Research Projects in Psychology

Current Faculty and Student Research at BHSU

Research teams are made up of undergraduate students who conduct their own studies, or participate in some aspect of faculty research or in each other's student research. Many of the undergraduates on these teams go on to graduate school in psychology.

Dr. Nathan Deichert
Dr. Deichert established the Health Psychology Laboratory at Black Hills State University in 2013. Research in his lab focuses on how various psychological and environmental factors, such as social support, influence people’s health and well-being. Currently, undergraduate researchers are assisting on several projects examining how the experience of gratitude relates to health outcomes.  Upcoming experimental studies will examine the impact of gratitude induction on people’s physical and psychological responses to stress and failure. Dr. Deichert is always looking for motivated undergraduate students to join his lab.  Research assistants in his lab gain valuable experience collecting and analyzing data and may also have opportunities to develop their own research projects as well as submit their work to various regional and national conferences.  For more information about lab members and current projects, you can visit Dr. Deichert’s lab website at http://natedeichert.wix.com/positivehealth.

Dr. Eric Clapham
Dr. Clapham’s cognition lab is currently exploring a variety of nonconscious processing effects. Of particular interest is how nonconscious visual information affects perception and higher order cognition. To clarify, there is an overwhelming amount of visual information that enters the eyes and visual systems, too much to consciously attend to and process (change blindness is one example of this). If we process and become aware of only a small amount of all the visual information that we encounter the question then becomes, what happens to all the visual information that enters the visual system that we are unaware of? It turns out that the brain does process this information and can, in fact, use that information to influence later perception and decision making. We are currently exploring the boundaries of this type of processing attempting to identify exactly how nonconscious information processing contributes to our daily lives. Brain recordings (EEG) and behavioral data are the primary methodological approach used in the lab to gain a greater understanding of these nonconscious processing affects. Undergraduates are a vital resource in my lab aiding in all aspects of the research project, from design to data collection and analysis. http://ericclapham.wix.com/cognitionlab.

Dr. Emilia Flint
Recently, Dr. Flint took her research team of ten students to the Special Olympics World Winter Games in South Korea. While there, these students got to attend the Global Development Summit on Ending the Cycle of Poverty and Exclusion for People with Intellectual Disabilities and meet some powerful world leaders. Dr. Flint's research primarily involves gaining a better understanding of identifying and treating performance anxiety in special populations. Dr. Flint hopes to continue her consultation work with NCAA Division I athletes and within the next few years will engage in a private practice seeing clients on an individual basis.

How to participate

If you are interested in pursuing a research project or working on a faculty's project under the mentorship of Dr. Flint, Dr. Deichert, or Dr. Clapham or stop by their office (Skywalk 215, 207, and 212) for additional information.

2008

Stoltenberg, S.F., *Batien, B.D. & *Birgenheir, D.G. (2008).Does Gender Moderate Associations Among Impulsivity and Health-Risk Behaviors? Addictive Behaviors, 33(2), 252-265.

2007

Stoltenberg S. F. & Nag, P. (2007). Applying Control System Modelling to understand How Genetic Variation influences Serotonin Function and Behavior, pp. 133-171.  In Lassau, J. A. (ed.) Neural Synapse Research Trends.  Nova Publishers,  Hauppauge, NY. 

2006

Anagnopoulos, C. (2006).  Lakota undergraduates as partners in aging research in American Indian communities.  Educational Gerontology, 32, 517-526.

Stoltenberg, S. F., Glass, J. M., Chermack, S. T., Flynn, H. A., Li, S., Weston, M. E. & Burmeister, M. (2006). Possible Association Between Response Inhibition and a Variant in the Brain-Expressed Tryptophan Hydroxylase Gene (TPH2). Psychiatric Genetics, 16(1), 35-38.

2005

Stoltenberg, S.F. (2005). Epistatic Interactions among Presynaptic Serotonergic System Components.  Behavior Genetics, 35(2), 199-209.

Sen, S., Nesse, R., Li, S., Stoltenberg, S. F., Gleiberman, L. Burmeister, M., & Weder, A. B. (2005).  Association Between a Dopamine-4 Receptor Polymorphism and Blood Pressure.  American Journal of Hypertension, 18(9), 1206-1210.

2004

Sen S., Villafuerte S., Nesse R., Stoltenberg S.F., Hopcian J., Gleiberman L., Weder A., Burmeister M. (2004).  Serotonin transporter and GABAA alpha 6 receptor variants are associated with neuroticism.  Biological Psychiatry, 55(3), 244-9.

2003

Stoltenberg S.F. (2003).  Serotonergic agents and alcoholism treatment: a simulation. Alcohol Clinical and Experimental Research, 27(12), 1853-9.

Sen, S., Nesse, R.M., Stoltenberg, S.F., Li, S., Gleiberman, L., Chakravarti, A., Weder, A.B. & Burmeister, M. (2003). A BDNF Coding Variant is Associated with the NEO Personality Inventory Domain Neuroticism, a Risk Factor for Depression. Neuropsychopharmacology, 28, 397-401.

2002

Hill, E.M., Stoltenberg, S.F., Bullard, K.H., Li, S., Zucker, R.A. & Burmeister, M. (2002). Antisocial alcoholism and serotonin-related polymorphisms: association tests. Psychiatric Genetics, 12 (3), 143-153.

Stoltenberg, S.F., Twitchell, G.R., Hanna, G.L, Cook, E.H., Fitzgerald, H.E., Zucker, R.A., & Little, K.Y. (2002). Serotonin transporter promoter polymorphism, peripheral indices of serotonin function, and personality measures in families with alcoholism. American Journal of Medical Genetics (Neuropsychiatric Genetics) 114:230-234.

2001

Twitchell, G.R., Hanna, G.L, Cook, E.H., Stoltenberg, S.F., Fitzgerald, H.E., & Zucker, R.A., (2001). Serotonin transporter promoter polymorphism (5-HTTLPR) genotype is associated with behavioral disinhibition and negative effect in children of alcoholics. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research. 25 (7) 953-959.

2000

Stoltenberg, S.F. & Burmeister, M. (2000). Recent progress in psychiatric genetics - some hope but no hype. Human Molecular Genetics, 9(6), 927-935.

Chermack, S.T., Stoltenberg, S.F., Fuller, B.E. & Blow, F.C. (2000). Gender differences in the development of substance-related problems: The impact of family history of alcoholism, family history of violence, and childhood conduct problems. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 61(6), 845-852.

1999

Stoltenberg, S.F., Hill, E.M., Mudd, S.A., Blow, F.C. & Zucker, R.A. (1999). Birth cohort differences in features of antisocial alcoholism among men and women. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research 23 (12), 1884-1891.

Curran, G.M., Stoltenberg, S.F., Hill, E.M., Mudd, S.A., Blow, F.C. and Zucker, R.A. (1999) Gender differences in the relationships among SES, family history of alcoholism and alcohol dependence. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 60 (6), 825-832.   Hill, E.M., Stoltenberg, S.F., Burmeister, M., Closser, M., & Zucker, R.A. (1999). Potential associations among genetic markers in the serotonergic system and the antisocial alcoholism subtype. Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology, 7, 103-121.

1998

Alziebler, L. and Cox, T.P.(1998). Taste and odor aversion conditioning in Mus musculus and associated changes in heart rate and fluid consumption. Proceedings of the South Dakota Academy of Science, 77. 83-90.

Huxford, M. and Cox, T.P. (1998). Decreased aggression in gonadectomized male fighting fish (Betta splendens) systematically related to increasing levels of estrogen. Proceedings of the South Dakota Academy of Science, 77.91.

Kemper, S., & Anagnopoulos, C. (1998).  Linguistic creativity in older adults.  In C. Adams Price (Ed.), Creativity and Aging: Theoretical and Empirical Perspectives.

Stoltenberg, S. F., Mudd, S.A., Blow, F.C. & Hill, E.M. (1998). Evaluating measures of family history of alcoholism: Density versus dichotomy. Addiction, 93, 1511-1520.

Stoltenberg, S. F., & Hirsch, J. (1998). Behavior Genetic Analysis. In G. Greenberg & M. Haraway (Eds.) Comparative Psychology: A Handbook (pp. 226-235). New York: Garland.

1997

Stoltenberg, S. F. (1997a). Coming to terms with heritability. Genetica, 99, 89-96.

Stoltenberg, S. F. (1997b). Heritability estimates provide a crumbling foundation. Behavioral and Brain Sciences. 20, (3) 525. (Continuing commentary on Mealey, 1995)

Stoltenberg, S. F., & Hirsch, J. (1997). A Y chromosome effect on geotaxis in Drosophila melanogaster whose detection depends on genetic and/or cytoplasmic background. Animal Behavior, 53(4), 853-864.

1996   Cox, T.P. (1996). Least chipmunk, Eutamias minimus, return to capture sight related to displacement distance. Proceedings of the South Dakota Academy of Science, 75.

Krajewski, G.W. and Cox, T.P. (1996). Male Betta splendens aggressive threat display related to visual familiarity with opponent fish. . Proceedings of the South Dakota Academy of Science, 75.

Stoltenberg, S. F., & Hirsch, J. (1996). A gene correlate of geotaxis near Adh (2-50.1) in Drosophila melanogaster. Journal of Comparative Psychology, 110, 252-259.

1995

Kemper, S., Lyons, K., & Anagnopoulos, C. (1995).  Joint story-telling by Alzheimer's patients and their spouses.  Discourse Processes, 20, 205-217.

Stoltenberg, S. F., Hirsch, J., & Berlocher, S. H. (1995). Analyzing correlations of three types in selected lines of Drosophila melanogaster that have evolved stable extreme geotactic performance. Journal of Comparative Psychology, 109, 85-94.

1994

Kemper, S., Anagnopoulos, C., Lyons, K., & Heberlein, W. (1994).  Speech accommodations to dementia.  Journal of Gerontology, 49, 223 229.

1993

Cox, T.P. and Carrier, R. (1993). Adult male rat response to isolated Harderian gland tissue. . Proceedings of the South Dakota Academy of Science, 70. 291.

Meier, G. and Cox, T.P. (1993). Small rodent frequency of trap visitation as a function of previous trap occupancy.  . Proceedings of the South Dakota Academy of Science, 72. 302.

Kemper, S., Jackson, J.D., Cheung, H., & Anagnopoulos, C.A. (1993).  Enhancing older adults' reading comprehension.  Discourse Processes, 16, 405 428.

1992

Kemper, S. & Anagnopoulos, C. (1992).  Adults' use of discourse constraints on syntactic processing.  In J. Cerella, R. Hoyer, J. Rybash, & M. Commons (Eds.), Adult Information Processing: Limits on Loss.  New York: Academic Press.

1991

Norman, S., Kemper, S., Kynette, D., Cheung, H., & Anagnopoulos, C. (1991). Syntactic complexity and adults' running memory span.  Journal of Gerontology, 46, 6, 346 351.

1990

Kemper, S. & Anagnopoulos, C. (1990).  Language and aging.  In R.B. Kaplan (Ed.),Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, Vol. X. Los Angeles: American Language Inst.

1980s

Cox, T.P. (1989). Theoretical deme structure, small mammal population dynamics, and disparate data. . Proceedings of the South Dakota Academy of Science, 68. 110-111.

Cox, T.P. (1989). Odor-based description between noncontiguous demes of wild Mus. Journal Mammalogy, 70. 549-556.

Cox, T.P. (1984). Ethological isolation between local populations of house mice (Mus musculus) based on olfaction. Animal Behavior, 32. 1068-1077.

1970s

Prytula, R.E. and Cox, T.P. (1973). Acquisition and extinction of a runway response as a function of between and within subject’s odor condition. Psychological Reports, 32. 367-373.

Black Hills State University Faculty Research Grant, 2005 Cross-Cultural Examination of Implicit Attitudes Toward Aging.  Cheryl Anagnopoulos (P.I.)

National Institute of Mental Health; "Serotonin, impulsivity and health-risk behavior" (Academic Research Enhancement Award, 1R15MH077654-01A); 25% effort; Scott F. Stoltenberg (P.I.),  Parthasarathi Nag & Cynthia Anderson (Co-investigators).  8/1/07-07/31/10; $201,800 total costs.

Governor’s 2010 Individual Research Seed Grant. "Gambling, Impulsivity & Neurotransmitter Genes"; SDBOR/BHSU 2010-06-01; Scott F. Stoltenberg (P.I.); 50% release time (Fall 2005-Spring 2006), 2-months summer salary (summer 2006); $31,200 Total Cost.

BHSU Faculty Research Committee; 2005,  "Gambling, Impulsivity & Neurotransmitter Genes"; Scott F. Stoltenberg (P.I.); $3,112 Total Cost.

National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism; "Genetic Architecture of Risk for Antisocial Alcoholism"; (Mentored Research Scientist Development Award 1 K01 AA00295-01); 100% effort; Scott F. Stoltenberg (P.I.), Robert A. Zucker and Margit Burmeister (Co-Mentors); 3/1/00-6/25/04; $93,200 annual direct costs, $100,656 annual total costs.

Peter F. McManus Charitable Trust; "Genotypic variation in the serotonergic system associated with familial risk for alcoholism, inhibitory control of behavior, aggression and depression; Jennifer M. Glass (P.I.), Scott F. Stoltenberg, Stephen T. Chermack & Heather A. Flynn (Co-investigators); 1/1/02-12/31/02; $50,000 total costs.

Fulbright Senior Scholars Award. 2001. The Development of Behaviorism in Russian Psychology. Cox T. P. (P.I.) (declined).

BHSU Faculty Research Committee. 2001. The Development of Behaviorism in St. Petersburg, Russia. Cox T. P. (P.I.) (declined).

The Effects of Filial Piety on Ageism in Lakota Culture, 2000-2003. National Institute on Aging Area Grant, $120,000 Cheryl Anagnopoulos (P.I.)

National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism; "Multidisciplinary Alcoholism Research Training Program" (NRSA Institutional Training Grant , T32 AA07477); 100% effort; Robert A. Zucker (Program Director); Research Fellow; 1990-2003, $135,264 annual direct costs, $145,090 annual total costs (4 postdoctoral slots).

National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism; "Genotype, Typology and Alcoholism Treatment Outcome" (NRSA Individual Training Grant, F32 AA05532); 100% effort; Scott F. Stoltenberg (P.I.), Robert A. Zucker (Mentor); 7/1/98-6/30/99; $34,488 annual direct costs.

Research Training Grant, National Institute on Aging, 1998-1999 Cheryl Anagnopoulos (P.I.)

Black Hills State University Faculty Research Grant, 1999 Filial Piety and Ageist Stereotypes Cheryl Anagnopoulos (P.I.)

BHSU Faculty Research Committee. 1997. The Effects of 11-Keto Testosterone and Testosterone proproionate on the aggressive behavior of Siamese fighting fish (Betta splendens). Cox T. P. (P.I.)

Black Hills State University Faculty Research Grant, 1997 Age-Related Working Memory Deficits and the Capacity Constrained Model Cheryl Anagnopoulos (P.I.)

Black Hills State University Faculty Research Grant, 1996 Word Retrieval Failures in Advanced Age: Effects of Directionality of Priming Cheryl Anagnopoulos (P.I.)

Black Hills State University Faculty Research Grant, 1995 Word Retrieval Failures in Advanced Age: Effects of Recency of Usage Cheryl Anagnopoulos (P.I.) Black Hills State University Faculty Research Grant, 1994 Word Retrieval Failures in Advanced Age: Effects of Recency of Usage Cheryl Anagnopoulos (P.I.)

BHSU Faculty Research Committee. 1993. Odor effects of prior occupancy for live trap attraction in small mammals. Cox T. P. (P.I.)

National Institute of Neurological and Communitive Disorders: Electophysiology and Neuroscience.  1987. Vomernasal and accessory olfactory bulb electrophysiology. Individual National Service Research Award. Cox T. P. (P.I.)