Patients with Type 2 diabetes have insulin resistance, which continues to manifest as hyperglycemia and results in the cells failure to absorb insulin. Insulin resistance in the brain affects cognitive abilities such as learning, memory and also alters synaptic plasticity. The purpose of this study is to investigate cognitive impairments in rodent models of T2 diabetes. Minimal doses of streptozotocin (STZ), which is toxic to insulin producing beta cells, were given for 9-10 weeks. Once glucose levels reached above 250mg/dl which is considered indicative of a hyperglycemic state similar to Type 2 diabetes injections would stop. Weights were takes consistently for appropriate injection volume. We utilized a spatial working memory task known as delayed alternation to test cognitive impairments. We found a significance between control and experimental rats in working memory accuracy using a one-way ANOVA p=.05. Similar to diabetic patients, we saw weight fluctuations in experimental rats, but weights were stable for the control group. This type of task requires strong working memory demands on subjects, which may be compromised by a hyperglycemic state. Additionally, previous research shows that elevated glucose levels and chronic neuroinflammation are also found in Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients. Neuroinflammation might be a pathological similarity in the progressions of Type 2 diabetes and AD.

Anorexia nervosa (AN) is characterized by severe dietary restriction that results in significant malnourishment and weight loss. Regions in the brain related to appetitive drives and interoceptive awareness could be key biological factors that contribute to this severe dietary restriction. The insular cortex may be a particularly important region, as it is thought to be involved in a neural network that processes gustation and the integration of emotional valence with visceral input. A systematic review was conducted to explore links between AN and the insula using the following inclusion criteria: peer-reviewed fMRI studies that incorporated only adult samples of the AN population, were published in the last ten years, and measured activation in response to food-related stimuli. Eleven fMRI studies that addressed patients with current or past anorexia nervosa and the insula met inclusion criteria and were reviewed for qualitative analysis. Studies used a range of different methods, including different task paradigms, making it difficult to make between-study comparisons. Thus, although the insular cortex has been linked in the past to AN, if or how the insular cortex is implicated in restrictive eating in AN remains unclear. Additional studies are needed to clarify links between the insular cortex and AN to distinguish between disturbances that are present during the ill-state versus those that may occur prior to illness onset or following recovery. Studies that use larger sample sizes from both ill and recovered groups with AN will be necessary to further elucidate the potential insula dysregulation in AN and its role in food motivation.

Listeners perceive foreign speech as faster than native speech, even when both are the same speed. This phenomenon is called the ‘Gabbling Foreigner Illusion.’ This illusion may occur because language-specific experience is necessary to temporally parse speech into intelligible units as it unfolds over time. Similarly, one study reported that people tap faster to music that is culturally unfamiliar than to music that is culturally familiar. Like the gabbling foreigner illusion, lack of cultural expertise with music might interfere with listeners’ capacity to find temporal units (the beat), leading them to perceive the tempo of the music as faster. We directly addressed the question of whether listeners are less accurate at perceiving the beat and tempo of culturally unfamiliar music as compared to culturally familiar music by asking them to rate the tempo of music from various cultures (West African, American, Indian, Turkish, and Latin). Musical excerpts were presented in pairs and listeners chose which of the two was faster. We also asked listeners to tap along to the music and examined if their tapping speed corresponds to their perceptual judgments of tempo. We hypothesize that listeners systematically rate culturally unfamiliar music as faster than familiar music, suggesting that listeners experience a “gabbling foreigner illusion” for music. In summary, this research is a first step towards investigating how our culture-specific experiences influence our temporal perception of music.

Within the dimensions of temperament, effortful control (EC) is the ability to regulate urges over certain actions and adapt to the demands of an environment.  EC is salient to study for its contributions to socio-emotional development, regulations, and child adjustment. It is instrumental to further examine the role of EC as it allows the caretaker to handle the child and take actions to alleviate their undesired dilemma. In this secondary correlational study, we examined the positive association between children’s (N= 301) EC levels from kindergarten to second grade and adjustment to school, including their academic performance and peer relationship quality. Measures include reports from both parents and teachers of children’s peer relationship, effortful control, the relative level of chaos in the classroom, and children’s standardized assessment of academic achievement. We analyzed whether classroom chaos based on teacher reports modified the relations between EC and children’s adjustment. We predict that for children in low chaos classrooms, EC would correlate to stronger academic performance than for children in high chaos classrooms. For children in high chaos classrooms, we predict that EC has a stronger association to peer relationships than children in low chaos classrooms.

As the nation openly confronts the issue of sexual violence, black women remain confined to the periphery. The emergence of the #MeToo movement continues a centering of white women, most evident in the displacement and erasure of the founder of the movement. While this is just one example, it speaks to a larger history of dehumanization and erasure that renders the victimization of black women as illegible. Through the hyper sexualization of black women, which makes their victimization impossible, and systemic erasure, victims of sexual violence and black women have become a contradiction of terms. In my project I utilize discourse analysis of media representations and interviews with young black women who are sexual assault victims to offer a critical analysis of public conversations about the epidemic of sexual violence on college campuses, focusing on the #MeToo Movement and the lack of media coverage surrounding Daniel Hotzclaw. Through this study, I show how these public discourses contributed to the erasure of black female survivors and, ultimately, a lack of justice and support for these women. This research seeks to better understand reporting methods for young women of color in a rural area, the varying types of sexual assault experiences, accountability of sexual assault perpetrators, the importance of non-profit organizations as means of social support, and the impact of a lack of visibility and resources for sexual assault victims who are minority women. By examining the lack of media and literature coverage of rape and sexual assault against black women, my project aims to identify the faults within sexual assault reporting methods and increase support for black women survivors.

The ease at which we appear to recognize and assess faces belies the difficulty underlying face recognition. Faces possess similar features (i.e. eyes, nose, mouth), yet we are able to identify separate individuals based on their featural configuration (i.e. T-shaped arrangement of features). Prior research using fMRI shows that featural and configural information is processed in different face-specific brain regions. Evidence suggests that the FFA responds to both featural and configural information, compared to the OFA and fSTS, which only respond to featural modification. However, precise response time of featural and configural face processing is unknown. Featural processing may occur before configural processing, or configural processing may occur before featural processing; conversely, they may occur simultaneously. Using a 2x2 factorial design we assessed the effects of changes in featural information, configural information, as well the interaction between the two. Participants saw four versions of a face: intact faces, faces with removed features, faces with distorted configuration, and faces with both modifications. Stimuli were presented while the brain activity of subjects was recorded using electroencephalography (EEG). This study specifically looked at temporal changes in a face-specific event related potential (ERP) called the N170, which consistently fires when presented with anything that resembles a face. We assessed the magnitude of the N170 to determine whether the face-processing brain regions explicitly processed information regarding features and configuration. In addition, timing of face-processing was assessed to detect any differences in how long it took the brain to process faces with featural or configural modifications. We tied together evidence from fMRI (spatial) and the N170 (temporal) to see how precise timing and location interact in the brain during face perception of facial features and feature configuration.

Individuals experiencing homelessness show higher rates of substance abuse than housed individuals, and religious organizations provide many of the recovery services available to these populations. Religious affiliation has reduced substance use, helped individuals manage stressors, and allowed individuals to build relationships around common values. This study investigated the role of religion in recovery in homeless populations. Fourteen individuals (9 men, 5 women, ages 23-69) in recovery programs completed 40-60 minute interviews. Participants answered questions about their substance history, recovery process, religious beliefs, ideas of self, and community. Interviews were transcribed and coded, and emerging thematic frameworks were created. Three raters re-coded interview transcripts according to the frameworks. Participant responses suggest that religion played an individual and social role in supporting recovery. Participants’ descriptions of their substance use history revealed issues behind their addiction and how their faith may have resolved those issues in recovery. Most individuals began using at a young age, and were motivated to use to cope with life stressors. In discussing positive aspects of faith, participants mentioned improved ideas of self, including newfound gratitude and sense of purpose in helping others. Participants credited their religion with providing a new set of coping skills, sense of structure, and set of morals for making decisions; some mentioned being able to “rely on God’s timing” and others mentioned being able to focus on “obedience to God.” Community appeared to play a significant role, within and outside the religious context. Participants stated that their faith community provided an ingroup of people sharing common values, enhancing their ability to trust. They noted that community offered opportunities for mentorship and mutual support. Other positive factors outside of faith included the opportunity for self-reflection. Themes in participants’ responses align with existing literature on individual and social benefits of religion, suggesting that protective aspects of religion extend to homeless populations.

Immigrants experience many challenges prior to arriving in the United States and face ongoing challenges associated with migration and the assimilation process. Despite the multiple challenges and difficulties, immigrant people show enormous strength, courage, and self-determination. Resilience is defined as the process of moving forward from adversity, developing new skills and creative ways of coping and becoming stronger. I conducted a systematic literature review, using key terms such as immigrant, asylum seekers, coping mechanisms, and resilience. I incorporated multidisciplinary lenses including psychology and sociology to identify and understand the major contributors to immigrants’ resilience as well as major factors that hinder resilience. Research suggests factors such as family strength, cultural and community support; religiosity and spirituality help to build resilience. In contrast, factors such as language barriers, discrimination, punitive policies and the labeling of trauma by experts are known to hinder resilience. The research implies that the experts lack awareness of their labeling and understanding of trauma stories. Additionally, studies suggest that contrary to popular beliefs, immigrant people are resilient and motivated, and value education and hard work. Further research in methods of developing policy systems that support and facilitate resilience is desperately needed.

Researchers have defined shyness as a detrimental emotion that may cause dysfunction in one’s life. With the increasing use of technology in daily life, interpersonal communication is becoming limited and linked with the atrophy of social skills and negative academic outcomes. The nature and implementation of our survey includes the Henderson/Zimbardo Shyness Questionaire and other self-made scales. To build on the findings of this topic, we explored whether shyness is related to various types of technology use (i.e., internet use, video games, social media use, dating application use, and pornography use). The correlations between shyness and different types of technology use is currently being investigated in two-year college students. Results are still being collected, yet the preliminary findings indicate that there is a significant relationship found between shyness and addictive behavior to the internet and social media. Correlation analyses demonstrated a significant positive correlation between shyness and technology use, where those with higher levels of shyness also scored high on internet addiction. Shyness was also positively correlated with more self-reported hours spent on social media and overall high social media use. No significant correlations were found between shyness and dating application use, video games, or pornography use. These preliminary findings highlight the impact of shyness on how college students spend their lives online, which may in turn increase feelings of isolation and inhibition. Future research should examine how these relationships may impact their social lives, academics, and other areas of college students’ lives.

Because emotional intelligence (EI) – an individual’s awareness and control over their emotions – is associated with healthy social relationships and positive mental health (Austin, 2005; Martins, 2010), we hypothesized that EI would be positively correlated with relationship quality and negatively correlated with self-silencing. To test our hypothesis, we examined the associations between EI, self-expression, and satisfaction in romantic and non-romantic relationships in 35 college students (N(males)=7, N(females)=28, M(age)=23 [SD=7.45]). We ran bivariate correlations between EI (EI Scale, Schutte et al. 1998) and self-silencing, relationship satisfaction (Buhrmester, 2002), friendship quality (Parker & Asher, 1993), co-rumination with friends (Rose, 2002), and self-silencing in romantic relationships (Jack & Dill, 1992). Significant positive correlations were found between EI and approval received from friends (r=.66, p<.001,) validation from friends (r=.39, p=.04), co-rumination (r=.54, p=.003), and intimacy between friends (r=.41, p=.03). A significant negative correlation was found between EI and self-silencing in a relationship (r=-.40, p=.03). Data collection is currently ongoing, however, these preliminary findings suggest that individuals with high levels of EI are able to form more satisfactory and more intimate relationships. It also underscores the importance of EI in healthy socialization among adults. In the future, we plan to examine how EI can impact the academic success of college students and its influence on the development of healthy lifestyle habits during emerging adulthood.