Professor Seymour’s a-MAZE-ing Summer Research!
Professor Jenessa Seymour’s life-size maze experiment made a media splash this summer. The wooden structure filled the space between Ho and Olin Hall (video). Blindfolded volunteer participants navigated the maze by walking with a device designed to bounce sound of its walls. Participants’ goal was to solve the maze and avoid dead ends by detecting changes in the echoes from the walls. Based on her findings, Dr. Seymour hopes to uncover how we can flexibly adapt to changes in our sensory abilities.
The Bachelor – Zebra Finch Style: And the rose goes to…
For behavioral scientists, birds are a popular model for understanding mating systems as most avian species are monogamous — or nearly so — not unlike humans in many societies. So what attracts mates to one other? Francesca Fernandez ’19 investigated this question in zebra finches over the summer in collaboration with PBSC professors Wan-chun Liu and Carrie Keating. You can read more about her research here.
How different is the drinking culture in college from the drinking culture at work?
Grace Macdonald-Gagnon ’19, Abe Rodriguez ’20, and Wentao Jiang ’21 investigated this question as part of their summer research in Dr. Julia Martinez’ Alcohol, Drugs, and Behavior Lab in Olin Hall. Results from face-to-face interviews with college students and working adults show that although people connect work drinking cultures with casual belonging, people tend to link drinking in college with excess consumption and social exclusion. We hope to continue the line of inquiry with a series of interviews and longitudinal experiments in the coming term.