Sarah Haigh: How do uncomfortable visual environments affect behavior?
Title
How do uncomfortable visual environments affect behavior? Exploring physiological responses to uncomfortable sounds.
Mentor
Department
Biosketch
Sarah Haigh, Ph.D., is an associate professor in psychology and neuroscience at the Βι¶ΉΣ³». She has mentored many undergraduates ranging from first-year students to seniors. Her research focuses on sensory processing and its impact on cognition, both in the general population and in clinical groups such as individuals with autism, schizophrenia and migraines.
Project overview
The first portion of the project will examine the effect uncomfortable visual environments have on our ability to process information. Have you ever been distracted by an annoying colorful advert on your computer? Or unable to read because something is flashing in your periphery? We will be assessing this effect systematically and will start to probe some of the potential mechanisms underlying the effects on behavior. Because of the nature of the stimuli, students with epilepsy, a history of seizures, or who know that they are very sensitive to their visual environment should not apply – it would make the work miserable! Students will learn how to collect behavioral data, what the underlying mechanisms are that drive the behavior, and will be involved in presenting the findings at the national and international level.
For the second portion of the project, we will focus on sounds that cause auditory discomfort and the physiological responses that accompany the discomfort. The sounds that are uncomfortable to listen to are not well described and we do not know what causes them to be uncomfortable. The student working on this project will be involved in finding stimuli, collecting behavioral data, and measuring physiological responses such as galvanic skin response and electrocardiography. The aim is to create a database of verified uncomfortable sounds that can be used for future research. For both studies, students will learn how to collect and analyze behavioral and/or physiological data, will explore what the potential underlying mechanisms are that drive the behavior, and will be involved in presenting the findings at the national and international level.
Pack Research Experience Program information and application