika Ravi, Ala Seif, Ryan A. Stevenson

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

Sensory filtering is the process of separating and distilling relevant sensory information from irrelevant, which in turn greatly reduces the quantity of sensory information that is fully processed and leads to significant increases in efficiency. Atypical sensory filtering can result in sensory hypo- or hypersensitivity — atypical sensory filtering and hypo/hypersensitivity have been observed in people with autism. Atypical sensory filtering contributes to canonical symptoms in Autism.

Sensory filtering can be measured in a few different ways, one of which is the Acoustic Startle Response (ASR). ASR is a reflexively produced muscular reaction to sudden auditory stimuli.

Our study aims …

Understanding Spirituality Of Drug-Use Behaviours And Substance Use Disorders, Taea F. Ho

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

Given that substance use disorders affect millions of people worldwide, it is crucial to look into the variables that may prevent and defend against substance use disorders, as well as promote successful recovery from substance use disorders. This literature review explores the topic of spirituality in the context of drug-use behaviours as well as how 12-step recovery programs emphasize the importance of improving spirituality, suggesting an association between possessing higher levels of spirituality and positive health outcomes.

The Nature Of Well-Being, Shai L. Butler

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

This research project focuses on the nature and causes of well-being. Though the study of well-being has proliferated in recent years, the nature and causes of well-being are difficult to discern. This research aims to gain clarity by appealing to the disciplines of philosophy and psychology.

Well-being is a multi-dimensional construct and has been philosophized and theorized by many scholars and thought leaders throughout history. This research aggregates a multitude of theories, approaches, and philosophies to explain the nature of well-being. Psychologists created SWPP, SWB, lifespan research, emotional regulation and mindfulness theory, PWB, and WBT to understand well-being. Additionally, they …