|
First Annual MCLA Undergraduate Research Conference
Tuesday May 6, 2003
Sullivan Lounge, Campus Center
Poster 1
Title: The Differential Outcomes Effect: A Case Study
Author: Victoria A. White
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Tom Byrne, Psychology
Differential outcome procedure is when a stimulus is paired with a specific outcome or reward. Research has shown that when a stimulus is presented, the anticipation of the outcome or reward aids in response accuracy. This increase in response accuracy is referred to as the differential outcomes effect, (DOE). Goeters et all (1992) suggest that further research needs to be done to see what human populations can benefit from this procedure. The purpose of this case study was to investigate the effect of the differential outcomes procedure on response accuracy using a pre-school aged autistic child.
Poster 2
Title: Gender and Grade Effects in Adolescent Peer Victimization
Author: Eric Denette and Thomas Grant
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Maria Bartini, Psychology
The present study was designed to validate the role of gender and grade effects on victimization in 175 high school students (63 male and 112 female). In addition to a comparison of grade and gender effects, direct aggression was also compared to indirect forms of aggression. The correlates of relational and overt forms of aggression were investigated in a small northwestern Massachusetts high school. This research found a marginal grade effect between the junior and senior level, a significant difference for both male and female overt victimization. Overall a notable report of relational victimization was found within the high school students.
Poster 3
Title: Temporal changes in aquatic insect community structure in local streams and rivers.
Author: Jazmine Alibozek
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Mike Ganger, Biology
The presence/absence of certain aquatic insect families is predictive of water quality. In order to determine the optimum timing of sampling to ensure the likely presence of indicator families, a four month study was undertaken. Collections began in late May and continued every ten days through late September. A total of 9865 insects have been identified to one of 41 total families. Data are currently being analyzed.
Poster 4
Title: Stress, Coping, and Sleep: Comparisons of First-year and Upper-Division Students
Authors: Adam Garrison, Jamie LaLonde, and Timothy Quinones
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Peggy Brooks, Psychology
Do first-year student's transitioning to college experience more stress, poorer sleep quality, or cope in different ways than upper-division students? Evidence suggests the transition to college may increase vulnerability. Questionnaires addressing stressors, coping, and sleep patters were administered to 43 first-year and 58 upper-division students. Contrary to expectations, upper-division students reported overall stress greater sleep latency and sleep disturbances. Upper-division students also used more task-oriented coping.
Poster 5
Title: Delay Discounting and Eating Disorders
Author: Victoria White, Valerie Ugrinow, Andrea Vansickel, Mike Sigsworth, and Emily Morris
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Tom Byrne, Psychology
Have you ever wondered if how much alcohol you consumed was due to your self-control, or lack there of? How about your eating habits? A lack of self-control is called impulsivity. Impulsivity has been defined as choosing a smaller, immediate reward over a larger, delayed reward. By choosing the later, larger reward over the smaller, more immediate reward, one is expressing self-control. Murray (1975) concluded that people who are labeled as obese tend to be more impulsive when eating. Petry (1999) also concluded that substance abusers tend to be more impulsive than non-substance abusers. One approach to understanding the processes underlying impulsive and self-control choice is the analysis of delay discounting (Green et al, 1994. Rather than viewing impulsive choices as irrational or demonstrating a lack of self-control, delay discounting holds that the subjective value of delayed rewards is decreased as a function of delay interval. That is, as the delay to reward delivery is increased, the subjective value of that reward, and the capacity of the delayed reward to motivate behavior, is decreased. Given sufficient discounting of the subjective value of delayed rewards, preference is shifted in favor of smaller, more immediate rewards (Kagel et al, 1986). In this study, students were given a packet of questionnaires to complete. These packets included a demographics inventory, EAT-26, Michigan Alcohol Screening Test and a delay discounting survey. The data was analyzed for relationships between self-control and substance abuse, and self-control and eating habits.
Poster 6
Title: The Mega-Moses effect on Language Processing
Authors: Veronica E. Pappas and David S. LaBrie
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Tim Jay, Psychology
This study was a replication of the mega-Moses effect. Our hypothesis was that people would answer slightly distorted questions in a manner that functions based on bottom-up (phonological/lexical) and top-down (semantic) processing. Meaning that when asked, “Actor Matthew Perry starred on popular T.V. show ‘Beverly Hills 90210’with which actress?” the people tended to respond with Tori Spelling instead of picking up on the fact that it was Luke Perry and not Matthew Perry until after they had already answered. Our results support the mega-Moses effect of language processing.
Poster 7
Title: Long-term Correlates of Adolescent Peer Victimization
Authors: Nora Marshall, Sherry Zamboni, Megan Polidoro, and Elizabeth Leone
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Maria Bartini, Psychology
Over time victimization by peers can have an effect on a person’s levels of anxiety and depression. The present study used a retrospective design to correlate junior high school and high school relational victimization and anxiety and depression in adulthood. Participants were thirty-nine students from the local college (30 females, 9 males). Participants completed the Beck Depression Inventory-II, Social Interaction and Anxiety Scale, an adapted Retrospective Social Experiences Questionnaire. Testing took place with groups of 5-15 students per session. Results suggested that students who were relationally victimized in junior high and/or high school reported having higher levels of anxiety and depression than students who were not relationally victimized did. Results also suggest that students who were continuously relationally victimized have higher levels of social anxiety than those who were not continuously victimized. These combined findings provide evidence of long-term effects of relational victimization into adulthood.
Poster 8
Title: Effects of an Ethanol Reinforcer on Pre-Ratio Pausing: A Work in Progress
Authors: Beth Cote, Scott Tirrell, Andrea Vansickel, Victoria White, Holly Aho, Morgen Angelo, Kelly Cochran, and Matt Otteman
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Tom Byrne, Psychology
A fixed-ratio schedule is one in which organisms must emit a fixed number of responses to produce reinforcer delivery. When responding under large rations, organisms characteristically stop responding for a period of time after earning a reinforcer. The length of this pause is determined not by the upcoming ratio rather than the one just completed. Therefore, the pause does not seem to be caused by fatigue. Recent research has demonstrated that rats may be responding for alternative reinforcers during the pause times. We are currently investigating the effect of the presence of ethanol on the length of preratio pauses in rats responding under a fixed-ratio 50 schedule of sucrose-pellet delivery.
Poster 9
Title: Mutual Fund Project
Author: Elizabeth Davis
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Alla Kucher, Math
In this project, the author analyzed and compared computer simulations for two different strategies of stock purchase to optimize outcome of investment. This optimization served two goals- to minimize possible losses and maximize possible profits of the given portfolio. This semester-long project involved collecting actual stock data and statistical analysis.
Poster 10
Title: Light/Dark Cycles in the Rat Colony: A Review of Current Practice
Author: Ayofemi Cassell
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Tom Byrne, Psychology
A number of investigators have shown that, when given a choice, rats prefer to spend the majority of their time in the dark. Furthermore, extended exposure to light has been shown to have a number of adverse health effects on laboratory rats. Several behavioral and physiological journals were surveyed and the light/dark cycles recorded. Although rats prefer to spend the majority of time in the dark, the vast majority of investigators reported exposing rats to artificial lights for 12 hours or more each day. Light/Dark cycles appear to be arranged for the convenience of the experimenter rather than the welfare of the subjects.
Poster 11
Title: Reports of Aggression and Prosocial Behavior
Authors: Sherry Zamboni and Brooke Poplaski
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Maria Bartini, Psychology
The purpose of the present study was to examine the reports of pro-social behavior and aggression in a high school sample. The participants were asked through written questionnaires and interviews about pro-social behaviors and aggressive acts that take place in their school. It was hypothesized that students would report more acts of pro-social behaviors to researchers than aggressive acts. The reasoning behind this hypothesis was that students would not want to disclose to outsiders too many reports of negative behaviors, giving the school a bad reputation.
Poster 12
Title: Molecular Techniques in the Differentiation of Yeast DNA
Author: Ryan P. Langnickel
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Ann Billetz, Biology
It si the goal of this study to determine what species of yeast natively grow on the grapes used locally to produce wine. This study uses DNA purification to isolate the DNA from yeast colonies, PCR to amplify the DNA that is isolated to reach a workable concentration and RFLP digests to produce a specific gel signature for each species of yeast. Ultimately, the data from this research will be used to produce different characteristics in wine by simply adjusting the amount and species of yeast used.
Poster 13
Title: Acquisition and Maintenance of Lever Pressing with Prolonged Exposure to Delayed Reinforcement
Author: Victoria A. White and Andrea Vansickel
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Tom Byrne, Psychology
The present study investigated acquisition, extinction, and maintenance of free-operant responding under a two-lever procedure. Eight experimentally naïve rats responded on one lever (the reinforcement lever) that produced food after a delay of 10 or 20 seconds. Responses on a second (cancellation) lever during a delay initiated by a response on the reinforcement lever prevented delivery of the scheduled reinforcer. Seven subjects emitted more responses on the reinforcement lever than the cancellation lever across multiple sessions. Furthermore, lever pressing decreased during extinction and recovered when delayed reinforcement was again available. Previous research indicated that operant behavior acquired under contingencies similar to those arranged in this study decreased rapidly after initial acquisition. The current data suggest that operant responding can be acquired and subsequently maintained with prolonged exposure to delayed reinforcement.
Poster 14
Title: Relational Aggression and Teenage Dating Popularity
Authors: Scott Tirrell and Kari Zwiercan
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Maria Bartini, Psychology
The intended research is directed towards gaining a better knowledge of adolescent aggression and dating behavior. Four hundred and two high school students from a small northwestern Massachusetts high school were examined with a number of self-report and peer nomination measures in order to determine whether being aggressive is associated with dating popularity. Positive correlations between dating popularity (nominated as a dating partner as well as high dating frequency) and being nominated as overtly or relationally aggressive were found. This is especially interesting in the relational group, who, although not considered socially popular by their peers, were rated as valuable dating partners.
Poster 15
Title: Physical and Biochemical Yeast Characterization
Author: Kara Pivarski
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Ann Billetz, Biology
Differentiation of yeast species can occur by a variety of methods. Classification often involves the appearance of the organism. Colony morphology varies among species through differences in color, elevation, shape, size and the colony margin. Yeast wet mounts, viewed under a microscope, show variation in the morphology of individual cells. The ability to ferment sugars and the products produced can also be used in characterization.
Poster 16
Title: Risperidone: A Review of Pharmacology and Behavioral Effects
Author: Andrea Vansickel
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Tom Byrne, Psychology
The purpose of this review is to assess the current body of literature on risperidone as a pharmacotherapy when used with small children and adolescents with behavior problems. Risperidone has been found to effectively treat self-injurious and aggressive behaviors in children and adolescents with developmental disabilities. Most studies show a very low occurrence of extra pyramidal side effects as well as a low occurrence of physical side effects (other than weight gain). What researchers have failed to note is the possible effect on brain development when used with small children and any interference the drug may have on learning.
Poster 17
Title: Social Acceptance of Adolescent Bullies and Victims
Authors: Veronica E. Pappas and Victoria A. White
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Maria Bartini, Psychology
The purpose of this study was to measure the social acceptance of both bullies and victims. Bullying is defined as repeated direct or indirect (overt and/or relational aggressive) behavior that is meant to harm another person. A victim is the person who is having harm done to them by the bully. We found that those who were bullies were less socially accepted than those who were not bullies. Those who were victims were also less socially accepted and those who were bullies were also victims. We also found that those who were bullies were also victims.
Poster 18
Title: Electroencephalography Demonstration - ALPHA RHYTHMS AND THE OCCIPITAL LOBE
Authors: The students of CCST 244: Jay Burnett, Heidi Charpentier, Michael Dragani, Adam Garrison, Erin Healey, Chris Hennessey, Randy LeBlanc, Brandon Medina, Lorna Rawlings, Ben Schaeffer, Caedy Shultz, and Jessica Sinopoli.
Teaching/Lab Assistant: Tim Hamel
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Peggy Brooks, Psychology
The students of CCST 244 - Sleep and Dreams - Spring 2003 invite you to observe and/or participate in their demonstration of electroencephalographic methods of measuring electrical activity in the brain. With equipment purchased this year with Core Science & Technology funds, students will demonstrate how EEG waves are recorded from the surface of the cerebral cortex. Amplitude, frequency, and synchronization of electrical activity may vary as a function of a number of variables such as performing mental arithmetic, hyperventilation, and relaxation.
|
