Post on 09-Aug-2015
Previous Experience
Courses at the University of Louisville pertaining to
biology, chemistry, and psychology.
Sydney Project Goals
Discover more about the field of psychophysiology
and its relationship to the field of medicine.
Summer 2011: Medical internship in Kalutara, Sri Lanka
Become further informed about proper procedures
and etiquette of research design, development, and data
collection with human subjects.
Psychophysiology Internship with the Sydney Cognitive and Affective
Neuroscience Unit
University of Sydney – Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
2. Lab Website Development and Promotion:
www.psych.usyd.edu.au/lab/scan
Research Projects, Participation, and Tasks
1. Audio/Visual Perception Experiment with Lars Boenke:
Focus: How bimodal and unimodal stimuli of light and/or
sound with varying amounts of time lapsing between may
affect the perception of a participant.
Results: Experiment is ongoing, but current data
indicates a subconscious effect in subjects that influences
perception of stimuli order based on prior stimuli exposure.
My Roles: Serving as an actual participant, setting up
experiment for other subjects, analysis of data.
Reduced HRV is indicative of potential harmful conditions, such as
myocardial infarction, congestive heart failure, etc.
Correlating Experiment, lead by Dr. Andrew Kemp (ongoing):
Focus: To determine whether unmedicated patients suffering from
major depression disorder (MDD), generalized anxiety disorder
(GAD), or posttraumatic stress disorder, suffer from reduced HRV.
Results: Experiment is still ongoing, but participants to date portray
reduced HRV, independent of the medication use for treatment.
My Roles: Serving as a model for ECG setup, actually setting up
ECG with participants, analysis of data.
Future Plans
Further connect enrichment
projects and studies with a focus on
water treatment and environmental
sustainability in regards to health
and medicine 3. Heart Rate Variability and Implications for
Cardiovascular Risk:
What is heart rate variability (HRV)?
Physiological event where the time interval (RR intervals)
between heart beats varies. Can be measured by ECG.
Water for Life - Kosovo:
Well rehabilitation, septic
installation, river restoration,
purification systems, and
equipment training.
Foundation for the International
Medical Relief of Children – El
Salvador: Water treatment,
waste/recycling program design,
nutrition groups for 6-12 year olds