NSF/REU Grant 2002-2003 Winners
Psi Chi is pleased to announce the 2002-2003 winners of Psi Chi’s new NSF/REU Grants program. The five winning students conducted research this past summer at institutions participating in the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program. Each of the winning students received $5,000 to fund a 10-week stay to conduct research at the participating REU institution. The 2002-2003 grant winners are as follows (listed alphabetically):
- Nataia Aristizabal, Hunter College (NY)
Attention and Memory: Behavioral Differences of Maltreated and Non-Maltreated Children Late in the Second Year of Life
Abstract, Bio
- Julia E. Meyers, Macalester College (MN)
Four Leaf Clovers and Rabbit's Foots: The Role of Prior Training in "Superstitious" Behavior
Abstract, Bio
- Marie M. Osborn, University of Arizona
Biofeedback Training of the Right and Left Anterior Cortical Areas in Support of the Motivational Direction Model of Emotion
Abstract, Bio
- Minervia E. Scott, Jackson State University (MS)
Are Friends More Similar Than Non-Friends
Abstract, Bio
- Rachael Smith, Westminster College (PA)
Searching for the Serotonin Receptor Subtype That Mediates Circadian Phase Shift Caused by Local Administration of Serotonin Drugs in the Dorsal Raphe
Abstract, Bio
Attention and Memory: Behavioral Differences of Maltreated and Non-Maltreated Children Late in the Second Year of Life
Natalia Aristizabal
Hunter College of the City University of New York
This study analyzed the relation between focused visual attention and explicit memory in maltreated and non-maltreated 21-month-old toddlers. To assess explicit memory, we utilized an adaptation of an elicited imitation task, the interleaved condition, which places greater demand on attention. Behaviorally defined focused visual attention was coded during the modeling of the interleaved task and the relations between performance on the task and amount spent in focused attention were examined.
We did not find significant differences between groups on memory performance or in total proportion of time spent in focused attention while modeling. There was a difference between groups in their duration of focused visual attention while observing individual steps within both events of the interleaved task. There was a general trend in our comparison group for attention to drop off toward the end of modeling. Conversely, children who focused on the task for a longer period of time compared to the other children in the sample did less well on memory performance relative to their peers.
These individual differences could indicate a difference in encoding and processing a visual stimulus. Slow processors need more time to interpret and retain information while fast processors need less time to comprehend a task and shift their state of attention at a faster rate (Colombo, 1995; Vernon, 1987).
Yet, speed of processing is not in itself an explanatory construct. Other factors that may contribute to the differences in focused visual attention are the extent of the child's knowledge base (Greenberg, 1971), the child's general neural speed (Colombo & Mitchell, 1990), the child's emotional response to novel stimuli (McCall & McGhee, 1977), the child's level of arousal to the stimulus (Kaplan, Werner, & Rudy, 1990), and the child's "type" or "strategy" of visual intake (e.g., Colombo, Mitchell, Coldren, & Freeseman, 1991). All these can affect the speed of stimulus processing, memory, and learning. Further investigation into the difference between groups in the way they regulate their focused attentive states and whether this difference between groups late in the second year of life is a sign of later differences in cognitive function is warranted.
While a full-time psychology student at Hunter College of the City University of New York, Natalia Aristizabal obtained extensive research experience as an assistant at the Lucio Bini Mood Disorder Center in New York City in the fall of 2001. She was acknowledged as a scholar of the National Institute of Mental Health Career Opportunities in Research (NIMH-COR) Program in the fall semester of 2002, enabling her to focus on researching psychopathology-particularly mood disorders.
She gained valuable experience during the spring semester of 2003 in the developmental psychopathology lab at Hunter College where she investigated the occurrence of treatment-emergent mania in children under the guidance of Professor Kenneth N. Levy.
Since September 2003, she has been a research assistant at the University of Miami's Psychology Department with Dr. Sheri Johnson as her mentor examining the cognitive correlates of depression and mania, particularly cognitive inhibition of emotionally relevant stimuli. Currently, she is a behavioral health counselor at Passageway Residence of Dade County, a supervised residential care/ day treatment facility that provides case management services to severe and persistently chronic mentally ill clients involved in the criminal justice system. Ms. Aristizabal has applied to several psychology doctoral programs and is planning to start in fall 2004.
Four Leaf Clovers and Rabbit's Foots: The Role of Prior Training in "Superstitious" Behavior
Julia Meyers
Macalester College (MN)
Researchers have long speculated about the basis of pigeons' behavior on a short fixed time (FT) schedule in which the animal receives food every 15 seconds no matter what behavior it is performing. Skinner (1948) first described the pigeons' behavior on this schedule as "superstitious"; he thought the behaviors that appeared on the FT schedule were arbitrary and maintained by coincidental pairings with food. Other researchers hypothesized that behaviors on FT schedules were a form of stimulus substitution (Simmelhag & Staddon, 1971) or a part of a niche related foraging sequence (Timberlake & Lucas, 1985).
The purpose of this experiment was to determine whether prior training would change the behavior that appeared on a subsequent FT schedule. If the behavior after training remained the same as during training, then there may be a role of accidental reinforcement in determining behavior under a FT schedule. If, on the other hand, the behavior shifted into wall directed behavior, part of a niche related foraging strategy, this would be a clear indication that accidental reinforcement is not the primary mechanism driving behavior.
Eight pigeons were trained to turnor approach the back wall of a chamber on a FI-15s, in which the first correct response after 15 seconds was rewarded, and were then placed on a FT-15s schedule while their behavior was tracked every 3 seconds. By day 4 of the FT-15s schedule, five out of eight pigeons drop-ped into the typical pattern seen during a FT schedule of locomotion followed by wall directed behavior at the hopper wall with very little other behavior occurring during the sessions. This indicates the strong role of niche related foraging mechanisms in determining behavior.
Two back wall trained birds' behaviors were altered by the training and began to alternate wall directed behavior at the hopper wall and the glass wall of the chamber. Finally, one bird maintained the trained behavior of turning for 10 sessions before beginning to break down into wall directed behavior.
Prior training seems to have some persisting results on the behavior that occurs during fixed time food presentations, but the fact that all behaviors were eventually replaced by some form of wall directed behavior suggests some kind of niche related foraging mechanism is directing behavior under the FT schedule.
Julia Meyers grew up in Garden City, Kansas, but attends college at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota. She will be graduating from Macalester in May 2004 with a bachelor's degree in psychology. After college, she plans to pursue a PhD in animal learning and behavior. Ms. Meyers has attended three NSF-Research Experience for Undergraduates programs. Currently on the Dean's List for academic excellence, she is the secretary of the local chapter of Psi Chi, and is conducting an independent honor's project entitled "Observational Learning in the Rat." She enjoys playing goalie for the Macalester Women's Ice Hockey Team, bird watching, hiking,and canoeing.
Biofeedback Training of the Right and Left Anterior Cortical Areas in Support of the Motivational Direction Model of Emotion
Marie Osborn
University of Arizona
Recent research has implicated anterior cortical activity in emotion and motivation. The motivational direction model states that the left prefrontal cortex is activated when approach motivated emotions are experienced, and the right prefrontal cortex is activated when withdrawal motivated emotions are experienced.
Individual brain differences at baseline have been found to predict responses to positively and negatively emotionally valenced stimuli. Biofeedback training was used to influence brain activity by increasing right or left frontal cortical activity in right-handed female participants. Participants went through four days of biofeedback training; on the fourth day, participants listened to a radio broadcast designed to incite an anger response. Electro-encephalographic (EEG) activity and blood pressure readings were taken. Results are expected to support the motivational direction model's theory that greater left frontal activity will occur in response to anger-inducing stimuli when training with biofeedback.
Marie Osborn currently attends the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona, and plans to graduate in May 2004 Summa Cum Laude with a bachelor of arts degree in psychology and a minor in Spanish. Ms. Osborn is a McNair Scholar, a member of Golden Key National Honor Society, and webmaster of the University of Arizona's Psi Chi chapter. Ms. Osborn is the 2004 student coordinator of the "One Day at the U of A" photography project and also volunteers her time in her neighborhood garden and with disabled children at Therapeutic Riding of Tucson. She is currently applying to PhD clinical psychology programs around the country with the ultimate goal of teaching and researching at a Research One institution.
Are Friends More Similar Than Non-Friends
Minervia E. Scott
Jackson State University (MS)
The purpose of this study was to find out whether children who are friends are more similar than randomly paired children matched for age and gender. This study used archival data from five elementary schools in a small southeastern city. The sample consisted of 1,437 first to fourth grade children attending ungraded primary classes in combinations of two grades: 1-2, 2-3, and 3-4. Reciprocated "like best" nominations defined a friendship. Two kinds of friendships were identified in these ungraded classrooms: a) friendships between children who were from the same grade level, and b) friendships between children who were in adjacent grade levels.
To address the question of whether friends are more similar than nonfriends, friend and non-friend pairs were examined using multiple methods and reporters. Teachers rated children's problem behaviors and social competence. Children assessed the social behaviors of their fellow classmates and answered questions regarding how much they liked playing with them (peer report). In the final assessment, social information processing, children were shown several provocation vignettes and asked questions regarding what happened, what was the intent of the provocateur, and how they would respond to each situation (self report).
The results indicated that friend pairs who were from the same grade level were significantly more similar than random pairs of same grade children. However, friend pairs who were from adjacent grade levels had far fewer statistically significant areas of similarity. The findings were congruent with the "birds of a feather hypothesis" and support the idea that same-age friends are similar to one another. This research was supported by Kentucky Academy of Sciences Special Grant Program, National Science Foundation Research Opportunities for Undergraduates Program, and Psi Chi's National Science Foundation/Research Experience for Undergraduates Grant Program, and NIMH-COR Grant MH 16926.
Minervia E. Scott is a senior psychology major at Jackson State University and will graduate in May 2005 with bachelor's degrees in both psychology and sociology. In addition to her summer research at Western Kentucky University, Ms. Scott is a first year NIHM-COR Trainee in the NIMH-COR Honors Undergraduate Research Training Program at her school. Currently, she serves as the vice-president of the Jackson State University Psi Chi chapter, assistant secretary of Alpha Mu Gamma, the national honor society in Spanish, and is also an active member of Alpha Chi, the national honor scholarship society. In her free time, Ms. Scott volunteers for crisis hotline, reads, goes to movies, bowls, and spends quality time with her three younger siblings and friends. Upon completing her bachelor of science degree at Jackson State University, she aspires to pursue a PhD in clinical psychology.
Searching for the Serotonin Receptor Subtype that Mediates Circadian Phase Shift Caused by Local Administration of Serotonin Drugs in the Dorsal Raphe
Rachael E. Smith
Westminster College (PA)
Endogenous serotonin and serotonergic drugs have numerous effects on circadian functioning. The current study focuses on circadian phase shifts induced by serotonergic drugs. Previous research in the field of circadian rhythms has shown serotonin drugs that act on the 5-HTiA and/or 5-HT7 receptors result in circadian phase advances in vivo and in vitro. Specifically, the serotonin agonist 5-carboximidotryptamine (5-CT) can induce phase advances when microinjected into the dorsal raphe nucleus of young, male Syrian hamsters (M. auratus).
We investigated the ability of SB269970 (a 5-HT7 receptor-selective antagonist) to block this 5-CT-induced phase shift. SB269970 was microinjected into the dorsal raphe nucleus of male Syrian hamsters 15 minutes before microinjection of 5-CT at zeitgeber time 6 (ZT 6; i.e., 6 h before the usual time of lights off). The animals were kept in constant darkness for 10 days and the daily onsets of each animal's running wheel activity were used to calculate the phase shift induced by each microinjection. Results from this study showed that the 5-CT phase shift is blocked by SB269970. The blocking ability of SB269970 might indicate the 5-HT7 receptor in mediating this particular phase shift. However, SB269970 has similar affinity for the 5-HT7 receptors and 5-HT5A receptors, and the drug 5-CT has a high affinity for 5-HT5A receptors.
To further investigate which specific serotonin receptor subtype (5-HT5A or 5-HT7) is mediating this 5-CT phase shift, we used a strategy to distinguish between these two receptors outlined by Sprouse and colleagues (2001). One of two serotonin receptor antagonists (mesulergine or ritanserin), which have different relative affinities for the 5-HT5A and 5-HT7 receptors, or vehicle, was microinjected before an injection of 5-CT using the same procedure outlined above. Again, the daily onsets of each animal's running wheel activity during 10 days of darkness were used to calculate the phase shift. Results in five hamsters showed that pretreatment ritanserin, which has a similar affinity for both the 5-HT5A and 5-HT7 receptor subtypes, blocked the 5-CT induced phase shifts, but that mesulergine, which has a much higher affinity for the 5-HT5A receptors than the 5-HT7 receptors, did not.
These preliminary results raise the possibility that the 5-HT5A receptors may mediate the phase shifting effect of 5-CT administered in the hamster dorsal raphe. This study is ongoing in the lab of Dr. Marilyn J. Duncan, University of Kentucky, Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, University of Kentucky Medical Center.
Rachael E. Smith is a senior at Westminster College in New Wilmington, Pennsylvania. She is currently pursuing a bachelor's degree in psychology with a minor in religion. Ms. Smith is enrolled in the honors program at Westminster and is in the process of completing her senior honor's thesis. Ms. Smith also acts as service chair of Mortar Board, a senior leadership honorary, as well as president of Westminster's local academic honorary, Pi Sigma Pi. She is a member of the Campus Programming Committee, acts as co-chair of the Committee's annual "Lil' Sibs Weekend," and sits on the executive board of her national social sorority. She also plays in the college wind ensemble and is active in religious life both on Westminster's campus and in the community of New Wilmington. Ms. Smith plans to attend graduate school in pursuit of a PhD in cognitive psychology.