Exploring how we think, feel, and socialize: A survey of Duke University mental health research

Researchers at Duke University are working hard to understand and address the challenges facing people's mental health, examining all the different aspects of how we think, feel, and socialize. I've been working on it. The Chronicle highlighted several projects currently underway.

Motivation status related to learning and memory

In July, a team of researchers at Duke University published a study examining how different motivations dramatically affect a person's memory, thinking habits, and mental health.

The team includes Alyssa Sinclair, who completed her doctoral studies at Duke University and is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Pennsylvania, Candice Yuxi Wang, a doctoral student, and Interim Director of the Duke University Brain Science Institute Rachel Alison Adcock was included.

“People who study learning and formally model it tend to think that depending on what the incentive is, whether it's large or small, we can explain the rate of learning for reinforcement,” Adcock said. says. “But mental state essentially didn't factor into how quickly people learned.”

The research team used a virtual game modeled after a museum robbery to simulate the mindsets of curiosity and urgency.

“In both cases, the reward they got in terms of the game was the same,” Adcock said. “You learn where things are, you come back the next day, you take your money. That was true for both people. The only thing that was different was what they pretended to do in a match. That was it.”

Despite being given the same reward, the results showed that the urgency group was better at finding the door that revealed the more valuable painting, whereas the curious participants were better at finding the door that revealed the more valuable painting. The results showed that they were better at recalling familiar paintings.

In the later stages of the project, the research team is preparing to recruit study participants. To collect data on mindfulness and mind wandering, the team implemented several approaches.

“We ask participants to just sit and do nothing. [ask] Ask them to do a simple mindfulness exercise.But then we [ask] “What were you thinking?” said Mr. Smosky. “But we… [an electroencephalogram] As another way to measure very short microstates in the brain. ”

Based on the findings of this study, Smoski and Diehl will improve existing mental health resources on campus, including Col Mindfulness, an evidence-based training program designed to meet the needs of college students. We also hope to use research to develop new programs. resource.

“I think we can have a much bigger impact on the health of our campus.” [by having] It’s long-term support for mindful practices,” Smoski said.

Cultural influences on self-transcendence emotions

In December, senior Cai Liu received the Jerome S. Bruner Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Research for the 2023-24 academic year. Her research analyzes cultural influences on how people experience love and gratitude.

“From my personal background, I was very interested in the differences between different cultures,” Liu said. “Emotions are very important not only to our well-being, but also to our social relationships. I just wanted to know that.” [whether] those important feelings [are] It will vary by culture as well. ”

Liu initially hypothesized that cultures that emphasize social interdependence, such as those in Latin America and East Asia, would have similar perceptions of the meaning of love and gratitude. She asked 300 participants, including European Americans, Latin Americans, and East Asians, to share specific situations in which they had experienced love and gratitude.

However, the results were unexpected.

“Chinese” [group] We paid more attention to the instrumental aspects of these experiences. For example, mention specific actions such as: [a] My partner is cooking the meals,” Liu said. “[The Chilien group] It had a more emotional and expressive side. They mentioned more cases such as emotional support during stressful times and physical intimacy. ”

Mr. Liu believes that the new and growing field of cultural psychology is critical to achieving diversity and inclusion goals in mental health.

“How can you say, 'Try this, it works for you, it works for everyone' if the research is only based on one part of the population,” Liu says. . “If we want psychological research to be applicable to people of all cultural backgrounds, we need to include more diverse samples in our research.”