Because I have been working with Dr. Riskind for
quite some time, his Looming Vulnerability Model (LVM) of anxiety processing
was a given for my research project. Integrating false memory with the model
was suggested by him and though I was by no means an expert to begin with in
memory research, I have since learned a lot about it. I see this project as a
step towards my future goals because I am interested in pursuing clinical
psychology and research after I attend graduate school, so conducting research
on anxiety and cognition is a good step towards both of those goals. Being
expected to design my own study and implement it in a fairly independent manner
has pushed me to the limits of what I thought myself capable of in the
beginning of the process, and if nothing else, I have gained a lot of
self-efficacy and independence.
Most weeks I am busy running participants
through my study, though I am also preoccupied with writing the paper that I
ultimately hope to publish on the results. Before this past month, I was still
occupying my time by creating the materials for the experiment, ranging from
questionnaire batteries to randomized/counterbalanced presentations for the
study. I am also spending time meeting with my mentor in our lab meetings,
discussing different but related projects that I am involved with.
This week I learned an important lesson: no
matter how hard you prepare, at some point, chance may complicate your research
in ways you weren't expecting. Without going in to too much detail, a problem
arose during a session of my experiment that I did not anticipate and I had to
cope on the spot. It was a learning experience that I have tried to grow from
and add to my expertise moving forward.
