Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Role Of Peripheral Mechanisms On Da Enhancement In The Rodent Brain, Christian Carr, Scott Steffensen

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Dopamine is an important brain neurotransmitter regarding brain disorders such as substance abuse, Schizophrenia, Parkinson’s disease, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and Restless Leg Syndrome (RLS). Dopamine neurons in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) and substantia nigra (SN) are inhibited by DA via DA D2 autoreceptor (D2R) activation (Adell and Artigas, 2005). D2R expression in the brain is a well-known biomarker for brain DA levels, drug abuse, and dependence. Many previous studies have demonstrated that D2R expression is directly proportional to DA levels in the brain. Thus, D2Rs are highly responsive to brain levels. This provides an aid in diagnosing …

The Role Of Dopamine In Vasocontricting Cytokines And Restless Leg Syndrome, Jared Peterson, Scott Steffensen

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS) is characterized by strong and often unpleasant urges to move ones legs while at rest and affects approximately 10% of the U.S. population1. The exact cause of RLS is not known, and the mechanism by which the urges are generated is poorly understood. One theory proposes that decreased oxygenation of tissues caused by increased levels of vasoconstricting cytokines may be the cause of these urges. The purpose of this project was to investigate the role that blood dopamine (DA) plays in this mechanism.

Primed For Porn, Investigating The Nuanced Relationship Between Problematic Pornography Consumption And Impulse Control, Celeste Hook, Scott Braithwaite

Journal of Undergraduate Research

As pornography becomes infinitely more accessible through the internet, the number of consumers increases at a rapid rate. Pornography abuse is shown to be a subcategory of hypersexuality (Grubbs, Volk, Exline, & Pargament, 2015), which is defined in the DSM-V as “a repetitive and intense preoccupation with sexual fantasies, urges, and behaviors, leading to adverse consequences”. Hypersexual behaviors have been linked to poorer impulse control (Miner et al., 2009; Prause, Steele et al., 2015; Reid, Cooper, Prause, Li, & Fong, 2012), and poorer impulse control has been related to many addictive behaviors such as substance abuse (Hardy, Steelman, Coyne, & …

Mri Tissue-Based Intensity Standardization For Multi-Site Neuropsychological Outcome Studied: Problems And Potential Solutions, Trevor Huff, Erin Bigler

Journal of Undergraduate Research

In this era of the human connectome, automated image analysis techniques, and large scale multi-site neuroimaging databases examining neuropsychological outcome across a broad spectrum of neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders, there is a particular need to address how to combine neuroimaging studies that use different volumetric sequences or Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) studies performed on different platforms. Currently, there is a large volume of studies that utilize data from multiple scanning locations. This data, while important, cannot reliably be used for comparisons without taking into account the various differences that exist between MRI equipment. The purpose of this study is to …

Marital Homogamy, Maternal Empowerment, And Child Health In Ghana, Meagan Rainock, Renata Forste

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Current research shows that marital homogamy, where spouses are similar in attributes, increases gender equality in marriage. Greater age and education homogamy within marriage is associated with greater gender equality between husbands and wives (Pyke & Adams). When women have equal status and are more empowered in the home, they are more able to invest in the health and development of their children. As women control earnings or home finances, funds are allocated for the health and nutrition of their children, rather than alcohol and status consumer goods (Hoddinott & Haddad, 1995). This is crucial as the nutrition and health …

The Effect Of Chronic Ethanol On Vta Gaba Neurons, Stephanie Bair, Scott Steffensen

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The current accepted model for addiction in the brain is the dysregulation of dopamine (DA) in the mesolimbic pathway, which begins in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) and projects to the nucleus accumbens (NAc). DA neurons originate in the VTA and project to the NAc where they release DA. Dopamine neurons are typically regulated locally by inhibitory gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) neurons in the VTA. Because GABA neurons in the VTA regulate DA neurons, we conclude that changes in VTA GABA neurons will affect DA release in the NAc underlying addictive behaviors, especially reward seeking.

The Need For An Aural Memory Test Baseline, Eric Brighton, Brock Kirwin

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Visual pattern separation is the ability of an individual to correctly distinguish between images that they have already seen, images that are very similar but not identical, and novel images. Over the last eight years visual pattern separation has come to be well accepted as a measure of an individual’s ability to form long-term memories. Studies have been conducted to see the effects of aging, exercise, depression and anxiety among other things on their ability to do the pattern separation task (Shelton et. al 2013) (Holden et. al 2013). This has been a very useful metric so far, but by …

Mnemonic Mechanisms For The Mundane: A Longitudinal Approach, Athena Howell, Brock Kirwan

Journal of Undergraduate Research

My project focused on the neural activity associated with memory consolidation, particularly the role of pattern separation and pattern completion over an extended period of time. Pattern separation occurs when the brain successfully encodes similar experiences into distinct memories (Deng et al. 2003); for instance, pattern separation allows you to correctly remember what you had for dinner last night as opposed to the night before last. Pattern completion, on the other hand, occurs when you reconstruct a memory from a partial memory (e.g. when asked what you ate last Wednesday night, you respond with the meal you consumed last Tuesday …

The Distribution Of Inheritances And Its Impact On Wealth Inequality, Parker Rogers, Richard Evans

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The purpose of this project was to estimate a function that describes who are the recipients of inheritances among different age and income groups and to incorporate that function into a dynamic macroeconomic model to simulate the effects of inheritances on wealth inequality in the United States.

Methamphetamine-Induced Melanization In Dopamine Cell Culture, Rebecca Oliphant, Scott Steffensen

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Dopamine (DA) neurons are at the core of many highly-researched diseases. Dopaminergic neuronal degeneration has been linked to oxidative stress, a state that occurs when high levels of normally-occurring reactive oxidative species (ROS) are formed. Depending on the location of such degradation, the result could be either Parkinson’s disease or the very common state of addiction and withdrawal.

Neuromelanin is a dark polymer pigment found on some catecholaminergic neurons and contains a stable radical that is able to inactivate ROS and possibly protect DA neurons from degradation. The mechanism for spontaneous melanization is unknown, but an understanding of this process …

Domestic Violence And Women’S Empowerment In Nepal, Zhicheng Han, Renata Forste

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Based on a nationally representative sample of women in Nepal aged 15 to 49, this study examines the association between domestic violence and women’s empowerment at both the individual and community level. In a sample of 3,349 ever married woman in Nepal, I use logistic regression to estimate the models. I find that female autonomy and residence in the Terai region are associated with higher odds of experiencing domestic violence. In addition, interactions indicate that female autonomy lowers the odds of domestic violence across ecological regions, religion, ethnicity and residency.

Effective Modeling Of The Distribution Of Wealth, Justin Gardiner, Richard Evans

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Many macroeconomic models have trouble matching the high end of the distribution of wealth in the economy. To correct this problem, we set out to build a model that includes individual agents experiencing stochastic changes to their income levels. These stochastic changes thus model real life risk and encourage precautionary saving. We built the theoretical framework for a large scale macroeconomic model in which individuals take into consideration the possible variability of their future income and alter their saving behaviors accordingly. We have made significant progress in creating a computer program that will allow us to calibrate our model to …

What Happens When Remember The Wrong Thing: The Effects Of False Recognition On Memory Performance, Amanda Ellgen, C. Brock Kirwan

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Our long-term memory system has the impressive ability to form unique representations of events and later retrieve those distinct events with minimal interference from similar events. For example, you may park in the same parking lot everyday, but in a different spot each time. Most days, you can remember specifically where you are parked even though each encounter is very similar and thus might interfere with all the others. Computational models of brain functioning propose that this ability depends on the complementary processes of pattern separation and pattern completion. Pattern separation is the process whereby overlapping representations (of, for example, …

International Trade Simulation, Jeff Clawson, Kerk Phillips

Journal of Undergraduate Research

For the past year, this project has involved taking a trade simulation model, recreating it in a modern programming language and making it freely available through the Open Source Policy Center (OSPC). The program takes real world population data provided by the user and then simulates trade between countries. Unlike the natural sciences, Economists cannot always study their subjects in a controlled environment. Models like this project allow us to get an idea of what would happen, for example, in trade between the US and EU if there were to be a change in China’s taxes. Our project is still …

Participation And Motivation Differences Between Large And Small Donors, Clarissa Gregory, David Magleby

Journal of Undergraduate Research

There have been many studies on political donors and their motivations. Particularly, the motivations of small donors in comparison to large donors have generated substantial interest. The Federal Election Commission requires donations to be disclosed only if they meet or exceed a $200 threshold. Those who meet that threshold are “large donors”, those who donate less than $200 are “small donors”. As a result, small donors have proved difficult to study because their information is not publicly available.

An Open Source Function Utilizing Random Field Theory For Mri Analysis, Zachary Christensen, Erin D. Bigler

Journal of Undergraduate Research

When looking at an MRI scan of the brain one is actually viewing millions of voxels (three dimensional pixels) that represent individual groups of signals produced by the MRI machine. Therefore, each voxel is representative of the brains composition at that point in three dimensional space or metabolic activity (as is the case in functional MRI). These qualities are utilized in research to give anatomically meaningful comparisons of the brain between individual test subjects. Doing so involves the process of mass univariate testing and produces a single statistical value at each voxel representing the univariate test (i.e. a tvalue). However, …

Acute Effects Of Exercise On Aggregate Appetite Hormones, Aaron Miller, Chad Jensen

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Leptin and ghrelin are two hormones involved with suppressing satiety and meal initiation. The primary aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of acute exercise duration of 30 and 60 minutes on the total levels of leptin and ghrelin.

The Impact Of Ambivalent Relationship Quality On Married Couples’ Health, Spencer J. Nielson, Wendy Birmingham

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Marriage has been positively associated with better physiological health outcomes, although the specific pathways by which this occurs remains somewhat elusive. Additionally, the quality of marriage appears to influence the health benefits derived from marriage. Marital partners, like other social relations, can be sources of support and understanding but can also be sources of criticism, conflict, and jealousy. Research has shown varying degrees of both positivity and negativity co-occurring within close relationships (i.e., ambivalence) and may provide a more accurate representation of marital processes. Cardiovascular outcomes and marital quality have been linked (think “fight or flight”), and one physiological pathway …

Mindset And Resilience In High-School Cross Country Runners, Anna Lisa Ward, Ben Ogles

Journal of Undergraduate Research

One debate found in the psychological field is one of nature vs. nurture. Those agreeing with the nature side of this argument would state that we, as individuals, come into the world knowing everything we will ever know. We are ‘born’ with the genes, brain structures, etc. that will make us who they are, while those on the nurture side of the argument would say we come into the as a blank slate and our environment determines who we are. Through research and scientific discovery the consensus has been reached that both nature and nurture influence who we are, we …

Functional Mri: The Future For Neurocognitive Assessment, Daniel Sands, Erin Bigler

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Americans suffer an estimated 3.2 million concussions per year. Concussions are known to cause notable and long-lasting deficits in cognitive functioning in some individuals. This creates the need for new assessment tools and technology to facilitate assessment and treatment. This study will advance research in the use of functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) as an assessment tool in clinical neuropsychology. In recent years, cognitive tests have been adapted for administration in an MRI environment to enhance patient evaluation. However, meaningful interpretation of these test results requires normative data of healthy persons for individual patient comparison. In this project, we develop …

We Need To Text Patterns Of Cummunication Channel Use In Emerging Adult Romantic Relationships, Samuel Jackson, Scott Braithwaite

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Communication in romantic relationships is changing. Partners today increasingly choose to communicate via technology¹, and use a mix of communication channels ranging from purely verbal formats (e.g., text messaging) to those rich in nonverbal expression (e.g., video chats). Despite this, theories about romantic communication tend to assume or focus on only face-to-face interactions, or lump all computer-mediated channels into a single category². These limitations harm the study of modern relationships. Expanding scientific knowledge about how young people use various media in their relationships can greatly benefit the future study of romantic communication and mate selection, and …

Disconnected Decisions Understanding School Decision Factors Within Low-Ses Families, Daniela Barriga, Kristie Rowley

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Parents constantly make decisions in regard to their children’s education, whether it be decisions about enrolling their children in the local public school or private school or even where to live based on school zoning areas. Alternative school options such as charter and magnet schools are becoming popular options for parents who are looking to send their children to a different school that is not in their assigned geographical boundary. How parents make these decisions are not always understood, especially when it comes to understanding parents who face economic and social disadvantages. Even though school choice policies have been implemented …

Byu Stamp Scavenger Hunt, Mandy Elsmore, Gary Barton

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The goal of this project was to provide an informative and unifying activity for BYU students through an art installation and exhibition. It was inspired by Japanese Eki (Train) Station stamps, which promotes tourism throughout all of Japan, to popular and unknown areas, due to people interest in collecting ink stamps placed at each station. I thought creating a stamp scavenger hunt throughout BYU campus would help students to get to know campus better and the different departments within them. Speaking from my own personal experience, it was not until this project that I really got to know BYU campus. …

Eggs Or Entertainment? The Relationship Between Self Reliance And Nutrition In Malawi, Anne Barton, Tim Heaton

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Malawi has the eighth smallest GDP per capita out of all the countries in the world (CIA World Factbook 2014). The large majority of Malawians rely on subsistence farming to survive in the midst of poor circumstances. The School of Agriculture for Family Independence (SAFI) equips these subsistence farmers with the necessary skills to become self reliant. Self reliance is the idea that families can support an independent lifestyle in the long term, even during unforeseen circumstances. Through training on various subjects, farmers learn the necessary skills to reach this ultimate goal. This research focused on evaluating the success of …

Effects Of Family Structure And Transitions On Adolescent Stress In Korea, Amanda Ferguson, Mikaela Durfur

Journal of Undergraduate Research

A wide scope of research has been done on family structures in the United States and Western culture. Research has moved from studying divorce extensively to researching cohabitation, just as extensively (Kennedy and Fitch, 2012). Korea, due to their strong cultural focus on traditional families, is only recently beginning to change to become more similar to the family structure trends of the Western world (Park and Raymo, 2013; Park, Choi and Jo, 2015). A good deal of the research on Korean families focuses on the effect of the family structure on education (Kim and Byun 2013). Very little on nontraditional …

Cultural Influence In News Media In New Zealand, Maren Mcinnes, Steve Thomsen

Journal of Undergraduate Research

For this project, I looked at cultural media bias in New Zealand. Bias exists at least to some degree in all media—particularly in how stories are framed and which stories are chosen. However, I discovered that media bias is actually not a very big issue in New Zealand. Despite the lack of media bias, cultural influence is imbued in the society and consequently, the news.

Exact Nonparametric Inference For A Binary Endogenous Regressor, Joseph Cooprider, Brigham Frandsen

Journal of Undergraduate Research

When there is endogeneity in an economic model, basic ordinary least squares regression analysis breaks down. Our assumptions for the model collapse so we cannot infer causality without bias in our estimations. Therefore, use of an instrumental variable is necessary. However, if instruments are weak, sample sizes are small, or assumptions about error terms are invalid, then our analysis is biased as well. We developed an exact, finite-sample approach to instrumental variables estimation and inference that remains valid for weak instruments, small samples, and other settings where large-sample approximations are poor. This approach imposed no parametric model for causal effects …

It’S How You Respond: Emotional Preschoolers And Their Longterm Victimization, Sarah Shepard, David Nelson

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Experiencing victimization by peers can have detrimental consequences for children, such as depressive symptoms, social anxiety, and feelings of loneliness (Crick & Grotpeter, 1995; Crick, Ostrov, & Werner, 2006; Prinstein, Boergers, & Vernberg, 2001; Tran, Cole, & Weiss, 2012). For this reason, it is important that we discover factors that contribute to ongoing issues with victimization. There are studies that have looked at short-term stability of relational and physical/verbal victimization, but usually they only last for a few months (e.g., Kawabata, Tseng, & Crick, 2014; Leadbeater, Hoglund, & Woods, 2003; Ostrov, Kamper, Hart, Godleski, & Blakely-McClure, 2014; Yeung & Leadbeater, …

Stories Of Scribbling Women: Hands-On Research In Book History With Women's Studies Students, Maggie Kopp

Faculty Publications

BYU Special Collections curators taught an Honors Western Civilization survey course with our collections for over two decades, but after a reboot of the Honors curriculum the course was dropped. A new opportunity arose in 2014 when the Women’s Studies program wanted to expand their offerings. But the course needed a major overhaul. This poster describes some of the changes that were made.

A Macabre Tale: Eliciting Negative Emotions Through Exhibit Design, Megan Frost, Quincey Mckeen

Faculty Publications

Introduction:

In our exhibit displaying medical books from the 16th & 17th centuries, the design of the text and displays were intended to create a somewhat dark and macabre atmosphere. We were interested in how eliciting emotions, particularly negative emotions, impacted patrons’ reception of the exhibit.

Methods:

An exit survey asked visitors to identify and rate the intensity of the emotions they felt while viewing the exhibit. (See emotion wheel below) These emotions were coded as either positive or negative. The survey also posed questions designed to assess the visitor’s likelihood of returning to view the exhibit again.

Results:

Visitors …