Contact:

Nancy Chavez, (505) 277-3426 or Steve Carr, (505) 277-1821

May 15, 2001

UNM PSYCHOLOGY STUDENTS HONORED FOR RESEARCH PAPERS

Eight University of New Mexico psychology students were honored for research papers during the 36th Annual Senior Honors Symposium sponsored by the Department of Psychology recently.

Albuquerque-natives Brian Cordova, Sarah Gaussoin, Brittany Lakin, Jodi Mayfield, Chris Nguyen, Audrey Solimon, Blake Standish and Sarah Woodford, each of whom were in the Honors Program in the Psychology Department, received honor cords at UNM’s graduation ceremonies last Saturday.

Cordova’s research paper was titled “Early Testosterone Exposure and Individual Differences in Lateralization and Selected Cognitive Skills.” Currently a potential marker of early testosterone has been identified — the ratio of second to fourth digit ratio (2D:4D ratios) — with males having a smaller ratio than females. Cordova’s research discovered a negative correlation between left hand second to fourth digit ratio (2D:4D ratios) and both the mental rotation ability and the speed of mental calculations, consistent with the assumption that early testosterone levels are related to these cognitive sex differences.

Gaussoin’s paper titled, “A Normative Study of Memory Using a List Learning Task in a Healthy Elderly Population,” focused on subtle memory deterioration associated with normal aging and understanding the character of these deficits in order to separate the memory deficits associated with normal aging and those associated with Alzheimer’s Disease.

Lakin’s paper was titled “Managed Care and Parental Involvement as Factors in the Readmission to a Children’s Residential Treatment Center.” The study investigated the effects of normal and premature patient discharge along with the level of parental involvement during treatment on recidivism rates. The primary hypotheses were that patients who were prematurely discharged would show a higher recidivism rate than those with normal discharge.

Mayfield’s paper was titled “Individual Contributions to the Base Rate Fallacy.” The research study investigated the occurrence of base rate fallacy with respect to non-diagnostic information and given base rates. It also delved into the locus of control, and mood traits and states which were looked at to see if they had an effect on the base rate fallacy. Participants were given a set of fictional and factual diseases scenarios and asked to judge which category the target person belonged to.

Nguyen’s research paper was titled “Leadership as a Mediator of the Relationship of Locus of Control and Well-being on Job Outcomes.” It analyzed the mediating effects of leadership on the relationship of locus of control and psychological well-being to job outcomes including assimilation, acculturation and job satisfaction for employees in business organizations.

Solimon’s research paper, “The Association Between Postnatal Environment and Cognitive Performance in Children Prenatally Exposed to Alcohol,” examined the performance of children with prenatal exposure to alcohol on the Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test (K-BIT). The children sampled included a variety of ethnic groups which were split into two ethnic groups (54 percent American Indian and 46 percent non-American Indian) to examine differences between groups.

Standish’s paper, “White Matter Lesion Volume and N-Acetyl-Aspartate (NAA) Concentration as Predictors of Neuropsychological Performance in Vascular Dementia Patients,” studied vascular dementia, which is second-only to Alzheimer’s disease as a cause of dementia among elderly people. In the study, tissue segmentation of magnetic resonance images was performed leading to the differentiation of voxels (box-shaped part of a three-dimensional space) containing gray matter, white matter, cerebral spinal fluid, and lesioned tissue. The lesion load predicted specific neuropsychological deficits as well as the extent of NAA reduction in lesioned white matter.

Woodford’s research paper, “Maternal Age and Drinking Patterns as They Relate to Cognitive Skills, Adaptive Behavior and Overall Dysmorphology in Alcohol Exposed Children,” examined the relationships between the mother’s age, maternal alcohol consumption, and the expression of cognitive and adaptive behavior deficits and overall dysmorphology associated with fetal alcohol syndrome.

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