Office of Undergraduate Research

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Emphasizing equitable and inclusive access to research opportunities, the University of Maryland's Office of Undergraduate Research (OUR) empowers undergraduates and faculty to engage and succeed in inquiry, creative activity, and scholarship. This collection includes materials shared by undergraduate researchers during OUR events. It also encompasses materials from Undergraduate Research Day 2020, Undergraduate Research Day 2021, and Undergraduate Research Day 2022, which were organized by the Maryland Center for Undergraduate Research.

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Author: search.filters.author.Redcay, ElizabethSubject: search.filters.subject.Psychology

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Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
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    Relations between Social Motivation and Gaze Behavior in Autistic and Non-Autistic Adolescents
    (2025) Plastino, Sofia; McNaughton, Kathryn; Redcay, Elizabeth; Redcay, Elizabeth
    Autistic individuals experience challenges in their social interactions. One factor that may underlie these challenges is social motivation, which may also be related to variations in eye contact. Perspectives on this relation consist of several mixed views, potentially due to the fact that most research has been done in static, non-real world settings. My research uses mobile eye-tracking to bridge this gap by analyzing gaze patterns in individuals from three different dyad types: N-AUT (Non-autistic)-N-AUT (n = 37), AUT (Autistic)-N-AUT (n = 24), and AUT-AUT (n = 6), with a total of 67 participants, exploring the link between gaze-to-face behavior and social motivation during live interactions. I hypothesize that there will be a significant positive correlation between gaze and social motivation. The visit my research focuses on simulates a real-world environment, allowing better assessment of the underlying aspects of peer social interactions. It consists of both an interactional and individual section. Throughout the duration of the interaction, both participants of the dyad are wearing eye-tracking glasses, which I will use to quantify their gaze-to-face behavior. To assess social motivation, I am focusing on an individual task, which uses money as a reward. In the task, the participant is given options to choose between learning more about their partner, other kids their age, or trivia facts. I am measuring social motivation by comparing the percentage of time participants select trivia over their partner, and other kids over their partner. Once all data is collected, I will assess the correlation between gaze-to-face behavior and social motivation, furthering understanding of their link in a real-world setting.
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    Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia Differences in Autistic and Nonautistic Youth
    (2024) Zawatsky, Julia; Yarger, Heather; Redcay, Elizabeth; Yarger, Heather; Redcay, Elizabeth
    Respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) represents the activity of the vagus nerve and is an indicator of parasympathetic activity. Low levels of RSA at rest indicate blunted parasympathetic activity. Porges’ Polyvagal Theory suggests that vagus nerve activity is linked to one’s ability to regulate their physiological states and social behaviors (Porges, 2007). Many studies have shown that there is a difference in RSA values between autistic and nonautistic individuals, which is thought to be connected to weakened stress responses and a decreased ability to adapt in social situations (Cheng, 2020). While these studies have shown that these two groups differ at rest, many of them lacked ecological validity as they were conducted in a laboratory setting. Thus, our research question aimed to answer if there are differences in RSA at baseline between autistic and non autistic adolescents in a more ecologically valid setting using data collected in participants' homes. Twenty-two (11 autistic, 11 nonautistic) youth,Mage 12.9 years (SD=0.85) participated in the current study. Participants were asked to wear a Zephyr Bioharness and biomodule that gathered physiological data including heart rate and breathing rate for around 10 minutes for 1-3 timepoints in a home setting. We then processed the data into RSA values. Using an independent sample t-test, we found that there were significant differences in RSA values between the two groups. Specifically, autistic adolescents were found to have lower RSA during at-home baselines relative to the nonautistic group (t=3.247, p= <0.01). Our study produced similar results as previous research, but in a more ecological setting.
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    Amygdala Volume and Social Reward in Children with and without Autism Spectrum Disorder
    (2020) Kiely, Matthew; Yarger, Heather; Merchant, Junaid; Redcay, Elizabeth; Redcay, Elizabeth; Yarger, Heather
    Social interaction is a vital part of our everyday life and while there have been many studies that have helped elucidate both the neural components and extrinsic factors of these processes, it is still something that is not completely understood. This is especially relevant to those with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), as they are often characterized as having social processing deficits. Social cognition is one of the many functions associated with the limbic system, along with reward and emotion processing. Previous studies have shown that social interaction is rewarding and has been shown to activate regions in the limbic system (Warnell et al., 2017). The amygdala is a region included in social/reward circuitry within the limbic system, such that larger amygdala volumes have been associated with higher connectivity within these regions (Bickart et al., 2012). There have not been previous studies to our knowledge assessing how amygdala volume and social reward sensitivity may vary together, motivating the current study. Therefore, this study aims to assess how social reward relates to amygdala volume in 49 children (ASD = 21, TD = 31) aged 8 to 14 with and without a diagnosis of ASD. Social reward will be assessed using the Prosocial Interactions and Sociability subscales of the Social Reward Questionnaire (SRQ; Foulkes et al., 2014). Amygdala volumes were extracted using MRICloud (Mori et al., 2016). Amygdala size and SRQ subscale differences between groups will be analyzed using an analysis of covariance (controlling for total gray matter) and an independent samples t-test, respectively. A regression analysis will be conducted in order to examine amygdala and SRQ associations.
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    Parental Mental State Talk and Associations with Children’s Mentalizing Ability in Children with and without Autism Spectrum Disorder
    (2020) Bloomer, Bess; Shariq, Deena; Alkire, Diana; Yarger, Heather; Redcay, Elizabeth; Redcay, Elizabeth
    The current project investigated the relationship between parental mental state talk and their child's use of mentalizing language, in both children with typical development (TD) and children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Participants included 40 parent-child dyads (20 ASD, 20 TD), and measured spontaneous/unprompted mentalizing tendencies in both parents and children using the Mind-Mindedness task and Triangles task, respectively. Results suggest that average amount of child mentalizing statements is not significantly associated with average parental mental state talk, and the relationship is not moderated by group status (ASD/TD). Though the current study rendered no significant associations, the links between parental and child mental state use in later childhood years, especially in the context of developmental disorders, represents a key area of exploration for future research.