gradPSYCH - November 2011 - (Page 14)

RESEARCH ROUNDUP Innovative research from today’s psychology graduate students. BY MICHAEL PRICE • gradPSYCH staff Infants’ gaze may offer clues to their ability to calm themselves The eyes may be the window to the soul, but when it comes to infants, they could also be a window into a baby’s cognitive and emotional skills. Anjolii Diaz, a Virginia Tech developmental and biological psychology grad student, has found that infants with “shorter looking times” — that is, those who efficiently scan their environments instead of focusing intently on particular objects for sustained periods — show physiological signs of better emotional regulation following distress than infants who look longer at objects. Her research was published in April in Infant Behavior and Development. To investigate that link, Diaz measured the gaze duration of 5-month-old infants, and then measured their brain activity with an EEG and their heart rates with an ECG. She obtained baseline values by having the infants calmly watch a toy for several minutes. Then, the infants’ mothers began to play with them using a toy, then abruptly took the toy away and held it at arm’s length to induce distress. If this did not upset the infant, the mothers were asked to gently hold their infants’ arms down to restrict movement. EEG readings at baseline and after distress showed big differences between short-lookers and long-lookers. The short-lookers showed increased activation at multiple EEG scalp locations, including those located on the frontal lobe, which previous research indicates are involved in emotional control and inhibition. Diaz says that finding suggests that after facing Infants who don’t spend too long looking at any one object seem to be more duress, the short-lookers used their efficient efficient at processing information, a new study finds. information processing skills to regulate themselves when distressed. studies by repeating the experiment when the children are 10 Interestingly, once the mothers had soothed their babies, the long-lookers had lower heart rates than the short-lookers, which months old. was opposite from what Diaz expected if the short-lookers were “That finding was very interesting,” she says, “so I hope my follow-up research will provide more answers.” better at regulating their emotions. She plans to follow up these 14 • gradPSYCH • November 2011 Photos.com http://www.Photos.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of gradPSYCH - November 2011

GradPSYCH - November 2011
Contents
Most practice-oriented psychology students Google their clients
Does romance quash women’s interest in science?
Goodbye to the ad hoc postdoc
Graduate students take on Capitol Hill
Media Picks
Odd Jobs
Research Roundup
Grad school traps
Chair’s Corner
Postgrad growth area: Designing workplace wellness programs
Study smart
Fighting food addiction
Matters to a Degree
Using social media in your research
Midlife grad students
Are you really ready for private practice?
Bulletin Board
Jobs, internships, postdocs and other opportunities
The Back Page

gradPSYCH - November 2011

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