Tag Archives: psychology

UVic 2022 “Pathways to Impact” Grant: Eric Higgs

UVic’s “Pathways to Impact” fund aims to move original research that aligns with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and move it into real-world applications for greatest impact. The fund is a partnership between UVic’s Research Partnerships and Knowledge Mobilization (RPKM) unit and UVic Libraries. Funded projects will make their research openly accessible, including via UVicSpace, contributing to the democratization of knowledge and knowledge equity. The inaugural UVic fund is one of a few institutionally led knowledge-mobilization funding initiatives across Canadian research universities and among the first to directly target the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

Sentinels of change: Rising treelines and raising knowledge.

UVic researchers address cultural, ecological and environmental urgency behind the Mountain Legacy Project.

UN Sustainable Development Goals: 6, 13, 14 and 15

Among the seven projects that were selected for the 2022 Pathways to Impact fund is Sentinels of change: Rising treelines and raising knowledge, led by Prof. Eric Higgs, a professor at the School of Environmental Studies (Faculty of Social Sciences) at the University of Victoria. The research project uses historical photographs from the Canadian Rocky Mountains to analyze tree line change over the last century. The results will be applied to discuss the effects of climate change on such ecosystems and possible practical implications. The funded project is part of the Mountain Legacy Project.

Besides an article in Scientific Reports, an open access journal by reputable academic publisher Nature…

Trant, A., Higgs, E., & Starzomski, B. M. (2020). A century of high elevation ecosystem change in the Canadian Rocky Mountains. Scientific Reports, 10(1), Art. 1. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-66277-2

…an episode of the appraised podcast Future Ecologies was recently published in connection with the project:

“In a forgotten corner of a national archive, some very heavy boxes held a rare promise: an opportunity to look back in time at a landscape scale.”

Listen to the episode here.

Find a list of achievements and publications by Prof. Higgs on his website and on his ORCiD profile.

UVic Libraries congratulates Professor Higgs and his team on the successful application and their valuable research contribution to the fulfillment of the United Nations’ SDGs.

Mt. Assiniboine and Magog Lake: A. O. Wheeler, 1913 & Mary Sanseverino, 2017

UVic 2022 “Pathways to Impact” Grant: Dr. Megan Ames

Canadian mapping of Autism-specific supports for postsecondary students

UN Sustainable Development Goals: 3, 4, and 10

The Pathways to Impact fund is a partnership between the Office of UVic’s Research Partnerships and Knowledge Mobilization (RPKM) unit and UVic Libraries. Its aim is to move original research into real-world applications for greatest impact. The funded research projects align with and advance UVic’s commitment to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are a set of goals that “encompass equity issues for humanity—reducing poverty, hunger, and inequality—along with sustainability issues that imperil the globe’s habitability.

Among the seven projects that were selected for the 2022 Pathways to Impact fund is the Canadian mapping of Autism-specific supports for postsecondary students by Dr. Megan Ames (University of Victoria) and Carly McMorris (University of Calgary).

Dr. Megan Ames is an assistant professor at the Department of Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Victoria. Her research–the topic of the funded research project is outlined as follows:

“Prospective post-secondary students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and their parents often spend an extensive amount of time researching potential schools and supports. CFYS research fellow Dr. Megan Ames and Dr. Carly McMorris from the University of Calgary have conducted an environmental scan of the websites of all public post-secondary institutions in Canada looking for support provisions. Out of over 250 institutions, only 6% listed at least one support specific to students with ASD. The team is hoping to make this list publicly available in the near future.”

The following article was published in connection with the project:

Ames, M. E., Coombs, C. E. M., Duerksen, K. N., Vincent, J., & McMorris, C. A. (2022). Canadian mapping of autism-specific supports for postsecondary students. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 90, 101899. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rasd.2021.101899

Funded projects will make their research openly accessible, including via UVicSpace, contributing to the larger conversation around the democratization of knowledge and the role that higher education institutions play in contributing to knowledge equity.

The inaugural UVic fund is one of a few institutionally led knowledge-mobilization funding initiatives across Canadian research universities and among the first to directly target the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

Find list of other articles published by Dr. Ames here.

UVic Libraries congratulates Dr. Ames and Dr. McMorris on their successful application and their valuable research contribution to the fulfillment of the United Nations’ SDGs.

Featured Thesis: Improving lineup effectiveness through manipulation of eyewitness judgment strategies

By Eric Y. Mah

https://dspace.library.uvic.ca:8443/handle/1828/11968

An M.Sc. thesis in the Department of Psychology.

Abstract:

Understanding eyewitness lineup judgment processes is critical, both from a theoretical standpoint (to better understand human memory) and from a practical one (to prevent wrongful convictions and criminals walking free). Currently, two influential theories attempt to explain lineup decision making: the theory of eyewitness judgment strategies (Lindsay & Wells, 1985), and the signal detection theory-informed diagnostic-feature-detection hypothesis (Wixted & Mickes, 2014). The theory of eyewitness judgment strategies posits that eyewitnesses can adopt either an absolute judgment strategy (base identification decisions only on their memory for the culprit) or a relative judgment strategy (base identification decision on lineup member comparisons). This theory further predicts that relative judgment strategies lead to an increase in false identifications. Contrast this with the diagnostic-feature-detection hypothesis, which predicts that the lineup member comparisons inherent to relative strategies promote greater accuracy. These two theories have been tested indirectly (i.e., via lineup format manipulations tangentially related to the theory), but there is a lack of direct tests. Across two experiments (Ns = 192, 584), we presented participants with simulated crime videos and corresponding lineups, and manipulated judgment strategy using explicit absolute and relative strategy instructions and a novel rank-order manipulation meant to encourage lineup member comparisons. We found no substantial differences in identifications or overall accuracy as a function of instructed strategy. These results are inconsistent with the theory of eyewitness judgment strategies but provide some support for the diagnostic-feature-detection hypothesis. We discuss implications for both theories and future lineup research.

To read more, visit UVicSpace

*UVic’s open access repository, UVicspace, makes worldwide knowledge mobilization possible. Through this platform, researchers at any institution have access to dissertations (and theses and graduate projects) published by our graduate students. This also makes works available to the interested layperson, who may be engaged in learning more about the research being done at UVic, with no paywall. UVic’s graduate students are doing valuable research every day – but sometimes it goes unsung. Our goal with this series is to shine a light on our students by featuring excellence, one achievement at a time.

The UVic LIbraries ePublishing Services Team

Featured Thesis: The Relationship Between Stress, Physical Activity and Cognitive Decline with Age

UVic News recently announced that UVic ranks among the top performers in 10 fields, according to the 2019 Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings by Subject. To celebrate, we would like to feature some of the graduate research. Today, we feature a 2017 Psychology M.Sc. Thesis*:

The Relationship Between Stress, Physical Activity and Cognitive Decline with Age

by Rebecca Vendittelli

Abstract:

Cognitive decline is often associated with increasing age. However, there is growing support that modifiable lifestyle factors such as exercise and stress influence outcomes. That is, physical activity (PA) seems to be protective, while stress engenders decline. Moreover, there is evidence to suggest that these variables interact such that being active positively moderates the negative effects of stress on cognitive decline. The present study examines the effects of both average PA and stress on cognitive decline (i.e., between-person effects), the coupled association between PA and cognition and stress and cognition (i.e., within-person, or occasion specific effects), and the possible interaction between PA and stress on cognitive outcomes. Coordinated analyses of The Memory and Aging Project (MAP; N = 1,853, mean age = 79) and Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam (LASA; N = 4,109, mean age = 68) were conducted. A series of multilevel models (MLM) were fit to the data, evaluating differences in baseline and linear change in perceptual speed, episodic memory, and MMSE scores in both data sets. Average PA was associated with the intercept of perceptual speed and episodic memory, and decline in all 3 outcomes in MAP only. There was a significant coupled association between PA and all cognitive outcomes in MAP, and with perceptual speed in LASA. Average stress was not associated with baseline scores or rates of change in any of the cognitive outcomes in either study. However, occasion specific stress was associated with perceptual speed and episodic memory in the unexpected direction in LASA. Lastly, there was a significant positive interaction between occasion specific stress and occasion specific activity on MMSE and perceptual speed scores in LASA. That is, on occasions when participants reported more stress than usual, if they also reported more exercise than usual, they tended to score better on these outcomes. Findings support the beneficial effects of both average and occasion specific activity on cognitive abilities, however failed to demonstrate the adverse effects of stress, and only partially supported an interaction between activity and stress. Limitations and future directions are discussed.

To read more, visit UVicSpace https://dspace.library.uvic.ca/handle/1828/8498

The UVic LIbraries ePublishing Services Team

Some Open textbooks for Psychology

Have you ever considered using open education resources for your course? Not only does it save the students money, it can give you more flexible control over the content. If you haven’t found the right resource – consider creating one! Contact the UVic Office of Scholarly Communication for guidance and support.

Here are some examples of resources available to you:

1. Introduction to Psychology – 1st Canadian Edition ((CC BY-NC-SA)

This book is designed to help students organize their thinking about psychology at a conceptual level. The focus on behaviour and empiricism has produced a text that is better organized, has fewer chapters, and is somewhat shorter than many of the leading books. The beginning of each section includes learning objectives; throughout the body of each section are key terms in bold followed by their definitions in italics; key takeaways, and exercises and critical thinking activities end each section.

2. Research Methods in Psychology – 2nd Canadian Edition (CC BY-NC-SA)

Psychology, like most other sciences, has its own set of tools to investigate the important research questions of its field. Unlike other sciences, psychology is a relatively new field with methods and practices that are evolving at a rapid rate. With this textbook, we introduce students to the fundamental principles of what it is like to think like a psychology researcher. We also hope to connect with the Canadian audience to show them the fantastic research being generated in Canada as well as provide them with an accurate picture of the Canadian context for ethical human research.

3. Principles of Social Psychology – 1st International Edition (CC BY-NC-SA License)

The first International edition of this textbook provides students with an introduction to the basic concepts and principles of social psychology from an interactionist perspective. The presentation of classic studies and theories are balanced with insights from cutting-edge, contemporary research. An emphasis on real world examples and applications is intended to guide students to critically analyze their situations and social interactions in order to put their knowledge to effective use.

4. “Noba is a free online platform that provides high-quality, flexibly structured textbooks and educational materials. These textbooks and materials are licensed under the Creative Commons CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 International License. Users may reuse, redistribute, and remix the content to suit their needs. The goals of Noba are three-fold – http://nobaproject.com/

To reduce financial burden on students by providing access to free educational content
To provide instructors with a platform to customize educational content to better suit their curriculum
To present free, high-quality material written by a collection of experts and authorities in the field of psychology” – funded by The Diener Education Fund2