Psychology in the media: Inside Out 2 (video)

Have you seen Inside Out 2? In this movie, Riley must learn how to navigate being a teenager and the new emotions that come with that. Fun fact - this movie accurately represents psychological research on emotions! Inside Out 2 does a great job of portraying some of the cognitive and emotional changes that happen during the teenage years, such as the development of anxiety and embarrassment. ☹️😳 Thank you to Honours thesis student Zoe Halpern for creating this video that showcases how psychological research is represented in mass media 🎬

#psychologyresearch #emotionresearch #insideout2 #psychologyinthemedia #QueensUniversity

Psychology terms made easy: reward sensitivity

Psychology terms made easy! 🙌 Our topic today is reward sensitivity. Reward sensitivity refers to how strongly you respond to or seek out rewards. Individuals can have high or low reward sensitivity, which in turn guides their behaviour. Did you know that different age groups have different levels of reward sensitivity? Learn all about it in this informative post created by former research assistant Kieran Bodnar!

How has your decision-making changed as you’ve aged? Let us know in the comments below! 👇

#research #rewardsensitivity #QueensUniversity #psychology #science

This vs that: encode and decode (video)

Have you ever heard the terms “encode” and “decode”? Join Honours thesis student, Keren Katz, as she explains the meaning of these words in the context of emotional expression. 😄😢😡 In this video, you’ll learn the definitions of encoding and decoding, the differences between these processes, and why they’re thought to be important for forming healthy relationships!

Do you still have questions about how we express and process emotional expressions? Let us know in the comments below. 👇

#psychologyresearch #QueensUniversity #emotionalexpression #knowledgetranslation #encode #decode

Gestures and glance: the importance of nonverbal cues in interactions

Think back to the last conversation that you had: what did you notice? 🤔 Maybe you noticed that the person you were talking to was smiling, or maybe they were avoiding eye contact. These are examples of nonverbal cues! 🙊

This post explains the different types of nonverbal cues and their importance in communication. Thank you to research assistant Selena Gabrielli for putting together this informative post! What questions do YOU have about nonverbal cues? Let us know in the comments below! 👇

#psychologyresearch #QueensUniversity #nonverbalcues #communication

This vs that: what is emotion recognition?

Welcome to another installment of our This Vs. That Series! In this post, second-year Master’s student Peyton Nault describes the difference between facial 😃 and vocal 🎙️ emotion recognition. Emotion recognition is the ability to determine what emotion is being expressed from nonverbal cues like facial expressions and tone of voice. Swipe through the slides to explore processing differences and developmental differences between emotion recognition in these two nonverbal modalities.

To learn more about facial and vocal emotion recognition, check out our Spring Newsletter 📰🌻

#nonverbal #thisVSthat #facialVSvocal #emotionrecognition #emotion #communication

Psychology terms made easy: prototypicality of facial expressions

If you were to close your eyes and imagine 💭 someone feeling happy, what would their facial expression look like? Would the corners of the mouth be raised into a smile or their eyes squinted 😄? These facial movements make up the most common way of expressing happiness! Similarly, emotions such as sadness, anger, and fear all have common or typical ways of being expressed, a concept we refer to as prototypicality! Of course, it’s important to remember that most of the research these ideas are based on was done in Western parts of the world and the Global North. There are definitely some cultural differences in the use of facial expressions to communicate emotions!

If you are interested in learning more about prototypicality, swipe through these slides created by Directed Lab student Paige Stockley. At the end of the slides, think about what prototypical features you might see in a sad ☹️ or angry 😡 facial expression, and leave a comment below with your answer!

#prototypicality #emotions #psychology #research

Psychology terms made easy: sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems

Have you ever wondered how we can go from being relaxed and calm 😴 one minute to energetic and alert 👀 the next? In this episode of Psychology Terms Made Easy, DSEC Lab research assistant Keren Katz breaks down the difference between our sympathetic nervous system and our parasympathetic nervous system 🧠. These systems serve different functions, but work together to help prepare for and respond to different situations. In other words, they keep us balanced! ⚖️ Test your understanding in the comments: which system you would want activated when you see a bear 🐻 face to face in real life, versus when you are sitting watching a movie with a bear as the main character 🧸?

#science #brain #NervousSystem #psychology #PsychTermsMadeEasy

Emotion recognition in infants

Last month, the DSEC Lab posted about adult emotion recognition, but have you ever wondered if infants 👶 have emotion recognition capabilities? For example, when an infant’s parent smiles or frowns, can the infant tell how their parent is feeling 👨‍🍼?

Emotion recognition is defined as the ability to interpret how other people are feeling based on their nonverbal cues. While infants can’t yet name the emotion they are recognizing in their parent’s expression, they can understand it. Infants use their parents’ emotional cues, such as a frown, to determine how they should respond to situations – a concept called social referencing!

Swipe through the slides to find out more about emotion recognition in infants and at what age this is thought to start. Thank you to directed lab student Zoe Halpern for putting this post together 😊.

#emotionrecognition #psychology #expressions #socialreferencing #development

Emotion regulation strategies

Let’s talk emotion regulation strategies! What is the best way to regulate (or control) your emotions? Is it distracting yourself with a good TV show 📺, letting the emotion out 😡, or attempting to conceal your emotions so nobody knows how you are feeling?

In this post, directed lab student Tasha Manuel discusses the pros and cons of each emotion regulation strategy. Swipe through the slides to find out if one emotion regulation strategy is better than others! If you had to guess, which emotion regulation strategy do you use the most, and which do you think is the most effective? (Hint: The answer is on slides 9 & 10!)

#DSECLab #scicomm #emotionregulation #emotions #learn #science

The fusiform gyrus

Welcome to the fourth installment of our Brain & Emotion series! 🧠 In this post, research assistant Sophie Ye discusses some functions and fun facts about the fusiform gyrus! The fusiform gyrus is of particular interest to us here at the DSEC Lab, because it’s a key brain structure linked to facial processing. 😀

When you see someone expressing an emotion like happiness, sadness 😢, or fear, this brain structure is probably activated! 😮 The fusiform also usually activates when you see faces more broadly (with or without an emotion).

Swipe through the following slides to learn more about this fascinating brain structure.

#DSECLab #brain #research #scicomm #fusiformgyrus #science

Did you know? (Episode 2)

Are you curious about recent findings in the literature about neural activity, peer rejection 👭❌, and depression?

Directed lab student Mia Schubert breaks down a paper 📃 by Stroud and colleagues that describes how teens’ neural responses after peer rejection and acceptance are related to their risk for depression. In this study, Stroud and colleagues recruited 76 girls between the ages of 10-17 to chat with fake peers in a “chatroom” while undergoing a functional MRI scan. They were specifically interested in how teens’ brains responded to being rejected or accepted by the fake peers. They looked at whether those patterns of brain response were related to current risk for depression, and future risk of depression (6 and 12 months later). 🧠💥

Read through the post to find out what the authors found, and what this means for understanding risk for depression in adolescents.

#DSECLab #scicomm #knowledgetranslation #research #peerrejection #depressionresearch

Let's talk study designs in developmental psychology!

Did you know that the DSEC Lab has 2 studies that involve bringing participants into the lab at multiple timepoints across development? In this post, Ph.D. student Daniel Nault explains the difference between a cross-sectional study and a longitudinal study. 📝 What are the benefits of each? In a cross-sectional study, data is collected at one time point; in a longitudinal study, participants are invited back to collect data at multiple time points 🗓️.

Have you ever participated in a study that involved coming back for 2 or more visits? Let us know in the comments below!

#research #curious #psychology #science #longitudinal

fMRI Scans vs Mock Scanner: what's the difference?

Our DETECT-AF study uses an fMRI scanner to look at participants’ neural activity by measuring blood flow in the brain 🧠. BUT, before participants enter the real scanner, they will be asked to test out our mock scanner. In this post, Honours thesis student Emily Schreiner describes how and why a mock scanner is used before the real thing. If you are interested in participating in our DETECT-AF study, or are curious about fMRI, swipe through this post to find out more!

#research #psychology #science #fMRI #brain #YGK #YGKteens

Does closeness to peers relate to neural responses to teenage faces?

Adolescence is a period with many brain 🧠 and behavioural changes. One of these behavioural changes is that youth begin placing greater importance on their friends over their family. This shift from family to friends (called social re-orientation) is thought to be related to some of the neural changes we see in adolescence.

In this post, directed lab student Paige Stockley breaks down a study that looked at youth’s brain activity in response to emotional expressions 🎭, and how this brain activity mapped onto adolescents’ feelings of closeness to their peers 👭 and their parents 👩‍👧 (aka, an index of their social re-orientation!)

Thank you to the Abigail Wexner Research Institute at @nationwidekids @fondsrecherchequebec for making studies like this possible!

#scicomm #research #explainittome #science #brain #adolescence #psychology

Did you know? (Episode 1)

Did you know that high intensity 💥 emotions do not always make vocal cues easier to recognize? In this post, DSEC Lab research assistant Jake Hartwig-MacDonald describes some surprising findings about the intensity at which various emotions 😄😡 are recognizable in the voice! 🗣️

#emotions #vocal #nonverbal #YGKyouth #science #affectivescience

How does emotion recognition differ in children with epilepsy?

Epilepsy is a brain disorder characterized by recurring seizures. 🧠 It most commonly starts during childhood 🧒 or older adulthood 👨‍🦳. The most common form of epilepsy in youth is “temporal lobe epilepsy”, which impacts parts of the brain that help us understand social and emotional information. 🎭 To better understand the impact of early-onset epilepsy on youth’s social perception, we investigated emotion recognition skills in youth with and without epilepsy. Compared to youth without epilepsy, we found that youth with epilepsy struggled to identify emotional expressions in faces. This was related to different brain activation patterns in the temporal lobe. DSEC Lab Research Assistant Sophie Ye breaks down these findings and their implications for youth with epilepsy, as well as where future research can go with these results. 📝

#epilepsy #scicomm #knowledgetranslation #research

Does loneliness impact the way youth interpret vocal emotions?

Does loneliness impact the way youth interpret vocal emotions? Given that loneliness tends to increase 📈 during puberty, this is an especially important question to ask in youth. In this post, research assistant Sophie Ye breaks down a research study 📝 which looked to answer this question!

Before swiping through the slides, do you believe youth with greater loneliness were better at recognizing friendliness 🙂 or meanness 😡? Comment below to share your answer! 🙋

#infographic #psychology #emotions #scicomm #science

Psychology terms made easy: prosody

Welcome to another installment of our Psychology Terms Made Easy series! In this post, we will be breaking down the concept of prosody 🔊! Can you think of a time when your friend told you they were “fine”, but the features of their voice (such as the pitch, intensity level and rhythm) told you otherwise? Together, these features were helping you understand how your friend really felt!

Not only can researchers investigate how well people identify emotional states through prosody, but they can also study how we use prosody to express ourselves… such as in our EXPRESS-1 Study 😄!

Special thanks to our research assistant Jake Hartwig-Macdonald for helping us deconstruct the concept of prosody!!

#psychology #prosody #science #scicomm #emotion #PTME

Psychology terms made easy: social re-orientation

New post in our Psychology Terms Made Easy series! If you’re a parent of a teenager, you may have noticed changes in your teen’s social behaviour as they enter adolescence. 👦 👧 Psychologists often call this phenomena “social re-orientation”. It describes the changes in social behaviour that prioritize peers outside of the family home during adolescence. 👯 More research is needed to understand WHY this happens, but many researchers think that social re-orientation is spurred on by changes in teenagers’ hormones, brain function, and social environments. 🧠

Our DETECT-A study focuses on exactly this—check out our link in bio to learn more about this study, and how 12- to 15-year-olds can participate! ✌️

(Thanks to lab member Olivia Merulla for this explainer! 🙏)

Dual systems model and adolescence

Welcome back to our third installment of our Brain & Emotions series! 🧠 This episode is about understanding risk-taking in adolescence. Compared to children and adults, teenagers tend to take more risks than children and adults in their daily lives. 🚫 Why is that? There are many theories about this, but one theory is the “dual systems model”. This theory suggests that there are changes in the teenage brain that make risk-taking more likely. 💥 On one hand, the teenage brain is very sensitive to rewards (see episode 2 about this!). 🍭 At the same time, the brain systems that allow us to regulate (or control) our behaviours may not be fully developed yet. The mismatch between these two brain systems is thought to make teenagers more likely to take risks.

Let’s talk about this theory! Do you think this makes sense to explain risk-taking in adolescence? Let us know in the comments below! 👇 (Special thanks to former DSEC Lab volunteer Bingyi Lin for her work in creating these slides!)