UWinnipeg psychology students gathered at the end of Spring Term to present their research in a longstanding annual tradition.
The Department of Psychology’s 44th annual Prairie Undergraduate Conference took place April 24 in Lockhart Hall.
Two dozen students delivered 15-minute oral presentations. Topics spanned cognitive, social, clinical, and developmental psychology. Seven students also displayed research posters at the event.
My favourite part about my thesis was data analysis.
Olivia Shyiak
Dr. Catherine Lebel, Professor of Radiology at the University of Calgary, delivered a keynote address about how the prenatal environment shapes brain development. The day was capped off by a reception at the University Club. The Research Office and the Dean of Arts sponsored the conference.
Exploring identity persistence
Olivia Shyiak will graduate later this year with an Honours degree in Psychology under the supervision of thesis advisor Dr. Brandon Goulding. She has been a Research Assistant in Dr. Goulding’s Thinking and Reasoning Lab, and in Dr. Stephanie Bugden’s Numeracy Development and Learning Lab.
“I’m interested in cognitive work, mainly how children and adults reason about probability, possibility, and counterintuitive events,” said Olivia, who received the conference’s Santesso Prize for the best talk given in the natural sciences. “I’ve also dabbled in cognitive neuroscience methodologies, including functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) and electroencephalogram (EEG). Learning how to use those tools has been such an incredible experience, especially as an undergraduate.”
Her conference presentation—Don’t stop believing: How continuity and intended function shape persistence judgements of objects—explored the concept of ‘identity persistence’ and how much an object can change before it is no longer considered the same.
“My thesis actually started out with the topic of ownership, and I was curious as to how much something could be restored by another person before its ownership changed,” Olivia explained.
Workshopping her thesis question with a professor helped her zero in on the identity of the object, rather than who owned it.
“My favourite part about my thesis was data analysis,” Olivia said. “Once the study was made and the data was collected and cleaned, I finally got to see if my manipulations worked, and they mostly did!”
Olivia has a strong academic track record at UWinnipeg. In December, she finished first in the Social Sciences category at the 20th annual Randy Kobes Undergraduate Poster Symposium. After graduation, she plans to continue her studies in psychology, with the goal of becoming a professor.
Investigating political convictions
Noah Merz Lakser graduated in June with an Honours degree in Psychology under the supervision of thesis advisor Dr. Justin Friesen. He is also the recipient of an Undergraduate Student Research Award (USRA) in Dr. Friesen’s lab.
“I’m currently working on a variety of social-psychology research projects,” Noah said. “Outside of university, I’m heavily involved in Manitoba’s fencing community as an official, coach, and former athlete.”
Noah’s conference presentation—The Perception of Group-System Conflict Affects the Relationship Between Group Identification and System Justification—investigates cause-and-effect disagreements in psychological literature about two concepts in social psychology: system justification and social identity.
“I’m interested in social psychology, especially in the psychology of people’s political beliefs,” Noah explained. “My project was inspired by research into System Justification Theory (SJT), which was one of the ideas that first really drew me to social psychology. Put simply, it provides one explanation for why people might hold beliefs that run counter their self-interests—something that I really think speaks to a lot of political phenomena.”
Noah, like Olivia, has distinguished himself academically before. In 2022, he received three scholarships from UWinnipeg.
“I’m born and raised in Winnipeg—actually, I grew up just a couple blocks from the University, on Spence Street,” Noah said. “I was largely attracted by UWinnipeg’s downtown location and the smaller class sizes.”
Looking ahead to the future, Noah said he plans to pursue graduate studies in social psychology.
