Research projects I have been/am involved in
Submitted by darktremor on Tue, 11/11/2008 - 05:33
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- I've decided to compile them here as I work on them.
- Note: significant simply means we are at least 95% sure this is a real result and not simply random variation we are seeing.
- OnLac - The Ontario Looking after Children Project
- Essentially, we compile mountains of data from children's aid societies across the country and look for exactly which factors promote positive outcomes in children. The idea is that the factors that are shown to be helpful for children will then be worked into programs promoting resilience in this population. IE: if we find that having learned good social skills is important to good outcomes, then perhaps social skill training programs may be of help. It's obviously correlational, but causal factors may be teased out when ideas from this study are implemented in community programs.
- Effects of prenatal marijuana on visuospatial working memory: An fMRI study in young adults.
- Result: No behavioural deficits in working memory, but there was some evidence of cognitive compensation - in other words, some changes occurred in the fetal brain, which were then offset through the involvement of other pathways. I'm actually working on the longitudinal follow-up to this, which involves alcohol, caffeine, and nicotine as well. So far, significantly fewer deficits than alcohol on the fetus. Also, no significant deficits have so far been found in adult initiation of marijuana use. One thing to note though: there are significant (and also large) deficits seen in myelination (a mechanism in the brain needed to allow transmission of neural signals) if marijuana use in seen the early teen years, like 12-14 - this makes sense, since this is a key period for myelination.
- General Linear Models: An Integrated Approach to Statistics
- My name actually appears on this one! And it's in a peer-reviewed journal! Sweet!
- We basically showed that all statistical analysis used in the behavioural sciences can be boiled down to the general linear model. This had been shown before - this was essentially a combination of all key findings in this area into a more comprehensive whole - sort of a research synthesis (but not a meta-analysis, because it involved no data).
- A longitudinal study of the developmental trajectory of specialized perceptual modules within the visual system
- We're basically planning to show that we see the world entirely differently from the ages of 3-11 than we do as adults. And not just our interpretation of the world: we're actually showing that a completely different image is constructed by the brain of 3-11 year olds than adults have. This is already somewhat evidenced to be true, but this is the first time anyone is actually marking out the trajectory of development. We've found that there are trajectories that are extremely unique to individuals.
- Arrested development, despite professor interest:
- Effects of Kappa-opioid agonists on the symptoms of phantom-limb syndrome
- This is my study, which I'm seeking funding for right now. Basically, I hypothesize that salvia divinorum can be used for the treatment of phantom limb syndrome, which makes sense, since it's a proprioceptive hallucinogen (it morphs your brain's map of the body). I plan to follow it up with a study in which current "mirror-box" treatments are integrated into the drug treatment.
- Differences in resting state brain activity in patients with major depressive disorder, between fluoxetine responders and non-responders: an fMRI study
- My hypothesis is essentially that neurologically there are subgroups of major depressive disorder patients, and that antidepressent response is determined by which subgroup patients fall into. Upon further study (of more antidepressants), perhaps fMRI could be used iagnostically to determine which antidepressant (or class of antidepressants) a given patient would be most likely to respond to.
Wow, this is very interesting shit you are working on. I wish I was as fascinated in this subject as you are! Keep up the hard work!
Indeed, it's a great subject. I highly recommend it.
so what school do you go to? or is this something you do on the side?
University of Ottawa.
This is something that excessive keeners do to get more recognition - except for that visual development study, which is my thesis. Although it's pretty much impossible to get into graduate school if you don't work on research.
I hope it goes well for you. You seem to be quite knowledgeable.
Thanks.
Any progress on "Effects of Kappa-opioid agonists on the symptoms of phantom-limb syndrome"? I'll be looking out for this one.
Nah, that'll be a while, like 15 years. It's only a design, although a professor-supported one (in other words, a fleshed out experimental design that a few professors agree is viable and simply needs funding to begin), and I can't see it getting funded until I'm in a more prestigious position than honours student. You can't really just study whatever you want at this phase, you have to work on someone else's study.