Current psychological approaches to autism tend to focus on behavior, oftentimes overlooking the lived experience of individuals. This study examines how psychological frameworks shape our understanding of the developmental needs of children with autism. In psychology, autism is defined through symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment- based interventions. Focusing more on observable behaviors and how to immediately introduce children to treatment. While these approaches do provide clinical knowledge, they tend to emphasize the goal of fixing or changing the behavior of the child, for it to match what is known as the typical or ideal form of development. The focus on fixing development for children with autism can overlook the personal experiences and identities of autistic children. This research brings psychology and disability studies together. Psychological approaches focus on assessment and intervention, diminishing lived experiences. In contrast, disability studies view autism as a natural form of human identity and focus more on defining autistic individuals through their voices and experiences. By comparing these perspectives, this study argues that psychology alone does not fully determine the full developmental needs for autistic children. 

Short-form social media platforms, such as TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts, are becoming increasingly popular among younger generations. Previous research suggests that exposure to short-form videos impairs prospective memory, the act of remembering to remember, although we do not yet understand whether these effects extend to other domains of executive functioning. The present study aims to extend prior research by incorporating multiple neuropsychological assessments to measure mental flexibility, response inhibition, memory, and attention in young adults. Participants will be randomly assigned to one of two conditions: viewing short-form videos or viewing a still slideshow. Participants will complete Beck’s Anxiety Inventory and Beck’s Depression Inventory II; this will be measured as a possible confound or contributor. The study requires participants to complete the Trail Making Test, Stroop Test, Memory for Intention Screening Test, and Lexical Decision Task. It is hypothesized that participants in the short-form video condition will exhibit slower reaction times, more errors, and longer completion times than participants in the still slideshow condition.

Neurological degenerative diseases like Alzheimer's Disease (AD) affect millions of individuals worldwide. While there is no cure for this disease, early detection can improve patient outcomes by enabling earlier intervention and treatment strategies. One method of detecting these early stages is to use the Kinesiological Instrument for Normal and Altered Reaching Movement (KINARM) lab, particularly its Object Hit and Avoid (OHA) task. This task specifically measures the subject's rapid motor decisions, inhibitory control, and spatial attention, requiring them to use their arms to hit incoming objects while also avoiding “distractors”. Space Trash seeks to recreate the OHA task as a downloadable, gamified application to enable data collection outside a lab environment and in areas where the KINARM isn’t available. We are currently in the development stage of several methods of recreating this bimanual task, with our two versions being created with Multi-mouse and camera tracking. Multi-mouse is our implementation of the task where the player performs the task using two mice. Even though Multi-mouse is closer to its first debut, we’ve realized a flaw regarding the player playing on a different plane than the screen. To combat this, we’ve begun the development of a camera-tracking implementation of the task, allowing the user to play on the same plane as the screen using their hands and a monitor webcam. If successfully deployed to a large user base, Space Trash could provide researchers with an accessible platform for collecting visuomotor performance data, potentially supporting the development of more accessible detection software. 

Social media platforms are digital environments where appearance-focused and self-sexualizing content is widely circulated and socially rewarded. Creating and engaging with such content on platforms like Instagram is a prominent activity among young women. Existing literature has highlighted that doing so may increase self-objectification and self-sexualizing posting behaviors for young women. These behaviors can influence body image and emotional well-being in complex ways, bearing downstream effects (e.g., decreased self-esteem and emotional well-being). The current cohort of young women (Gen Z, 14-29 years old) is the first generation raised alongside social media platforms. Therefore, with the substantial amount of exposure to social media, Gen Z women likely have had greater opportunities to experience and engage with appearance-focused and self-sexualizing behaviors on social media during critical developmental periods. However, limited research centers on exploring Gen Z women’s own narrative of their relationships and experiences with Instagram, particularly in relation to their own sexual self-concept, and how their online self-presentation, sexual agency, and internalized appearance-based pressures may be influenced by expectations held by online communities. To address this gap, semi-structured interviews with 20-30 Gen Z young women, focusing on Instagram, will be conducted and analyzed using an inductive thematic analysis approach. This study aims to inform professionals across counseling psychology, educational, and community-based disciplines by sharpening their culturally and developmentally informed approaches to working with young women in today's increasingly digital world. 

"Integrated behavioral health can be explained as a combination of both physical health and mental health services used to treat clients with both mental health and physical conditions (SAMHSA, 2018). Despite the long-standing presence of behavioral health services in integrated care settings, formal training for counseling psychology in this area is less incorporated into formal training (Boland et al., 2019). The purpose of this project is to engage alumni of an APA-accredited counseling psychology doctoral training program with integrated behavioral health training in semi-structured interviews that will explore the impacts of IBH training on their career experiences and trajectories. The study findings aim to elucidate more on the vocational experiences of trainees who receive formal integrated behavioral health education and clinical training during their doctoral studies. Implications of these findings will provide recommendations for education, training, and advocacy for other counseling psychology doctoral programs that wish to incorporate this training in their curriculum. This process will require 10+ interviews from past integrated behavioral health students who took part in integrated behavioral health training (e.g. took a primary care psychology course, engaged in a behavioral health practicum, were part of an interprofessional education immersion, etc.) during their doctoral program. A summary of the process and preliminary results will be shared at the University of California, Los Angeles, research conference."

The ability to hear extends far beyond audiological functions but employs a wider cognitive network dedicated to auditory processing. Auditory cognition (AC) refers to the mid-tier levels of cognitive processing, and is often understudied. The primary goal for this project is to study auditory cognition across eight representative decade-bound groups beginning at age eighteen, with the intent of matching demographic patterns in Minnesota within each group. We will test participants with a computerized battery of five adaptive auditory cognition tests. Each test begins with easier trials and increases in difficulty to measure performance across a range of listening demands similar to what one would experience in the real world. While the tests are taking place, we will measure changes in pupil dilation using pupillometry as our primary measurement of neural resource management. This will allow us to examine objective and subjective changes in effort and performance across task difficulty and across the full testing session. Overall, this project aims to improve understanding of how auditory cognition varies across individuals, how these differences affect functional hearing in everyday life, and how these differences may influence seeking treatment for hearing loss.

In everyday life, algebra is used in managing finances, cooking, and planning travel. It is a branch of mathematics typically introduced in middle school, and greater algebra achievement is correlated with higher socioeconomic status and educational attainment. This study examines the event-related potentials (ERPs) of algebraic reasoning. ERPs are brain electrophysiological signatures recorded on the scalp in response to the presentation of a stimulus. They have been used to study arithmetic (e.g. 7 x 4 = 28) but have not yet been used to study algebraic reasoning. The high temporal resolution of ERPs makes them well suited to capturing the rapid, millisecond-scale dynamics of algebraic reasoning. Participants will complete an algebraic verification task in which they judged whether a plotted linear equation matched a subsequently presented equation in the form y = mx + b. We will analyze the EEG data to characterize ERP responses to manipulations of slope and intercept. By identifying the ERPs elicited during algebraic reasoning, this work aims to reveal the cognitive processes that support it, including attention, working memory, and semantic processing. Because algebra achievement is tied to educational and economic outcomes, understanding its neural basis is a first step toward improving how algebra is taught and supporting students who struggle with it.

Informal caregivers provide essential support to individuals living with Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias (ADRD), yet many experience gaps in knowledge about behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD). Existing caregiver psychoeducational interventions have been developed, but they often rely on passive learning methods that may not support long-term retention or application of information. This study applies principles from the science of learning, specifically structured retrieval practice with corrective feedback, to improve caregiver education about BPSD. Retrieval-based learning is used given its demonstrated ability to strengthen learning and improve retention over time. Using a randomized experimental design, 60 caregivers were assigned to either structured retrieval practice or self-paced study and assessed on immediate and delayed knowledge retention, caregiver self-efficacy, and perceived symptom severity. Results showed that caregivers in the retrieval practice condition outperformed those in the rereading condition at both immediate and delayed testing, indicating that retrieval practice is a more effective learning strategy for supporting caregiver knowledge. These findings highlight the importance of incorporating evidence-based learning strategies into caregiver education to improve long-term retention and application in complex caregiving contexts, ultimately improving care for caregivers and individuals living with dementia.

Past research has linked neural networks to cognitive abilities. This Literature review shows that the same networks are essential for rhythm perception and cognitive tasks such as attention, metacognition, and implicit memory. Rhythm perception is also disrupted by neurodevelopmental disorders such as Parkinson’s disease and dyslexia, which are associated with deficits in cognitive and working memory tasks. Despite individual differences in cognition and working memory, music perception activates a complex neuronal network that primes motor regions of the brain, supporting sensorimotor function. This suggests that improving rhythmic skills may benefit both motor and cognitive functions, including through rhythm-based video games. Rhythm Workers, a rhythm-based video game, can train and measure rhythmic skills through tapping performance and synchronized motor function. These games provide immediate feedback, maintain motivation, and activate the same converging pathways involved in musical performance. Musicians often also show stronger performance on working memory measures, visuospatial tasks like the Corsi Block Tapping Test, and metacognitive accuracy. This suggests that rhythm-based games may support similar cognitive abilities because both draw on overlapping psychological mechanisms. However, interindividual differences in auditory perception, linguistic background, and cognitive abilities shape musical aptitude. Research using Shepard tones and informational masking suggests that musical ability may stem more from perceptual mechanisms than decisional processes. Collectively, these findings support a strong link between rhythm training, neural networks, and cognitive abilities, pointing to rhythm-based video games as effective tools for studying or training music cognition.

Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) is an evidence-based parenting intervention with strong support in reducing child behavior problems and strengthening caregiver-child relationships. Research on parenting interventions has historically focused on mothers, with fathers often underrepresented in outcome research, due to traditional gender roles. Recent evidence suggests a dramatic shift in parenting roles across cultures. This is encouraging as father involvement in treatment can enhance clinical outcomes. However, many studies aggregate caregiver data, and there is limited understanding of whether mothers and fathers differ in their perceptions of child behavior problems and treatment outcomes. The present study will examine caregiver-reported outcomes of PCIT in Santiago Chile, a country where parenting roles are shifting due to economic demands. Using the Eyberg Child Behavior Inventory (ECBI), a widely used measure of child behavior problems, the current study will compare ECBI scores at intake and at the final session split by mothers (n=130) and fathers (n=59). Preliminary analysis conducted with a sample of 134 cases (parent Mage=36, child Mage=4) revealed ECBI problem and intensity scores significantly decreased (Problem: d=1.03, (p<.001,; Intensity: d=1.22, p<.001). Further analysis will extend these findings by analyzing ECBI outcomes separately for mothers and fathers. Analysis will explore whether caregivers differ in their ratings of child behavior at intake and in their perceptions of treatment-related change. Findings will contribute to literature on PCIT in Latin America and provide insight into caregiver-specific treatment outcomes.