Current Projects
Effects of Mindfulness on Interhemispheric Transfer During a Poffenberger Task
Description: Extensive research has investigated how mindfulness impacts cognition and well-being through inhibition and inhibitory control. However, there has been no research that has explicitly looked at how mindfulness influences hemispheric communication through inhibition. Interhemispheric transfer is how the two halves of the brain connect and transfer neural information. This relationship between the hemispheres has been shown to be a complex process that includes many factors such as unequal white matter tracts, hemispheric dominance, and unequal inhibition. The current study is investigating how mindfulness, which has been thought to influence inhibition, would impact the communication between the hemispheres. This research could supply biological support for mindfulness, but also a greater understanding of inhibition and the role during interhemispheric transfer.
Primary Investigators: Krista Price, B.S., M.A. & M.S. candidate at Ball State University & Stephanie Simon-Dack, Ph.D., Associate Dean of the Graduate School
Contact: If you are interested in participating in this study, you can contact Krista Price at kmprice5@bsu.edu or sign up on SONA coming soon.
Expanded Mnemonic Discrimination Task: A New EEG Paradigm (E-MDT)
Description: The purpose of this research project is to examine how the brain responses to a series of cognitive tasks after viewing videos of everyday life experiences (e.g., babies laughing, lawn mowing, or thunderstorms). Specifically, this study involves measuring event-related potentials (ERPs) related to emotionally valenced content (i.e., positive, negative, neutral stimuli) during an expanded modified mnemonic discrimination task (E-MDT). We are interested in establishing comparable results and patterns found in previous research to discern whether this new task can provide more insight into real-world episodic memory.
Primary Investigators: Jasmin Humble, B.A., M.A. candidate at Ball State University & Stephanie Simon-Dack, Ph.D., Associate Dean of the Graduate School
Contact: If you are interested in participating in this study, you can contact Jas Humble at jmhumble@bsu.edu or sign up on SONA here.
Perceived Effort and Attitudes Toward Mask Wearing
Description: Wearing a mask has become commonplace during the COVID pandemic to protect oneself and others from the virus. Recent investigations have documented the impact of wearing masks of different types on the speech signal. This research has shown a reduction in the intensity of speech, with the greatest impact on the high frequency range of speech. High-frequency speech provides information about consonant sounds and gives speech clarity. While much has been learned in a short time about the impact of mask-wearing on the talker’s speech signal, less is known about the impact on levels of frustration and/or anxiety the mask may cause. These feelings may impact a person’s attitude toward mask-wearing and the likelihood of consistent use.
Primary Investigators: Lynn Bielski, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Audiology, Anjolii Diaz, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Psychological Science, Jocelyn Bolin, Ph.D., Professor of Educational Psychology & Lauren Shaffer, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Audiology
Contact: If you are interested in participating in this study, please contact this project’s graduate coordinator, Chloe Woodling, at cmwoodling@bsu.edu or sign up on SONA here.
Personality Characteristics and Goal-Directed Behavior
Description: Recent work (Lueke & Skeel, 2017; Lueke & Rubinow, 2019) suggests that particular personality characteristics differentially impact men’s and women’s goal-directed behavior in the achievement domain. The present study is interested in continuing this line of research by examining additional personality characteristics, mental health, and temperamental constructs that may impact information processing and goal-directed behavior across both men and women.
Primary Investigators: Nilou Lueke, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Psychological Science & Anjolii Diaz, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Psychological Science
Contact: If you are interested in participating in this study, please contact this project’s graduate coordinator, Arash Assar, arash.assar@bsu.edu or sign up on SONA.
Predictors of Sleep for Women in Male-Dominated Majors
Description: Sleep is essential for restoring processes involved in healthy functioning, and for both academic and occupational outcomes. College students have been found to have erratic sleep schedules and poor sleep habits. Specifically, women college students report getting under the minimum recommended hours of sleep for their age group, and women have been found to have poorer sleep quality and satisfaction with sleep when compared to men. On top of erratic schedules and sleep habits, there are many potential contributing factors to sleep disturbance. These factors may include the reciprocally causal constructs of negative affectivity and emotion dysregulation – as they have been found to act as maintaining processes in difficulties with sleep. Women report greater internalizing experiences which means they may be predisposed to experience greater difficulties with sleep which may be particularly evident in stressful environments. Moreover, research on male-dominated fields and majors has found an abundance of additional stressors particularly for women, including high rates of gender stereotypes and perceived lack of belongingness. Perceived sense of belonging has been heavily researched in women in male-dominated majors and has been shown to be linked to retention rates and to levels of affective distress which has been found to predict poor sleep quality. As there has been no current research on the role of gender-typicality in women’s sleep, it is crucial to examine constructs related to sleep such as negative affectivity, emotion dysregulation, and social belongingness as this may provide crucial information on the development of sleep difficulties in women in male-dominated fields and subsequently options related to its reduction and prevention.
Primary Investigators: Chloe Woodling, B.A., M.A. & M.S. candidate at Ball State University & Anjolii Diaz, Ph.D, Associate Professor of Psychological Science
Contact: If you are interested in participating in this study, you can contact Chloe Woodling at cmwoodling@bsu.edu or sign up on SONA here.
Personality and Sleep Study
Sleep has been studied extensively due to its prominent role in adaptive outcomes such as promoting a sense of well-being and increased quality of life (Weinberg et al., 2016). Despite the importance of sleep, college students are highly vulnerable to sleep disturbances impairing not just their sleep quantity but quality as well (Kloss et al., 2011). Therefore, investigating possible antecedents and factors associated with poor sleep outcomes among college students has been a primary focus of sleep research. Based on previous research suggesting that personality attributes may serve as predictors of poor sleep outcomes (e.g., Cellini et al., 2017), the focus of the present investigation is to further contribute to this line of research by examining how one’s attitudes, thoughts, and behaviors are related to their sleep.
Primary Investigators: Arash Assar, M.S., M.A. & M.S. candidate at Ball State University & Anjolii Diaz, Ph.D, Associate Professor of Psychological Science
Contact: If you are interested in participating in this study, you can contact Arash Assar at arash.assar@bsu.edu or sign up on SONA here.
Esports Attitudes and Lifestyle Study
Electronic sports or “esports” is a form of competitive sport that involves individuals and/or teams of players who compete in organized video gaming through human-computer interfaces (Hamari & Sjoblom, 2017). Similar to more traditional athletes, esports athletes are watched and followed by millions of fans worldwide, who attend live events or tune on TV or online. Although esports has become a global phenomenon in the past decade and is currently the fastest growing sport of all time (Bonnar et al., 2019), research efforts have only scratched the surface of our understanding of factors that contribute to esports athletes’ psychological well-being compared to traditional sport athletes. The purpose of the current study is to identify factors that promote psychological well-being and sleep heath in a sample of varsity and collegiate club esports athletes. Findings from this study may inform intervention programs designed to improve performance, sleep behaviors, and health in collegiate esports athletes.
Primary Investigators: Arash Assar, M.S., M.A. & M.S. candidate at Ball State University, Allison Sederlund, B.A., M.A. & M.S. candidate at Ball State University, & Anjolii Diaz, Ph.D, Associate Professor of Psychological Science
Contact: If you are interested in participating in this study, you can contact Arash Assar at arash.assar@bsu.edu.