UROP Research Mentor Project Submission Portal: Submission #1388

serial: '1388'
sid: '22360'
uuid: 042c2cda-f2c6-4040-b02c-9e7eb361d578
uri: /urop-research-mentor-project-submission-portal
created: '1779208770'
completed: '1779208770'
changed: '1779208770'
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remote_addr: 128.186.180.225
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langcode: en
webform_id: urop_project_proposal_portal
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entity_id: '1116'
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sticky: '0'
notes: ''
metatag: meta
data:
  roundtable_info: {  }
  approximately_how_many_hours_a_week_would_the_research_assistant: '10'
  are_you_and_fsu_employee: 'Yes'
  are_you_currently_looking_for_students_: 'Yes'
  confirmation_1: '1'
  contact_email_fsu_email: ''
  contact_email_fsu_email2: ''
  contact_email_fsu_email_if_affiliated_: djones@psy.fsu.edu
  faculty_advisor_confirmation: '1'
  faculty_advisor_name: 'Dr. Chris Martin'
  faculty_advisor_s_fsu_email: cmartin@psy.fsu.edu
  fsu_college: 'Arts and Sciences'
  fsu_department_if_applicable_: Psychology
  headshot_optional_: ''
  if_the_project_location_is_off_campus_does_the_student_need_to_p: ''
  mentoring_philosophy: |-
    My mentoring approach is shaped by my own path into research: non-traditional, messy, and built on people taking chances on me. I try to offer that same kind of opportunity by giving students real responsibility, practical skills, and the space to grow into roles they might not have imagined for themselves.

    On my project, learning is hands-on. You’ll be trained on EEG setup, running participants, managing study sessions, and working with brain and behavioral data. I don’t expect perfection, but I do expect curiosity, consistency, and a willingness to learn. I won’t chase you down to make you successful, but if you take initiative, you’ll have the chance to do meaningful work.

    I also work with students on what comes next. Grad school, med school, and nursing programs are common next steps, and those wins are always exciting! But one of my proudest moments was when a former RA messaged me to say she had taken a job with a circus in New Orleans. She was academically exceptional but felt stuck, planning to apply to grad school just to stay enrolled and continue performing in the FSU circus. After some honest conversations, she realized she didn’t need a degree to justify doing what she loved.

    Whether someone is applying to a PhD program or a circus, I help them edit applications, polish resumes, and write recommendation letters. I'm happy to be a professional reference for whatever future they decide is worth chasing.
  mentor_handbook_and_faqs: '1'
  name_of_other_faculty_collaborator_if_applicable_: ''
  number_of_assistants_needed_faculty_postdoc_max_6_graduate_stude: '2'
  other_faculty_collaborator_s_preferred_pronouns: ''
  overall_research_project_description: |-
    Many psychology studies ask people to summarize how they have felt over the past week or two, but those answers depend on memory. Someone might report that they felt anxious “most days,” for example, even if their daily reports show a different pattern. This study asks whether those differences are random noise, or whether they tell us something meaningful about symptoms, memory, and psychological functioning.

    The project focuses on three main research questions:

    1. What types of symptoms do people misremember?
    We are interested in whether some symptoms, such as anxiety, depression, impulsivity, physical symptoms, or substance-related experiences, are harder to recall accurately than others.

    2. What types of people are more likely to misremember their symptoms?
    We examine whether symptom-reporting accuracy is related to memory performance, overall mental health symptoms, and other individual differences.

    3. Do daily surveys give us better insight into brain and behavior?
    Participants complete EEG and behavioral tasks related to attention, emotion, reward, memory, and error-monitoring. We test whether daily symptom ratings, compared with traditional retrospective questionnaires, are more strongly related to these brain and behavior measures. These brain and behavior measures give us something like an anchor, or a reality check, for evaluating different ways of measuring mental health. If daily symptom reports line up better with brain responses than traditional retrospective questionnaires do, that would tell us something important about how mental health symptoms should be measured in both research and clinical practice.

    Participants complete two EEG sessions, memory tasks, questionnaires, and two weeks of daily surveys. By comparing what people report each day to what they remember later, this project aims to improve how researchers measure mental health symptoms and understand when self-report questionnaires are useful versus when they may miss important information.
  please_add_any_additional_information_here: ''
  please_provide_a_link_to_your_publications_a_video_clip_or_a_web: 'https://cranstudies.com/'
  please_select_the_choice_that_most_accurately_describes_your_exp: In-person
  please_select_the_location_of_your_project_: 'On FSU Main Campus'
  position_availability_for_student_research: 'Flexible schedule'
  position_title: 'Graduate Student'
  primary_research_mentor_name: 'Danielle Jones'
  project_keywords: 'Neuroscience, Psychology, Cognition, Memory'
  relevant_student_major_s_: "This position is open to all majors, but it's a great fit for students planning to apply to grad school in psychology, neuroscience, or healthcare fields like medicine, nursing, or PA programs."
  research_mentor_preferred_pronoun2: ''
  research_mentor_pronouns: ''
  research_mentor_supervisor_if_different_from_above_: ''
  research_tasks_for_student_research_assistant_s_: |-
    As a research assistant on this project, you'll be trained to handle every step of the study process. You'll start by learning how to use EEG equipment to record brain activity. This includes prepping the scalp, placing the EEG cap, checking signal quality, and running the recording software. I’ll teach you how to troubleshoot common issues, manage participant comfort, and make sure the data you're collecting is high quality. By the end of your training, you'll be able to set up and run EEG sessions independently.

    In addition to EEG, you'll guide participants through the entire study visit. This includes obtaining informed consent, collecting saliva samples, walking them through each task, and monitoring them throughout the session to make sure everything goes smoothly. You’ll also help with setting up the daily survey system (delivered via text), installing a location tracking app, and conducting a short interview where participants describe their daily experiences during the study period. You'll be the main point of contact for participants, so this is a great role if you like interacting with people and want a deeper understanding of how complex studies are run from start to finish.

    EEG data processing can be pretty technical, but you’ll start learning the basics as you prepare your poster presentation. If you're interested in programming, you’ll have the chance to work with MATLAB to clean and preprocess EEG data, and use R to run analyses that link brain activity to mental health symptoms. If you’re not into coding, no problem—there are non-programming alternatives. You’ll use Brain Vision Analyzer, a point-and-click program for EEG data processing, and SPSS for statistical analysis. Both options will give you hands-on experience working with real data and learning how to interpret brain responses in the context of psychological research.

    When you're not working with participants, there will be other research duties to complete. This will include transcribing interview data, doing data entry from previous projects, and other tasks as the needs arise. Students who are interested in may also have the opportunity to work in a "wet lab" environment to pre-process the saliva samples.
  roundtable_times_and_zoom_links: ''
  skills_that_research_assistants_may_need_: |-
    Required Skills: None – all training will be provided.

    Recommended Skills:
    - Strong attention to detail
    - Comfortable interacting with people
    - Reliable and organized
    - Interested in mental health or brain research
    - Willingness to learn new technology and procedures
    - Good communication skills
    - Ability to follow protocols and problem-solve in real time
    - Professional and respectful
  title_of_the_project: 'Connecting Memory Performance to the Accuracy of Self-Reported Psychopathology'
  update_url: 'https://cre.fsu.edu/urop-research-mentor-project-submission-portal?token=DriJt_nLh8MEZZEtCkUVnt7uYcmAssAChx-CIeQ5cZ8'
  urop_performance_evaluation: '1'
  urop_poster_presentation: '1'
  when_potential_research_assistants_are_reaching_out_via_email_2: ''
  when_potential_research_assistants_are_reaching_out_via_email_wh: ''
  when_students_are_reaching_out_via_email_what_is_your_preferreda: Mrs.
  will_you_be_employed_at_fsu_for_the_entirety_of_fall_and_spring: 'Yes'
  would_you_like_to_participate_in_the_urop_research_mentor_round2: 'Yes'
  would_you_like_to_participate_in_the_urop_research_mentor_roundt: ''
  year: '2026'