Psychology Commons^™

Exercise Therapy For Mood Disorders In Retiring/Former Athletes, Christian Antos

Dissertations

This dissertation examined the potential integration of exercise therapy and psychotherapy as a treatment approach for mood-related difficulties experienced by former elite athletes during the transition out of competitive sport. Retirement from athletics is often associated with significant biopsychosocial challenges, including disruptions in identity, healthy routines, social support, and emotional well-being. Existing literature suggests that exercise may serve as an effective adjunctive intervention for improving mood and overall psychological functioning, though limited research has explored its application among retiring athletes within psychotherapeutic contexts. This literature review synthesized current research related to athletic retirement, neurobiological mechanisms associated with physical activity, and …

Du Undergraduate Showcase Abstracts: Research, Scholarship, And Creative Works, Sophia Wismar, Henry Staats, Allison Metzler, Chloe Puckett, Rachel Levine, Christa Kilpatrick, Scott Wolf, Joe Walsh, Grace Doolittle, John Engebreston, Zoe Lopez, Christopher Aaby, Audrey Duff, Timothy Sisk, Katelyn Lamberton, Angela Narayan, Gilkah Argueta, Habiba Samir, Girena Tesfazghi, Genet Kenore, Sinit Tesfamariam, Effley Brooks, Abi Newell, Megan Doherty, Natalie Baer, Lexi Blood, Talya Riciputi, Jessica Jimenez, Devin Hernandez, Lynn Clark, Taj Kumar, Sunil Kumar, Allen Rutman, Mira Pronobis, Tess Carson, Anna Sher, Frankie Stroud, Tamra Pearson D'Estree, Alyssa Wilson, Emily Melnick, Jenalee Doom, Yihang Gao, Gwendolyn Geiger, Noah Gettle, Scott Nichols, Clare Ayoub, Cara Dienno, Sunny Walker, Zoe Hansen, Maya Wheeler, Addison Rice, Patrick Martin, Sanjana Acharya, Daniel Mcintosh, Amanda Mckellips, Calli Cain, Justin Blake, Peter Sokol-Hessner, Natalie Miller, Max Weisbuch, Sophia Dellota, John Macikas, Charlotte Snow, Mark Siemens, Zoe Lynch, Alex Huffman, Prachi Shah, Jason Roney, Halcyon Levi, Nicole Herzog, Andrea Koly, Daniel Linseman, Annie London, Xi Yang, Avery Zwisler, Jane Smith, Chaz Contag, Michael Kerwin, Lucy Rand, Grace Schroeder, Michelle Rozenman, Nissa Tapper, Guiming Zhang, Mateo Mazariego-Halpern, Keith Meyer, Julie Do, Dakota Park-Ozee, Travis Herink, Kara Neu, Jonathan Plomin, Eve-Odine Duchaufour, Debbie Gale Mitchell, Tennyson Anderson-Stricklin, Lily Treitz, Samantha Rosenberger, Sierra Griffith, Finley Joseph, Daniel Sampson, Emmy Davis, Skyler Kasnoff, Evon Lopez, Vivian Nguyen, Cassy Young, Franklin Sellner, Martin Tobon, Ila Graham, Zach Billings, Holden Hedit, Decatur Boland, Paul Kosempel, Cory Chandler, Jay Mahoney, Sam Dragan, Susan Dagget, Yarrow Ator, Heidi Vuletich, Owen Weber, Andrew Kloeppel, Petersen Gray, Mandi Schaeffer-Fry, Razleen Bassra, Bryanna Rodriguez, Christina Blue, Taubie Sanders, Rachel Epstein, Luke Milburn, Camryn Evans, Ezra Martinez, Mary Westwood, Gabri Notov, Robin Tinghitella, Lilou Cabrol, Eli Barbour, Juliet Mendik, Selma Myers, Zac Wise, Noah Fahlin, Michelle Knowles, Abigail Hopper, Michael Greenberger, Romi Laclair, Sarah Watamura, Sabrina Efroymson, Casey Barker, Sydney Seltzer, Bryn Yehle, Jennifer Hoffman, Sara Garcia, Ryuka Nagamine, Trevor Briggs, Remy Le Boeuf, Elena Krone, Eileen Farrell, Regan O'Rourke, Elena Roel, Greg Mortimer, Ali Ayoub, Stefani Langehennig, Caitlin Turk, Logan Scmid, Stefan Chavez-Norgaard, Karen Kim, Tatiana Peccedi, Courtney Cassidy, John Sebesta, Rhianna Lewis, Janice Bening-Lacek, Vivian Lawless, Mckenna Hanson, Jeffrey Amidon, Riya Joshi, Ram Ambre, Brady Worrell, Perrin Schneider, Ali Azadani, Brooke Agulnek, Lyndsie Salvagio, Elise Siemanowki, Yan Qin, Andre Allen, Melodie Nguyen, Megan Livengood, Abby Reams, Saffron Hartreeve, Bri Wylie, Sarah Brookman, Mariah Loiacono, Green Russo, Abhia Lodhi, Gabrielle Welsh, Nika Spehar, Shahked Levin, Evrim Baykal, Kimberly Chiew, Jocelyn Torres, Kailey Hicks, Mykaela Tanino-Springsteen, Audrey Bellows, Akam Chahal, Madeline Tepper, Shannon Murphy, Alexa Fonseca, Deborah Han, Cassandra Perez, Oluwatoyin Alaba, Julia Roncoroni, Vy Nguyen, Nana Burn, Sarah Sasse, Rubin Tuder, Anthony Gerber, Nancy Lorenzon, Christine Vohwinkel, Camryn Gunter, Tristan Weber, Sam Rommel, Brian Michel, Muskan Fatima, Alannah Oleson, Kira Frey, Edward Garrido, Beckett Morris, Kerstin Haring, Drew Middleton, Abigail Walpert, Liam Dee, Gabby Ishaw, Cole Carnes, Maddie Weiser, Claire Fox, Valeriia Vlasenko, Kateri Mcrae, Riley Smith, Abigail Templin, Kushani Rajapaksha

DU Undergraduate Research Journal Archive

Abstracts from the DU Undergraduate Research Showcase.

Improving Human-Wildlife Coexistence: An Ecological And Educational Approach To Rewilding Grizzly Bears (Ursus Arctos Horribilis) In California, Amanda C. D. Rosales

Master's Projects and Capstones

Megafauna extinction during the Holocene has been both caused and amplified by climatic changes and human influence. By the last half century, large carnivores were diminished in Europe and the United States, but policies increasingly addressed species decline and their territories expanded. This research examined large carnivore rewilding across the European Union and United States, specifically for rewilding brown bears, Ursus arctos, in historic habitat. Next, case studies for the health status of climate-impacted whitebark pine, Pinus albicaulis, a high energy food for bears, was assessed. Ultimately, research case studies, human perspective surveys, and the California Department of Education content …

Barn To Brain: Relationship Between Farm Animal Interaction And Well-Being In Rural Adults, Tiffany N. Hendershot

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This study examined the relationship between naturally occurring farm animal interactions and overall well-being among rural adults living in the central Appalachian region, specifically western Maryland, south-central Pennsylvania, and the eastern panhandle of West Virginia. A cross-sectional, correlational design was used to compare adults with at least five hours of naturally occurring farm animal contact per week to those with less than one hour of contact per week. Overall well-being was measured with the PERMA-Profiler, and heart rate variability (HRV) was measured using wearable devices as a physiological indicator of autonomic health. Grounded in polyvagal theory, the biophilia hypothesis, and …

When Faced With Persistent Crying, Will Adults Follow The Advice To Take A Break?, Lauren J. Duplessis, Remington K. Asta, Benjamin N. Witts

InnovateHER Meeting 2026

Inconsolable crying in early infancy can have detrimental effects on caregiver mental health, the caregiver-infant relationship, and infant safety. Professionals often advise caregivers to walk away and take a break. This study used n-of-1 methodology to examine how frequently undergraduate students will follow this advice when tasked with calming a simulated inconsolable infant. Results are mixed, but suggest active training prior to the baby’s arrival might yield promising outcomes

Acute And Chronic Oral Administration Of Cannabidiol-Dominant Cannabis Products: Sex- And Formulation-Dependent Effects On Anxiety-Like Behavioral Patterns In Rats, Carlos R. Maestas-Olguin

Psychology ETDs

Interest in the anxiolytic-like effects of cannabidiol (CBD), the non-intoxicating phytocannabinoid found within the genus, Cannabis, has grown significantly in recent years. However, preclinical investigations of CBD’s anxiolytic potential often elect to forgo translationally relevant models that maximize external validity in favor of greater internal and mechanistic validity. As a result, the effects of relatively low dose (< 3mg/kg) oral CBD administration on anxiety-like behaviors are not yet fully characterized. The present studies examined the impact of two orally delivered CBD-dominant cannabis products – a “full-spectrum” formulation derived from the whole plant and a CBD isolate derived from the same chemovar – on innate defensive behaviors exhibited by adult male and female rats in various tests of anxiety. Results indicated that acute and chronic low dose oral CBD administration attenuated anxiety-like behavior in rats, regardless of sex or formulation. These findings extend the growing corpus of literature describing anxiolytic-like effects of CBD.

Rhythms Of Hippocampal Function And Memory After Moderate Prenatal Alcohol Exposure, Lilliana May Sanchez

Psychology ETDs

Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders involve morphologic and neurobiological abnormalities in offspring subjected to prenatal alcohol exposure. Although not as well studied as high exposure, moderate prenatal alcohol exposure represents the most common and undetected form in humans. While learning and memory deficits have been well characterized at the behavioral level in humans with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders and in animal models of moderate prenatal alcohol exposure, few studies have determined the circuit or systems level mechanisms of the behavioral deficits. A complete understanding of the neural bases of memory deficits after moderate prenatal alcohol exposure is needed to ultimately identify …

Influence Of The Discipline Of Authentic Movement Practice On Interpersonal Relationships, Joy Ruben Welts

Educational Studies Dissertations

This mixed methods study explored how practicing the Discipline of Authentic Movement impacts relationships. This research was conducted to fill in the gaps around attunement and use of the Discipline of Authentic Movement as an intervention to support healthy relationships. Five self-selected adults met on Saturday afternoons for eight weeks to practice the Discipline of Authentic Movement. They completed a pre and post Revised Adult Attachment Scale and reflected weekly on their experience through journaling. Participants reported that it was the structure of the Discipline of Authentic Movement that allowed them to feel more comfortable being themselves with others. The …

Examining Demographic And Contextual Differences In Stress-Related Sport Interference Among U.S. Collegiate Sport Participants, Heather Tran

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Collegiate athletes experience a range of stressors that may interfere with sport performance; however less is known about how stress-related sport interference varies across demographic groups and contexts. Guided by the transactional model of stress and coping, this study examined differences in stress-related sport interference by gender, race/ethnicity, and year in school, as well as across situational contexts (training, competition, and life outside of sport). Data were drawn from a secondary dataset of 288 collegiate sport participants who completed the Sport Interference Checklist (SIC). Independent samples t-test and analyses of variance (ANOVA) were used to examined demographic differences, and a …

Understanding Behavioral And Representational Divergences Of Humans And Machines, Thomas Lasman Botch

Dartmouth College Ph.D Dissertations

Human behavior and cognition are strikingly variable: people differ from one another in their preferences and abilities, and even from themselves across situations. Yet this diversity arises from common neural machinery shaped by the complex environments humans inhabit. A central objective of cognitive neuroscience is to understand how this varied experience emerges from interactions between brains, agents, and environments. In this dissertation, I argue that comparing behavior and neural computation across humans, artificial systems, and contexts is essential for understanding the flexibility of human cognition. Across three chapters, I use this comparative approach to examine how the rich, multimodal contexts …

In Memoriam: Madhav Gadgil, Editorial Board

The International Journal of Ecopsychology (IJE)

No abstract provided.

Book Review--Luke Kemp’S Goliath’S Curse: The History And Future Of Societal Collapse (2025). Ny: Alfred A. Knopf.

The International Journal of Ecopsychology (IJE)

No abstract provided.

Disability: An Autopathography, Isabell A. Collins

The International Journal of Ecopsychology (IJE)

No abstract provided.

Editorial 12(1), May 2026, Matthew R. Jamnik

The International Journal of Ecopsychology (IJE)

No abstract provided.

Artist Interview: Sarah Crooks, Sarah Crooks

The International Journal of Ecopsychology (IJE)

No abstract provided.

Developmental Ecological Psychology Meets Organicist Biology: The Example Of The Ecological Self, Catherine Read

The International Journal of Ecopsychology (IJE)

In this paper we outline an ecological-organicist theoretical framework to understand human development. The ecological approach to development (Developmental Ecological Psychology, DEP) places the organism at the center and has a mutualist theoretical framework with an epistemic foundation in direct perception. While research in this tradition has paid much attention to specific developmental questions at a young age (such as perceptual learning, affordances, and action coordination), less effort has gone into the discussion of theoretical issues of overall development at the level of organism-environment mutuality. Meanwhile in biology, a new emphasis on the organism as an explanatory concept and level …

Relevance Of Mario Perniola’S Philosophy Of Transit (Transiting) To Ecopsychological Modi, George Conesa

The International Journal of Ecopsychology (IJE)

Mario Perniola’s construct of transit is here examined with an eye toward its implications to ecopsychological discourse and practices that include psychological and philosophical notions of authentic “mobility” and active exploration during person-natural spaces affiliations. As in most qualitatively revealing ideas of “relations,” authentic “mobility” and active exploration include instances of confrontation, disorientation, fusion, confusion, biomechanical insights, animalization, totemism, disgust, etc. As a means to sharpen our focus, the insights of writer Enea Bianchi on Perniola’s writing are very useful and will be referred to, in particular, while reimagining our perception of space as “a deep world made of …

Ije Table Of Contents 12(1), May 2026, Editorial Board

The International Journal of Ecopsychology (IJE)

No abstract provided.

American Letters--John Burroughs Excerpts From Chapter I: The Art Of Seeing Things In Leaf And Tendril (1908)

The International Journal of Ecopsychology (IJE)

No abstract provided.

American Letters--Mary Hunter Austin: Excerpts From The Trail Book (1918)

The International Journal of Ecopsychology (IJE)

No abstract provided.

Neurophysiological Signatures Of Perceived Control In The Human Brain: An Electroencephalography Study, Megan Staehling

Honors Theses

Perceived control is defined as the belief that one’s actions can influence the outcomes in the environment. It plays an important role in decision-making, motivation, and emotional regulation. Previous studies suggest that perceived control shapes how the brain processes both reward and punishment stimuli. However, the neural mechanisms underlying this process are still unclear. The present study examined the neurophysiological correlates of perceived control during a decision-making task. Electroencephalography (EEG) was used to record the neural activity of twenty-nine undergraduate students while they completed the Choice Task. Participants associated visual cues with different levels of control over trials involving monetary …

From Stranger To Self: The Role Of Familiarity In Modulating The N170 And N250 Erp Components, Tabish Gul

Dissertations

This study investigated how varying levels of face familiarity modulate the N170 and N250 event-related potential (ERP) components, two neural markers of face perception and recognition. While the N250 is widely considered familiarity-sensitive, the N170 has traditionally been linked to the structural encoding stage of face perception. However, recent research suggests that face familiarity may also influence N170 amplitude and latency. While most previous studies have compared up to three familiarity levels, the present study examined five levels of familiarity: own face, friend’s face, famous face, experimentally familiar face, and unfamiliar face. Twenty-six participants viewed face images while completing a …

A Review Of Video Game Effects And Uses, David Corso

Caravel Undergraduate Research Journal

Video games are versatile in their form and function. Whether they’re training doctors or offsetting Alzheimer’s disease, video games can exercise both mental and physical features, train specific skills for a number of jobs, educate players about events and phenomenon in our world, research and understand natural human processes, and they can be designed for a number of other purposes. Multiple studies have demonstrated the effects of video games on physiological and cognitive levels—positive, negative, and everything in between. This paper identifies various physical and psychological effects that video games produce, and it suggests ways in which video games can …

I Lost My Number, Can I Have Yours? Body Image Satisfaction With Sexually Dimorphic Traits Is Associated With Men's Dating Anxiety And Confidence, David A. Frederick, Tania A. Reynolds, Nikoline L. Smart, Justin R. Garcia, David A. Puts

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Evolutionary scientists posit that sexual selection processes caused males to develop sexually dimorphic traits to aid them during intrasexual competition and increase their likelihood of being chosen as mates. Evolutionary social sciences have extensively examined women's preferences for traits such as muscle mass and voice pitch, reasoning that these traits serve as cues of men's ability to provide direct benefits (e.g., resources) and indirect (genetic) benefits passed on to offspring. At the same time, body image researchers have extensively focused on the social causes and consequences of men's dissatisfaction with their muscularity and body fat. We connected these two research …

Neural Mechanisms Underlying Jung’S Active Imagination: A Review And Hypothesis, Charles R. Fox

Journal of Conscious Evolution

Active imagination is a key technique of Jungian analysis. Despite its centrality, and its potential importance beyond Jungian psychology to the area of systems neuroscience, psychology, and consciousness studies, there are no known neurological mechanisms underlying this psychological phenomenon. There is a history of using the types of mental imagery used in active imagination to explore consciousness. The development and use of active imagination is briefly reviewed, and a case is developed that the neurology underlying active imagination would be fruitfully explored by considering it a special case of mystical experience. Active imagination primarily uses the right hemisphere processing of …

The Influence Of Valence On Action Control: A Comparison Of Simon Effects In The Extrinsic Affective Simon Task (East) And The Spatial Simon Task, Yaara Aleissa

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Theses

People adjust their thoughts and actions in response to a changing environment every day and emotions may influence these actions. Understanding how emotion impacts action control in situations where emotion is central to the action (task-relevant) compared to when it is present in the environment as distracting information (task-irrelevant) is essential. Currently it is unclear when emotion most significantly modulates action control. This study seeks to compare how valence (positive versus negative emotion) impacts action control performance when valence is task-relevant and task-irrelevant by using two modified versions of the Simon conflict task.

The Simon task is a paradigm to …

Awe As Signpost: An Argument For The Consistency Of Lewis’S “Joy” And Psychological Awe, Audrey Hendricks

Senior Honors Theses

C.S. Lewis’s Surprised by Joy details Lewis’s autobiographical apologetic for the existence of God through his experiences of “Joy,” a technical term invented by Lewis. Upon close study, his experiences of Joy contain many similarities to psychological awe. This investigation compares Lewis’s Joy with psychological awe using the Awe Experience Scale (AWE-S) to determine consistency. Lewis’s Joy was found to be consistent with all six criteria of the AWE-S in addition to other recognized psychological characteristics of awe. In addition to qualitative consistency, this review also argues for the teleological consistency of the two concepts, contending for a Christian teleological …

Volume 17, Christian O’Neill, Kyara Greene, Savva Sidorov, Laura Bisaillon, Luke Clemmer, Hannah Gordon, Kitt Benson, Taylor Blount, Rachel Danzitz, Nicholas Duellman, Chase Gionis, Hima Fernando, Seth Franzyshen, Onyx Gonzalez, Bryan Lin, Samantha Start, Ysabel Wells, Maggie Duncan

Incite: The Journal of Undergraduate Scholarship

Introduction Dr. Amorette Barber, Director, Office of Student Research

From the Editor Dr. Hannah Dudley-Shotwell

Cover Artist’s Statement Maggie Duncan

On Mentoring Dr. Yulia Uryadova

Ukrainian Resistance in the Face of Russification: Nestor Makhno and Anarchism

by Christian O’Neill

Life Vest by Kyara Greene

Isolation and 16S rRNA Identification of Bacteria from Fire Department Connection Pipe by Savva Sidorov

The Effectiveness of Planned Exercise in Reducing ADHD Symptoms in Children by Laura Bisaillon & Luke Clemmer

Linguistic Analysis on Confidence and Communication Strategies with Disparities Between Sign Fluency and Hearing Impairment by Hannah Gordon

Freedmen in Indian Territory by Kitt …

Covid Minds: A Thematic Review Of The Pandemic On Neural Mechanisms And Political Polarization, Madison Jeffries

Honors Projects

This paper analyzes how the COVID-19 pandemic influenced political polarization in the United States by examining the interactions between social system disruption, psychological stress, and underlying neurological behaviors. While previous research has extensively discussed pandemic's influence on public health and societal breakdowns, studies fail to examine how these disruptions shaped political divisions. This study synthesizes interdisciplinary literature on pandemic-induced stressors and analyzes factors, including institutional mistrust and social isolation, and how these experiences shape political behavior and perspectives. Applying research from psychology and neuroscience, the paper argues that prolonged exposure to pandemic-related stressors changed neurological and behavioral patterns in response …

A Single Administration Of Psilocybin Is Ineffective In Reversing Ptsd-Like Sequelae In A Rat Model Of Stress-Enhanced Fear Learning, Kylie M. King, Marisa J. Savini, Noelle M. Molnar, Evelynn J. Schneider, Savannah E. Straub, Joe Parker, Lillianna P. Puppel, Aleece K. Al-Olimat, Allison M. Bach, Phillip R. Zoladz

ONU Student Research Colloquium

Single treatments with psychedelics produce rapid, long-lasting antidepressant effects. Psychedelics may also exert anxiolytic effects and be useful in treating more complex psychiatric conditions, such as PTSD. However, less is known about the impact of these agents on PTSD-related symptoms. Thus, we aimed to determine whether a single administration of psilocybin could reverse PTSD-like sequelae induced by stress-enhanced fear learning in rats. Sprague-Dawley rats were placed in Context A (circular, white conditioning box) and exposed to several uncontrollable footshocks (Stress) or no footshocks (No Stress). The next day, the rats were placed in Context B (square conditioning box with clear …