Tag: Poster: 136

The Living Room of Campus: A Post-Occupancy Study of the Erb Memorial Union at the University of Oregon

Presenter(s): Wilson Mathieu − Anthropology

Faculty Mentor(s): Laurie Woodward, Renee Delgado-Riley

Poster 136

Research Area: Social Science

The Erb Memorial Union is a vital part of the University of Oregon’s vision to create a vibrant community of scholars. As the heart of campus and one of the top places that first-year students identified as feeling they belong (based on information gathered in the College Transition Project), this study aims to explore and understand how people (students, staff, faculty, community members, etc.) use the spaces within the EMU via post-occupancy evaluation and investigation. This study employed behavioral observations conducted from February 10th, 2018 through March 2nd, 2018 in four pre-identified areas of the building: Student Street, O Lounge, Taylor Lounge, and Fishbowl. Observations we conducted in two hours shifts from 8am until 10pm on weekdays, and 10am until 10pm on weekends (adjusting for altered weekend operational hours), with 2-minute focal data collected. Observers monitored for four main activities (working, playing, socializing, sleeping) and six sub-activities (reading, on phone, computer, eating, drinking, other). A total head count of the area and level of loudness was recorded every 30-mintues. The information gathered in this study will be used to ensure that students are being supported in how they would like the building to be used, to evaluate building performance following recent renovation and expansion, and for future projects.

The Effect of Emotion on Associative Memory: Anger versus Fear

Presenter(s): Melissa Adler

Faculty Mentor(s): Dasa Zeithamova & Caitlin Bowman

Poster: 136

Session: Social Sciences & Humanities

Studies show that emotion enhances memory for individual items but weakens memory for associations between items. One explanation for this associative memory impairment is that emotional stimuli capture attention, causing enhanced encoding of the emotional item but reduced encoding of the surrounding environment. This hypothesis generates the prediction that emotional information always impairs associative memory. Alternatively, it may be that emotion orients attention towards threats in the environment. For example, seeing an angry face constitutes a direct threat, potentially capturing attention and reducing memory for associated information. In contrast, seeing a fearful face indicates a threat elsewhere in the environment, potentially enhancing encoding of associated information. In the present study, I tested whether perception of anger and fear have different effects on memory for associated information. I hypothesized that associative memory would be worse for all emotional faces, both angry and fearful ones, compared to neutral faces. I also predicted that associative memory would be better for fearful faces than angry faces. To test these hypotheses, subjects studied sets of three images, consisting of two objects and a face with either a neutral, angry, or fearful expression. Subjects were later tested on their memory for the associations between the three items. Supporting our first hypothesis, memory for both angry and fearful associations was worse than memory for neutral associations. Contrary to our second hypothesis, there were no differences in memory for angry versus fearful associations. Thus, emotional information itself seems to capture attention, weakening memory for related information.