There is a high prevalence of depression in the United States, and the impairment from depression and the impact it has on an individual’s functioning can also be severe. Thus, it is vital to examine the different causes of depression. In this study, I am investigating the effect a sense of belonging has on depressive symptoms by administering questionnaires to participants from the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) study and participants from the University of Washington. MIDUS is a national longitudinal study of different aspects of health and well-being. I am also investigating the moderating effect a strong ethnic identity, specifically ethnic identity for individuals of Asian descent, has on the relationship between a sense of belonging and depression through questionnaires that will be completed by participants from the University of Washington. I am predicting that individuals, both from MIDUS and the University of Washington sample, who have a higher sense of belonging will have a lower level of depressive symptoms. Additionally, I am predicting that participants who have a lower sense of belonging but a strong sense of ethnic identity will have a lower level of depressive symptoms. Regardless of the results, the findings of this study will aid in our understanding of the role of sense of belonging for individuals with depression, and will also shed light on the importance of ethnic identity for minority ethnic groups.

3% of children live with Amblyopia (‘lazy-eye’), a visual disorder where acuity in one eye is poor even with glasses on. Amblyopia includes (1) reduced sensitivity in the amblyopic eye, and (2) interocular suppression, whereby the good eye suppresses the amblyopic eye. Our goal was to develop a method to efficiently characterize both mechanisms. Participants viewed a Gabor stimulus modulating between 0-100% contrast over time through a stereoscope, that presented a different image to each eye. Participants reported perceived contrast over time using a joystick. On each trial, the initial 14 s consisted of binocularly identical gratings modulating at 1/7 Hz, followed by 48 s where the gratings modulated at 1/8 Hz in one eye, and 1/6 Hz in the other. Separately, we measured visual acuity, stereoacuity, contrast sensitivity, the interocular suppression ratio. This method was highly efficient: only 30 min of data were needed to estimate monocular sensitivity and interocular suppression. Another advantage of this approach is that the stimulus is relatively naturalistic – the images in the two eyes are the same, except for the difference in contrast. This is important due to the nature of its binocularity and naturalistic conditions, as this will be the first of its kind - allowing clinicians a better way to assess those with amblyopia. 

The phenomenon of cognitive dissonance is described as the psychological process an individual undergoes when making a decision that involves conflicting beliefs or information. Understandings come mainly from both a biological perspective and a cognitive-behavioral perspective. Studying decision-making at an individual’s cognitive level has applications for the study of complex social processes such as political group action, modern digital communication, and religion. Understanding the phenomenon of cognitive dissonance is important to furthering our understanding of how people both obtain, retain, and replace ideologies. This literature review discusses the long-standing theories of cognitive-dissonance and then goes further to list and contrast criticisms of these paradigms as well as new data gathered on this topic. While the model of cognitive consistency, which is defined as an inherent human motivation to reduce inconsistent beliefs and ideas, is still widely accepted and used in psychology, there are now several challenges to this construct, mainly over the conception of consonance and dissonance and the subsequent processes that follow. These criticisms include the perspective that current methods over-measure processes of cognition that manifest in action, the perspective that people look outward to socially verified opinions and paradigms more than previously accounted for in current and past research, and that the choice process for decision preference is active during or already concluded by the time that subjects are self-aware of any conscious decision-making process. Methods are widely varied in this field and include fMRI, PET, behavior studies involving decision-related attitudes, and specific group case studies that include ethnography. Further research remains to be done regarding cognitive dissonance in both psycho-cultural and neurological contexts, as well as a reexamination of past literature on the topic within cognitive psychology.

Anxiety symptoms are common in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). It is unknown whether the neurobiological origins of comorbid anxiety and ADHD symptoms are shared or distinct. The current study addressed this using an event related electrophysiological potential (ERP) component, the error-related negativity (ERN), which occurs after an individual makes a task error. ERN amplitude has opposite associations with ADHD and anxiety symptoms: it is weaker in association with increased ADHD, but greater in association with increased anxiety. We tested whether 1) anxiety symptoms and ADHD have separate neurobiological origins, indicated by greater anxiety being associated with increased ERN in children with ADHD or 2) anxiety and ADHD symptoms share an origin, as evidenced by no effect of anxiety on ERN in children with ADHD. The current study investigated the association between ERN amplitude and anxiety levels in a sample of 7- to 11-year-olds with ADHD (n = 98) and without (controls; n = 26). Participants completed two ERP tasks of varying difficulty. ERP data were segmented around incorrect task responses, and mean ERN amplitude was extracted. Data on child anxiety and ADHD symptoms was collected via parent report. Linear regression analysis was used to estimate the associations among ERN amplitude, severity of anxiety, and ADHD symptoms. Preliminary results (n = 73) indicated that ADHD symptom severity was associated with smaller ERN amplitude (r =.31, p =.007), but anxiety symptoms were not associated with ERN in the ADHD group. Preliminary results indicated that the ERN is not a marker of anxiety in children with ADHD to the same degree it is in controls. This is consistent with shared neurobiological etiology for ADHD and anxiety symptoms in children, which has clinical implications for conceptualization and treatment of anxiety symptoms in childhood ADHD.

In 2016, women earned 57% of bachelor degrees awarded in the U.S. but only 42% of bachelor’s degrees in the field of mathematics and statistics (U.S. Department of Education, 2018). Math-related careers tend to have higher salaries than other careers (Hira, 2010), meaning that the lower proportion of women receiving mathematics and statistics bachelor’s degrees may be contributing to the gender wage gap. One potential explanation for this lower proportion may be the perception of math as valuing speed over accuracy. Societally, many speed-focused characteristics and activities, such as impulsivity and racing, are associated with masculinity. If this leads women to believe that they are less speed-focused and more accuracy-focused than men, women may avoid a field they view as emphasizing speed more than accuracy. In an ongoing study (target N = 100), undergraduate women and men will be presented with two different student reviews for a math class - one emphasizing the importance of having speed and the other the importance of having accuracy. We predict that women, but not men, will have greater interest in the class emphasizing accuracy than the class emphasizing speed. We also predict that when asked to make a choice between which class to take, women will be more likely to choose the class emphasizing accuracy and men will be more likely to choose the class emphasizing speed. Results will have important implications about the causes of gender gaps in participation in mathematics and possible interventions to reduce these gaps. Future research should investigate the impacts of the perceived value of speed and accuracy on gender gaps in other STEM fields.

Racial microaggressions are subtle manifestations of racial bias. Though they are subtle, they cause tremendous psychological strain for minoritized populations. Prior research from our lab has found four main types of microaggressions: intergroup anxiety, color blindness, objectifying, and negative stereotypes. Intergroup anxiety refers to nervousness about interracial communication, such as being perceived as racist, and often manifests into avoidance of such interactions. Color blindness is the denial of racial identity, saying “I don’t see color” for example, while objectifying is being preoccupied by differences, such as fixating on a Black woman’s hair. Lastly, negative stereotypes are predetermined racial judgements based on known labels like “welfare queen.” In the research study, we sought to understand whether women of color experienced these or other microaggressions while seeking services following domestic violence. A focus group was conducted with advocates, people who provide emotional support and resources for domestic violence survivors, to gather information about their clients’ experiences. From advocate responses, we identified themes that fell into one of our four microaggression categories. In addition, we uncovered a fifth form of microaggression, and found that many survivors reported macroaggressions. This research could inform future training strategies for service providers, and help domestic violence survivors access services without encountering microaggressive racial bias.

Sexual harassment engenders post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, and depression in targets, and disproportionally affects women (vs. men) in the United States. Critically, many harassment cases in the U.S go underreported. For instance, only 25% of women formally report instances of harassment to their employer and less than 20% of women describe sexually harassing behavior at work as “sexual harassment.” The current project explores whether women’s self-perceptions of gender-prototypicality impacts the reporting of sexual harassment. Specifically, it explores whether the extent to which a woman views herself as prototypically feminine promotes the reporting of harassment after it occurs. To begin to explore this hypothesis, we first test whether women can be primed to feel prototypically feminine (vs. masculine; Study 1). Second, we describe our experimental methodology, and predicted results, for testing whether feelings of sexual harassment can be engendered in women in the laboratory. Implications for the reporting and reduction of sexual harassment are discussed, along with theoretical and empirical extensions related women’s individual differences.

The lack of intimacy has long been known to contribute significantly to our mental health and psychosocial adjustment. Empirical research has substantiated strong connections between the fear of intimacy and other mental health problems such as depression. One could expect that the fear of intimacy poses as an obstacle to forming intimate relationships. The lack of such intimate relationships causes the individual to feel lonely and precedes a negative cognition as seen in depressed patients. Many other psychotherapy patients, too, experience intimacy deficits. Not much research has delineated the mechanisms underlying fear of intimacy. Specifically, when we say that we fear intimacy, what do we really mean? In this exploratory research, we are investigating how dyads with different levels of intimacy can possibly interact with each other to derive a certain level of connectedness within the relationship. For example, it is possible that both individuals with high fear of intimacy can still connect well with each other and form a close relationship. What then, in this scenario, is causing the relationship to work? For individuals with different levels of fear of intimacy (i.e., one high, one low), what should we expect to see in terms of connectedness within the dyadic relationship? In this research, we investigate these issues in a sample of 35 dyads (people in ongoing relationships, including friendships, family, and romantic partners) who were recruited for a larger intervention study to improve relationships. We attempt to integrate our findings with what is known from social psychology about relational functioning to explain the interaction of different levels of fear of intimacy within the dyadic relationship. This research advocates the importance of early screening of individuals' fear of intimacy and raising awareness for those at risk of difficult dyadic relationships.

A cardinal feature of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is avoidance of trauma-related stimuli. This avoidance is implicated in the development of PTSD. Other common features of PTSD include anhedonia, a loss of pleasure, as well as anxiety, and problematic substance use. Anhedonia may impact avoidance by decreasing motivation to approach and substance use is conceptualized as a form of avoidance. Trait anxiety is defined as a predisposition to response with feelings of apprehension, dread, and tension. Higher levels of trait anxiety have been found to predict avoidant decisions. The current study investigates the relationship between self-report avoidance and anhedonia, substance use, and trait anxiety. Participants will be recruited through community advertisement as a part of a larger experimental study. Participants will complete self-reports to assess constructs of interest, including the Snaith Hamilton Pleasure Scale (SHAPS), Multidimensional Experiential Avoidance Questionnaire (MEAQ), the Cannabis Use Disorder Identification Test (CUDIT), the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT), and the State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI). We hypothesize higher self-report avoidance will be associated with higher levels of anhedonia, higher substance use, and higher trait anxiety. Through their impact on avoidance, these constructs may help explain why some individuals are more likely to develop psychopathology following trauma. Targeting anhedonia, substance use, and anxiety-related cognitions after traumatic events could lead to decreased avoidance behavior and lower rates of PTSD development overall. Additionally, these constructs could prove to be important secondary clinical targets which help to attenuate avoidance behavior in those with PTSD.

Early home life and classroom environments are crucial to lifelong success. Family structure, opportunities for learning, and socioeconomic status (SES) influence experiences within the home. Further, SES impacts the resources that a student has access to, which can shape academic support and learning opportunities. Factors such as family climate, caregiver occupation and education, and parenting style have been shown to influence academic self-regulation and achievement. Literature has also pointed to the importance of relationships with peers and teachers on academic and social success. Few studies have examined how both of these environments impact student life into adulthood and litte research has explored social success in terms of feelings within interpersonal relationships and self-efficacy. The goal of the present study was to retrospectively explore experiences in the home and school environments throughout formative, developmental years and success later in life. Participants (n = 149) were asked about their family structure, SES, home learning environment (HLE), experiences in three separate academic eras, academic success, feelings in relationships, and self-efficacy. This study fills a paucity in the discussion of academic success by exploring a new measurement tool: the academic ladder, which examines a student's own perception of their achievement in relation to their classmates. Results confirm the impact of early experiences in the home and at school on later academic and social success. Interestingly, caregiver factors do not significantly impact students' interpersonal success as much as relationships with teachers and peers. Results also show that SES does not have an effect on opportunities for learning in the home; however, caregiver educational attainment affects those opportunities. Both HLE and caregiver variables have an effect on self-perceived academic success. Continuing to examine how educational experiences and environmental factors impact students' well-being will help develop intervention programs that best prepare youth to succeed throughout life.

Animals in the natural world rely on sensory information in order to make quick decisions to stay safe. Sometimes a stimulus is paired to a predictable outcome, allowing the animal to make the appropriate response when encountering that stimulus later. However, it seems unlikely that individuals would have to learn, de novo, those stimuli which might signal danger during the first learning opportunity. Laboratory studies of animal fear, however, have largely been done using Pavlovian Fear Conditioning; generating fear by pairing a tone or other benign stimulus with an aversive one—typically a painful footshock. This is problematic. An owl does not hoot three times before it strikes, allowing the prey to form a conditioned response. To explore this innate behavior, we developed a novel, naturalistic approach to fear conditioning that uses a pseudo-predator paired with physical pain to induce fear responses. In this experiment, I trained male and female Long-Evans rats to forage for food pellets in an open space. After training, a fake owl plunged towards the foraging rats while a shock was delivered through subcutaneously implanted wires. Certain groups were presented with a tone or light to pair with the owl and shock, while others received no other predictive stimuli. Additionally, to test the effects of environmental context on their behavior, animals were tested in two chambers that differed in size, lighting, shape, etc. Even after changing foraging contexts, some rats that were never conditioned to fear the tone fled upon its presentation. The visual cue also induced a fear response in rats that were never previously conditioned to fear the light stimulus, but only fled when the shock was presented with the owl. Experiments performed under naturalistic conditions utilizing animals’ innate behaviors will better aid in our understanding of how the brain makes decisions in complex environments

When a child is diagnosed with pediatric cancer, it puts a strain on the whole family, including the marital relationship. However, there is little consensus as to the factors that predict marital adjustment. This proposal examines the relationship between parental emotional styles and marital adjustment in the first year following a pediatric cancer diagnosis. I propose that poorer marital adjustment as well as declines in marital adjustment over the first year of treatment will be predicted by 1) emotion-dismissing philosophies in both men and women and 2) a mismatch in couples' emotion philosophies. These findings would provide insight into the factors that may put the marital dyad at risk, which could inform clinical interventions to better support the families after diagnosis.

I began this project last year as an honors student in the Psychology Department Honors program and under supervision of Dr. Lynn Fainsilber Katz and clinical graduate student, Laina Keim. I independenty discovered a gap in the literature, developed my hypothesis, performed an extensive literature review and wrote a proposal for this this honors thesis. I became a trained and reliable coder for the internationally recognized coding system that is being utilized in this study. This year I have focused on coding our data with our lab team, data analysis with Laina, and now I am writing up results. 

Racial stereotypes can promote and reinforce racial discrimination. While racial stereotypes are often conceptualized along an inferior-to-superior axis, research suggests that in addition to this axis, perceptions of racial groups can also be placed along a foreign-to-American axis, with different racial groups at different levels on each axis. If stereotypes of foreignness are viewed differently than those of inferiority, this model may explain why views on discrimination against racial groups vary based on the specific racial group. We hypothesize that Americans will view stereotypes of perceived cultural foreignness as more acceptable and less discriminatory than stereotypes of perceived inferiority. In two studies (N = 70, 103), UW undergraduates reported that stereotyping someone as foreign because of their race is viewed as more acceptable than stereotyping them as inferior (ps < .05). However, undergraduates did not report discrimination based on perceived foreignness as less discriminatory than discrimination based on perceived inferiority. These results suggest that while racial stereotypes about foreignness are considered more acceptable than racial stereotypes about inferiority, they are viewed as equally discriminatory. However, minority groups may view racial stereotypes differently than Whites, skewing these results. A third study (N = 100) found Whites rated racial stereotypes of foreignness as more acceptable (p < .001), less harmful (p < .001), and more fair (p < .001) than racial stereotypes of inferiority. Understanding how inferior- and foreign-based stereotypes are viewed differently from each other may allow us to understand why some forms of racial discrimination might be viewed as more acceptable to engage in.

Thinking that women are very similar to or very different from men may affect how we judge masculine work cultures and whether women fit well in such places. In study 1, participants (N= 703) primed with gender-similarities showed that women would fit relatively well in a very masculine work culture compared to those primed with gender-differences. Then in study 2, we used the minimal group paradigm to test whether thinking about group-similarities would affect how much people perceive a non-inclusive culture to be problematic. Compared to participants primed with group differences participants primed with group similarities considered the non-inclusive company's culture significantly less problematic. A mediation analysis showed that the perceived fit (for the low-status group) mediates the relationship between similarity beliefs and judgments about the culture. Using the minimal group paradigm as a proxy for gender, this research suggests that thinking about gender-similarities can make people consider masculine work cultures to be less problematic for women. In study 3, we test whether perceived gender similarities for employees in the company will affect how people judge the culture to be problematic for women and people’s support for culture changes. We predict that participants who read the perceived gender similarities will rate the culture to be less problematic and show less support. The potential findings will generate meaningful insights into creating more welcoming work space for different genders in the real world.

Ability has long been an attributed reason as to why certain groups of people are more represented in some STEM fields than others. However, ability is likely not the only factor influencing group representation. In fact, there is an increasing body of literature describing how interest levels may have a larger impact on representation in STEM. The current study used a minimal groups design to investigate how individuals perceive interest and ability between two made up groups (Omes and Veps) as they relate to various STEM fields. This study collected data from University of Washington undergraduate students (N=100) and was administered through an online survey. Participants read one of two made up articles. One article discussed the Omes and Veps as having equal ability by showing equal scores on a standard test in Chemistry or Biology, while the other article portrayed an ability gap between the two groups by showing a lower score for the Veps. In both conditions, the Veps’ significant underrepresentation in the presented field was emphasized. Participants then answered a series of questions to access their opinions about interest and ability relating to the respective field. We predict that participants in the ability gap condition will report both groups as having equal interest in the field. We also predict that participants in the equal ability condition will report the Veps as less interested. Implications of expected findings could be used to explore potential mechanisms explaining unequal gender representation in STEM fields.

Altruism encompasses an ethical principle that places significance on promoting the welfare of someone else, even at a cost to one’s self. In classic studies, young children and nonhuman primates have offered objects or moved items to help others. However, it is unclear whether this is evidence of altruism, because there was low self-cost. A stronger test would be to investigate infants’ willingness to give others high-value objects, such as desirable food. In the new research, we examined whether 19-month-old infants help others by transferring fresh fruit to an adult. This work tested whether infants can act altruistically and the generality of this tendency across trials. Infants (N=96) were randomly assigned to a group, either the experimental group (experimenter accidentally dropped and reached for fruit) or the control group (experimenter intentionally discarded and looked at fruit). In both groups, the fruit started in the experimenter’s hand and landed out-of-reach for the experimenter. Infants’ helpfulness was shown by whether they gave fruit to the experimenter (i.e., banana, grape, blueberry, strawberry). We hypothesized infants would be more likely to help in the experimental than the control group given that past work has shown infants can perceive the goals of others (e.g., reaching for fruit). We analyzed how often infants’ transfer high-value fruit as predicted by group, type of fruit, and test trial. We found that more infants helped in the experimental than the control group; we found that infants helped on the first trial, showing that they readily recognized the experimenter’s need. Infants’ willingness to hand over high-value food suggested that their helping behavior is an early form of altruism. Future research of infant helping behavior could examine the effects of low- versus high-value items on patterns of giving.

Although incarceration is ostensibly designed to punish people for breaking the law, it also punishes their families. The current work focuses on consequences resulting from parental incarceration. We examine the role this factor plays in peers’ moral cognition and pro-social behavior. Younger (5- to 6-year-old) and older (7- to 8-year-old) children rated the extent to which they viewed peers with or without an incarcerated parent as holding certain moral beliefs. Both groups of children were more certain that peers with, versus without, an incarcerated parent were less knowledgeable about morality. However, this effect was strongest among older children. This suggests that negativity toward children of incarcerated parents is socially reinforced and that children whose parents are imprisoned may face different peer responses depending on their age. Further, regardless of age, participants shared more resources with the peer whose parent was not incarcerated compared to the peer with an incarcerated parent. Taken together, these data clarify children’s moral cognition and pro-social behavior. They also shed light on the social realities that children of incarcerated parents may face.

Worldwide, there are 153 million orphaned children, and in addition to the trauma of losing a parent, they are also at greater risk for additional traumatic exposure. Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) is proven effective to improve mental health outcomes for trauma-exposed youth in low and middle-income countries (LMIC), however there is a need for implementation strategies to support the adoption and sustained use of mental health interventions in LMIC with limited mental health services. Hence, this study aims to describe implementation strategies used by lay counselors to support the implementation of TF-CBT in school and community settings in Western Kenya. “Pamoja Tunaweza” (PT), a version of TF-CBT adapted to address posttraumatic stress symptoms among orphaned children in Kenya, was delivered by lay counselors, including community health volunteers (CHV) and teachers. After the first year of implementation, stakeholders identified different implementation strategies necessary to implement TF-CBT. Lay counselors and leaders, including Community Health Extension Workers (CHEW) and Head Teachers, developed strategy recommendations to guide future sites implementing TF-CBT. Supervisors (N=5) and a subset of lay counselors (N=10) and leaders (N=10) from the initial sites conducted 6 coaching meetings with subsequent sites initiating TF-CBT delivery. New sites included schools (N=5) and communities (N=5) consisting of CHV (N=15) and teacher (N=15) counselors and their leaders (N=10). During meetings, participants selected implementation strategies from recommendations to develop work plans to support TF-CBT implementation. Work plans and follow-up forms measured the actor carrying out each strategy, temporality, frequency, adaptations, and completion rate of each strategy. Descriptive statistics will be used to describe the characteristics of strategies. Measuring and describing implementation strategies may improve research on methods to enhance implementation and aid organizations in applying strategies to adopt and sustain evidence-based practices. Ultimately, this may improve effective mental health services for children living in LMIC.

The hippocampus (HPC) and lateral habenula (LHb) work together to guide flexible responding as one’s environment changes. The HPC plays a critical role in learning and remembering events. While the LHb has been shown to encode information about rewards and aversive events, it also enables flexible responding during HPC-dependent tasks. Therefore, we hypothesized that the LHb and HPC communicate during choices, as this should be when the two structures combine reward information and spatial memory to make a decision. It is generally thought that brain structures are communicating when their neural oscillatory activity is coupled. Thus, we measured the activity of large populations of cells in the LHb and HPC while rats performed a spatial memory task. We expected to see higher coherence of oscillatory activity during choices than during other phases of the task, as this would suggest the HPC and LHb are interacting to process reward information and spatial memory in a flexible manner. However, our preliminary results showed that the population activity recorded in the LHb is likely inherited from the HPC by volume conduction, which means that the LHb oscillation is not locally generated. A future direction is to improve our recording method and investigate single-cell characteristics in the LHb with respect to hippocampal oscillations. Overall, this work is important because it guides future steps for studying the communication between the LHb and HPC, which could provide insights on pathological conditions where a person is unable to flexibly respond in a changing context (such as in depression, addiction, or memory disorders). Therefore, future findings from our research may have important clinical applications, with the potential to inform and improve upon existing interventions for disorders of memory and mood.

The network model of memory proposes that concepts are linked together in the mind. When a concept is activated in the mind (e.g., “ocean”), this activation spreads to semantically, or meaning, related concepts (e.g., “boat”), making them easier to recognize. Expanding on this model, the present study investigated whether concepts presented without conscious awareness could still facilitate faster recognition of semantically related stimuli. Participants first completed a rating task, where they rated how much they liked a word, and then completed a lexical decision task, where they decided if a string of letters was a real word or not. In both tasks, some words were related to the concept “school”. Thus, the goal of the rating task was to implicitly prime, or unconsciously activate, the concept and make recognition of “school”-related words in the lexical decision task easier. Participants were not informed of the relationship between the tasks. We found that implicitly primed words (words related to the concept “school”) had faster reaction times and higher accuracy in the lexical decision task than words that were not primed (not related to the concept “school”). Our results expand on the network model, providing evidence that priming can elicit easier word recognition even when a participant lacks conscious awareness of the priming and when there is a time delay between the prime and target. This provides a potential mechanism for how our behavior is affected by the stimuli we encounter in everyday life, without us knowing it.

A recent neuroimaging study suggests that early blind (EB) individuals have enhanced auditory frequency selectivity within auditory areas in the brain. Some previous studies have found that early blind (EB) individuals have enhanced pitch discrimination abilities compared to sighted controls but these results were not been replicated in later studies. Here, we measured performance in two types of auditory frequency task: one designed to tap into early stages of processing near the cochlea (notch task) and the other thought to reflect early stages of cortical processing (pitch task), within the same EB and SC individuals. The two groups were carefully matched in their age and musical training, since musicians have enhanced pitch perception. In the notch task, participants detected the presence of a target tone (1200 Hz) among simultaneously presented two filtered noise bands. We manipulated the notch width (i.e., the frequency separation between the two noise bands) to probe frequency selectivity. In the pitch task, participants judged whether two tones (500-1200 Hz), presented consecutively, were rising or falling in pitch. For each task they completed three blocks to see the effects of learning. Preliminary results show that, overall, there was no difference between EB and SC for either of the tasks. In the pitch task, both of the groups became better in pitch discrimination with more blocks, but there was no significant difference between EB and SC individuals. The results suggest that the neural differences found in auditory cortex of EB individuals may reflect more complex auditory processes then those that underlie either the notch or the pitch task.

Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is associated with severe alcohol-related harm, especially in vulnerable populations. People experiencing homelessness comprise one such population that is disproportionately affected by AUD and its sequelae. Although traditional abstinence-based treatment does not adequately reach or engage this population, a growing body of research has indicated that harm-reduction treatment may present an efficacious alternative. Harm-reduction treatment uses a compassionate and pragmatic approach to help people who use substances and their communities reduce substance-related harm and improve quality of life without requiring abstinence or even use reduction. Primary components of harm-reduction treatment for AUD can include medication-assisted treatment alongside counseling, in which interventionists assess and track harm-reduction metrics, help patients set harm-reduction goals, and discuss safer-use strategies. Studies that have implemented safer-use strategies, or means of staying safer and healthier even if patients are drinking, have shown efficacy in reducing alcohol-related harm. However, no studies to date have explored the associations between implementation of safer-use strategies and alcohol-related harm in people experiencing homelessness and AUD. This secondary study (N=213) was conducted in the context of a larger randomized controlled trial (N=308) of harm-reduction pharmacological and behavioral treatments with people experiencing homelessness and AUD. We aim to quantitatively and qualitatively describe treated patients’ engagement with safer-use strategies over the three-month treatment course and examine the longitudinal association between safer-use strategies and alcohol-related harm. We expect to see inverse associations between the application of safer-use strategies and alcohol-related harm. These findings may help clinicians and counselors better understand what kinds of safer-use strategies are most commonly endorsed by this population and their relative contribution to the reductions in alcohol-related harm and improvements in quality of life observed in the context of harm-reduction treatment with people experiencing homelessness and AUD.