Saturday, November 23, 2013

URSP Student Chris Ummen Conducts PEBL Cognative Flexablity Testing Across Mediums



I’ve been interested in Psychology since high school, and I became interested in this project thanks to Dr. Youmans. In order to gain more research experience, I became one of Dr. Youman’s research assistants. In one of his weekly lab meetings, he suggested that it would be a good idea for the undergraduates in the group to begin their own research. I took his suggestion, and was explored current research in his lab until I found a topic that interested me.
My study uses data, from a larger in lab study, in an attempt to validate and examine differences between a computerized and paper-based assessment of cognitive flexibility. On a weekly basis, I improve my open source R-Studio statistical software skills, think of ways of improving my experiment, and read papers relating to cognitive flexibility. This week I discovered a better way of analyzing my data to produce results that are more meaningful than my original correlation, and data collection for the second part of my study will begin within the next two weeks.
This project has helped me synthesize massive amounts of information, and in doing so has helped me crystallize my assertions. My long term goals include getting a job involving heuristic evaluations of products, and being able to compile research will make my future job much easier.