Virtual Reality and Street Walkability
Along with colleagues in Design (Laura Malinin), Computer Science (Francisco Ortega), Health and Exercise Science (Heather Leach), and Landscape Architecture (Kelly Curl), and in partnership with the City of Fort Collins, we created a modifiable VR model of a portion of Old Town Fort Collins, which we are using to test how various changes to the environment impact walking behavior.
Workstation and Human PerformanceÂ
This study hopes to examine how different types of workstations could affect human performance, including mood, motivation, and cognitive performance.
We are currently looking for RAs for Fall 2022. You’ll need to be able to attend the study session in Fort Collins, CO.
Please contact Skylar (skylar.yu@colostate.edu) if you are interested.
The Effect of Institution-Related Information on Experience Expectations
This mixed-methods study examines how information about a university affects expectations of academic success and overall experience at that institution.
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We are currently recruiting participants to complete an online anonymous survey (10-15 min) or an interview (<60 min). We are also recruiting RAs to conduct these interviews.
If you are interested in being an RA or participant, please contact Amanda via email (amanda.spitzer@colostate.edu).
Dog WalkingÂ
Along with veterinarian collaborators, led by Colleen Duncan and Felix Duerr, we are working to simultaneously promote human and animal health through dog walking programs. This work began at CSU's Veterinary Teaching Hospital and is now being extended to private practice veterinary clinics in Northern Colorado.
Eye-Tracking / Nutrition Label Research
The Behavioral Medicine lab has conducted many studies assessing the impacts of nutrition labels on consumer behavior, including food choices and visual attention. We are interested in understanding how different types of labels impact the ways that consumers decide what products to choose.
In-Class Physical Activity
In collaboration with partners in multiple departments at CSU (Health & Exercise Science, Human Development & Family studies, Electrical & Computer Engineering, Marketing), we were undertaking research, funded in part by CSU Ventures, exploring innovative ways to support physical activity in classrooms to promote physical and mental health and enhanced content learning and retention.
Embodiment and Learning
Together with CSU colleagues in Psychology (Drs. Jessi Witt and Anne Cleary) and Math (Dr. Mary Pilgrim), with funding from The Institute for Learning and Teaching at CSU, we were incorporating the enactment of abstract concepts into undergraduate STEM instruction to help students learn through movement.
Parent-Child Food Selection
Together with Dr. Rachel Lucas-Thompson (CSU Department of Human Development and Family Studies), and Dr. Gina Mohr (CSU College of Business), this work, funded by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture and the Colorado School of Public Health at CSU, was examining how parents and children together select products from a laboratory set up as a grocery aisle. Both parent and child wore eye-tracking glasses during this task, and participant pairs were randomly assigned to one of four conditions based on two types of front-of-package nutrition labels and the presence or absence of an explanatory public service announcement describing the nutrition labels.
Food Packaging Studies
We were working with Dr. Christina Roberto (University of Pennsylvania), on examining how elements appearing on food packages, including front-of-package nutrition labels and licensed cartoon characters, relate to visual attention and product selections.
Message Framing and Nutrition Label Use
Together with Dr. Gina Mohr in CSU's Department of Marketing, we were working to understand how different presentations of nutrition information and different descriptions of the manner in which nutrition information should be interpreted relates to the use of this information by consumers and the products they select.
Community-Based Physical Activity
We were examining how different point-of-decision prompts influence perceptions of self and environment, and how these perceptions relate to subsequent physical activity behavior (e.g., choosing to take the stairs rather than an elevator/escalator).