Survival is dependent on the nutrition of the organism. The ability to decide which foods are safe for consumption is key, and begins with the taste of a food. Typically, toxic foods emit a bitter taste alerting the consumer that continued ingestion should be avoided, yet bitter taste is also found in nutritional foods (i.e. brussel sprouts). The aim of the current study is to determine if animals are able to differentiate between toxic (i.e. caffeine) and non-toxic (i.e. quinine) compounds that have similar chemical structure and possess a bitter taste. I am measuring unconditioned licking in a brief access (10-second) taste test to choose isointense concentrations of potentially toxic and safe bitter compounds within chemical classes (alkaloids, gallated polyphenols, glycocides, terpenoids). Later our study will ask if changes within salivary proteins, which increase an animal’s tolerance and preference of known bitter substances that are safe for consumption, will also increase preference to similar compound substances which are toxic. Understanding how to alter bitter taste perception will have wide reaching health implications, including helping to increase vegetable consumption and pediatric medical compliance.

Psilocybin, also known as magic mushrooms, is a naturally occurring substance that has been used in celebrations, healing rituals, and religious ceremonies among indigenous communities since as early as the 1500s. Recently, researchers and contemporary communities alike have become interested again in the potential benefits of psilocybin use. Preliminary research on the use of psilocybin to treat psychological disorders suggests that it may help reduce both anxiety and depression symptoms (Goldberg et al., 2020), particularly when in combination with other interventions such as mindfulness practices (Morton et al., 2020). Although, research to date has exclusively focused on its application in clinical settings, thus leaving a gap in research regarding the effectiveness of psilocybin use in daily life outside of formal psychological treatment. This study aims to fulfill that gap by measuring the impact of psilocybin and mindfulness exercises on anxiety and depression symptomology. Sixty participants across three treatment conditions (psilocybin group, mindfulness group, and psilocybin-mindfulness combined group) will be recruited for a 3-month longitudinal study. Data will be collected pre-treatment, weekly during treatment, and at post-treatment to examine the impact of psilocybin consumption and mindfulness exercises on anxiety and depression levels among participants over time. We expect that anxiety and depression symptoms will be significantly reduced in the combined psilocybin-mindfulness group when compared to the psilocybin-only group and mindfulness-only group. Implications of this study include the de-stigmatization of the use of psychedelics as a treatment option for psychiatric disorders, thereby maximizing treatment options for individuals with anxiety and depression.

We live in a world governed by a racist, ableist, cisgender patriarchy. Yet, our world is, and has always been, rich in bodymind diversity and non-binary identities. With each generation, our culture continues the work to dismantle inequitable systems. We get closer to more equal distributions of power and more honest about the problematic foundations from which our sociocultural systems were created. The binary system in which we live is what governs how we educate, manage, and even view our bodyminds. It is the way in which we assign value to communities and social positions and how we apply meaning to the complex intersections of our culture. These systems produce inaccurate and incomplete histories within standardized curriculums, to which we are exposed for most of our education. These narratives are told from structural positions of power that reify and claim ownership of marginalized bodyminds’ stories. In doing so, histories are silenced and often erased. The study, Embodied Narratives: Bodymind Resistance Through Storytelling, gives voice to the suppressed truths that come from the communities of Women, People of Color, and/or Persons with disabilities. It challenges the inaccurate narratives, implicit racism, and other conditioned beliefs that are deeply embedded into our society. These beliefs are at the core of this study’s work of dismantling and redistributing power and access. By collecting ethnographic histories from primary sources, this research centers the stories of forgotten or silenced communities by reclaiming ownership and contributing to this generation’s civil rights movement.

Gameshows requiring decision making have been used in multiple studies to further understand the process of decision making. More specifically, response times in game shows have been used to study risk aversion and cognitive processing in humans. Spontaneous eyeblink rates (EBR) have also been used to study cognitive processing in humans. In this study, we are attempting to determine how often participants blink while they are listening to questions, and if there is a correlation between EBR and response times. This study examines episodes of the British game show “Mastermind,” where contestants go through a series of time limited rounds in which they attempt to answer as many questions as they can correctly. From viewing multiple episodes, participant behavior—such as listening, answering, and responding to feedback—was categorized alongside blinking. These spontaneous eye blink rates have been found to show dopamine-related cognitive function and shows us that they serve as being a non-invasive indirect marker of the function. By noting these participant behaviors, this study aims to supply neuro- and cognitive scientists with useful information on decision making.