College students (usually between the ages of 18 and 24) are in a transitional period in their lives in which they are expected to adapt to many overwhelming and sudden changes. Mental health problems that college students experience most commonly arise from extreme academic, relationship, financial, and psychosocial strains. Despite these high rates of stressors and mental health problems, these same college students demonstrate a persistently low level of perceived need for help and actual service utilization which leads to non-treatment seeking behaviors. This study examined common barriers that prevent college students from seeking mental health treatment by using standardized measures. Two hundred and fifty college students in the Psychology Subject Pool (PSP) at the University of Washington volunteered to participate in the study which was conducted by using online survey software. Information collected included past/current mental disorder diagnoses and mental health treatment, duration of the treatment, and knowledge of on-campus resources (e.g., Counseling Center, Hall Health). Further, participants answered seven questionnaires about attitudes toward, barriers to, and fear of treatment, in addition to participants’ ambivalence concerning emotional expressiveness. The results are primarily descriptive in nature and focused on exploring common barriers, attitudes, and issues that interfere with reaching out to and receiving mental health treatment. By identifying the barriers we hope to bring the target consumer audience closer to effective treatments via distributing our findings to local counseling centers. We also examined how demographic variables relate to college students’ attitudes toward mental health treatment which will help local universities and colleges to tailor advertising efforts with greater specificity to ensure that college students in need of mental health services are aware of and engaged in available services.

The swell shark, Cephaloscyllium ventriosum, is one of the most popular sharks in public aquaria on the west coast of the United States, but very little is known about the early growth and development of this species. Swell sharks, members of the catshark family Scyliorhinidae, are small oviparous sharks that lay semi-translucent egg cases which they attach to rocks and seaweed during egg laying. Limited data on post-hatch growth exists for this shark, but there is essentially no data available on the early growth and gestation time of this shark within the egg case. The goal of this study was to determine the gestation period and early growth of the Swell shark. The gestation time of 10 egg cases and the post-hatch growth rates of 39 swell sharks were recorded over a 23-month period. Juvenile swell sharks were reared from egg cases deposited in laboratory aquaria during July 1990 by eight female swell sharks previously caught off Santa Barbara Island, California. Mean gestation time for the eggs (n = 10) maintained at 13.5-17.5° C with a constant photoperiod (12 hrs light, 12 hrs dark) was 264.4 + 18.106 SD days. Newly hatched sharks had a mean total length (TL) of 15.3 + 0.7 cm SD (n= 42) and had a mean weight of 15.0 + 1.4 g SD (n= 27). The average percent growth of sharks approximately one year old (n=21) was 38.74 + 7.66 % SD. The gestation time of C. ventriosum is significantly longer than that of a similar catshark, Hemiscyllium osellatum, which has a gestation period of just 140.3 ± 4.6 days. However, TL at hatching was very similar to this species and the average neonate length of H. osellatum was 16.5 ± 0.5cm and average weight was 19.9 ± 2.1 g.

Being the target of a positive stereotype (e.g., “women are nurturing”) can elicit many negative effects. The current study investigates the influence of positive stereotypes on women’s math performance and their identification with science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields. In the present study, some women were the target of a positive stereotype before being asked to take a math test. Women who were positively stereotyped did not differ in their math performance compared to women who were not the target of a positive stereotype. However, positively stereotyped women felt that it was less important for them to do well in math than women who were not the target of a positive stereotype. These results suggest that positive stereotypes may lead women to identify less with STEM fields, an important predictor of success or retention in a field, and may be a factor in perpetuating gender disparities.

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by broad social and cognitive impairments and the presence of stereotyped, repetitive behaviors. Our research examined the hypothesis that impairments in neural signal routing in ASD underpin behavioral symptoms. Specifically, we investigated structural and functional differences in the basal ganglia (BG), a group of subcortical nuclei that regulate signals to frontal cortex. The BG is known to regulate movements, balance, and posture and their abnormal development has been related to motor impairments in ASD. It is necessary to extend these investigations, as previous research did not account for the relation between BG structure and function, or the role of the BG in complex cognitive tasks. In the current experiment, anatomical tracings of two of the key input stations of the BG (the caudate and putamen) were generated for 31 individuals, including 14 with ASD and 17 controls. To determine whether the size of the BG nuclei correlated with their functional influence over cortical regions, we correlated our volumetric measures with indices of effective connectivity, measured using dynamic causal modeling analyses of an fMRI data set. Our results indicated that across all individuals, there were reliable negative correlations between the size of the BG and its modulation of synchronization between several cortical regions. This finding was particularly evident in the individuals with ASD. However, inconsistent with previous investigations, between groups t-tests showed that there were no significant differences in absolute BG volume between groups. Future analyses will account for total brain volume to see whether absolute value or relative value of the BG account for differences in network-level signal routing properties in individuals with ASD. We will also correlate these findings with behavioral measures to establish its relevance for the symptoms of ASD.

It is well-established that women are underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields; however, the variability in women’s participation among STEM fields is often underreported. Women received 60% of bachelor’s degrees in biology but only 18% of computer science degrees in 2009. One explanation for this variation may be the differing social stereotypes of the fields. Male-dominated STEM fields are typically stereotyped as asocial, which may lead women to think that these fields will not fulfill their communal goals; that is, these fields will not give them opportunities to work with and help others. Three studies examined how communal goals relate to interest in six STEM fields. Study 1 (N = 120) found that women were more likely than men to endorse communal goals. Additionally, women were more interested in STEM classes they thought would fulfill their communal goals. Participants’ personal communal goal endorsement was negatively correlated with their interest in male-dominated STEM fields like computer science. Study 2 (N = 296) examined group work as a potential factor that could affect perceptions of communal fulfillment in science classes. We found that classes with group work were perceived to be higher in communal fulfillment. Classes low in female representation, engineering and computer science, were perceived to have less group work than classes with higher female representation, biology and psychology. Additionally, preference for group work was positively correlated with communal goals. In Study 3 (ongoing) we experimentally manipulated group work in an introductory computer science syllabus, to see whether adding group work to a class would increase women’s interest by appealing to their communal goals. These findings suggest that emphasizing the potential for communal interactions may be effective in recruiting women into STEM fields where they are currently underrepresented.

Organizations are increasingly expected to publish policies communicating their perspectives on diversity, but how do these diversity messages affect the racial minorities who work there? The current research examines whether the two most common ideologies in diversity messages, colorblindness, which focuses on individual qualities and minimizes the importance of group differences, and multiculturalism, which emphasizes acknowledging and appreciating group differences, influence whether racial minorities interpret their experiences as due to discrimination. Asian American participants will imagine a scenario in which they work at a company that endorses either a colorblind or a multicultural ideology and are passed over for a promotion in favor of a less qualified White candidate. We expect that participants who are passed over for a promotion in an organization that promotes colorblindness, and therefore deemphasizes the importance of group memberships, will be less likely to interpret this treatment as discrimination those who are passed over in an organization that promotes multiculturalism, and therefore emphasizes the importance of group membership. This research demonstrates that the perspectives organizations take on diversity have implications beyond recruiting minorities and reducing bias; they can actually shape whether racial minorities perceive the same treatment as discriminatory.

Institutions employ various diversity efforts to promote inclusion of diverse members of society. Two dominant strategies for promoting diversity come in the form of multiculturalism (i.e., celebrating group differences) and colorblindness (i.e., ignoring group differences). The present research examines how multiculturalism's focus on group identities may ironically lead racial minorities to see themselves through the lens of group stereotypes. In two studies, racial minority participants read a multicultural or colorblind company recruitment brochure and then completed measures of self-stereotyping (i.e., describing stereotypes of one's group as self-descriptive) and racial identity (i.e., importance of racial group membership to one's sense of self). Weakly racially identified Black participants indicated that stereotypically Black traits were more self-descriptive when reading the multicultural brochure than when reading the colorblind brochure (Study 1). Strongly racially identified participants did not change their level of self-stereotyping. Likewise, we predict that weakly identified Asian American participants reading about multiculturalism will self-stereotype more than those reading about colorblindness or reading a control statement (Study 2). Despite its attempts to promote inclusion, multiculturalism may be limiting for minorities if it leads some to see themselves in terms of stereotypical expectations of their group. Because both positive and negative stereotypes can be threatening, this may further lead to decrements in minorities' performance in stereotype-related domains (i.e., stereotype threat).

Inspired by the “It Gets Better” project whose mission is to prevent LGBT teen suicide through personal stories of transcending similar adversity, this study seeks to understand the relationships between happiness and social factors for LGBT individuals. The data was gathered through a survey method of 50 questions and 2 open ended interview questions. Participants were be able to report on their sense of personal well being and the presence of social factors (familial support, media influence, workplace environment etc.) both before the participants “came out” and present day. The expectation was that as positive social factors increase, so would levels of perceived happiness. The results showed that LGBT individual’s perceived happiness increased after “coming out”. Also, surprising and unexpected results indicated that social influence as a predictor for happiness after participants “came out” was significantly less than social influence as a predictor for happiness before participants “came out”. Given these findings a hypothesis could be considered that LGBT individuals depend on social factors and lifestyle for perceived happiness more before they “come out” than after, however, more research would be needed.

Impulsivity is often found to be related to alcohol use (Pearson and Henson, 2012; Simons, 2003). Additionally, a correlate of alcohol expectancies is increased alcohol use (Hull and Bond, 1986). However, no research to date has looked directly into the association of impulsivity, alcohol expectancies, and alcohol use. Therefore, the present study looks into impulsivity, alcohol use, and alcohol expectancies in high school seniors (N = 3,352, 56.6% Female) from Washington and Sweden. Participants completed a baseline online survey as part of a larger trial that assessed peak blood alcohol content (BAC) in the past 12 months, impulsivity as measured by the sensation seeking scale (Zuckerman, 1964), and alcohol expectancies as measured by the brief Comprehensive Effects of Alcohol questionnaire which consists of positive (sociability, tension-reduction, liquid courage, and sexuality) and negative (cognitive/behavioral impairment, risk/aggression, and self-perception) classifications (CEOA; Fromme, 1993). Regression analyses revealed a significant main effect of impulsivity, cognitive/behavioral impairment, sociability, risk/aggression, and self-perception onto peak BAC (p < .05). However, significant interactions were only found for impulsivity onto risk/aggression and self-perception. A significant moderating effect of risk/aggression onto the relationship between impulsivity and peak BAC (β = .002, F (3, 2913) = 114.71, p < .05) was found such that those with lower impulsivity and lower risk aggression scores (alcohol seen positively) have higher peak BAC. A significant moderating effect of self-perception onto the relationship between impulsivity and peak BAC was also found (β = .001, F (3, 2908) = 132.04, p < .05) suggesting that individuals with lower self-perception scores (alcohol seen positively) and higher impulsivity have higher peak BAC. These results suggest that individuals who are both highly impulsive and have higher positive expectancies for alcohol drink more. Future research should continue to investigate the relationship between alcohol expectancies and impulsivity in vivo.

Signals from rod photoreceptors shift the hues determined by cone photoreceptors for extrafoveal mesopic stimuli, creating green, blue, and red rod hue biases at long, middle, and short wavelengths, respectively. The fovea contains far fewer rods and S-cones but may not be immune to rod hue biases. Here, we determine which biases are found for foveal stimuli presented on a CRT display. A 1-s duration test disk of 0.5°, 1.0°, or 2.0° diameter alternated with a 3-s duration array of 0.25° fixation dots placed 4° from fixation, all on a black background. Seven observers adjusted the hue of the test disk around the RGB phosphor triangle, to yield each of the 4 unique hues, Ured, Ugreen, Ublue, and Uyellow. Light levels ranged from 0.05 - 0.17 (CIE2°) or 0.08 - 0.03 (CIE10°) cd/m2. 1°-2°-diameter foveal test disks (a) produced rod green bias at Uyellow for most observers, (b) favored rod green bias at Ublue over the rod red biases shown in prior extrafoveal studies, and (c) produced less consistent rod hue biases at Ured and Ugreen. 0.5°-diameter foveal test disks produced no consistent rod hue biases across observers. 1°-2°-diameter foveal disks on a CRT display produced relatively strong rod green bias, mediated by rod interaction with L&M cones, presumably in midget/parvo pathways. In contrast, these foveal stimuli disadvantaged rod influence mediated by S-cones, presumably in small-bistratified/konio pathways, producing only weak/inconsistent rod red bias at Ublue and rod blue bias at Ured and Ugreen. 0.5° diameter disks disadvantaged all rod hue biases, but with individually idiosyncratic exceptions for some observers. Color is increasingly used to convey information in visual displays and this research helps understand how those colors are altered in low-light-level situations. This research may also contribute to models of neural physiology and ultimately to diagnosis/cures for visual disorders.

Promiscuity and casual sex are points of contention within many societies, especially when discussing the concept that men are allowed to engage in casual sex while women are not (the sexual double standard). Although the media may be showing that perhaps this stigma against women is diminishing, there is evidence that people hold biases against women who engage in promiscuity. Our objective was to study the relationship between promiscuity and likability in a social, platonic context. We used the Reyson Likability Scale to measure perception of one of 6 profiles, one male and one female, each with 3 levels of promiscuity (high, low, or none). In the online survey, a link randomizer directed the participant to one of the profiles. We also asked for the gender and age of the participant. We collected 103 responses and found that although there is not a statistically significant difference between the promiscuous profiles and the non-promiscuous profiles (p=0.688), there is a significant difference in reported likability between the two genders (p=0.039) in favor of men. Men received a mean likability score of 51.28 (SD=8.45), while women averaged a score of 45.39 (SD=13.56). Because both profiles were identical in information and presentation, and all mentioned "hooking up" as the promiscuity indicator, women may have received lower scores because the mere mentioning of hooking up is negative in the social perception of women. Upon investigation of respondents' open-ended feedback on the good and bad characteristics of the profiles, many people mentioned hooking up as unfavorable. Theories of biological anthropology can provide a possible explanation of this behavior through the evolution of the different reproductive goals of men and women. Further research could use a similar method but conducted with the addition of another profile without any mention of hooking up at all.

American students regularly get advised to “follow your passion” in choosing a career. However, people's passions are often shaped by what is considered appropriate for their gender. Could encouraging students to follow their passion inadvertently perpetuate gendered career choices? The present work examines how the cultural ideal to follow your passion may maintain gender imbalance in stereotypically masculine or feminine careers. In the current study, some participants were randomly assigned to write about what it means to “follow one’s passion” before writing about their career plans. We hypothesized that women who wrote about following their passions would report more feminine career plans compared to women who did not. Similarly, we predicted that men who wrote about following their passions would report more masculine career plans compared to men who did not. The American cultural ideal to “follow one’s passion” may help reinforce the gender makeup of career fields, contributing to the underrepresentation of women in certain fields like science.

In recent years, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields have made strides towards reducing gender disparities. However, in the field of computer science, women continue to receive less than 20% of bachelor’s degrees awarded. In the current research we explore if this continuing disparity is partly due to a perceived lack of group work in computer science. Previous research has shown that women tend to endorse communal goals (e.g., working with and helping others) more than men do, and that the perception that an academic field fulfills communal goals predicts women’s interest in those fields. In the current research, 293 undergraduate students (184 female, 109 male) answered questions measuring preference for group work, perceptions of goal fulfillment in classes where students work individually and classes where students work in groups, perceptions of group work in different science classes, and personal goal endorsement. Consistent with our prediction, results indicated that classes with group work were perceived as having more communal goal fulfillment than classes with individual work, and male-dominated STEM fields (i.e., computer science and engineering) were perceived as having less group work than female-dominated STEM fields (i.e., biology and psychology). These results show that group work is related to communal goal fulfillment. Because communal goal fulfillment predicts women’s interest in academic fields, we expect that women would be less interested in academic fields that are perceived to have less group work, such as male-dominated STEM fields. Based on our results, we predict that increasing perceptions of group work in computer science may increase women’s interest by boosting perceptions that computer science is able to fulfill communal goals.

Alcohol use consistently correlates with negative physical and psychological consequences like dependence, memory loss, impaired judgment, etc. Studies also link the use of sleep medications with similar negative consequences. Yet, no study examines the interaction of sleep medication and alcohol use onto these negative consequences. Therefore the present study investigated the relationship between peak blood alcohol content (BAC) in the past 6 months, negative consequences of alcohol use in the last 12 months as measured by the Rutgers Alcohol Problem Index, and lifetime, 3- and 12-month non-prescribed sleep medication use in Washington state and Swedish high school seniors participating in a larger study (N = 3,352, 56.6% Female). Regression analyses revealed a significant main effect of BAC and lifetime use of sleep medication onto negative consequences (β = 18.69, F (3, 2875) = 115.86, p < .05) such that individuals with a higher BAC and who had a lifetime incidence of sleep medication usage experienced significantly greater negative consequences than those who only drank or used sleep medications. There was no significant moderating effect of frequency of sleep medication use in the last 3 or 12 months onto BAC and negative consequences (p >.05). While these results suggest that use of sleep medication and alcohol interact to contribute to increased risk for negative consequences, there are limitations. Lifetime use of sleep medication may reflect a tendency to act impulsively or self-medicate (e.g. for sleep/depression/anxiety), not a direct effect of the medication per se. Additionally, analyses did not control for other drug usage or mood disturbances, and all sleep medication drugs were grouped under one survey item. Given our observations, additional research testing combined effect of sleep mediation and alcohol use as related to negative consequences is warranted.

The pupil is an important component of the visual system, changing in size to regulate the amount of light entering the eye and affecting vision quality. Light is the primary determinant of pupil size (the pupil constricts with light increments, a response known as the Pupillary light reflex or PLR), but there are also well known effects of internal states such as cognitive effort and arousal. Recently, our lab discovered an interaction between light and cognitive factors at the level of the pupil: selectively paying attention to brighter areas in the visual field, without looking at them, enhances the PLR. This finding prompts a revision to the neural substrates of the PLR, suggesting that cortical attentional influences modulate the subcortical PLR circuit. To better characterize this Attention-PLR interaction, we tested whether the effect is limited to spatially-directed attention to bright regions, or if it generalizes to cases where attention is directed to bright features from a single localized stimulus. Preliminary data using a psychophysics setup of overlapping dark and bright surfaces shows an effect of feature based attention. Specifically, two overlapping surfaces defined by white and black moving dots were presented at fixation and subjects were cued to attend to either surface. Attending to the bright surface induced a relative pupillary constriction compared to attending to the dark surface. Moreover, ongoing work attempts to quantify the magnitude of the attention effect at different levels of brightness and contrast of the stimuli, and for different spatial extents of the attended regions. In this way we investigate the characteristics, dynamics, and anatomical substrates of the Attentional-PLR effect, while establishing the pupil as a convenient marker of the direction of attention.

Gamma activity refers to high-frequency neural activity (30-100 Hz) typically measured by electroencephalography (EEG). Evoked gamma activity is time-locked to stimulus onset which often reflects processing of stimulus properties such as the presence of edges and local luminance contrast. However, induced gamma activity is not time-locked to stimulus onset and evidence suggests it may reflect activation of the perceptual representation of the object presented. Here, we investigated whether induced gamma was altered by in-depth rotations of objects to elucidate the role of such activity in object perception. If induced gamma reflects a high-level object representation then it should not differ with rotation. However, if induced gamma reflects a representation of object features then induced should be modulated by in-depth rotation. We presented pairs of stimuli: an initial adapting stimulus followed by a test stimulus. Stimulus pairs were images of the same or different cars with the test stimulus rotated 0°, 90°, or 180° from the initial adapting stimulus. EEG gamma activity was measured using a 32-channel active electrode Biosemi, Active Two system. We analyzed gamma activity using Morlet wavelet decomposition that allows the measurement of induced gamma activity. The results revealed that induced gamma activity was related to the amount of rotation, with the lowest induced gamma activity during trials with no rotation and highest for trials with 180° rotation. This pattern suggests that induced gamma activity is related to processing of object features below the representation of the whole object. Moreover, the results suggest the cortical generator for the gamma oscillations may be lateral occipital object-selective regions that have similar sensitivity to in-depth rotation across similar paradigms and stimuli using fMRI. The results suggest a link between EEG induced gamma activity and object-selective visual cortex, and provide important information on the temporal dynamics of object-processing brain regions.

Asian Americans are not only seen as less American than White Americans, but are also subject to the pervasive ‘perpetual foreigner’ stereotype. Is weight a factor that affects how American Asian Americans are perceived to be? In study 1, participants were randomly assigned to evaluate one of three pictures of Asian American women on perceptions of American identity. Between conditions, the photos were edited to create a heavier and a lower weight version of each woman, thereby controlling for other cues to American identity, such as hair and clothing. Results showed that heavier Asian American women were perceived as more American than their lower weight counterparts. In study 2, using the same methods, we tested whether weight would affect perceptions of the legal status of Asian American men. Results revealed that the heavier versions of the Asian American men were perceived as more American and as less likely to be in the US illegally than the lower weight versions of the same men. Taken together, these studies provide evidence that being overweight can increase recognition of Asian Americans’ American identity and may help protect against discrimination based on racial stereotypes.

Learning on a cellular level actively guides the stabilization or elimination of neuron connections, selecting the optimal pathways that are intrinsically and extrinsically stimulated. The strength and resilience of these neuron networks is what defines neuroplasticity, which can be inhibited by many factors, such as stress, ageing, or developmental disorders. Evidence shows rapid seasonal morphological changes in the High Vocal Center (HVC) and acropallium (RA) regions of the brain, defining regions for song-voice production in vertebrates. Testosterone (T) plays a cyclic role facilitating these changes and can act locally on the brain to prevent neuron loss and regression yet the T mechanistic pathway acting on neuron death and neurogenesis remains grossly uncertain. We address this issue by injecting eight cohorts of Gambler White-Crowned Sparrows (GWCS), that have been exposed to breeding and non-breeding conditions, with T and or/ a potent inhibitor of P13K (an intercellular molecule that indirectly regulates cell growth and apoptosis), Ly294002 (Ly). Information obtained will allow for the determination, if regulation of P13K is required in T mediated signal transduction. We evaluate the data by extracting the bird brain and staining the tissue with Nissl stain to examine HVC and RA regions. With the aid of camera imaging and a volumetric algorithm we then determine HVC and RA volumes with the expectation that Ly inhibits T-stimulated HVC and RA growth. Our results will provide insight to the complex molecular pathway that underlines adult neural plasticity contributing to specifying clinical treatments for neurodegenerative injuries.

It is important that animals be able to modulate the rate at which they learn. Without such a capacity animals might form habits based on single events, or fail to respond to changing circumstances. Previous work suggests that two populations of inhibitory striatal neurons may play antagonistic roles in modulating learning rates. Inactivation of D1 receptor expressing striatonigral neurons slows that rate at which animals learn operant tasks, while inactivation of D2 receptor expressing striatopallidal neurons speeds the rate at which animals learn. This suggests that the normal activity of striatonigral neurons supports learning while the normal activity of striatopallidal neurons suppresses learning. We assessed a maze-based operant learning task that may be useful for examining the roles of these neuronal populations in modulating learning rate. In this task, animals are repeatedly faced with the choice of a right or left turn. One of these turns consistently results in the animal receiving a large reward, while the other results in a small reward. The animal performs twenty trials per day. If after the first ten trials in a day the animal selects the large reward for at least nine trials, saline vehicle or a D1 or D2 receptor specific antagonist is infused into the nucleus accumbens of the animal and the rewarded turn is switched. This allows the assessment of learning rates under conditions of D1 and D2 receptor antagonism within individual animals. Preliminary results are not yet sufficiently extreme to establish a difference between D1 antagonism, D2 antagonism, and vehicle administration. This may result from insufficiently distinct reward magnitudes, an insufficient number of subjects, or from an insufficiently difficult task. Alternatively, it may be that while D1 and D2 receptor expressing neurons contribute antagonistically to learning rate, the activity of D1 and D2 receptors on these neurons does not.

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) and alcohol use disorders (AUDs) frequently co-occur and are each associated with an increased risk of suicide. However, little research has been conducted comparing individuals with comorbid BPD and AUDs to individuals with BPD only. The present study sought to determine whether individuals with comorbid BPD and AUDs exhibit more non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI), suicidal behaviors, and emotion dysregulation than individuals with BPD and no history of AUDs. Data from previously conducted research studies were analyzed via multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA). It was expected that the group with comorbid BPD and AUDs would more frequently engage in NSSI and suicidal behaviors, and would have more emotion dysregulation, on average, than the group with BPD and no AUDs. The results of this study have implications for the treatment of individuals with comorbid BPD and AUDs. In addition, results may provide evidence for increasing AUD prevention efforts among those with BPD in order to improve the likelihood of positive future outcomes for these individuals.

Stress can have a major impact on the cognitive functions of the brain in both humans and animals. One of the possible areas affected is the hippocampus, a structure known to be important in consolidation of short and long-term declarative memory and spatial memory. Previous studies have shown that stress can reduce long-term potentiation, impair spatial memory, and affect the firing rate of location-specific place cells in rats. This study aims to investigate the effects of temporary hippocampus impairment during stress on risky foraging behaviors in rats using APV, an NMDA receptor antagonist that inhibits the synaptic plasticity of local neurons at the site of injection. Rats were trained to retrieve food pellets from a simulated foraging environment and return to a safe nest, and APV infusions were then made via implanted cannulas into the rats’ hippocampus 30 min prior to stress. Foraging behavior in the presence of a robot predator was assessed in comparison to control rats infused with artificial cerebrospinal fluid. Hippocampal dysfunction is hypothesized to contribute to faulty contextual fear conditioning and memory formation, thus rats with an impaired hippocampus may exhibit excessive, contextually-inappropriate fear behavior in the presence of an artificial predator. The results of this study may help us understand the affects of stress and its role in the behaviors of individuals with post-traumatic stress disorder.

Multiculturalism has been a progressively addressed topic in psychology. While there has been a collection of empirical literatures on bicultural conflict relying on explicit measures, not much has been done to explore the topic of bicultural conflict with implicit measures. Although self-report measures, such as Bicultural Identity Integration Scale-2, are effective in measuring bicultural conflict, there are always limitations when subjects fail to report accurately. This research answers 1) whether it is possible to measure bicultural conflict implicitly, and if so, then 2) how explicit and implicit measures of bicultural conflict correlate. We took advantage of the large size of Chinese American and Chinese international student body at the University of Washington to test our theories. This research uses a balanced identity design that includes three Implicit Association Tests (IATs). The three pairs of concepts in our balanced identity design are “self” and “other,” “China” and “U.S.,” and “family” and “college life.” Our hypothesis was that a more unbalanced identity is associated with a higher level of bicultural conflict. The balanced-ness of an identity is calculated with mathematical algorithms from the three IAT scores. The level of bicultural conflict was scored based on several explicit measures—Bicultural Identity Integration Scale-2, Vancouver Index Acculturation, Multi-Item Identification, and a cultural value ranking survey. This research tests a new method to implicitly measure people’s bicultural conflict by correlating the balanced-ness of one’s identity and the level of one’s bicultural conflict. This research calls for future studies to examine the effect(s) of bicultural conflict by making correlations between people’s implicit bicultural conflict and other aspects of their lives. Since implicit measures are powerful in detecting things people are not aware about themselves, these studies are helpful in developing coping mechanisms to help foreigners and immigrants.

Different groups of smokers are commonly discussed in the research literature on tobacco use and nicotine dependence. Examples include heavy smokers, light smokers, intermittent smokers or social smokers. While forming such groupings may be scientifically useful, there are not standardized definitions for group membership, leading to a lack of clarity and comparability across studies. In tobacco research, groups are commonly formed via cutoff scores. That is, if one is below a certain score, one is in group A, otherwise one is in group B. However the lack of clear group definitions has lead to different researchers using different cutoff scores. For example, one researcher may use smoking five or fewer cigarettes a day as a cutoff to define the “light smoker” group, where another researcher may use smoking ten or fewer cigarettes a day to define the same group. A further potential weakness of the use of cutoff scores is that they enforce absolute distinctions and thereby ignore within group variability as well as measurement error. Rather than using cutoff scores to define groups, we can use statistical models, such as latent class analysis (LCA), to empirically group observations. LCA is a multivariate statistical model often used for exploratory analysis, It identifies homogeneous subgroups (or classes) in a population on the basis of item associations. The purpose of this study is to compare group differences between groups formed via cutoff scores with groups from LCA. The question of interest is if results in these analyses differ or parallel each other. Specifically, we examined the differences in the associations between group membership and relevant demographic covariates as well as measures of nicotine dependence.

Exposure to vocalizations from members of their own species can influence how infants learn to hear and communicate. Eptesicus fuscus is a social mammal that lives in large colonies and uses many types of vocalizations for both communication and echolocation. We hypothesize that due to the fact that they live in large, well organized social groups, big brown bats should be social learners. In order to test this, we presented altered calls that have been raised or lowered in frequency and bandwidth to bats as they developed from infancy to adulthood. In order to limit exposure to natural maternal vocalizations, pups were reversibly deafened with silicon earplugs whenever they were in the presence of other bats. Every other day, we isolated the pups, removed the earplugs, presented altered calls and recorded the pups’ response. At the end of the study, we tested changes in the organization of the auditory nuclei by measuring frequencies of neurons in several layers the inferior colliculus (IC), a central nucleus in the auditory system in response to auditory stimulation. We compared these results to each infant's twin, as Eptesicus fuscus is usually born in pairs. This gives us a genetically similar control raised in identical conditions. Our results suggest a divergence in call frequency beginning in week two, related to the exposure to lowered artificial stimuli. There is also a shift in the organization of the bands of the IC, with larger low frequency bands and smaller high frequency bands. This suggests that the pups not only altered their vocalizations in response to altered stimuli, but that the frequency organization in auditory structures of the brain remains plastic beyond birth. Humans, like bats, are social mammals, and research into mechanisms of IC plasticity may provide some insight into the development of human hearing.

Does a genetic predisposition towards excessive alcohol consumption influence the acquisition of habits? The study of alcohol dependency and its effects on learning and behavior continues to be a subject of growing importance. With an animal model of alcoholism, we sought to uncover some of these potential behavioral consequences. We focused on the development of both flexible and habitual spatial behaviors in rats selectively bred for High Alcohol Drinking (HAD) and Low Alcohol Drinking (LAD). Using a standard plus-maze task, rats were trained to run to an unchanging reward arm. We hypothesized that HAD rats would rely more on response learning strategies than spatial strategies, and would develop a habit more quickly than LAD rats. Initially, visual cues were placed around the room, and two probes were conducted to assess the progress of habitual behaviors in each animal. Later, cues were removed and one last probe was conducted. Preliminary data analysis revealed some unexpected findings, the most striking of which was seen in the LAD rats’ behavior. We expected both groups of animals to form a habitual response by the end of testing, however the percentage of LAD rats using spatial strategies increased with each successive probe. HAD rats, on the other hand, did appear to increasingly rely on response strategies over time, suggesting that they may be more prone towards developing a habitual behavior under these conditions. Additionally, a large number of HAD rats consistently omitted trials and demonstrated increased latencies when compared to LAD rats, possibly indicating that receiving a reward was not enough of an incentive to run the task. These preliminary findings may suggest that genetic preferences for alcohol consumption could influence the learning strategies employed in solving simple behavioral tasks.

Estrogen has been shown to directly influence auditory function, with high levels of estrogen receptor expression in the central auditory system of mice correlated with elevated high-frequency auditory thresholds. These findings and others raise the possibility that hormonal modulation might be used to treat some hearing deficiencies. The big brown bat, Eptesicus fuscus, provides a unique opportunity to study an easily accessible, complex auditory pathway in a highly social mammalian species. Bats experience large seasonal differences in both estrogen levels and behavior. During fall mating season, males produce “song” calls to attract females. During winter torpor, a state of decreased physiological activity, the need for hearing is greatly reduced. During spring gestation, estrogen levels are high to support a healthy pregnancy and, after giving birth, females are sensitive to the call frequency of their pups. We hypothesized that seasonally fluctuating estrogen levels in the bat brain have a direct effect on auditory processing which varies throughout the year. We measured blood estrogen levels of male and female bats over the course of the year, and recorded sound-evoked responses of single neurons in the central nucleus of the inferior colliculus (IC), the midbrain auditory center. We specifically measured changes in basic response properties such as call selectivity, frequency tuning, and threshold changes. Afterwards, we perfused the bat, sliced the brain into 40µ sections, and stained for estrogen receptors. These measurements enabled us to correlate blood estrogen levels with both estrogen receptor expression throughout the central auditory system of the brain and functional measurements of neural sensitivity and selectivity across the audible frequency range.

Cigarette smoking is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States. The adverse health effects from tobacco use account for about one of every five deaths each year in the United States. Moreover, smokers with depressive symptoms have lower cessation rates and more difficulties while quitting than the general population of smokers. Treating smokers with depressive symptoms effectively is challenging and new smoking cessation interventions are always needed. In order to determine how recent smoking cessation treatments are benefiting smokers with depressive symptoms, the present study examines an existing web-based treatment using the innovative Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). ACT provides mindfulness-based techniques that help smokers dealing with the urges, thoughts and negative feelings associated with smoking while quitting. The study aimed to determine the users: (1) willingness to experience smoking cues, and (2) 3-months post randomization smoking status. Adult participants were recruited nationally into the double-blind randomized controlled pilot trial which compared web-based ACT for smoking cessation (webquit.org) with smokefree.gov—the national standard for web-based smoking cessation interventions. The present study will report the outcomes for smokers with depressive symptoms. Data analysis is ongoing. Based on previous research, we expect the web-based ACT intervention to be more effective than the standard treatment (smokefree.gov). This trial will provide insights for ongoing research in smoking cessation interventions to help smokers with depressive symptoms to quit smoking.

Research has made tremendous gains in therapy efficacy for children and adolescents, yet the therapies have not effectively been implemented into usual care settings. The mental health field has recently initiated a huge drive to disseminate Evidence Supported Therapies, or ESTs, in order to better serve our children. Do clinicians trained in ESTs deliver the clinically relevant components to their clients and utilize important structural elements of EST such as agenda setting, assigning/reviewing homework? If clinicians are not utilizing the components and structure supported for the specific clinical target, then children may not be receiving efficacious therapy. Clinicians across Washington State were invited to participate in the Washington State Initiative and receive components based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT Plus. The training included components for Anxiety, Depression, Behavioral Problems and PTSD. Each clinician involved in the study entered assessment data on his/her cases as well as what components and structural elements were delivered. Research has shown that clinicians are reluctant to deliver exposure.  For instance, if a child has PTSD and has a panic attack each time he hears an ambulance, exposure to ambulances reduces the related anxiety.  It is predicted that clinicians delivering CBT Plus with a clinical target of anxiety or PTSD will be less likely to deliver the adequate components due to this exposure reluctance. The preliminary data shows that many clinicians did not consistently provide the necessary components and structure for their clients’ clinical presentations. If clinicians delivering EST are not utilizing the relevant components, then the children are not receiving the best care possible and the ESTs are not being effectively disseminated. Training for ESTs would thus need to focus more strongly on combating clinicians’ negative perceptions of exposure. This may be achieved through more thorough psychoeducation and theory explanation during EST training.

This study used the Hamilton Search and Set Breaking tasks to assess working memory, cognitive flexibility and inhibition control of a variety of domestic dog breeds. This memory task has been tested on pigtail macaque monkeys, as well as, other species. The Hamilton Search task consisted of 4 containers which the dog was allowed to search to find a randomly placed food reward. The latency and search patterns were recorded to determine performance of the task. After 5 sessions of Hamilton Search testing, the dogs moved on to the Set Breaking protocol. Set Breaking consisted of placing the reward in the same container every trial until the dog reached criterion by searching the correct location first 5 times consecutively. The container that the food reward was placed in was determined by calculating the container which was visited the least often during the pervious Hamilton Search trials. The results from this study will be compared across species and within the species of domestic dogs. Enough dogs of very diverse breeds were tested to allow us to analyze for similarities and differences between breeds. The results showed that dogs approached this task much differently than the pigtailed macaque monkeys. Current data suggests that the dogs, not dependent on breed, are approaching this task in a very systematic manner starting a search pattern at one end and working towards the other end. With this approach, rechecking a container is very rare, demonstrating perfect memory, but in fact the dogs are using a systematic approach that is less flexible, but efficient alternative to the use of memory. Results of this study can be applied to help refine training techniques and to establish the validity of these tasks for studying canine spatial learning and memory.

In natural environments, animals seeking resources face potential perils associated with foraging behavior, namely predation. Thus, animals must balance their needs with risks by utilizing adaptive behavioral strategies. One such strategy is hypothesized to be provided by the fear system through adapting foraging behavior in the presence of environmental threats. The advent of new molecular biological techniques such as Designer Receptors Exclusively Activated by Designer Drugs (DREADD) and optogenetics has provided novel approaches to investigating the amygdala’s modulating role in fear behavior. DREADDs are based on the G-protein coupled receptor pathways in which the receptors are activated by systemic injections of clozapine-N-oxide to stimulate or inhibit neurons initially and affect a host of downstream cellular signaling pathways that results in changes to cell function. Optogenetics uses receptors that immediately open in response to certain wavelengths of light to allow the passage of relevant ions in order to activate or inhibit the cells. The current project utilizes these targeted approaches to remotely activate or inhibit the basolateral amygdala and the central amygdala. The animal's ability of fear learning will be assessed using the Pavlovian fear conditioning paradigm. The effect of activating or inhibiting the amygdala in a semi-naturalistic setting will be evaluated using the Robogator paradigm. After habituation and training, rats will be placed in the chamber in which a predatory presence, known as a Robogator, will surge and snap when the animals attempt to grab a food pellet. The analyzed behavioral results in control animals and experimental DREADD and optogenetic animals can be compared to affirm the use of DREADD and optogenetic in behavioral research while providing new information as to how different groups of neurons and their connectivity in the amygdala affect fear behavior.

Egalitarianism is a central value in the United States, with the strive for equal treatment for all individuals evident in law, policy, and education. In contrast, for East Asian cultures, which are deeply rooted in Confucianism, the existence of social hierarchy is seen as natural and justified, and more value is placed on harmoniously maintaining it than it is for achieving social equality. As biculturals, immigrants from East Asian cultures are socialized into both sets of norms, values, and behaviors, and can identify with both cultures. Given such incompatible values surrounding equality, how might experiencing discrimination affect feelings of conflict in an Asian immigrant's bicultural identity? In Study 1, first-generation Asian females completed scales of perceived sexism in the United States as well as the Bicultural Identity Integration Scale, a measure assessing the degree of compatibility a bicultural finds between their two identities. Results showed that the more participants perceived personally being a victim of sexism in the United States, the more conflict they felt between their two identities, even after controlling for perceptions of immigrant-related discrimination. In Study 2, female Asian immigrants were exposed to a scenario in which they anticipated receiving a grade that did or did not stem from sexism. Consistent with hypotheses, participants who considered experiencing sexism reported more cultural conflict between their Asian and American identities compared to participants who did not consider sexism. Together, these studies raise the possibility that differing cultural values placed on egalitarianism can create feelings of identity conflict for immigrants when they face discrimination.

Evaluative priming (EP) is an unobtrusive measure of attitude.  Participants' responses to a target stimulus (a face) are either facilitated or slowed by immediate prior exposure to a prime (pleasant or unpleasant word). If pleasant primes ellicit speedy responses to faces of one social category more so than faces of another, this is interpreted as preference for the first category. Unfortunately, EP has been plagued by low internal consistency, reliability and convergent validity with other measures. The present project proposes a modification to EP procedure, known as homogeneous blocks priming (HBP). In HBP, prime-target pairs consistent with prevailing attitudes (such as pleasant+young and unpleasant+old) are presented in one block, while prime-target pairs that are inconsistent with prevailing attitudes (pleasant+old and unpleasant+young) are presented in a different block. Previous research has hinted that HBP will outperform traditional EP procedures, but they have never been compared within the same experiment. The present experiment tests age attitudes using a traditional EP measure, the new HBP measure, and an Implicit Association Test (IAT), a much more widely used implicit measure of attitude. HBP and traditional EP will be compared on the basis of internal consistency, reliability, and correlation with the IAT. The study is ongoing now, but pilot data reveal that the HBP task correlates more strongly with the IAT than EP does, and the HBP effect size is especially strong for participants who respond very rapidly.

Learning to effectively cope with stress is an important protective factor against the development of psychopathology. Developmental factors, such as the parenting environment, and immediate factors, such as self-regulation resources, have been suggested to influence individuals’ use of specific coping strategies in the face of stress. The goal of these linked studies was to understand what factors influence how people respond to stress, and particularly what factors predict using maladaptive coping strategies, such as drug and alcohol use. The first study tested how self-regulation depletion affected coping in an experimental paradigm, while the second study used an online survey to explore the links between parenting styles and coping styles. For study one, 80 college students were recruited from the Online Psychology Subject Pool (OSPP) at the University of Washington, and randomly assigned to a self-regulation depletion group or a control group. Self-regulation is a personality trait that controls decision-making, and it can be exhausted, resulting in unhealthy decisions. After the depletion task, participants completed the Trier Social Stress Test, where they were given a speech in front of confederate judges and provided with negative feedback. Following the stress task, coping was coded using behavioral observations. We hypothesized that individuals in the depletion condition will be more likely to utilize avoidant coping than those in the control condition. In study two, 400 participants from the OSPP completed an online survey on the environment of their family of origin and their coping styles. We expected that individuals from high conflict and chaotic households tend to report greater use of maladaptive coping strategies. Results of the study will attempt to provide further evidence that family factors can predict preferred coping styles. Overall, these studies will help us to better understand the risk pathways associated with psychopathology.

 The Washington State TF-CBT and CBT+ Initiative offers training in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) for clinicians working in public mental health across Washington State. While CBT has been shown in previous studies to be an effective therapy for anxiety, depression, behavior problems, and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, its use is limited in public mental health because of the lack of available training. The purpose of the study is to examine whether clinician orientation affects clinician learning of CBT for anxiety, depression, behavior problems, and PTSD. Our first hypothesis is that clinicians with a cognitive behavioral orientation will have a higher skill level before training in comparison to clinician of other orientations. The second hypothesis is that clinicians of other orientations will have a higher skill level after the training than those clinicians with a cognitive behavioral orientation due to a higher rate of improvement. Clinician self-reported efficacy in elements of CBT for anxiety, depression, behavior problems, and PTSD, was assessed before the three-day training, after training, and after 6 months of bi-weekly phone consultations with a CBT expert, and will be compared for each theoretical orientation. The participating clinicians in this study vary in theoretical orientation, including integrative/eclectic, biological, interpersonal, cognitive behavioral, psychodynamic/analytic, systems, humanistic/existential and others. We plan to integrate the results of the study implications for future clinician training of CBT. If our hypotheses are supported, it will suggest that clinicians with a cognitive behavioral orientation may need specialized training in CBT that takes into account their previous knowledge and offers more advanced training options for those with past experience in CBT.