Credit Your Participants Well!

Author: Wesley Vaught | Majors: Biochemistry, Biology | Semester: Spring 2023

Arkansas has a higher prevalence of citizens with frequent mental distress than any state in the U.S., likely due to a disproportionate number of stressors such as financial hardship and lack of social support relative to the rest of the country (America’s Health Rankings, 2022). The high incidence of mental illness and chronic stress in Arkansas demonstrates the need for research to understand mechanisms of common psychological problems resulting from stress, such as generalized anxiety disorder. Such research is crucial not only to better support and inform Arkansans, but also to address the high burden of stress and mental illness across the rest of the country. The college population is a relevant sample because of the rigorous academic, social, and financial demands of attending college as a young adult and the unfortunate reality of mental health crises leading to severe or lethal injury.

I began working with Dr. Judah because of his association with a graduate student I worked with in a previous lab. She mentioned that he was a kind, knowledgeable mentor, and someone she was excited to work with. Morgan had never led me wrong, so I applied for his lab. When I joined the lab, I knew I wanted to study chronic stress and stressors effect on health because of my life experiences: from a first-generation family, coming from the Arkansas Delta that is typically poorer than other portions of the state, losing many family members to traumatic deaths. Stressors research seemed the best method for me to synthesize my personal understanding of the difficulties of inhabiting a mind that was full of stressors with the science that had propelled me forward. The research cliché that “research is MEsearch” was very true.

While my research is continuing into the next semester, I have read books such as The Body Keeps the Score and When the Body Says No: Exploring the Stress-Disease Connection that discuss the effects of traumatic stress and other stressors and their effects on the body, a component I did not originally consider. Discussions about body and stress is relevant to my research as another component of anxiety is the bodily sensations that are interpreted by the nervous system and contribute to the maintenance of mental illness. Because of how deeply personal this topic is, my study and the related literature can “hit a little too close to home” and be overwhelming. When I feel this way, I try to be proactive in scheduling breaks and setting the book down. That imposter syndrome that keeps exploiting my affect can win if I am not too careful because it will utilize my experiences as currency to continue to push forward – “I have to do this for people like me.”

Both Dr. Judah and Hannah Hamrick, one of my close friends and Dr. Judah’s graduate student, have been pivotal for this study’s success. Hannah and I spent my first semester in the lab brainstorming the nuances of the study from the theoretical framework of Attentional Control Theory to its experimental design of a cross-sectional, Emotional Stroop reaction time task. To employ the reaction time task that is needed to analyze attentional biases, Hannah, Dr. Judah, and I sat down to figure out a software that could allow for online studies that support reaction time tasks. Then, when we found Pavlovia, it needed to be synced with SONA Systems, so our participants could be compensated for completing the surveys and reaction time task. Troubleshooting how well the transitions from the survey to task to SONA (survey flow) was a hassle that Hannah was critical in addressing and fixing, and this final step helped the study get running.

This project was my first dive into stress and stress-related literature, and much of my other research activities have kept this foundational flavor of how stress affects the brain, body, and mind – substance abuse research, bodily manifestations of trauma and stress, and the potential of psychedelics as therapeutic in getting people to move out of situations or petition against situations that are causing them stress. My next educational step depends on my application successes; however, I am applying for both the Rhodes and Marshall scholarships alongside MD/PhD in Neuroscience programs. Derivation from the feminist mantra of the “personal is political,” my personal has become professional, and I aim to take the adversity I have overcome to bring about a better science that serves the people.