With national Science Foundation support, Dr. Beatrice de Oca and Western New Mexico University will purchase eight Biopac student labs, each equipped with two electrode lead sets, disposable electrodes, skin-conductance transducer, pulse plethysmogram transducer, skin temperature transducer, push button hand switch, head phones and related supplies. These permit the measurement of physiological responses to controlled stimuli. The equipment will serve as the base for the development of a laboratory for the study of emotion and information processing. Dr. De Oca wishes to build upon the extensive research that has been acquired on conscious and unconscious attentional processes, physiological responses to fear-relevant and irrelevant stimuli and fear potentiation of acoustic startle and determine the extent to which they are mediated by cultural variables. She will examine how emotions are processed in a tri-ethnic sample composed of Native Americans, Mexican-Americans and non-Hispanic White Americans. In order to accomplish this, participants will be presented with neutral, fear-relevant and culturally-relevant stimuli. This grant also serves an important training function. Western New Mexico University serves a student body which is primarily rural and made up of non-traditional students. The university provides the only opportunity for many of these individuals to develop their academic research and professional skills. Currently there are no research facilities in the social and behavioral sciences available and creation of Dr. De Oca's laboratory will provide important exposure to the realm of scientific research. Undergraduates will be extensively involved in Dr. De Oca's work..
