Psychology Commons^™

Effects Of Light Stimulation On The Baseline Level Of Dopamine In The Nucleus Accumbens, Benjamin Carter, Dr. Scott Steffensen

Journal of Undergraduate Research

This study explored the effects of light stimulation on the baseline levels of dopamine (DA) in the Nucleus Accumbens (NAc).

Phasic And Sustained Fear In Autism, Paul Chamberlain, Dr. Mikle South

Journal of Undergraduate Research

My project was designed to study how autistic children respond to uncertainty and if they respond differently than typically developing children. Psychologists have differentiated between two different types of fear- phasic fear and sustained fear. Phasic fear is fear to a specific threat. For example, if you are hiking and see a snake on the path you are afraid. However, if there is no snake you are not afraid. Sustained fear, or anxiety, is essentially fear of what could possibly happen even when there is no physical stimulus present. Going back to the hiking example, sustained fear would be fear …

Religious Influence On Adolescents And Their Parents Faculty Mentor: Sam Hardy, Psychological Sciences, Carrolyn Mcmurdie, Dr. Sam Hardy

Journal of Undergraduate Research

For decades, research has shown religious involvement and religious belief to predict positive outcomes for adolescents and adults, including better physical and mental health, fewer risk-taking behaviors, and greater involvement in moral or pro-social and helping behaviors (Hood, Hill, & Spilka, 2009). However, the current body of research literature is unclear about how individuals perceive religion to influence their lives. Research has not shown if people identify the same positive outcomes from their religiousness that scholars do. This is important to consider because people may perceive outcomes that are unrecognized by scholars. These additional outcomes may have a significant impact …

Effects Of Nicotine On Plasticity In Glutamate Neurotransmission To Midbrain Gaba Neurons, Peter Nielson, Dr. Scott Steffensen

Journal of Undergraduate Research

In order to further the knowledge of physiological contributions to addiction, this project’s purpose was to elucidate the neuronal processes involved in nicotine (NIC) addiction. We studied its effects on critical neuronal substrates in the ventral tegmental area (VTA), an area of the midbrain implicated in drug reinforcement. As NIC was previously shown to affect GABAergic neurotransmission, this project was to determine the more specific effect of NIC on glutamate (GLU) neurotransmission in the same area.

Negative Affect In Individuals With Moderate-To-Severe Traumatic Brain Injury: Implications For Acquiring New Learning, Spencer Liebel, Dr. Michael Larson

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The goal of this project was to clarify the additive role that negative affect plays in the capacity for individuals with moderate-to-severe (M/S) traumatic brain injury (TBI) to acquire new learning. Traumatic brain injury is the leading cause of death and disability in the United States, affecting an estimated 1.7 million people annually. Traumatic brain injuries typically result in considerable long-term neurological disabilities such as deficits in attention, memory, and processing speed (Zaloshnja, Miller, Langlois, & Selassie, 2008). In addition, TBI survivors are significantly more likely to develop psychiatric disorders, including depression and anxiety, and attempt suicide at a higher …

Mediators Between Pornography Use And Risky Sexual Behaviors, Gwen Coulson, Dr. Scott Braithwaite

Journal of Undergraduate Research

With the advent of the internet the availability, anonymity, and affordability of pornography has substantially increased (Cooper, 1998). Furthermore, content analyses have revealed that various types of pornographic material frequently present sex as casually occurring between acquaintances (Brosius, Weaver, & Staab, 1993) and often portray sexual violence as pleasurable (Bridges, Wosnitzer, Scharrer, Sun, & Liberman, 2010). Considering previous research has revealed many associations between pornography use and risky sexual behaviors, as well as many associations between pornography and casual sexual attitudes, we sought to expand current investigations through application of a meditational model, enabling us to test loosening sexual attitudes …

Youth Self-Efficacy As A Predictor Of Youth Symptoms And Psychotherapy Outcomes, Brooke Daniels-Brown, Dr. Jared Warren

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The purpose of the project was to examine youth self-efficacy as it relates to youth symptoms and treatment outcomes in a community mental health setting. From analyzing the collected data, results suggest that youth self-efficacy may act as a moderator and potential mediator in youth mental health services. Tailoring interventions to improve youth self-efficacy may yield more effective outcomes and additional research examining youth self-efficacy in the context of evidence-based treatments may be warranted. Also, these results generalize well to routine services, which are received by the majority of youth in mental health care. Self-efficacy is an important factor in …

Oxytocin, Or “Cuddle Hormone” Genotype In Titi Monkeys, Hannah Page, Dr. Dee Higley

Journal of Undergraduate Research

I used my ORCA grant to attend ASP, go on an internship at the CNPRC, and pursue research involving the oxytocin, or “cuddle hormone” genotype in titi monkeys.

Faith-Related Prejudice In Admission To Clinical Psychology Graduate School Programs, Elizabeth Hoose, Dr. Jeffrey Reber

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Little research has been done on prejudice against people of faith. Several studies indicate that fundamental or evangelical Christians face the effects of prejudice especially in educational settings (Ressler & Hodge, 2006). In particular, two surveys of Christian social workers inquiring about their professional experience in regards to their religion, found that the respondents felt ridiculed, degraded and demeaned by their colleagues because of their beliefs (Ressler & Hodge, 2006; Ressler & Hodge, 2003). Recently, researchers have begun to explore the potential implicit prejudices towards faith and people of faith in psychology (Slife & Reber, 2009). Likewise, it has also …

Faithism In The Classroom, Frank Bright, Dr. Jeffrey Reber

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The purpose of my study was to see if there was any connection between a professor’s openness about his or her faith and the view formed of that professor by his or her students. One recent study (Reber & Slife, In Press) has shown that new undergraduate students appear to have an implicit bias towards faith as a source of knowledge, but those later in their undergraduate career have shifted their bias towards reason being a better source of knowledge. If this implicit prejudice is true then it could follow that if a professor was open about their faith, students …

Plasticity In Glutamate Neurotransmission To Midbrain Gaba Neurons By Ethanol, Jennifer Mabey, Dr. Scott Steffensen

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The aim of my ORCA grant was to better under the addictive pathway of ethanol (EtOH) in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) of the brain. The VTA contains several neuron types that release different neurotransmitters, but the type I experimented with was γ-Aminobutyric acid (GABA), which is the primary inhibitory neurotransmitter in the brain. GABA neurons regulate dopamine (DA) neurons in the VTA by inhibiting DA release but when the GABA neurons are inhibited, DA neurons are hyperexcitable and therefore have an increased DA release in the VTA. I originally sought out to see if nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) present …

Emotion-Related Conflict Adaptation In Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Daniel Bjornn, Dr. Michael Larson

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Conflict adaptation is a neurological process that reflects the adjustment of performance on tasks when conflict is detected on previous trials. Conflict in this instance refers to the simultaneous activation of multiple response options. When conflict is detected, such as on an incongruent trial on Stroop task where the word “red” is written in green ink, there is an increase in the recruitment of cognitive resources to overcome the conflict and make the correct answer. Such increased recruitment of cognitive resources allows for improved performance on incongruent trials that follow other incongruent trials (Gratton, Coles, & Donchin, 1992). The behavioral …

The Cognitive Neuroscience Of Long-Term Memory, Dr. Brock Kirwan

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Memory is an essential cognitive ability. It allows us to use past events to guide future actions. Research in my laboratory focuses on determining the mechanics of how the brain remembers what it does. We are interested in determining what will be remembered and what will be forgotten. Specifically, my research focuses on one aspect of memory encoding that allows us to form distinct memory representations for stimuli and events that are very similar. For example, the location where you parked your car this morning is probably very similar to the location where you parked your car many times before. …

Neurophysiological Substrates Of Alcohol Addiction, Dr. Scott Steffensen

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Research in my lab is dedicated to the elucidation of brain substrates underlying drug addiction. Elder Boyd K. Packer has stated, “It is my conviction, and my constant prayer, that there will come through research, through inspiration to scientists if need be, the power to conquer narcotic addiction through the same means which cause it.”(Packer 1989). This plea from Elder Packer is emblazoned on a poster at the entrance to my laboratory to remind us of the seriousness of addiction research and the stranglehold that addiction has on the lives of many of God’s children. We study critical brain circuits …

Screening For Emotional And Behavioral Problems In Secondary Schools, Dr. Ellie Young

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The academic objectives were achieved for this grant. Students were mentored in reviewing a large body of research that focused on understanding the needs, behaviors, and outcomes for adolescent students with behavioral and emotional concerns. This provided a foundation for developing an evidence-based screening measure.

Book In The Bag: An Integrated Approach To Social Skills Instruction, Dr. Michelle Marchant

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The following are the objectives we proposed to evaluate for this grant. Overall, each of the objectives were evaluated successfully. The majority of teachers at Lakeview chose to participate, but not all. The social studies and literacy component of the bags was used considerably less than the social skills. The perceptions of the teachers regarding the social skills component of Book in a Bag were favorable.

Validation Of A Secondary School Eating Disorder Prevention Curriculum, Dr. Lane Fischer

Journal of Undergraduate Research

In winter semseter, 2009, I received a Mentoring Environment Grant (MEG) to study the effectiveness of a secondary school eating disorder prevention curriculum. Four students, Jill Smedley, Rachel McCarty (Doyle) Jenna Johnson (Murray) and Janine Stickney worked as a team to execute the overall project which resulted in four masters theses, two integrated presentations at a national conference, one integrated local presentation, and one integrated research award of $1,000 from a national professional organization. An integrated publication in a peer reviewed journal will be the last product to emerge from the MEG. Overall, the MEG was a smashing success, one …

An Online Bibliography And Index Of 19th-Century Music Copyists, Dr. David Day

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The goals of this project as stated in the original proposal include the following academic objectives:

The creation of an online bibliography of research that documents music copyists. Creation of an online prototype index of music copyists’ hands. A joint conference presentation by two BYU students at the July 2010 meeting of the International Association of Music Libraries held in Moscow, Russia. A published article representing the revised conference presentation of the two students.

Perceptual Influences For Potential Hoarders, Sam Hardy, Marie Ricks, Brian Appel, Alex Dresden

FHSS Mentored Research Conference

Hoarding is defined as "(1) the acquisition of, and failure to, discard a large number of possessions that appear to be ... of limited value, (2) living spaces sufficiently cluttered so as to preclude activities for which these spaces were designed, (3) significant ... impairment in functioning caused by the hoarding, and (4) reluctance ... to return borrowed items." The average age of onset for hoarders is 11-15 years of age, with most hoarders reporting symptoms before age 20. Our research sought to find correlations regarding public perceptions of hoarding, including demographic, personal, and socioeconomic factors. Using a 55-question online …

Measuring Maladaptive Perfectionism, Joanna Burton, Amber Veazey, Melissa Tingey, Kat Green

FHSS Mentored Research Conference

Perfectionism is a personality trait in which individuals set high standards for themselves that are in line with an ideal image of how they should look, act, and perform. Perfectionism can be both adaptive and maladaptive. Identifying maladaptive perfectionism may aid individuals in consciously overcoming the negative side effects associated with maladaptive perfectionism and help individuals practice an adaptive perfectionism. We hypothesized that our measure, the Maladaptive or Adaptive Personality Scale (MAPS) would reliably and validly indicate and measure the presence of maladaptive perfectionism. Our measure used ten 4-point Likert scale questions measuring behavioral and emotional manifestations of perfectionism. MAPS …

Barriers To Accommodation Use For Students With Disabilities In Postsecondary Education, Michael James Lyman

Theses and Dissertations

Students with disabilities at the postsecondary level face a number of different barriers to accommodation use. Past research has shown that students with disabilities that use accommodations obtain greater academic achievement and higher graduation rates. Limited research has been conducted to identify barriers to accommodation use, and the research that has been conducted has not sampled a population that was specifically identified as having faced barriers to accommodation use. By interviewing students with disabilities, who had been identified as having faced barriers, this study identified seven themes. Four of the identified themes were considered complex as they contained sub-themes, while …

The Hispanic Mortality Paradox: A Systematic Review And Meta-Analysis Of The Longitudinal Literature, J. Ruiz, P. Steffen, Timothy B. Smith

Faculty Publications

Objectives: The current objective was to compare Hispanic mortality rates to those of other racial/ethnic groups in order to investigate the possibility of a Hispanic mortality advantage.

Methods: We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of the published longitudinal literature reporting Hispanic individuals’ mortality of any cause compared with that of any other racial/ethnic group.

Results: Across 58 studies (4,615,747 participants), the random effects weighted average effect size was OR = 0.825 (P < .001, 95% CI = 0.75 to 0.91), corresponding to a 17.5% lower risk of mortality among Hispanic populations compared to other racial groups. The difference in mortality risk tended to be greater among older populations and varied as a function of pre-existing health condition, with effects apparent for initially healthy samples and for those with cardiovascular diseases. The results also differed by racial group comparison: Hispanics had lower overall risk for mortality than non-Hispanic Whites and non-Hispanic Blacks, but overall higher risk for mortality than Asian Americans.

Conclusions: These findings provide evidence of a small Hispanic mortality advantage, with implications for conceptualizing and addressing racial/ethnic health disparities.

Predictors Of Perfectionism In Latter-Day Saint Students, Preston V. Tenney

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the present study was to gain insight into the prevalence, nature and etiology of perfectionism in a sample of devout Latter-day Saint college students at Brigham Young University. A number of variables-including self-conscious emotions, mental health, interpersonal/cognitive style, and religious orientation-were entered into multiple regression models to determine the strongest predictors of perfectionism. Participants were 245 students studying at Brigham Young University in Provo, UT in the spring of 1995. The self-conscious construct of shame demonstrated to be the strongest predictor of perfectionism followed by depression and religious fundamentalism. In addition to these findings, it was found …

Effects Of Teacher Gender On Screening For Social, Emotional, And Behavioral Concerns For A Middle School Population, Susan E. Hardman

Theses and Dissertations

Students with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders (EBD) often experience serious educational difficulties and negative outcomes (Gresham, MacMillan, & Bocian, 1996; Landrum, Tankersley, & Kauffman, 2003; Rock, Fessler, & Church, 1997). School-wide screening to identify students with social, emotional, and behavioral concerns (SEB) allows school personnel to identify at-risk students and connect them with needed resources. Some students appear to be identified disproportionally, with male students identified as at-risk more frequently then female students (Young, Sabbah, Young, Reiser, & Richardson, 2009). There are many possible factors that could contribute to this disproportionate identification. Since screening for EBD is often based on …

Meta-Analysis Of The Effectiveness Of Biological And Non-Biological Treatments For Postpartum Depression, Sarah Jeung Soon Christian

Theses and Dissertations

I provided an updated, comprehensive review of treatments for mothers diagnosed with postpartum depression. Studies included in this meta-analysis were single-group pre-posttest, non-randomized and randomized controlled studies published from 1986 to 2010 that included face-to-face psychotherapy and psychopharmacology as well as non-traditional methods such as exercise and nurse-assisted counseling. 53 published studies were analyzed. The randomized studies showed a moderate to large effects (d= 0.72 to 1.25, k= 9) when postpartum interventions were compared to a control condition, and smaller effects (d= 0.3 to 0.57, k = 13) to treatment as usual. When postpartum interventions were compared to each other …

Mood And Memory: An Association Between Pattern Separation And Depression, Don J. Shelton

Theses and Dissertations

Depression is associated with reduced declarative memory performance and decreased hippocampal volume. Depression has also been associated with decreased levels of adult neurogenesis in the dentate gyrus. Computational models propose that neurogenesis is critical for the computational process of pattern separation, whereby distinct memory representations are created for very similar stimuli and events. It has been proposed that depression negatively impacts pattern separation abilities; however, a link between depression and performance in pattern separation memory tasks has yet to be investigated. Accordingly, we designed a study to investigate the relationship between pattern separation performance and the severity of depression symptoms. …

A Tutorial On Count Regression And Zero-Altered Count Models For Longitudinal Substance Use Data, Scott A. Baldwin, David C. Atkins, Cheng Zheng, Robert J. Gallop, Clayton Neighbors

Faculty Publications

Critical research questions in the study of addictive behaviors concern how these behaviors change over time - either as the result of intervention or in naturalistic settings. The combination of count outcomes that are often strongly skewed with many zeroes (e.g., days using, number of total drinks, number of drinking consequences) with repeated assessments (e.g., longitudinal follow-up after intervention or daily diary data) present challenges for data analyses. The current article provides a tutorial on methods for analyzing longitudinal substance use data, focusing on Poisson, zero-inflated, and hurdle mixed models, which are types of hierarchical or multilevel models. Two example …

Preliminary Examination Of International Students' Adjustment And Loneliness Related To Electronic Communications., Timothy B. Smith, David A. Shwalb

Faculty Publications

Electronic communication (e.g., e-mail, internet) may facilitate international students’ adjustment through contacts maintained with their native country. In the present study, the scores of 45 international students on a measure of adjustment and the Revised UCLA Loneliness Scale were significantly associated with their electronic communications involving their native country but not with general internet or e-mail use. International students’ scores on the Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure were positively correlated with their amount of contact with people in their native country but were not correlated with scores on the measures of adjustment or loneliness.

Culturally Congruent Practices In Counseling And Psychotherapy: A Review Of Research., Timothy B. Smith

Faculty Publications

Are mental health interventions that are intentionally made congruent with clients’ cultural contexts more effective than traditional practices? If a large body of empirical data supports an affirmative response to this question, then multiculturalism may be deemed not only legitimate within but integral (primary) to mental health interventions. However, if the data are inconclusive or deemed inadequate, then multiculturalism will remain marginalized (secondary) as an egalitarian ideal, possibly worthy of public praise but privately labeled as “impractical” or worse. All other things being equal, empirical evidence should determine which path will be taken; this chapter will attempt to provide direction.

Longitudinal Course Of Female Eating Disorder Risk At Brigham Young University, Lane Fischer, Jacob Fischer, Lanae Valentine, Erin Winters, Joy Wiechmann, Karen Gochnour, Kristina Hansen, Maren Kanekoa

Issues in Religion and Psychotherapy

Three cohorts of entering freshman women were assessed over the course of four years at Brigham Young University (BYU). The Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26) and the Body Shape Questionnaire (BSQ) were administered at the beginning of each fall and winter semester. Results showed (a) steadily decreasing average levels of eating disorder risk and body shape dissatisfaction over time, which was mirrored in each cohort; (b) significantly lower eating disorder risk than other college samples; (c) a typically high percentage of women with clinically significant body shape dissatisfaction; (d) significant correlation between the EAT-26 and the BSQ; and (e) notable subgroups …