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Visual Attention across Language Development
Get PDFWould you consider yourself a visual learner? Many of us have a sense that what we learn depends on what we see. But how exactly does visual learning happen? How does that change as we grow older? We examined how visual attention changes across development and how that relates to word learning. Previous research on word learning has proposed various ways that people may learn words. However, there is a gap in understanding how visual attention might be crucial for this task, despite the fact that many words are labels for things we see. Previous literature highlights connections between higher recalling ability and gaze direction towards larger, or visually dominant, objects along with the ability to correctly match new objects with unknown words (McMurray et al., 2012). We will begin to answer these questions by examining how infants and adults attend to new objects, and how this relates to their ability to learn those objects’ names. In this experiment, participants will be placed in front of a screen where they will be shown a series of unknown objects and hear names for some of those objects. Eye tracking technology will keep track of where on the screen they gaze during this process. We will examine how infants and adults allocate their attention by comparing the percentage of overall looking time spent on the named objects versus distraction objects. We will also test word learning so that we can compare the types of visual attention that led to the best word learning, and whether this may change across development. We hypothesize that when participants spend a greater percentage of their looking time on the target object, then, they will show greater accuracy in word referent pairing during test trials. This study is ongoing; results and conclusions will be shared at the celebration
Compassion Fatigue: Do Special Education Pre-Service Teachers Display Signs?
Get PDFCompassion fatigue is a new area of tension developing in education. Teachers showing compassion fatigue seem to care “too much” for their students. A recent survey through Research and Development and the American Teaching Panel found that three out of four teachers (75%) found their work to be frequently stressful (Steiner and Woo, 2021). When does compassion fatigue start, and can it be avoided for those in the teaching profession? Do individuals who are learning how to become teachers experience compassion fatigue during their university years when they participate in field placements with this hands-on preparation? I was interested in studying if pre-service special education teachers showed compassion fatigue during their third year in the teacher preparation program. For this research, the Professional Quality of Life Scale (ProQOL) was given. The ProQOL is a 30 item self-report questionnaire using a Likert scale ranging from “never,” “rarely,” “sometimes,” “often,” or “very often.” Fourteen pre-service teachers were asked to answer the ProQOL questions based on the previous 30 days in their field placements and respond to each statement with how frequently they have experienced each statement. Results show that the pre-service teachers’ highest satisfaction levels are with their ability to make a change with students in terms of academic or behavioral areas during their field placement work. However, some responses show that these pre-service teachers already feel worn out from their work as helpers and instructors for students with exceptionalities. The results of this current study can help guide future research on pre-service teachers and compassion fatigue and what teacher preparation institutions can do to help prepare future teachers for this challenging field
Presence or Absence of Microcystins within the Lake Macatawa Watershed
Get PDFCyanobacteria, commonly known as blue-green algae, are freshwater aquatic microorganisms that are important indicators of climate change. They also release microcystins: toxins that can cause sickness, organ failure, or even death in plants, animals and humans. Studies have monitored microcystin presence and concentration in large-scale Cyanobacterial blooms, such as in Lake Erie, but often omit smaller scale instances. This project determines whether or not microcystins are present in the Lake Macatawa Watershed and identifies important conditional factors associated with microcystin presence to conclude if harmful algal blooms like those of Lake Erie are plausible locally. Six sample locations along the shoreline and at river convergence points were sampled twice, with six days between sampling sessions, and analyzed to determine whether cyanobacteria and microcystins were being supplied to the lake or cultivated within it. YSI water quality sonde analyses and resulting correlation coefficients highlighted four conditional factors: temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen (DO), and nitrates. These data were paired with an Envirologix QuantiPlate Kit for detection of Microcystins Enzyme-Linked ImmunoSorbent Assay (ELISA) of the water samples taken at each site. In all, the concentration of microcystins was higher in the first, warmer temperature samples. The relationship between temperature and concentration yielded the highest correlation coefficient value at 0.5986. A weak correlation of 0.3453 was found between pH and concentration. Relationships involving DO and nitrates both yielded extremely weak correlation coefficients. We conclude that microcystins are present within Lake Macatawa. While present, their concentration was not determined to be harmful at any of the sample locations. Outliers within sonde readings supported theories of conditional factors ideal for Cyanobacteria development yet indicate a low likelihood of harmful Cyanobacterial blooms happening within Lake Macatawa
Stress and Social Support of Foster Parents During COVID-19
Get PDFFoster parents provide crucial care to hundreds of thousands of children in the U.S., and with their role comes a variety of challenges. They face a great amount of stress which is why the turnover rate is high, and there is a critical need for more foster parents. Uncertainty is a large component of the foster care system, and the COVID-19 pandemic heightened this. It is unknown how stress that foster parents have experienced during this time was affected, and this study seeks to explore that. Additionally, this study focuses on types and sources of social support of foster parents within the pandemic. This qualitative study utilized semi-structured interviews in order to collect firsthand experiences of stress and support during the COVID-19 pandemic from licensed foster parents in the state of Michigan (N=16). Preliminary results show that due to COVID-19, foster families’ stressors increased, and their supports were strained. A common theme was difficulty with aspects of life turning virtual or completely stopping, such as biological parent visits, school, and child-related services. Another common theme was the benefits of foster families experiencing a smaller world and the bonding time it provides. This study contributes to existing literature by filling gaps regarding COVID-19 in general since knowledge of life in the pandemic is new. More specifically, the use of interviews allows for the voices of foster parents to be heard. Findings from the study have multiple implications for those who interact with the foster care system, such as more support resources for returning to or finding services in a pandemic and the need for therapy after such a traumatic time
The Effects of Anthropogenic Disturbances on the Auditory Processing of the House Sparrow \u3cem\u3e(Passer domesticus)\u3c/em\u3e
Get PDFAnimal communication involves a sender producing a signal (e.g., vocalizations) that travels through the environment before being detected by a receiver. Although we know how senders can vary in signal production, relatively little is known about how receivers process these signals. The recent increase in urbanization can further complicate receiver sensory processing as anthropogenic activities (e.g., noise pollution) affects the way birds communicate. This study aims to investigate the influence of urbanization on the auditory processing system of house sparrows (Passer domesticus). House sparrows are an ideal model because they inhabit urban areas and rely on vocal cues from conspecifics. We collected 60 birds from urban and rural sites in Holland, Michigan, and performed auditory brainstem response (ABR) tests to examine their auditory sensitivity. ABRs are generated from the auditory brainstem at the onset of a sound stimulus. We presented birds with 6 different frequencies (0.5, 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 kHz) at 9 intensity levels (from 8 dB to 72 dB in 8 dB intervals). The amplitude, latency, and threshold (the lowest intensity level at which there is still an ABR) of each waveform was analyzed. We hypothesize that urban house sparrows will have decreased auditory sensitivity to sound compared to rural birds, as urban birds are exposed to consistent anthropogenic noise. In Holland, urban areas are roughly 10 dB louder than rural areas, which has the potential to cause hearing damage. Specifically, moving from rural to urban locations, we expect to observe a decrease in amplitude and increases in latency and thresholds. Results of this study will provide information on how urbanization impacts the auditory sensory physiology of the house sparrows. This will be essential in understanding how urbanization impacts bird communication, as noise pollution may inhibit ability to communicate to potential mates or kin
News from Hope College Index
Get PDFThis index contains listings of articles in News from Hope College (1973–2014). News From Hope College is a newsletter put out by the college. It contains articles on students, alumni, events, issues, alumni listings, etc
The Anchor: Fall 2021, Issue I
Get PDFThe Anchor began in 1887 and was first issued weekly in 1914. Covering national and campus news alike, Hope College’s student-run newspaper has grown over the years to encompass over two-dozen editors, reporters, and staff. For much of The Anchor\u27s history, the latest issue was distributed across campus each Wednesday throughout the academic school year (with few exceptions). In recent years The Anchor moved to monthly print issues and a more frequently updated website. The Anchor is now published in print twice per academic semester. Occasionally, the volume and/or issue numbering is irregular
Examining First Responders’ Mental Health
Get PDFTerror Management Theory describes the existential angst that humans feel with the understanding that death is truly inevitable and it assists in explaining why humans develop and maintain religious beliefs, how numerous religious orientations address universal existential concerns, and what the social costs and benefits are (Vail et.al, 2010). The purpose of our research was to understand the role of religion (or various coping mechanisms) in terror management processes and managing existential concerns in a community sample (mTurk) and in a sample of participants who regularly face mortality concerns (first responders).
We collected two samples. Participants were randomly assigned to a standard mortality salience induction or dental pain prime and completed measures of mental health, such as anxiety (death anxiety and clinical anxiety), depression, and PTSD. Next, participants reported on their religious coping. We predicted a main effect for intrinsic religiousness (IR), a main effect for mortality salience (MS), and an interaction between IR and MS. In Sample A (N = 176), we sampled community members from mTurk. Our predictions were not supported. The depression and anxiety measure means were higher for dental pain than death, which could have been because the COVID-19 pandemic makes morality perpetually salient. In Sample B (N = 211), we gathered data from first responders (e.g., ambulance staff, police officers, firefighters) via the snowball method. We predicted that first responders’ religious coping would be higher than the mTurk Sample, and we also predicted that the first responder’s mental health scores would be poorer than that of the general population. Results indicated the opposite of both of these hypotheses. We posit that this could be a protective measure because first responders are routinely exposed to death, they may become either better at coping with the trauma or they become habituated to it
Color, Texture, Form: Modern European and American Art from the Brummel Collection
Get PDFA poster advertising an exhibition of artwork from the collection of Mike Brummel, Hope College Class of 1957, held September 10-December 11, 2021. A reception held on September 24, 2021, is also advertised.https://digitalcommons.hope.edu/kam_poster/1046/thumbnail.jp