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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    Troublesome Parents? An Exploration of the Relationship between Anxiety, Parenting, and Ethnicity
    (2020) Farooq, Tayyiaba; Seddio, Kaylee, PhD CFLE; Fox, Nathan, PhD
    The role parents play in their children’s lives has been debated for quite some time now, as paralleled by the nature vs. nurture debate. In this investigation, we look at the relationship between parenting and anxiety during adolescence in order to understand the potential consequences and differences in parenting style later in life. Based on the current literature there is a consensus to the fact parenting plays some role in the manifestation of the anxiety of their children during adolescence, the however full extent of this is not known. The link between ethnicity on parenting and anxiety during adolescence as well have not been well-established among this sample. For this analysis, we looked at the relationship between parental restrictiveness within the Temperament Over Time Study; 366 subjects (169 male, 197 female; 122 minority, 244 Caucasian/White) participated. Data were collected when participants were 12 and 15-years of age. It was concluded there is a statistically significant relationship between ethnicity and parental restrictiveness within the sample. Specifically, minority parents indicated more restrictive parenting strategies than do Caucasian or white families, F(14, 141)=2.442, p = .004. For future research, other confounding variables affecting adolescent anxiety should be measured as well as taking into account cultural implications when studying parenting style, as well as the limitations of the sample population used for this investigation.
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    Is Facial Mimicry Related to Empathy Levels in Children?
    (2020) Talwar, Reshmi; Pan, Alvina; Morales, Santiago; Fox, Nathan
    Facial mimicry is thought to be involved in several socioemotional skills, including empathy. In this project, we investigated the presence of facial mimicry and its relationship to empathy in children. We collected electromyographic (EMG) activity using an EEG net as participants observed fearful and happy facial expressions. Additionally, Participants’ caregivers completed the Griffin Empathy Questionnaire (Dadds et al., 2008). First, we confirmed that our EEG facial electrodes captured facial muscle (EMG) activity and differentiated between executed happy and fearful facial expressions (p<.001). As hypothesized, we found greater EMG activity in the Zygomaticus Major cluster for happy, compared to fearful expressions (p<.001). As expected, this pattern was reversed for the Corrugator Supercilii cluster (p<.001). Second, we found evidence for facial mimicry while participants observed various expressions (p=.04). However, facial mimicry was only significant for the Corrugator Supercilii cluster (p=.02) and not the Zygomaticus Major, suggesting that evidence for facial mimicry was exclusive to observing fearful facial expressions. Finally, we found that the extent of facial mimicry was not related to levels of empathy, r(45)=.23, p=.12. Together, our results provide evidence for facial mimicry in childhood. However, we do not provide support for the relation between facial mimicry and empathy. Finally, our findings suggest that EMG activity can be successfully captured using EEG equipment, providing future studies a way to directly examine the relation between facial mimicry and the mirror neuron system.
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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.