Throughout development, humans encounter pathogen threats that shape both physiological and behavioral defense systems. The immune system protects the body from infection, while the emotion of disgust helps prevent contact with potential sources of disease. Research suggests that early life stress can biologically alter children’s developing bodies, leading to immune cells that are primed for heightened inflammatory responses to threat. Consequently, childhood adversity has been associated with altered stress regulation and long-term changes in immune function. This study examines how early life stress influences inflammatory and autonomic responses to a simulated pathogen threat. Participants will be exposed to disgust-inducing stimuli, such as sticky keyboards and unpleasant smells, to elicit perceptions of contamination and disease risk. During exposure, inflammatory markers, including cytokine levels, heart rate, and core body temperature, will be documented to assess immune and autonomic activity. Participants will also report on early life stressors such as neglect, maltreatment, or socioeconomic adversity. We hypothesize that greater exposure to early adversity will lead to stronger inflammatory and autonomic responses to pathogen related stimuli. This work aims to clarify how early experiences shape the body’s reactivity to pathogen threats and investigates the link between childhood stress and long term health outcomes.

Improving Caregiver Education about Dementia Through the Science of Learning
Michala Pollard, Emma Goffard, Ariana Elsden, Lesca Hadley, & Uma Tauber
Most (83%) of the care provided to people living with dementia (PLwD) is provided by informal caregivers such as family members or friends who are not paid for their assistance. Informal caregivers’ 18 billion hours of care is valued at $339.5 billion for 2022 alone (Alzheimer’s Association, 2024). Caregivers for PLwD often assist with complex medical tasks and manage challenging emotional and behavioral symptoms of dementia with limited formal training (e.g., Fortinsky & Hathaway, 1990; Penrod & Dellasega, 1998; Ringer et al., 2020). As the demand for caregiving increases, it is critical to understand how caregivers can best learn and retain essential information for managing ADRD care.
The goal of is project is to establish methods to improve caregiver education about the behavioral and psychological symptoms (BPSD) of dementia. Specifically, our educational intervention incorporates principles from the science of learning for structuring retrieval practice to optimize learning (e.g., Agarwal et al., 2021; Sumowski et al., 2010; Tse et al., 2010; Woods et al., 2021). We compared the structured retrieval practice intervention against an active control comparison to determine the degree to which structured retrieval practice enhances caregivers’ long-term retention of dementia care information.
Caregivers of PLwD were recruited from the community and underwent an online survey screening and video or in-person screening prior to study enrollment. Caregivers learned 4 modules on emotion and mood symptoms of dementia – agitation, irritation, apathy, and depression – via the learning intervention or active control (rereading). Caregivers took an immediate test of their knowledge approximately 10 minutes after study and after a 2-day delay. Our novel intervention significantly increased caregivers’ knowledge immediately, and their knowledge was maintained 2 days later at a significantly higher rate relative to the active control comparison.

There is an ever-increasing push for trauma-informed practices to be integrated into human service sectors and systems of care (e.g., criminal justice, education, healthcare). Trauma is a well-documented public health concern, leading many systems to revise their approach to care to emphasize a trauma-informed lens of “what has happened to you” as opposed to “what is wrong you” with those they are serving. As service providers in these systems of care are charged with integrating trauma-informed care (TIC) into their everyday practices, further research is needed to examine those factors contributing to successful TIC implementation, including whether service providers see the value in TIC. The presented study serves as a pilot, addressing this gap by exploring beliefs about the necessity for and feasibility of implementing TIC. The presented study looks to sample 175 undergraduate students majoring or minoring in human service professions (e.g. social work, healthcare, education, criminal justice). The study will employ a pre-post two-group experimental design, in which participants will read vignettes depicting individuals seeking care from a human service sector, followed by questions about the appropriateness of the interactions. Participants will be randomly assigned to either the control group (which will receive unrelated educational information) or the exposure group (which will receive educational information about trauma-informed practices) before reevaluating the vignettes again. Pre-and post-test measures will assess changes in beliefs regarding the necessity and feasibility of TIC as a function of group assignment (treatment vs. control). Thus, the presented study looks to document beliefs about the perceived necessity and feasibility of using TIC in human service systems and to explore whether these perceptions change after exposure to TIC education in future service providers.

Situationships represent an increasingly common form of romantic involvement, with nearly 40 percent of Americans and half of young adults ages 18 to 34 reporting having been in one (YouGov, 2024). Although these relationships resemble traditional dating in terms of emotional connection, sexual involvement, and shared time, they lack labels, commitment, and clearly defined expectations (Langlais et al., 2024). Despite their prevalence, situationships remain understudied. Therefore, the present study investigated whether power dynamics and gender influence investment strategies in situationships. To investigate this, heterosexual men and women ages 18 to 32 were recruited through Prolific, and participants who reported being in a situationship were assigned into one of four conditions: woman in control, woman not in control, man in control, or man not in control. 400 eligible respondents (100 per condition) completed measures of mate retention behaviors and situationship investment. It was hypothesized that situationships controlled by women, compared to those controlled by men, would involve male partners engaging in more resource display and greater expressions of love and care, whereas situationships controlled by men would involve the female partners engaging in more appearance enhancement and sexual behaviors as investment strategies. Data are forthcoming.

During ancestral times, while women focused on child-rearing, they relied on their male mates to protect their family. Nowadays, women can protect their families themselves by employing strategies like using a home security system or owning a firearm. However, modern women continue to form long-term relationships with men to reduce the risk of encountering harm (Wilson & Mesnick, 1997). Crucially, men will not provide investment without getting something in return. One resource that men value that women can provide in exchange for investment is granting men sexual access (Baumeister & Vohs, 2004). Therefore, given that women continue to use men as a protective resource and men will accept sexual access in exchange, we should find that women in dangerous environments are more sexually open. This study aims to examine the impact of dangerous environments on women’s sexual strategies. Importantly, no previous research has focused on this. Overall, I predict that women who are primed with dangerous environment cues, compared to women who are primed with a control condition, will show higher levels of sexual openness. By gaining more knowledge about how dangerous environments can influence women’s mating strategies, we can better understand how evolutionary mechanisms continue to influence women’s sexual behaviors. Data are forthcoming.