Psychology Commons^™

The Impact Of Anxiety On Romantic Relationship Satisfaction, Mykala Green

Psychology Student Scholarship

Major: Psychology
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Joanna Morris

Effects Of 3,4-Methamphetamine On Cognitive Empathy In Participants With Antisocial Personality Disorder, Emily P. Bosiacki

Psychology Student Scholarship

Emily Bosiacki ’21
Majors: Biology and Psychology
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Victoria Templer, Psychology

3,4-Methamphetamine (METH) has not been studied as a treatment method for people who have Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD). ASPD is mainly characterized by a lack of cognitive and emotional empathy. Previous research expresses that emotional empathy is achievable through drug treatment with empathogens such as ecstacy and psilocybin, but there has been no successful treatment to improve cognitive empathy. METH has not been used in previous research due it being very addictive and detrimental to cognitive function if taken at high levels over an extended period of …

Does Methamphetamine (Ma) Cause Cognitive And Neurological Deficits? An Ecologically Valid Approach, Claire Stover

Psychology Student Scholarship

Major: Psychology
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Victoria Templer, Psychology

Methamphetamine Use Disorder (MUD), which is believed to cause cognitive and neurological deficits, is a growing public health concern in the United States. However, current animal constructs of MUD do not model human use patterns. MA users ramp up to a dosage of ~0.75 mg/kg, but current animal models utilize dosages of 3-15 mg/kg. Observed cognitive and neurological deficits may be caused by neurotoxic dosages of MA, not MA use itself. To test this hypothesis, mice were injected with MA twice/day, five days/week, for six months. Dosage increased over the first month …

The Effects Of Imagined Contact With Intersectional Identities, Alexandra L. Baker

Psychology Student Scholarship

Major: Psychology and Women and Gender Studies
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Saaid Mendoza, Psychology

Our present research examined whether imagined intergroup contact could reduce bias towards Black women. We predicted that this established strategy would be most effective when imagining interactions with the targeted intersectional identity compared to the broader gender and racial groups. We found that imagining an interaction with a woman was significantly more beneficial to reducing intergroup anxiety and increasing behavioral intentions toward Black women compared to thinking about the intersectional identity. These findings suggest that direct and indirect imagined contact can operate similarly and that their effects …

The Impact Of Long-Term Social Housing On Biconditional Association Task Performance And Neuron Ensembles In The Anterior Cingulate Cortex And Ca3, Anne Dankert

Psychology Student Scholarship

Majors: Biology and Psychology
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Victoria Templer, Psychology Cognitive decline and neuronal activity changes are hallmarks of advancing age across species. Positive social relationships have been correlated with fewer age-related cognitive difficulties in humans. However, the mechanisms by which sociality might protect against cognitive aging and if this can be modeled in a rodent model remain unknown. We investigated differences in accuracy on a biconditional association task, which measures cognitive flexibility, and corresponding neuronal activity in the Anterior Cingulate Cortex and CA3 of the hippocampus between socially and nonsocially housed aged rats and individually housed young controls. Findings …

Family Attitudes Questionnaire, Sophie Sienkiewicz

Psychology Student Scholarship

Major: Psychology
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Joanna Morris, Psychology

Biased Perceptions Of Women In The Music Industry, Samantha E. Matzerath

Psychology Student Scholarship

Major: Psychology and Sociology
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Saaid Mendoza, Psychology

Stress Levels In Students With Greater Number Of Activities: A Correlational Study, Julia Sinople

Psychology Student Scholarship

Major: Psychology and Biology
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Joanna Morris

Parental Response To Children’S Negative Emotions As A Mediator Between Parental Coping Strategies And Children’S Symptoms Of Psychopathology, Brooke Vitulli

Psychology Student Scholarship

Major: Psychology
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Kelly A. Warmuth, Psychology

Can Altering The Gut Microbiome Via Diet Treat Symptoms Of Major Depressive Disorder?, Julia Degrooth

Psychology Student Scholarship

Majors: Biology and Psychology
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Victoria Templer, Psychology

Due to the prevalence of Major Depression worldwide, researchers have begun to search for alternative treatment methods other than antidepressants. Previous studies have shown that depression is affected by the gut microbiota, but the actual composition of the gut in Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is not well understood. Here, I analyzed fecal samples of 100 participants with MDD and 100 healthy controls. One hundred people from the control and experiment groups were randomly and equally assigned to either a Mediterranean diet or a Western diet. According to previous research, fecal …

Effect Of Neurosteroid Levels, Genetic Linkages, And Pre-Deployment Virtualreality Resilience Training On Ptsd Severity, Kathryn Fama

Psychology Student Scholarship

Majors: Biology
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Victoria Templer, Psychology

Though Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a common problem among soldiers, current military programs focus on treating PTSD after combat deployment instead of preventing it. The aim of this project was to examine the neurosteroids allopregnanolone and pregnanolone (together known as ALLO), the SNP rs717947, and pre-deployment virtual-reality resilience training (VRRT) to identify effective PTSD prevention methods. Pre-deployment, a Brigade Combat Team (N=3000) of active-duty US Army soldiers was divided into two groups, a VRRT group and an online tactical training sessions (control) group. Soldiers’ blood plasma levels of ALLO were also …