Psyc 4990 is a class in which students work directly with a faculty member or graduate student concerning a specific research project. Duties may include, but are not limited to, tasks such as literature reviews, running subjects, or scoring questionnaires. Listed below are the projects for the upcoming semester. You may enroll in Psych 4990 for 1 to 3 credit hours; a maximum of 6 credit hours may count toward degree requirements. Most Psyc 4990 sections require Psyc 3214, Quantitative Methods, as a prerequisite. Some require Psyc 3914, Experimental, as well. Psyc 4990 projects are competitive and the number of positions available are limited. The process for enrolling in a 4990 project is as follows:

1. Obtain a 4990 application form here.

2. Make an appointment to interview with the faculty member (professor's telephone numbers are listed with the projects) who is conducting the research which interests you (research is described below). Do not leave the form in the professor's mailbox. It is your responsibility to contact the professor and set up an appointment time.

3. Bring your completed Psych 4990 application form to your interview.

4. If you are accepted into the project, ask your supervising faculty member to sign the clearance form (at the bottom of the application), detach it, and return the signed clearance form to Silvia Daggy in 211 N. Murray or Kevin Seymore in 318 N. Murray.

Dr. Charles Abramson: The small systems approach to toxicity assessment. Students should have a willingness to work with ants, bees, crabs, and flies. (If you are allergic to stings, it is best that you not apply). Construction skills would be useful. Students will conduct experiments with invertebrates (i.e., flies, bees, worms) that measure learning and how this learning is influenced by toxicants. Construction of apparatus that measure invertebrate learning (such as maze for ants) will also be done.

charles.abramson@okstate.edu. Office 401 N. Murray.

Dr. Matt Alderson is looking for 2-3 students to assist in research focusing on working memory, behavioral inhibition, and self-regulation in children and college students with ADHD. Examples of student responsibilities include running participants, coding behavioral observations, library work, and data entry. Highly motivated and tenacious students may be included on future poster presentations at regional, national, and/or international conferences. Applications from students interested in pursuing future graduate training will be given special consideration. Interested students must be available to attend a one hour weekly research meeting in addition to working 8 hours per week.

Dr. Jared Dempsey: is looking for 1 student interested in researching drugs, alcohol, and anxiety. Current projects involve measuring emotional response physiologically (electromyography, skin conductance, heart beat) and through traditional psychological means. Emotional responses to drug images are being investigated as a potential treatment effectiveness gauge among alcohol and nicotine dependent participants. A secondary study involves an investigation related to social anxiety and smoking. Students will be trained in conducting psychophysiological assessment, running participants, and typical laboratory duties (e.g., data analysis, data entry, literature reviews). Interested students must be available to attend a one hour weekly research meeting in addition to working 8 hours per week. ***Please note***: laboratory procedures involve showing participants graphic photographs (both erotic and violent) to induce different emotional states. If you are offended by these types of photographs it may be best to consider alternative research experiences. However, alternative laboratory research projects may be available. For more information on current projects and laboratory in general, please visit www.cnslab.org.

jared.dempsey@okstate.edu. Office 201 N. Murray. Telephone: 744-4594

Dr. DeMond Grant is looking for 2 students interested in anxiety and mood disorders. Research within the lab focuses on examining cognitive (e.g., rumination, attention) and interpersonal (e.g., interpersonal dependency, reassurance-seeking) factors associated with anxiety and mood disorders, using a variety of experimental tasks and psychophysiological measures. Responsibilities include running participants, recruitment, library work, and data entry. Those interested must be available to work 8 hours plus a weekly 1 hour lab meeting.

demond.grant@okstate.edu

Dr. Doug Hershey: Studies in the Retirement Planning Research Laboratory involve the examination of retirement preparation practices and other aspects of adult development and successful aging. Needs 2 to 3 students. Students will be involved in many different types of activities including data collection, data analysis, and interpretation of findings. Ideally, students should have completed a course in experimental psychology and a course in statistics. Weekly meetings are required, and a time commitment of approximately 8-10 hours per week is expected.

douglas.hershey@okstate.edu Office 201 N. Murray. Telephone: 744-4594

Shelia Kennison's lab has an ongoing need for undergraduate laboratory assistants in summer and fall. Option one: Outstanding students will be encouraged to work on projects that they develop with the supervision of Dr. Kennison in one-on-one meetings. This option is ideal for students with interests in going to graduate school. Typically, student projects have been submitted for the Wentz Research Award Competition. Dr. Kennison has supervised 11 Wentz Research Project Awards. Students are encouraged to present the results of their research at a conference and submit the manuscript for publication at a journal. Dr. Kennison has routinely publishes research articles with undergraduate co-authors.

Option two: Students will serve as research assistants in ongoing research. Students will assist the research in a variety of ways, including testing participants in computerized experiments. The experiments focus on the processing of language by the brain, second language acquisition, memory and language, social aspects of cognitive processing, and reading comprehension in English and other languages. Students with interests in languages other than English are encouraged to apply (e.g., Spanish, Japanese, French, German, & Chinese). You do not need to be a psychology major to apply. For an interview, please complete the following form: http://psychology.okstate.edu/faculty/kennison/kennison4990.htm

After you complete the application form, send an email to Dr. Kennison at shelia.kennison@okstate.edu.

Dr. Larry Mullins: Child Health Psychology Lab. In this lab, we are interested in investigating aspects of coping and adjustment in children with chronic health conditions, including pediatric cancer, sickle cell disease, asthma, and diabetes, among others. In particular, we are interested in looking at how parents cope with the uncertainty of their child’s illness, and we have developed interventions to assist their coping efforts. Primary responsibilities of assistants will include the conducting literature searches, development of databases (including library searches), assistance with grant preparation, and assistance with recruiting and running participants. At least sophomore standing and library skills are required. Computer skills (including data entry, programming, web design, and/or multimedia authoring) are also advantageous, but not required. Must be willing to commit to weekly lab meetings; other time very flexible. Needs for Summer or Fall of 2008: 3-4 students.

Email: larry.mullins@okstate.edu   221 North Murray. Phone: 744-2341.

Dr. Page Dr. Page is looking for summer and fall 4990s. You will be working on the Families and Schools for Health project. This might involve some home interviewing, but will mainly involve data checking and cleaning. If a student is interested, there is the possibility to present some of the data at a conference.

Contact: For all positions, please send me a brief email stating your interest and qualifications. All students will be required to complete a brief in-person interview. melanie.page@okstate.edu

Dr. David Thomas: The research carried out in Dr. Thomas’ lab focuses on the relations between nutritional variables and cognitive development in infants and young children in collaboration with Drs. Tay Kennedy and Barbara Stoecker in Nutritional Sciences and Dr. Laura Hubbs-Tait in Human Development and Family Science. We are currently looking for 5-6 undergraduates for both the Summer of 2009 and the 2009-2010 academic year. Students who work in the lab will gain a broad spectrum of research experience including:
• recruitment of mothers and their infants as study participants;
• a wide variety of data collection, e.g., behavioral, physiological, self-report, and anthropometric;
• data coding;
• data entry;
• library searches.
Weekly meetings are required, and a weekly commitment of approximately 2-3 additional hours per credit hour is expected.

Email: david.thomas@okstate.edu