This project examines developmental atypical patterns of visual attention in infants in relation to Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Research in this area could help identify additional, specific risk groups or factors that could facilitate focused research that translates to real-world applications. Specifically, this project examines how cognitive development relates to visual attention to faces versus activities at 12 and 24 months of age among different birth weight groups. Developmental scores will be evaluated through data collected using: the Mullen Scales of Early Learning (Mullen), a developmental test measuring cognitive and motor development, and the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales (Vineland), a caregiver-interview measuring child adaptive skills. Visual attention will be quantified using eye tracking data which measured proportions of looking towards faces versus activities in social scenes. Participants in the lab were split into two groups, low birth weight and regular birth weight, and were seen by researchers at both 12 months and 24 months. Mullen, Vineland, and eye tracking tests were conducted at both timepoints. Science shows that as infants grow, they focus less on faces and more on the activities they are doing. I anticipate similar effects in eye tracking, with increasing age associated with a higher mean difference in preference for activities versus faces. Uniquely, I hypothesize that the strength of the relationship between looking at activities and developmental skills will be greater at 24 months than it will be at 12 months, and the opposite will be true for looking at faces. We will test our hypotheses on a linear regression model that predicts developmental skills from factorial effects of time point, birth weight, and region of eye tracking preference. This project hopes to seek to understand the interaction between birth weight, age, and attentiveness to faces versus activities as they relate to developmental skills.

During childhood, elements of episodic memory develop at a different pace. Children show greater difficulty with temporal memory (e.g., when things happened) as opposed to location memory (e.g., where things happened). In a previous experiment, we explored whether the development of the mental timeline influences temporal memory. Children who spontaneously arranged the temporal order of events in a linear order had performed significantly better temporal, but not location, memory than children who made nonlinear arrangements. In this experiment, we explore whether priming children with an active spatiotemporal priming task could encourage the use of the mental timeline to represent temporal order. In the priming phase, children watch a cartoon character that visits nine distinct places around the world. As they listen, children place icons that represent each event, either in a left-to-right linear orientation or random orientations, on a board. Next, to assess the effectiveness of the priming task, children watch animated videos of characters engaging in unique activities in unique locations. They are asked questions regarding where and when these events occurred. In a previous version of the priming task, which was conducted virtually, we found no influence of the priming condition on temporal memory accuracy. We predict that by incorporating an active motor component in the priming task (e.g., physically placing icons on a board), children will better apply the linear mental timeline framework in subsequent memory tasks. Our study will give insight into the malleability of memory, provide support for previous research that highlights the impact of motor coordination on learning, and inform us about the interactions between the development of mental representations of time and temporal memory.

There are two main verb categories that exist in all human languages, manner and path. Manner verbs have information regarding how a subject moves (e.g., shoot and swim) whereas path verbs contain information about the direction of movement (e.g., enter and rise). Whether a language is categorized as manner or path depends on which verb class is the majority in a language; manner languages contain more manner verbs (e.g., English and German) and path languages contain more path verbs (e.g., Turkish and Spanish). Past studies have shown that individuals tend to verbally construct motion events through sentences using verbs that fall into the major verb category in their language. To investigate how verb type affects motion event saliency, manner language speakers (English monolinguals) and manner and path language speakers (Spanish-English bilinguals) will participate in a linguistic encoding task followed by a memory task which reflects the saliency of the motion event. Participants will be asked to read paragraphs with an embedded target motion event phrase constructed with either path or manner verbs then will select images that correspond with the target phrases. Here, memory reflects the saliency of the motion event. The easier the target motion event is to remember (indicated by higher memory task scores), the higher its saliency. I hypothesize that English monolinguals will score higher on the memory test when the target phrase is manner-framed rather than path-framed, demonstrating higher motion event saliency when common verbs in a speaker’s language are used. I also predict that Spanish-English bilinguals will display path/manner indifference due to familiarity with both language types, scoring similarly on the memory test for path and manner verb conditions. This study will provide a better understanding of what factors influence motion event saliency to further the understanding of how language interacts with motion conceptualization.

One-on-one interviews will be conducted with mixed-race individuals from the Seattle area which will give us the personal stories and histories of individuals not typically heard from which we will then transcribe and encode. We will search for patterns on who storytellers tend to be (grandparents, aunts/uncles, etc.) as well patterns about the methods that stories were told through, and how those differing methods impact how participants identify today, as well as how that affects how they interact with the world around them. These will be used to draw conclusions about how having multiple methods of storytelling influences identity formation. We expect to find that non-white parents and grandparents tend to be the people to pass on ways of being, and that mixed race adults believe that although they may have experienced discrimination due to their mixed identity, the insight gained from having a mixed background is overall beneficial. We also expect to find that there may be a tendency to identify more with other mixed people rather than people of any of their discrete ethnicities or races. Thoughtful research and discussion of mixed-race identities can reduce the stigma of being mixed race, making studies like these relevant and necessary. This research will positively contribute to the overall scholarly community by providing information into diverse identify formation, as well as benefit individual participants by providing them a safe space to share their history.
 

The purpose of this project is to evaluate the impact that traditional Confucian ideas of filial piety still have on the current family values of East Asian individuals in the U.S. I explore the differences between collective and individualistic ideals originating from both Asian and American traditions, and how women in Confucian households had a hand in shaping these values throughout history. The project includes several steps: 1. I provide a literature review summarizing studies on the roles of men and women within traditional Confucian households; 2. I show how these relationships and roles were shaped by filial piety and formed into Confucian familial dynamics; 3. I conduct interviews with UW experts – Emeritus Professor Michael Kalton (Confucian Philosophy) and Professor Margaret Griesse (Gender Studies); 4. I transcribe and analyze the interviews to evaluate the importance of the five relationships of Confucianism and compare roles between women in contemporary and Confucian societies. Based on the literature review and the interview responses, I arrive at two conclusions: first, that Confucianism emphasizes interpersonal harmony, so the goals of individuals are realized in the process of achieving the goals of the collective; secondly, that the principle of filial piety from Confucian philosophy influenced contemporary society, partly utilizing the roles of women in ancient Confucian society and their connection to the household. The findings of this research will help to understand the critical intersection traditional values have on current society, familial dynamics, and the connection of contemporary women to traditional Confucian household dynamics.

Despite the abundance of research surrounding the influence of organized religion on emotional well-being and the sense of community, women in Spanish-speaking Christian churches have been overlooked. In most churches, women are treated differently than men and are less likely to hold leadership positions, yet, previous research findings imply high religiosity is positively associated with well-being among women. However, Spanish-speaking religious communities have notably different cultures than the largely white church communities that previous studies focused on. My aim with this research is to understand how gender impacts the relationship between religion, emotional well-being, and sense of community outside the previously studied, predominantly white populations. The cultural differences between white and Spanish-speaking religious communities are numerous, these differences may lead to different outcomes. This study investigated whether the results of the previous studies would be the same within Spanish-speaking churches. This study used qualitative semi-structured interviews with women (lasting 15-45 minutes), in private settings within their churches. These interviews were transcribed and patterns that emerged among the women were coded. I selected churches using non-probability sampling and snowball sampling to recruit women within the identified churches. My hypothesis suggests that women within Spanish-speaking Christian churches experience a better state of well-being and a strong sense of community despite being treated differently than men. Understanding how religious institutions can have positive effects on marginalized identities allows for those institutions to be used as safe spaces where one might do outreach, engagement, and design interventions in ways that might be more effective than through other social institutions such as schools or hospitals.