Psychology Undergraduate Honors Theses

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/25221

The PSYC Honors Program allows advanced students to collaborate directly with a faculty mentor to complete an original research project. Results from honors projects have been reported in scientific journals and presented at professional conferences. PSYC Honors includes two terms of independent study courses with the mentor, culminating in a written thesis report and a poster presentation. Successful program participants are awarded an honors designation at graduation (B.S. degree “with honors”).

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Exploring Differences in Hippocampal Structure between Habitual vs Non-habitual Nappers during Early Childhood
(2020) Meredith, Lena; Riggins, Tracy
When we sleep, our memories are consolidated and become less vulnerable to interference, both during overnight sleep and during naps. Previous research in adults suggests this effect is at least partially due to a “transfer” of these memories from the hippocampus to the cortex. Although a similar process likely takes place in young children, there is little research investigating it. The existing literature suggests habitually napping children may need naps more than non-habitually napping children because their brain is less mature. This study aims to examine relations between habitual versus non-habitual nappers and brain development in early childhood. The focus was on the hippocampus, a structure that is critical for memory and shows protected development during early childhood. At the time of this report, 21 children provided useable data (Mage = 4.49 years, SD = 0.51, 9 female). Of these participants, 8 were habitual nappers and 13 were non-habitual nappers. Hippocampal volumes were extracted using a combination of manual and automated methods. Results revealed in the left hippocampal tail, habitual nappers had larger volumes compared to non-habitual nappers. Although these are preliminary results and do not survive correction for multiple comparisons, the findings support that variation in hippocampal development may relate to nap status in developing children. Future research will examine a larger sample size and investigate other brain regions to determine the specificity of these effects.
Relations between Memory Measures and Hippocampal Volumes in Early Childhood
(2020-05) Fine, Carli; Riggins, Tracy
The phenomenon of childhood amnesia, in which only a mere fraction of childhood experiences is remembered, may be due to changes in the underlying neural mechanisms supporting memory. However, this assumption is largely based on measures of memory from lab-based tasks, which show relations with specific brain areas. It is unclear whether tasks in the lab used to measure childhood memory skills map onto children’s memory for experiences in everyday life. This study aimed to address this gap by investigating the potential relation between two different tasks completed by 200 4- to 8-year-old children. Specifically, children completed both a rich, open-ended autobiographical interview examining children’s recall for real-world events, and a controlled, laboratory-based assessment that examines children’s memory for temporal order. This study assessed whether both/either tasks show 1) age-related differences, 2) relations to each other, and 3) relations to the volume of the hippocampus, a neural structure thought to be critical for memory. Results indicated that performance on both tasks show positive age-related differences, and relations to each other. However, neither task was related to the hippocampus. Overall, this work contributes new knowledge regarding memory development by examining the extent to which naturalistic versus laboratory-based tasks similarly measure children’s developing memory abilities, and suggests important avenues of future research.
Social Networks and Fears of Stigma by Association with the LGBTQ+ Community
(2024) Guberman, Lucas; Lemay, Edward P. Jr.
Members of the LGBTQ+ community face unjust stigma and discrimination. People may not want to associate with members of this community due to fear that their association will cause them to be similarly stigmatized, termed fears of stigma by association. The purpose of the current research is to examine whether fears of stigma by association mediate the relationship between indirect contact and microaggressions towards members of the LGBTQ+ community. The results of this study point to reduced fears of stigma-by-association as a novel mechanism through which intergroup contact improves intergroup relations. However, there was no significant relationship found between fears of stigma by association and microaggressions. These results suggest people with inclusive social networks may be more accepting of the LGBTQ+ community because they are less fearful of being stigmatized by their network members.