Over the past decade, mindfulness-based practices have gained popularity in the mainstream media as a way of alleviating stress. Indeed, state- and trait-based mindfulness is correlated with enhanced well-being, meaning in life, and life satisfaction. In this way, mindfulness-based interventions could be a pivotal tool for educators and colleges aiming to improve student outcomes. The purpose of the current study was to test the feasibility and engagement of a brief mindfulness intervention for nursing students. Participants (N = 72) were recruited from the nursing department at Texas Christian University. Participants were randomly assigned to complete a mindfulness exercise or a relaxation exercise, and then asked to complete survey questions. Engagement in the intervention will be assessed using recruitment numbers and program completion. Additionally, we are expecting that people assigned to the mindfulness exercise will report higher levels of happiness, well-being, and gratitude when compared to those assigned to the relaxation exercise. The implications of this work will be discussed.

The preterite and imperfect past tenses, which do not have exact English equivalents, exemplify grammatical nuance in the Spanish classroom. These nuances evoke questions regarding effective ways to present this material to students. Some evidence suggests that interleaved schedules of practice – in which material is presented in a mixed order during learning – benefit learning of grammar in a non-native language (Nakata & Suzuki, 2019; Pan et al., 2019); however, other evidence suggests that blocked schedules of practice benefit pronunciation learning (Carpenter & Mueller, 2013). Given these mixed outcomes, I compared blocked and interleaved schedules of practice on learning of the preterite and imperfect tenses in Spanish. Participants were randomly assigned to interleaved or blocked practice, in which they classified verb constructions as imperfect or preterite (when conjugated to Spanish) and were given feedback following each item. Participants then completed multiple tests assessing their grammar learning. The interleaved and blocked groups did not significantly differ in their test performance; however, both groups showed significantly improved performance compared to a pre-test, indicating that learning did occur. These outcomes can inform pedagogical practice. Future research should consider time processing feedback, and extend these outcomes to Spanish language learners, with materials translated into Spanish.

With the rate of children growing up in single-parent households on the rise, the challenges that these children experience are becoming more evident. One challenge that often remains unacknowledged is parentification. Many single parents engage in this process due to the number of stressors that they must face on their own. Parentification allows parents to place responsibilities on their children that they would otherwise not do in order to relieve some sort of stress. These responsibilities can include caring for siblings, being a translator, taking on a parent's emotional turmoil, and even paying bills. With this adornment of responsibility, these children can garner mixed emotions about themselves and their purpose in the world. However, we hypothesize that children who experience parentification will have high self-efficacy. The findings of this study may lead to implications that assist single parents in performing positive and sensitive parenting behaviors in order to promote a secure attachment with their children, as well as promote conversations on policy interventions that relieve unique stressors for single mothers so that they avoid having to rely on parentification.

The philosophical concept of free will is often highly debated. Benjamin Libet, an academic in experimental philosophy, discovered through recordings of cerebral activity that there is neural activity that correlates with a decision prior to our conscious declaration of that decision (Libet et al., 1983). In songbirds, previous studies have begun to show an increase in neuronal and respiratory activity in the seconds prior to song production, indicating preparatory action before performing this learned behavior (Daliparthi et al., 2019). In this study, the preparation for the learned motor behavior (song production) is compared against an unlearned control (defecation) in Zebra Finches. Electromyography (EMG) of respiratory muscles is employed as an additional technique to provide more detailed exploration of preparatory motor activity compared to previous studies. Our analysis of EMG recordings focused on the six expirations that occur prior to song production, because previous research has shown that there is an acceleration of the respiratory rhythm occurring in the last three respiratory cycles before song (Méndez et al., 2022). By measuring the electrical activity in the muscle, we hope to provide a more detailed understanding of how birds prepare for their upcoming song. Overall, this study aims to explore motor responses to determine whether expiratory muscular activation is preparatory for and predictive of an upcoming behavioral event. The larger goal of this study is to be able to “read a bird’s mind” by establishing physiological models for predicting behavior before the decision has occurred.

Shifts in mood across the menstrual cycle have been widely explored. However, few researchers have sampled participant experiences more than once or twice in each phase of the cycle. This methodology has limited our understanding of a very heterogenous cycle. We build on previous work by a) increasing sampling frequency and by b) examining how different subphases of the cycle correlate with participant mood. Female participants in the current study were asked to fill out a questionnaire about their mood and experiences every other day throughout their cycle. Participant responses were averaged within the luteal and follicular phases respectively in order to examine significant changes in mood from one half of the cycle to the next. Additionally, participant responses were averaged within each subphase of the cycle (i.e., early follicular, ovulatory, early luteal, and late luteal) in order to examine significant changes in mood within each phase. Results will offer an in-depth analysis into the different shifts in mood that natural-cyclers may experience across the menstrual cycle.