The Cupola

2019-2020

Poster Edition

Volume 1

The Undergraduate Research Journal of

Christopher Newport University

1 Avenue of the Arts

Newport News, VA 23606

The Cupola is the undergraduate research journal of Christopher Newport University. Publication of The Cupola is made possible by the generous support of the Douglas K. Gordon Endowed Fund.

Papers published in The Cupola have undergone review by the Undergraduate and Graduate Research Council. The final product has been edited and compiled by the Office of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity. The Cupola is published in print and online at www.cnu.edu/research.

Each poster published in this special edition of The Cupola is awarded a $100 stipend in recognition of the fine work of the students.

The Cupola (Newport News, Va. Print)

ISSN 2688-5913

Cupola (Newport News, Va. Online)

ISSN 2688-5921

©2020

All rights belong to individual authors

The Office of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity

Dr. David A. Salomon, Director

Dr. Michaela Meyer, Academic Director

757.594.8586 cnu.edu/research interweb.cnu.edu/research

Welcome to a special poster edition of The Cupola, Christopher Newport University’s undergraduate research journal. As the Director of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity, it is my pleasure to serve as the journal’s editor, establishing guidelines and facilitating the vetting process. In this strange and unusual year, given the global pandemic and the overdue worldwide protests against racial injustice, the OURCA determined to print posters, particularly highlighting the work of students which had been accepted for presentation at prestigious conferences and annual meetings cancelled by the pandemic. We are proud to publish fifteen of the best examples of undergraduate research at Christopher Newport University.

The Office of Undergraduate Research and Creativity is proud of these students who, with enthusiastic and skilled faculty mentorship, continue to produce insightful and meaningful work.

The OURCA would like to thank the members of the 2019-2020 Undergraduate Research Committee: Co-chair Dr. Andria Timmer; Co-Chair Prof. Denise Gillman; Dr. John Thompson, Dr. Rocio Gordon, Dr. Robert Winder, Dr. Leslie Rollins, Dr. Olga Lipatova, Dr. Farideh D. Mohammadi, Dr. Hussam Timani, Ms. Mary Sellen, and Dr. Michaela Meyer.

Thanks to Courtney Michel, Creative Services Manager of CNU’s Office of Communications and Public Relations, for her astonishing talent, patience, and artistry in designing the layout of The Cupola.

Special thanks to Provost David Doughty, Vice Provost Geoffrey Klein, and OURCA administrative assistant Michaele Baux.

Dr. David A. Salomon Director, Office of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity

July 2020

Cade Cobbs, Emma S. Dryden, Jessica S. Thompson and Heather D. Harwell Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Jessica Thompson, Department of Organismal and Environmental Biology

Abstract

Estuarine habitats are impacted by climate change due to rising sea level, increasing temperatures, and more frequent storm events. Global change could have major implications for species in these habitats, including the mummichog (Fundulus hetereoclitus), which is a resident fish species of intertidal salt marshes of the Chesapeake Bay. The objective of this study was to investigate how consumption of terrestrial insect prey by mummichogs was affected by storm events and monthly variation in Hoffler Creek, a tidal creek in Portsmouth, VA. We compared the gut contents of mummichogs collected at two sites along an upstream-downstream gradient during a dry weather period prior to a storm each month from June to August 2019, as well as during a subsequent storm event in June and July. Fish were collected using unbaited minnow traps, humanely euthanized using MS-222, and preserved in 10% buffered formalin. Prey items in the first two sections of the gut were cataloged to account for the most recently consumed items. A Fisher’s one-tailed exact test (α=0.05) indicated that there was a significant increase in the proportion of terrestrial insect prey consumed during the storm event only at the upstream site in June (p=0.04). A 2x3 Chi-square test (α=0.05) was used to assess the effect of month on consumption of insect versus non-insect prey; we found that there was a significant difference in the proportion of terrestrial insect prey consumed at the upstream site (X2=16.91, p<0.01), the highest of which occurred in August, but not at the downstream site (X2=3.43, p=0.18). Terrestrial insect prey represents an important energy source for mummichogs, and its availability could increase when storms knock insects into the water at sites similar to the upstream site in this study, where the marsh is in close proximity to the upland habitat. Increased storm events may, therefore, result in an unexpected benefit of climate change for mummichogs. Mummichog consumption patterns are also impacted by monthly variation in insect abundance, which will be impacted by climate change in, as yet, unknown ways.

Cade Cobbs is an Organismal Biology major with minors in Chemistry and Spanish. He has been involved in undergraduate research since his freshman year at CNU and was a Summer Scholar in the summer of 2019. He is a member of the Class of 2020 and plans to attend graduate school in the Fall to obtain a Master’s Degree in Marine Biology and will later pursue a PhD to become a professor.

Emma Dryden is an Organismal Biology major with Leadership Studies and Environmental Studies minors. She is also a member of the Class of 2020. She has been involved with undergraduate research since her sophomore year and was a Summer Scholar in the summer of 2019. She plans to apply to veterinary school in the coming cycle to join the Class of 2025.

Dwell Time Differs as a Function of Emotion and Social Anxiety Levels

Kali DeBorde, Caitlyn Sullivan, Erin Mills, Brittany Rininger, and Ayesha Ferozpuri

Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Laurie Hunter, Department of Psychology

Abstract

The current study explored the eye-tracking patterns, via the eye-tracking metric of visit duration, of individuals with and without social anxiety symptomatology when processing emotional expressions. In the current study we extend prior research by exploring how various areas (AOIs) of facial expressions of emotion are processed by individuals with and without social anxiety symptomatology. Forty-six undergraduate students from a small liberal arts university in the Mid-Atlantic viewed an 80-slide presentation of faces, taken from CAFE child facial set (LoBue & Thrasher, 2014) and NimStim adult facial set (Tottenham et al., 2009) while measures of eye-tracking were documented using Tobii X3-120. Participants were instructed to label the faces with the appropriate emotion. Participants were asked to complete the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale which was used for grouping purposes. Participants were grouped into two groups based on the clinical cut-off values (low SAS, less than 55; high SAS greater than 55). A 2 (SAS high or low) X 2 (age of face) X 5 (emotion)X 4 (AOI)

ANOVA was conducted to assess visit duration. A 3-way interaction effect was found for visit duration F(4, 176) = 2.736, p = 0.030 (see Figure 1). Although no effects for AOIs were obtained, individuals with high social anxiety spent more time processing child faces expressing anger.

Kali DeBorde is a senior Psychology major with a minor in Childhood Studies at Christopher Newport University. In the fall, she will be pursuing her Master’s in speechlanguage pathology at Old Dominion University.

Caitlyn Sullivan graduated from Christopher Newport University in 2019 with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and minors in Leadership Studies and Childhood Studies. She continued at CNU for her Master of Arts in Teaching for Elementary Education and graduated in 2020. While at CNU, Caitlyn was involved in the President Leadership Program, Greek life, Psi Chi, SVEA, and Undergraduate Research. Caitlyn also served the Newport News community through over 100 hours within the Newport News Public School system.

Erin Mills is a senior psychology major with a minor in leadership studies. In August, she will be participating in the Disney College Program in Orlando, Florida.

Brittany Rininger graduated from Christopher Newport University in May of 2019. She is currently working towards her Masters of Arts in Special Education at Arizona State University. Additionally, she is working as a Registered Behavior Technician providing in-home ABA services.

Ayesha Ferozpuri is a Christopher Newport University alumna with a Bachelor of Science in Neuroscience and Psychology. She currently works at Solstice East, a residential treatment center for adolescent girls, as a personal development mentor. In the fall, she will be pursuing her Masters in rehabilitation and mental health counseling at Virginia Commonwealth University.

This poster was accepted for presentation at the 66th Annual Meeting of the Southeastern Psychological Association.

Dwell Time Differs as a Function of Emotion and Social Anxiety Levels

Department of Psychology

Abstract

We explored the potential relationship between social anxiety and various emotions used for facial expression processing. Social anxiety differentiates among certain emotional face processing in child faces only. Specifically, dwell time was greater when processing child faces expressing anger and fear among high socially anxious participants compared to low socially anxious ones. When presented with faces of different ages and emotions, social anxiety impacts how individuals process the emotional expressions of children faces but not adult faces.

Importance of the Research

● Individuals with social anxiety may have a heightened sensitivity to emotions in general (Horley, Williams, Gonsalvez, & Gordon, 2004; McTague et al., 2017)

● Those individuals with higher social anxiety levels tend to have a longer dwell time for fearful expressions, than those with lower social anxiety levels. (Schofield, Johnson, Inhoff, & Coles, 2012)

● Avoidance of aversive facial expressions such as anger and fear could be caused by an evolutionary need to minimize threats from others (Horley et al., 2004).

● In the current study we use eye-tracking technology to examine the visual processing of anger, fear, happiness, neutral, and sadness in individuals with high and low social anxiety scores.

Participants and Procedure

● 46 undergraduate students from Christopher Newport University

● Participants viewed an 80 slide presentation of faces, taken from CAFE child facial set (LoBue & Thrasher, 2014) and NimStim adult facial set (Tottenham et al., 2009) while measures of eye-tracking were documented using Tobii X3-120.

● Participants were instructed to label the faces with the appropriate emotion.

● Participants were asked to complete the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale which was used for grouping purposes. Participants were grouped into two groups based on low, less than 55, and high, greater than 55 scores.

Findings

Results

A 2 (SAS high or low) X 2 (age of face) X 5 (emotion)X 4 (AOI) ANOVA was conducted

3-way interaction effects found for visit duration F(4, 176) = 2.736, p = 0.030. See Effects included age of face, emotion, and high or low social anxiety group classification

Interpretation

Participants in this study scored within the clinical range for Social Anxiety. Individuals with high social anxiety spent more time processing faces expressing anger and fear, compared to happiness, sadness, Most importantly, participants who have high social anxiety spent more time processing child faces expressing anger. Perhaps, college students are not regularly exposed to children expressing anger. Thus, it takes longer for the emotion processing to occur because it is an unfamiliar event.

○ Individuals with high social anxiety may be intimidated by unfamiliar people expressing anger. Our stimuli were unfamiliar to our participants. Participants spent less time exploring adult faces displaying anger. With child faces expressing anger, on the other hand, there may be a less intimidation factor, so they may spend longer exploring those faces.

Big Picture

Individuals with high and low social anxiety visually process emotional expressions differently.

When processing anger, our findings support an evolutionary need to protect ourselves from threats which are likely to come from adults rather than children. Thus, spending more time exploring a child face expressing anger is less threatening.

Autonomic Correlates of Mental Toughness

Christopher Duncan

Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Lindsey Stone, Department of Psychology

Abstract

Mental toughness is a key variable in determining how individuals react to and cope with stressful situations. Current research relies on subjective self-report measures to measure mental toughness, and few objective indices have been explored. However, many links exist between mental toughness and other constructs relating to emotion regulation and mental health which demonstrate relationships with autonomic nervous system activity. Low resting parasympathetic (PNS) activity is related to emotion dysregulation and psychopathological disorders, while high sympathetic (SNS) activity is also implied in negative mental health outcomes. At present, ANS indices are generally examined separately. However, measures like Cardiac Autonomic Balance (CAB) and Cardiac Autonomic Regulation (CAR) which examine the relative contribution of each branch of the ANS may yield stronger insights than measured examined in isolation. The goal of this study is to determine a relationship between physiological measures of nervous system arousal and mental toughness. Both single-branch measures of autonomic nervous system activity (heart rate variability and pre-ejection period) and composite indices (CAB and CAR) were examined. Thirty female undergraduates provided physiological data and responses to self-report questionnaires measuring mental toughness. Results found a significant positive relationship between CAB and MT, but not with CAR, HRV, or PEP. Results support the utility of composite indices of ANS activity as a predictor of MT above individual indices. Implications for educational, clinical, and vocational settings are discussed.

Keywords: Mental toughness, autonomic nervous system, heart rate variability, pre-ejection period, cardiac autonomic balance

Christopher Duncan is a recently graduated senior with a B.A. in Psychology from Christopher Newport University. During his time at CNU, he was involved with the President’s Leadership Program, the Honors Program, and ROTC. He worked as a research assistant in the RAD Lab with Dr. Stone in the Department of Psychology for three years, where he conducted independent research on Mental Toughness. Following graduation, he will serve as an Army Officer, where he one day intends to pursue his PhD in Psychology to continue his research on Mental Toughness and apply his findings to military settings.

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