Senior Thesis Research Proposal

Title: Electrophysiological Indices of Memorization

Research Question: Is there a positive or negative correlation between gender and gender oriented
objects correctly remembered?

Summary: My partner and I, Samantha Havenstrite, received institutional review board (IRB)
certification and IRB approval. We are using the Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) student
pool for randomly selected participants and we have permission to use the MTSU laboratory. We will
place electrodes on the participants head so that we can read his or her electroencephalogram (EEG)
and analyze his or her brain waves. The participants will complete two sessions of testing. In the first
session, he or she will be presented with a total of 90 slides of objects; 30 male oriented objects; 30
female oriented objects; and 30 neutral oriented objects. In the second session of testing, a total of 90
slides will be presented, however, 45 of those 90 slides will be slightly different objects than viewed in
the first session of testing. We will collect and analyze data based on the number of objects correctly
remembered and his or her response time.
o Key terms: institutional review board, electrodes, electroencephalogram, male oriented objects,
female oriented objects, neutral oriented objects, positive correlation, negative correlation.
o Additional questions:
How does stereotypes influence the results?
Does the people the participant live with affect the gender oriented objects correctly
remembered?
Did the participants have enough time to respond during the second session of testing?
What other factors besides brain waves are shown on the EEG?
Do participants pay more attention to the opposite gender oriented objects than his or her
gender because he or she is less familiar with the objects?

Purpose: I chose this topic because neuroscience intrigues me. I am eager to discover if there is a
positive or negative correlation between gender and gender oriented objects because the results could
potentially lead to a finding of the differences of learning between males and females; we can then take
it a step further and create a learning strategy that is most efficient for males and females. Samantha
Havenstrite and I conducted a similar experiment at Central Magnet School our sophomore year for our
AP psychology project. I hope to learn about the differences in the male and female brains in regards to
neuroscience and EEG. I aspire to minor in psychology so the experience to perform a psychology based
thesis in my high school career is enriching.

Challenges and Limitations: The challenges we will face is having 30 participants in total in order to
be statistically significant. Since we have to incorporate Dr. Manges, the participants, Samanthas and
my schedules to perform the one to two hour experiment, it will be a challenge to collect enough data in
order to obtain results and make a conclusion on our topic; therefore our concerns are having enough
statistically significant data to support or not support our hypothesis. Our bias towards our research may
include assuming that there will a positive correlation to gender and gender oriented objects correctly
remembered because we came to this conclusion when we performed our similar experiment sophomore
year.

The So What Factor: People should care about this research because it has the potential to discover
new learning techniques for males and females in order to enhance his or her learning. The purpose of
our research is to analyze brain waves in both males and females during a memory test, therefore, we

can then take that data and use it for further research for the purposes of memory and learning. This
research is important because it is a memory test taken to the next level. We will not only analyze the
results of a memory test, but we will also observe the positive or negative correlations between male and
female performances. This data is significant because it may lead to new discoveries on the differences
of how males and females observe, retain and store information. We are hoping to add to the field of
study the gender differences performed in a memory test and then with the data, enhance the different
techniques of learning to make memory the most efficient for both males and females. Our intended
audience is the general population who expresses interest in the field of psychology and neuroscientists.

The Next Step: We need to perform this experiment at the MTSU laboratory. In regards to our
methodology, we will place electrodes on the participants head so that we can read his or her
electroencephalogram (EEG) and analyze his or her brain waves. The participants will complete two
sessions of testing. In the first session, he or she will be presented with a total of 90 slides of objects; 30
male oriented objects; 30 female oriented objects; and 30 neutral oriented objects. In the second session
of testing, a total of 90 slides will be presented, however, 45 of those 90 slides will be slightly different
objects than viewed in the first session of testing. We will collect and analyze data based on the number
of objects correctly remembered and his or her response time.