Undergraduate Journal of Psychology University of British Volumecolumbia’S 1 Undergraduate April 2012 Journal of Psychology Volume 1 April 2012
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Volume 1, April 2012 ISSN 1927-2820 (Print) ISSN 1927-2839 (Online) UndergraduateUniversity of Journal British Columbia’s of Psychology Editor-in-Chief: David W. –L. Wu http://ubcujp.psych.ubc.ca UBC’s Undergraduate Journal of Psychology University of British VolumeColumbia’s 1 Undergraduate April 2012 Journal of Psychology Volume 1 April 2012 Editor-in-Chief David W. –L. Wu Contents Editorial Board Jenn Ferris, Section Editor: Behavioural Neuroscience Editor’s Note 1 Kaitlyn M. Goldsmith, Section Editor: Clinical David W. –L. Wu Amara Sarwal, Section Editor: Cognitive Virginie Cousineau, Section Editor: Developmental Metaplasticity: A new frontier in the neural representation of memory 3 Ashley Whillans, Section Editor: Social, Personality, & Health Dano Morrison Jade McGregor, Associate Editor: Social, Personality, & Health Psychology: A closer look at what psychologists bring to the table 15 Elizabeth Laliberte Reviewers Sophia Bobovski Bri Glazier Craniopagus: Overview and the implications of sharing a brain 21 Carly Thornton Carol Chu Jordan Squair Kurtis Stewart Adam Baimel Christina van den Brink Sepehr Nassiri Pedophilia and brain function 29 Diana Choi Taylor Davis Po Liu Katharina Block Tess Walker Thariq Badiudeen Robyn Jackowich Too much sex, a mental disorder? Examining both sides of the debate on Savannah Nijeboer Zarina Giannone hypersexual disorder 35 Xaiolei Deng Patrick Dubois Xijuan Zhang Setareh Shayanfar Tai Khuong Startle reflex as a physiological measure of emotion regulation 45 Agnes Cywinska Yang Fei (also Statistics Consultant) Brittany C. Speed Graduate Student Advisors The negative effect of doodling on visual recall performance 59 Patrick Piantadosi, Behavioural Neuroscience Elaine Chan Sam Rumak, Clinical Nicola C. Anderson, Cognitive Did he really earn it? An of anabolic-androgenic steroid use in sports 65 Alessandra DiGiacomo, Cognitive Dexter McMillan Loni Slade, Health Exploring religiosity’s effects on altruistic behaviour 73 Alyssa Croft, Social & Personality Lu Zhao Faculty Advisors Communal male role models: How they influence identification with domestic Michael Souza roles and anticipation of future involvement with the family 87 Sunaina Assanand Katharina Block, 2011 Belkin Award Winning Paper Marketing and Promotions Brendan Ghag University of British Columbia’s Undergraduate Journal of Psychology (UBCUJP) is an annual, student-run, peer-reviewed journal. Our goal is to provide a platform for psychology undergraduates at UBC to showcase their Editor’s Note research. We believe undergraduate research papers provide a fantastic opportunity for undergraduates to experience David W.-L. Wu the peer-review process while also being a valuable resource for faculty and students to learn about the research happening next door. Our focus is three-fold: I am honoured to present the very first volume of University of British Columbia’s Undergraduate Journal of Psychology (UBCUJP). This inaugural issue contains a year’s worth of 1) To undergraduate authors we offer a valuable and rare experience into the peer-review and publication process. dedicated work from undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty alike. It was a true delight being able to watch this journal transform from conception to reality. 2) To our editorial board and reviewers, we offer the opportunity to develop reviewing, critical thinking and managerial skills that are essential for success in graduate studies and future careers. Being involved with UBCUJP is also a great opportunity to network with faculty, graduate students and other motivated undergraduates. The response and support from students and faculty exceeded my wildest expectations. In truth, we were underprepared for the sheer amount of quality submissions we received, and 3) To graduate students and faculty, we offer the chance to engage and mentor undergraduate students. luckily the response from students wanting to help review papers was just as great. Rivalling the quality of submissions we received was the quality of reviews from our volunteer reviewers. We hope the journal itself will offer a unique peek into various developing projects around the research labs of It was astonishing to witness the transformation of each initial manuscript to the final published UBC’s psychology department. material. I want to thank all the reviewers and also the authors who chose to submit with us UBCUJP (Print ISSN: 1927-2820, Online ISSN: 1927-2839) is generously supported by the Department of for making this journal such an immense success. I also want to thank the graduate student and Psychology at the University of British Columbia, 2136 West Mall, Vancouver, B.C., Canada, V6T 1Z4, telephone: faculty advisors for taking time out of their busy schedules to be involved. 604-822-2755, fax: 604-822-6923. To my editorial team, you truly are the heart of the journal and without your hard-work UBCUJP Being an open source journal, UBCUJP applies the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License to both online and in print publications. would be non-existent. A special thank-you to the people who believed in this project from the very beginning: Alan Kingstone, Ashley Whillans, and Michael Souza. With your continued Electronic Access: Visit ubcujp.psych.ubc.ca to find the online version of our journal. support, I know this journal can reach the vast potential it has. In the coming years, I hope to see UBCUJP’s reach expand to psychology undergraduates from other universities in the region. Disclaimer: The views expressed by contributing authors in this journal do not necessarily reflect those of UBCUJP or the Department of Psychology at UBC. UBCUJP cannot be held responsible for errors in, or misuse of, In this issue, we review topics ranging from metaplasticity, to whether hypersexuality disorder information contained in this journal. belongs in the new DSM-5. We also look at a diverse range of studies ranging from examining Contact: [email protected] the cognitive effects of doodling, to how religiosity influences altruism. We are also very pleased to publish the paper which received the 2011 Belkin Award for the best undergraduate psychology paper. I hope this inaugural volume of UBCUJP gives you, the reader, a glimpse of the immense degree of scholarship and psychological research from UBC undergraduates. David W.-L. Wu Editor-in-Chief, UBCUJP UBCUJP – April 2012 – Volume 1 1 BNS Literature Review Metaplasticity: A new frontier in the neural representation of memory Dano Morrison1 1 Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia Edited by: Jenn Ferris, Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia. Received for review January 10, 2012, and accepted March 2, 2012. Copyright: © 2012 Morrison. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivates License, which permits anyone to download and share the article, provided the original author(s) are cited and the works are not used for commercial purposes or altered in any way. Abstract Synaptic plasticity, the modification of the strength of connections between neurons, is widely accepted to be essential for information storage in the brain and is thought to form the basis of learning and memory. However, in order for the richness of learning and memory to emerge from the long-term potentiation and depression of synapses, regulatory mechanisms must exist. Metaplasticity, the phenomenon of previous synaptic activity modulating the future synaptic plasticity of a neuron, might answer questions about how synaptic plasticity is regulated in order to create meaningful, coordinated changes in neural activity. There are many different proposed contributors to metaplasticity, including the NMDA and AMPA receptors, epigenetics, and neurotrophins. Although the way in which all these factors interact remains enigmatic, metaplasticity appears to play a role in learning, possibly by serving to control neuronal 'learning modes.' Keywords: metaplasticity, plasticity, memory, learning, long-term potentiation The seemingly simple question, “how is ability of neural connections to change by information stored in the nervous system?” strengthening or weakening, is revolutionary has proven difficult to answer in the nearly in its potential to provide a physiological five decades in which the biological basis of explanation for learning, but its mechanisms memory has been studied. Behavioural have yet to be fully understood. How the observation of learning and memory has complexity of learning and memory can arise been successful in characterizing many of from such simple changes is one the most the functional aspects of memory; short- fascinating questions in neuroscience. term memory, long-term memory, and For the purposes of this review, conditioning have all been well studied. synaptic plasticity is defined as long-term However, due to technological constraints potentiation (LTP) and the complementary and the complexity of neural systems, process of long-term depression (LTD) of knowledge of the neurobiological connections between neurons. First underpinnings behind learning and memory discovered in rat hippocampal experiments is severely lacking. Synaptic plasticity, the in 1964, LTP is the process by which high Corresponding Author: Dano Morrison E-mail: [email protected] BNS BNS Morrison METAPLASTICITY Literature Review Literature Review frequency electrical stimulus delivered to a which high or low frequency stimulation vary in strength