Newark psychology students regularly present research at local, regional and national conferences. Some presentations are the result of assisting professors with their research, and some of the presentations are the results of a student conducting an independent research project.
*Aljumaily, H. A., *Weathers, M., Mitchell, A. M., Kowalsky, J. M. & Okdie, B. M. (2024, April). The impact of technology on associations among social support and loneliness with self-rated health in a sample of adults in the United States. Poster presented at the annual Kentucky Psychological Science conference, Frankfort, KY.
*Baral, S., *Roth, M., & Kowalsky, J. M. (2023, April). Predicting self-rated health among college students: Evaluating the impact of general stress, COVID-specific stress, and mindfulness. Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago, IL.
*Barna, S. R., Buelow, M. T., & Kowalsky, J. M. (2023, August). Vasovagal symptoms following seasonal influenza and COVID-19 vaccination: The impact of fear. American Psychological Association, Washington, DC.
*Barna, S., *Yang, M., *Rudduck, M., & Kowalsky, J. M. (2024, April). Dismantling applied muscle tension: A pilot study. Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago, IL.
Beckett, L.R., Wendland, B.S., *Clark, P., Brunell, A.B., & Buelow, M.T. (2024, April). False narcissism feedback and performance on executive function tasks. Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago, IL.
*Browning, N. W., *Gaulin, C. E., *Tellez-Sanchez, K., Jungers, M. K., & Hupp, J. M. (2025, April). An examination of adjective dimensions using the Stroop task. Psi Chi poster session presented at the annual meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago, IL.
*Browning, N. W., *Harrison, E. L., Hupp, J. M., & Jungers, M. K. (2024, March). An examination of adjective dimensions using the Stroop task. Poster session presented at the annual Ohio State Newark Student Research Forum, Newark, OH.
*Carlisle, C., *McDonald, S., *Sharma, K., *Browning, N., *McCarthy, A., Hupp, J. M., & Jungers, M. K. (2024, April). This one is linek: How prosodic congruency affects novel adjective learning in children. Poster session presented at the annual Ohio State Newark Student Research Forum, Newark, OH.
*Carlisle, C. J., *Sharma, K., *Rardon, J., *McDonald, S. A., Hupp, J. M., & Jungers, M. K. (2023, March). Time flies so linek: Exploring the use of prosody for adjective learning in children. Poster session presented at the annual Ohio State Newark Student Research Forum, Newark, OH.
*Clark, P., Brunell, A.B., & Buelow, M.T. (2024, April). Gender-based heuristics in decision making. Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago, IL.
*Clark, P. M., & Okdie, B. M. (2023, April). Does this picture make me look too much like my actual self? The psychological effects of photo editing. Poster presented at the annual Midwestern Psychological Association conference, Chicago, IL.
*Clark, P. M., *Vaughn, M., & Okdie, B. M. (2024, April). #nofilterneeded: The motivations of those who do not edit photos to post online. Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago, IL.
*Drake Boykin, N. & Kowalsky, J. M. (2025, April). Do age or gender moderate the relationship between self-compassion and self-rated health? Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago, IL.
*Faqi, N. & Kowalsky, J. M. (2025, April). Evaluating the impact of mindfulness and sleep on emotional well-being among college students. Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago, IL.
*Funk, E. G, *Lacy, A. R, *Delguyd, O. A., & *Diley, A. G. Hupp, J. M., & Jungers, M. K. (2025, March). Pause persistence: Examining the production of pause placement and duration. Poster session presented at the annual Ohio State Newark Student Research Forum, Newark, OH.
*Harrison, A. E., *Justice, I. C., *McCarthy, A. A., Hupp, J. M., & Jungers, M. K. (2025, April). Prosody production: The effects of implied motion using novel verbs. Psi Chi poster session presented at the annual meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago, IL.
*Harrison, E. L., & Hupp, J. M. (2025, March). Novel word learning through use of gestures and prosodic information. Talk presented at the annual Ohio State Newark Student Research Forum, Newark, OH.
*Harrison, E. L., *Lacy, A. R., *Funk, E. G., *McCarthy, A. A., Hupp, J. M., & Jungers, M. K. (2025, April). Acoustic speech properties and the impact on novel verb comprehension. Psi Chi poster session presented at the annual meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago, IL.
*Jenkins, C. & Robinson, C. W. (2025, March). N-back heart track: A biofeedback study on selective attention. Poster presented at the Annual Undergraduate Research Forum at The Ohio State University Newark, Newark, OH.
*McCarthy, A. A., *Harrison, A. E., *Justice, I. C., Hupp, J. M., & Jungers, M. K. (2024, March). The role of prosody in comprehension and production of novel verbs. Poster session presented at the annual Ohio State Newark Student Research Forum, Newark, OH.
*McDonald, S., *Drake Boykin, N., *Wince, C., Kowalsky, J., Brunell, A. B., & Buelow, M. T. (2024, April). Mindfulness affects the response to false feedback about cognition. Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago, IL.
*McDonald, S. A., Hupp, J. M., & Jungers, M. K. (2024, March). Which one is a balide? The effects of prosody and animacy on novel noun learning with children. Poster session presented at the biennial meeting of the Cognitive Development Society, Pasadena, CA.
*McDonald, S., *Wear, N., Kowalsky, J.M., Brunell, A. B., Wirth, J. H., Okdie, B. M., & Buelow, M. (2023, April). The mental health crisis: Higher rates of self-reported diagnoses during the COVID-19 pandemic. Poster presented at the annual Midwestern Psychological Association conference, Chicago, IL.
*Mills, M.A., & Robinson, C. W. (2023, April). The effects of face masks and background noise on speech perception. Poster presented at the Annual meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago, IL.
*Mitchell, E., Wirth, J. H., Okdie, B. M., & Edlund, J. (2024, February). Editorial Practices in Academia - State of the Field from Reviewer and Editor Feedback. Poster presented at the annual Society for Personality and Social Psychology conference, San Diego, CA.
*Mitchell, E., Wirth, J. H., Okdie, B. M., & Edlund, J. E. (2024, May). Editorial practices in academia: State of the field from reviewer and editor feedback. Association for Psychological Science, San Francisco, CA.
*Moore, S., Beck, T., Geffen, S, & Robinson, C.W. (2024, April). Individual Differences in Semantic Congruency Effects. Poster presented at the Annual meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago, IL.
*Moore, S., *Painter, L., *Jenkins, C., Geffen, S., & Robinson, C. W. (2025, April). Pupillometry as a measure of semantic congruency effects. Poster presented at the Annual meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago, IL.
*Moore, S., *Painter, L., *Jenkins, C., Geffen, S., & Robinson, C.W. (2025, July). Crossmodal processing effects through an eye tracking lens. Poster presented at the Annual meeting of the Cognitive Science Society Conference, San Francisco, CA.
*Nance, L., Mitchell, A. M., Okdie, B. M., & Kowalsky, J. M. (2025, April). Co-rumination, perseverative thinking, and mindfulness: Evaluating associations and changes across time. Poster presented at the annual Midwestern Psychological Association conference, Chicago, IL.
*Nance, L., Mitchell, A. M., Okdie, B. M., & Kowalsky, J. M. (2025, April). Co-rumination, perseverative thinking, and mindfulness: Evaluating associations and changes across time. Poster presented at the annual Newark Research and Scholarship Forum conference, Newark, OH
*Painter, L., *Moore, S., *Jenkins, C., Geffen, S., & Robinson, C. W. (2025, March). Cross-modal effects in perceptual processing: An eye tracking study. Poster presented at the Annual Undergraduate Research Forum at The Ohio State University Newark, Newark, OH.
*Painter, L., *Moore, S., & Robinson, C.W. (2024, March). The Effects of Multimodal Processing with The Stroop Task Using Pupillometry, Poster presented at the annual Ohio State Newark Student Research Forum, Newark, OH.
*Patel, S. B., Clark, P. M., & Okdie, B. M. (2024, February). nofilterneeded: The motivations of those who do not edit their photos to post online. Poster presented at the annual Newark Research Forum conference, Newark, OH.
*Rardon, J., *McDonald, S. A., Hupp, J. M., & Jungers, M. K. (2023, April). Labeling smiling objects: The effects of prosody and animacy on novel noun learning. Psi Chi poster session presented at the annual meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago, IL.
*Roth, M. C., *Baral, S., Goktan, A. J., Mitchell, A. M. & Kowalsky, J. M. (2023, August). Evaluating the effects of self-compassion and stress on sleep among college students. American Psychological Association, Washington, DC. Division 17 Social Hour – Student Posters.
*Rudduck, M. & Kowalsky, J. M. (2024, April). Psychological reactance, dimensions of vaccine hesitancy, and vaccine uptake behavior. Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago, IL.
*Rudduck, M. & Kowalsky, J. M. (2025, April). Anticipated regret messages and seasonal flu vaccine uptake intention: A randomized controlled trial. Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago, IL.
*Sharma, K., *Browning, N., *McCarthy, A., *Carlisle, C., *McDonald, S., Jungers, M. K., Hupp, J. M. (2024, April). This one is linek: How prosodic congruency affects novel adjective learning in children. Psi Chi poster session presented at the annual meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago, IL.
*Sparks, Z., Okdie, B. M., & Wirth, J. H. (2023, April). Excluding “them”: Are outgroups automatically excluded or only when they are burdensome? Presented at the annual meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago, IL.
*Spencer, C., Buelow, M. T., Okdie, B. M., & Wirth, J. H. (2024, February). Will ostracized individuals make more socially risky decisions? Poster presented at the annual Newark Research Forum conference, Newark, OH.
*Tellez-Sanchez, K., *Gaulin, C. E., *Browning, N. W., Jungers, M. K., & Hupp, J. M. (2025, March). An examination of adjective dimensions using a Stroop task in preschool children. Poster session presented at the annual Ohio State Newark Student Research Forum, Newark, OH.
*Theis, J., Hales, A., & Wirth, J. (2023, April). “You’re leaving us?” Feeling ostracized when a group member leaves. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago, IL.
*Vaughn, M., *Clark, P. M., & Okdie, B. M. (2024, April). Be careful what you type: Impression formation over electronic email. Poster presented at the annual Midwestern Psychological Association conference, Chicago, IL.
*Wear, N., *McDonald, S., Kowalsky, J.M., Brunell, A. B., Wirth, J. H., Okdie, B. M., & Buelow, M. (2023, April). Risk-taking behavior and risky decision making before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Poster presented at the annual Midwestern Psychological Association conference, Chicago, IL.
Last updated: 7-31-25
Research is conducted in Hodges Hall 0160. Most of the studies you are encouraged to participate in as Psychology 1100 students will take place here. Other research is conducted outside of the lab - in natural settings, in the field, online, or even as take-home surveys.
The Psychology Lab is also available for upper-level Psychology students to use for quiet study space and for resources such as the APA manual and GRE practice tests. The lab is typically open Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (hours vary each semester).
Peer research contacts are undergraduate students who are already involved in research in psychology and are willing to share their experiences via email correspondence. The list below includes research area and lab. Please note that many students' work is interdisciplinary; if you are interested in social psychological research, for example, there may be useful contacts in cognitive or developmental psychology.
Psy 4998 credit
Thesis project
Work-Study: Paid research assistant position through federal student aid program
Psych department employee: Paid research assistant position through Ohio State Newark
Contact a professor working in an area that interests you:
My research interests lie in three main areas: 1) understanding the predictors of real-world risk-taking behaviors; 2) assessment of executive functions and other cognitive abilities; and 3) the utility and validity of psychological and neuropsychological assessment measures. I conduct research with college student samples, looking at the influence of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, previous concussion/head injury, and other factors on these variables.
My research involves studying the cognitive development of preschoolers. More specifically, I investigate how the typical young child begins to understand and use different aspects of language (e.g., inflections, verbs, prosody, etc.).
My main research goal is to understand how people communicate in auditory domains. Within this theme of human communication, my research interests fall into three related categories: 1) memory for complex auditory sequences, 2) perception and production systems, and 3) language and music parallels.
As a health psychologist, I study health behavior and health promotion, with a focus on blood donation and vaccination. Used to save and improve lives, the demand for blood products is constant. Ensuring sufficient availability of safe blood is a global health concern because the blood supply typically relies on voluntary donors. As such, I study strategies to improve blood donor recruitment and retention. In addition to blood donation, I also study vaccination behavior. Although vaccines provide protection against a variety of illnesses, not everyone who is eligible gets vaccinated. This line of research seeks to understand vaccine hesitancy, evaluate message-framing strategies, identify novel predictors of vaccination behavior, and improve the vaccination experience.
My research focuses on how individuals interact with one another online (e.g., Facebook, texting, blogging). Specifically, I focus on how relationships start, are maintained, and end in online environments.
From learning a language to riding a bike, most of our experiences are multisensory in nature. The fact that the brain can integrate information from different sensory modalities into a coherent and unitary experience is truly amazing given that each modality simultaneously receives qualitatively different types of input (e.g., photons, molecules, pressure, etc.) and this information is processed by dedicated sensory systems. My program of research examines how infants, children, and adults process and integrate multisensory information and how this ability sub-serves various cognitive tasks such as statistical learning, categorization, word learning, and individuation.
I investigate group processes, especially those associated with being ostracized (excluded and ignored). I study the extent of ostracism’s impact on social pain, basic human needs, mood, and aggression. As part of this research, I examine whether individual differences and situational factors can moderate ostracism’s immediate and delayed effects. I also investigate why individuals ostracize others. Using a variety of manipulations, I found that the likelihood an individual will be ostracized increases as the individual is perceived as more burdensome to the group. The burdensome group member is the group member most likely to be kicked out of the group. Across this research, I incorporate intergroup relations, personality, non-verbal communication, and novel, group-based research paradigms.