Digital Commons Network^™

249— The Role Of The Indirect Basal Ganglia Pathway In A Mouse Model Of Repetitive Circling Behavior, Gavin Vaughan, Allison R. Bechard

GREAT Day Posters

Repetitive behaviors are associated with a variety of disorders in humans and are diagnostic for autism spectrum disorders. Repetitive behaviors can be modeled in rodents. In our previous experiments, we have been able to reduce repetitive circling behaviors in mice using a ketogenic diet. The mechanisms behind the ketogenic diet are still under investigation. Previous investigations have indicated that the ketogenic diet plays a role in neurotransmitter functioning. This study sought to investigate the potential role of neurotransmitters in repetitive behaviors by investigating how three drugs (L-741,626, a dopamine receptor antagonist; CGS21680, an adenosine agonist; & CDPPB, a glutamate positive …

258— Differential Response To Cocaine In Mice Exposed To Stress, Gavin Vaughan, Melissa Herman, Isabel Ross, Katie Bugbee, April Rowell, Jennifer Bodzon, Allison R. Bechard Ph.D.

GREAT Day Posters

Exposure to trauma is a risk factor for substance use disorders. Using a mouse model of PTSD, we tested the effects of exposure to a stressor (synthetic fox pheromone: TMT) on response to cocaine. Cocaine induced locomotion and cocaine seeking behavior in a conditioned place preference (CPP) were assessed. TMT was an effective stressor, indicated by freezing behavior, which is a known fear response in mice. In both males and females, TMT-exposed mice showed a greater locomotor response to cocaine compared to control mice, resulting in the interaction between time and TMT treatment. TMT-exposed males, but not females, were overall …

Mental Health Support And Advocacy For Undergraduate Bgsu Students In Wood County, Oh, Robert Lince

Honors Projects

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, mental health has been a topic receiving significant focus on college campuses across the United States. Thus, it is important for all undergraduate college students to understand the available organizations and facilities that will provide the most quality and effective mental health care. With BGSU undergraduates already facing academic and social pressures, in addition to the financial and other hardships brought on by the pandemic, it is imperative that students are aware of resources both on campus and in the local community so that their needs can be met appropriately and in a …

The Language Of Pandemic Leaderships: Mapping Political Rhetoric During The Covid-19 Outbreak, Cristina J. Montiel, Joshua Uyheng, Erwine Dela Paz

Psychology Department Faculty Publications

This paper maps political rhetoric by national leaders during the COVID-19 pandemic. We identify and characterize global variations in major rhetorical storylines invoked in publicly available speeches (N = 1201) across a sample of 26 countries. Employing a text analytics or corpus linguistics approach, we show that state heads rhetorically lead their nations by: enforcing systemic interventions, upholding global unity, encouraging communal cooperation, stoking national fervor, and assuring responsive governance. Principal component analysis further shows that country-level rhetoric is organized along emergent dimensions of cultural cognition: an agency-structure axis to define the loci of pandemic interventions, and a hierarchy-egalitarianism axis …

Psychological Capital, Positive Affect, And Organizational Outcomes: A Three-Wave Cross-Lagged Study, Shu Da, Ze Zhu, Hongyu Cen, Xianmin Gong, Oi Ling Siu, Xichao Zhang

Psychology Faculty Publications

Psychological capital (PsyCap) is a higher-order construct comprising hope, efficacy, optimism, and resiliency, which has attracted more and more attention from both academics and practitioners. Despite promising progress made in the PsyCap literature, the underlying mechanisms linking PsyCap to organizational outcomes still need more investigation utilizing longitudinal research design. Moreover, the reciprocal relationships between PsyCap and positive affect require more attention. Therefore, we aim to test the central role of positive affect in the relationships between PsyCap and affective organizational commitment (AOC) on one hand and organizational citizenship behaviour toward organization (OCBO) on the other hand as well as the …

Bed And Breakfast: The Role Of Sleep In Breakfast Intake, Ashley R. Macpherson, Natalie D. Dautovich

Journal of Social, Behavioral, and Health Sciences

Breakfast intake is associated with numerous positive physical and mental health outcomes, yet skipping breakfast remains common in adults. Sleep behaviors show potential as predictors of breakfast intake; the existing literature, however, has methodological limitations. The current investigation explored the association of means and intraindividual variability of a variety of sleep behaviors (bedtime, midsleep, sleep duration) as predictors of the frequency of eating breakfast and frequency of high-protein breakfast intake. Hierarchical regressions were conducted to assess direct associations between sleep behaviors and breakfast intake frequency. Variability in bedtime was a significant predictor of the frequency of breakfast intake, with greater …

Multimorbidity Accumulation Among Middle-Aged Americans: Differences By Race/Ethnicity And Body-Mass Index., Anda Botoseneanu, Sheila Markwardt, Corey L. Nagel, Heather G. Allore, Jason T. Newsom, David A. Dorr, Ana R. Quiñones

Psychology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Obesity and multimorbidity are more prevalent among U.S. racial/ethnic minority groups. Evaluating racial/ethnic disparities in disease accumulation according to body-mass index (BMI) may guide interventions to reduce multimorbidity burden in vulnerable racial/ethnic groups.

Corticospinal Excitability During A Perspective Taking Task As Measured By Tms-Induced Motor Evoked Potentials, Elizabeth Murray, Janet Brenya, Katherine Chavarria, Karen J. Kelly, Anjel Fierst, Nathira Ahmad, Caroline Anton, Layla Shaffer, Kairavi Kapila, Logan Driever, Kayla Weaver, Caroline Dial, Maya Crawford, Iso Hartman, Tommy Infantino, Fiona Butler, Abigail Straus, Shakeera L. Walker, Brianna Balugas, Matthew Pardillo, Briana Goncalves, Julian Keenan

Department of Biology Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Only by understanding the ability to take a third-person perspective can we begin to elucidate the neural processes responsible for one’s inimitable conscious experience. The current study examined differences in hemispheric laterality during a first-person perspective (1PP) and third-person perspective (3PP) taking task, using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). Participants were asked to take either the 1PP or 3PP when identifying the number of spheres in a virtual scene. During this task, single-pulse TMS was delivered to the motor cortex of both the left and right hemispheres of 10 healthy volunteers. Measures of TMS-induced motor-evoked potentials (MEPs) of the contralateral abductor …

Does Subjective Time Cost Explain Cognitive Task Choices?, Raina Ashley Isaacs

Theses and Dissertations

The current literature suggests that subjective time duration could be the common currency used for task choice. However, few studies have been conducted that use non-physical tasks for their task choice options. Thus, the purpose of the current study was to examine if subjective time duration is the common currency for task choice regardless of task type. Participants first provided their subjective time estimates for each of the perceptual-motor and cognitive tasks that have been a priori determined to be at the medium difficulty level. Two cognitive tasks (item generation and math problem task) and one perceptual-motor task with a …

Social Responses To Media Technologies In The 21st Century: The Media Are Social Actors Paradigm, Matthew Lombard, Kun Xu

Human-Machine Communication

Clifford Nass and his colleagues proposed the Computers Are Social Actors (CASA) paradigm in the 1990s and demonstrated that we treat computers in some of the ways we treat humans. To account for technological advances and to refine explanations for CASA results, this paper proposes the Media Are Social Actors (MASA) paradigm. We begin by distinguishing the roles of primary and secondary cues in evoking medium-as-social-actor presence and social responses. We then discuss the roles of individual differences and contextual factors in these responses and identify mindless and mindful anthropomorphism as two major complementary mechanisms for understanding MASA phenomena. Based …

The Relationship Among Social Support, Stress, And Inflammatory Markers Among College Students: A Correlational Study, Bailey Bryant

Campus Research Month

The relationship between psychological factors and the immune system is a relatively new area of study. Nevertheless, it has been found that significant relationships do exist among these variables; prolonged exposure to maladaptive forms of these variables may lead to the development or expression of inflammation. There is, however, a lack of studies that look at more than one variable in relationship to inflammation at a time. Thus, this study analyzes the correlation among social support, stress, and inflammatory markers among college students.

Keywords: mood, stress, inflammation, inflammatory markers, IL-6, social support, susceptibility

A Dark Web Of Personality: Network Analyses Of Dark Personality Features And Pathological Personality Traits, Duncan Jordan, Peter K. Jonason, Virgil Zeigler-Hill, E. Samuel Winer, Stephen Fletcher, Dylan Underhill

Faculty & Staff Research and Creative Activity

Network analysis offers an opportunity to gain a more nuanced view of the connections between the darker aspects of personality by examining the interrelationships between the components that make up these constructs. We examined the associations that five dark personality dispositions (i.e., narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy, sadism, and spitefulness) had with pathological personality traits (i.e., antagonism, disinhibition, detachment, negative affectivity, and psychoticism) via network analysis. These dark personality networks were examined in four studies (N = 1,800), wherein the second study attempted to replicate the network from the first study, while the last two studies incorporated more specific and independent measures …

The Relationship Among Social Support, Stress, And Inflammatory Markers Among College Students: A Correlational Study, Bailey Bryant

Campus Research Month

The relationship between psychological factors and the immune system is a relatively new area of study. Nevertheless, it has been found that significant relationships do exist among these variables; prolonged exposure to maladaptive forms of these variables may lead to the development or expression of inflammation. There is, however, a lack of studies that look at more than one variable in relationship to inflammation at a time. Thus, this study analyzes the correlation among social support, stress, and inflammatory markers among college students.

Spirituality Among ‌College‌ ‌Students‌ ‌With‌ ‌Physical‌ ‌Disabilities:‌ ‌A‌ ‌Phenomenology‌, Andrew Clinton, Victoria Truhe, Alexa Posa, Hannah Mullins, Tessa Hansen, Elizabeth Canby Sites, Marilyn Gadomski

Liberty University Research Week

Undergraduate

Applied

Quality And Quantity Of Social Support In College Students With Adhd Symptomatology, Chloe Reeble

INSPIRE Student Research and Engagement Conference

Social support has been found to be a protective factor in some mental illnesses. College students with ADHD often have a hard time maintaining peer relationships. This study examines the relation between ADHD and social support in college students. I found that those who experienced increased social impairment and elevated ADHD symptoms experience reduced social support quality. These results suggest that college students with elevated ADHD symptomatology may experience a harder time cultivating and maintaining friendships. Clinical implications include better appraisal of social support in clients with ADHD, and treatment approaches that address social impairment.

Patch Clamps, Electrophysiology, And The Optimistic Future Of Neuroscience At Usu, Riley Conover-Elmer

Student Research Symposium

The Neuroscience department is a small, yet nonetheless rapidly growing field at Utah State University. While many students are encouraged to take classes from related fields such as psychology and biology, an official Bachelor's degree has not yet been published for the university. As one of those students, digging deeper into the world of neuroscience has yielded many discoveries on biology/behavior relations that go largely unnoticed by the general student population. However, in preparation for a coming Neuroscience Major, I was given the opportunity to assist Dr. Sara Freeman in preparing for a Neurophysiology Lab course in the Spring of …

Sugar Glider (Petaurus Breviceps) Behavior In Red Vs Blue Lighting, Elisa Hillman

Honors Thesis

Sugar gliders are an exotic pet that is increasing in popularity in households as well as in zoos. One challenge that caregivers have to manage is their nocturnal circadian rhythm. In order for people to view or interact with sugar gliders during their active time, many zoos will reverse their diurnal cycle with lights. The discovery of intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells (ipRGCs) which seems to have an increased sensitivity to blue light and how these cells affect the hypothalamic suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) and circadian rhythm has led to an increase in awareness on the health effects of being exposed …

Remembering Postpartum Depression In Later Life: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, Walker Ladd Phd

The Qualitative Report

Postpartum depression (PPD) occurs in as many as 1 in 7 women (Gavin et al., 2005). PPD remains underdiagnosed and largely untreated, contributing to high societal costs and increased maternal mortality. Despite the wealth of research reporting the adverse effects of PPD on childbearing women and their offspring, little is known about how women who have experienced PPD describe or interpret the meaning of the experience in later life. I conducted semi-structured interviews with a purposive sample of 10 women self-identifying as having had PPD a minimum of 13 years in the past. Using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) I identified …

Early Rearing Conditions Affect Monoamine Metabolite Levels During Baseline And Periods Of Social Separation Stress: A Non-Human Primate Model (Macaca Mulatta), Elizabeth K. Wood, Natalia Gabrielle, Jacob Hunter, Andrea N. Skowbo, Melanie L. Schwandt, Stephen G. Lindell, Christina S. Barr, Stephen J. Suomi, James Dee Higley

Faculty Publications

A variety of studies show that parental absence early in life leads to deleterious effects on the developing CNS. This is thought to be largely because evolutionary-dependent stimuli are necessary for the appropriate postnatal development of the young brain, an effect sometimes termed the “experience-expectant brain,” with parents providing the necessary input for normative synaptic connections to develop and appropriate neuronal survival to occur. Principal among CNS systems affected by parental input are the monoamine systems. In the present study, N = 434 rhesus monkeys (233 males, 201 females) were reared in one of two conditions: as mother-reared controls (MR; …

Urbanization And Mental Health: The Power Of Green Space, Emma Rosenthal

OHSU-PSU School of Public Health Annual Conference

In this presentation, I will review the negative impacts of urbanization on mental health and the positive role of green space on mental well-being. Moreover, I will provide examples of projects being conducted to increase the amount of green space in urban communities.

Regulation Of Self-Love, Kruti Surti

Dissertations

While the concept of self-love is well-known in today’s society, it remains unknown how self-love can be increased. Increasing self-love may help individuals decrease stress and promote well-being. The current study tested how self-love and pleasantness can be increased and whether anxiety levels and personality traits such as neuroticism and conscientiousness are associated with self-love increase. In this study, participants (N = 108; 86 women, 20 men, 1 gender queer, 1 other (not specified)) completed questionnaires related to self-compassion, self-efficacy, anxiety, and personality. Then, participants completed an online self-love regulation task in which they read prompts that encouraged them …

The Impact Of Covid-19 On The Black Lives Matter Movement, Anna Marston, Eileen Scheir, Shawna Pilout

Arts & Sciences Student Symposium

When people have more free time, activism and engagement in social justice activities often increase. We studied whether this political theory is true in the midst of the #BlackLivesMatter Movement, while many Americans have increased levels of free time during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. We surveyed 203 participants between the ages of 18 and 71 to analyze the extent to which free time impacted engagement in the contemporary Black Lives Matter movement for racial justice. In this survey, we controlled for the variables of self-efficacy and personal impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic by including measures for these constructs to the …

Thriving During Covid-19: Predictors Of Psychological Well-Being And Ways Of Coping, Lauren Boyd, C. Dominik Guess, Teresa Tuason

Showcase of Osprey Advancements in Research and Scholarship (SOARS)

COVID-19 has led to global dramatic shifts in daily life. Following the biopsychosocial model of health, the goal of the current study was to predict people’s psychological well-being (PWB) during the initial lockdown phase of the pandemic and to investigate which coping strategies were most common among people with low and high PWB. Participants were 938 volunteers in the United States who responded to an online survey during pre-peak of the lockdown in April 2020. The main findings were that all three groups of variables—biological, psychological, and socio-economic—significantly contributed to PWB, explaining 53% variance. Social loneliness and sense of agency …

Different Assessments Of Reactions To Child Sexual Abuse, Dawson Jubin, Louanne Hawkins, Mary Geary

Showcase of Osprey Advancements in Research and Scholarship (SOARS)

The minimization effect occurs when reactions to child sexual abuse are the least negative for adult females and male victims (Cromer & Goldsmith, 2010; Denov, 2003). This effect may be a function of sex stereotypes about men (mean) and women (nurturant) as well as boys (sexually adventurous) and girls (vulnerable) (Leone et al. 2018). We systematically assessed the roles of stereotypes in the minimization effect using multiple measures: self-reported (attitudes) and salivary cortisol (psychophysiological stress). The former is subject to socially describe responding whereas the latter is not. Participants provided an initial saliva sample and were randomly assigned to read …

Stem Inqueery: How Communion And Femininity Affects Lgbtq Individuals’ Belonging In Stem That Affects Their Motivation To Pursue Stem, Jasmine Elise Graham, Elizabeth R. Brown

Showcase of Osprey Advancements in Research and Scholarship (SOARS)

Despite the growth in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields in the United States, only 60% of STEM majors complete their degrees. Although STEM is stereotyped as a cis (same gender as birth), straight male, agentic (self-focused), and not communal (other-oriented) field, the inclusion of communion in STEM boosts STEM motivation. Since LGBTQ students highly value communion and LGB(T)Q students are less likely than non-LGB(T)Q students to stay in STEM, we explored whether LGBTQ individuals’ desire for communal opportunities or feminine gender expression shapes their belonging or expectations for success in STEM which in turn affects their (future) motivation …

Effective Mindfulness Practices For Reducing Veteran Teacher Perceived Stress, Michael Brouillette

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this mixed methods study was to measure and describe the extent to which mindfulness practices impact veteran teacher perceived stress. In addition, it was the purpose of the study to capture the most effective mindfulness practices of veteran teachers to reduce veteran teacher perceived stress.

Methodology: This study used a mixed methods study research methodology. Data were collected from 15 teachers in the form of answers to the Perceived Stress Scale and interviews to collect their lived experiences. Responses from veteran teachers who have used mindfulness for at least 1 year were analyzed with the objective …

Blood Phenylalanine Trajectory And Executive Function Outcomes In Individuals With Phenylketonuria, Clarissa Tardiff

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Phenylketonuria (PKU) is an autosomal recessive disorder characterized by mutations in phenylalanine hydroxylase genes. As a result, phenylalanine (Phe) metabolism is disrupted, and this amino acid accumulates in blood and tissue (Pietz, 1998; Scriver et al., 2000). Although the most severe symptoms of PKU may be avoided by early detection and treatment, many individuals with early-treated PKU still experience difficulties in executive function, attention, and processing speed (Antenor-Dorsey et al., 2013; Araujo et al., 2013; Christ et al., 2020; Hawks, Strube, Johnson, Grange, & White, 2018; Hood, Grange, Christ, Steiner, & White, 2014; Janos et al., 2012; White et al., …

Bullying Victimization And Friendship As Influences On Sleep Difficulty Among Brazilian Adolescents, Thiago Henrique Roza, Vitor Atsushi Nozaki Yano, Sarah Aline Roza, Jonathan Santo, Josafa M. Da Cunha

Psychology Faculty Publications

Bullying victimization is associated with poor health-related outcomes, including sleeping problems. The present study aimed to investigate the impact of bullying victimization on sleep difficulty, and the moderating effect of the number of close friends on this association, also exploring differences across genders. The study was based on a nationally-representative survey on adolescent health conducted in Brazilian schools, involving a total of 109,104 participants, enrolled at the 9th year in 2012. The measures used in the analysis included socio-demographic characteristics, bullying victimization, sleep difficulty, and number of close friends. In the multilevel models, reporting more peer victimization was associated with …

Rising Stars And Underdogs: The Role Race And Parental Education Play In Predicting Mentorship, Veronica Fruiht, Jordan Boeder, Thomas Chan

Psychology | Faculty Scholarship

Research suggests that youth with more financial and social resources are more likely to have access to mentorship. Conversely, the rising star hypothesis posits that youth who show promise through their individual successes are more likely to be mentored. Utilizing a nationally representative sample (N = 4,882), we tested whether demographic characteristics (e.g., race, SES) or personal resources (e.g., academic/social success) are better predictors of receiving mentorship. Regression analyses suggested that demographic, contextual, and individual characteristics all significantly predicted access to mentorship, specifically by non-familial mentors. However, conditional inference tree models that explored the interaction of mentorship predictors by …

An Interdisciplinary Approach: Schizophrenia Derails Heteronormative Expectations In Psychological Narratives 2021, Bobbie Jo Weaver

Master's Theses

Required introductory psychology courses teach students a general and oversimplified version of the immense number of subfields within Psychology studies, much like introductory literature classes compress different genera throughout history into a miniscule number of “representative” texts. Nevertheless, these footholds generate an entryway into a whole new world of (specialized) exploration. Reading a text such as The Quiet Room: A Journey out of the Torment of Madness by Lori Schiller and Amanda Bennett provides a window for many students to crawl into one of Psychology’s darkest shadows, the field of abnormal psychology. Schiller’s non-fictional memoir, The Quiet Room, tells readers …