Carol Huynh

Face and body emotion recognition depend on different orientation sub-bands

ABSTRACT Face and body perception are both disrupted by picture-plane inversion—180-degree rotation leads to poorer recognition and discrimination. For face stimuli, this inversion effect is carried by horizontally-oriented structures, which also carry more information for identity than vertical orientations. We examined whether face and body emotion recognition exhibited similar dependencies on low-level orientation energy (horizontal vs. vertical features) and whether the inversion effect for faces and bodies expressing different emotional expressions is carried by different orientation sub-bands. We asked observers to classify happy/sad faces and bodies that were filtered to include only horizontal orientation energy, only vertical orientation energy, or both orientations. We found that face and body emotion recognition rely on different low-level features—faces required horizontal features, while bodies required vertical features. In neither case was the inversion effect limited to the optimal band for emotion recognition. We conclude that face and body emotion recognition processes are tuned to different low-level features, but that in both cases the inversion effect (and any presumed “special” face or body processing associated with it) is applied fairly broadly to images in each category.

Alone and at risk: A statistical profile of alcohol-related college student deaths

ABSTRACT This study profiles college students who died an alcohol-related death. Estimates of the scope of these mortality rates have received publicity but we know little about the nature of who, when, where, and how they perished. Using data derived from a website and accompanying news stories and obituaries, we constructed details about roughly 500 of these deaths. Being male, Greek, and enrolled in a four year, public institution increased the mortality odds for students. A large majority of these deaths occurred while students were alone following a drinking bout. Most students‘ perished while falling, drowning, being hit by a vehicle, or experiencing alcohol poisoning. Criminal charges were levied in one-third of these cases and families filed lawsuits in fourteen percent of these cases. Details surrounding these deaths suggest that intervention strategies center on ways in which schools and communities can partner to develop a system so that college drinkers are buddied up and can receive help when they need it.

Resident interaction and social well-being in an oil boomtown in western North Dakota

Abstract Previous studies on the social well-being of residents living in energy boomtowns focus primarily on demographic characteristics of residents. These studies do not consider that there could be a relationship between residents’ social well-being and whether they interact with new residents moving into their community. The current study includes a measure of interaction with new residents as it examines five dimensions of the social well-being of residents living in an oil boomtown in western North Dakota. Surveys were distributed door-to-door to residents living in Williston North Dakota during the fall of 2015. Research findings show that people who reported that they interact with new residents moving into their community felt safe from crime and violence in their community; felt more socially integrated in their community; had high levels of community trust and community satisfaction, and believed that they could count on their neighbors. These findings are important because they highlight the significance of social interaction in communities that experience rapid population growth resulting from increased energy production.

New Faces in a New Place: Long-Time Residents’ Perceptions of New Residents in an Oil Boomtown in the Bakken Oil Shale Region

ABSTRACT In 2008, increased oil production in the Bakken oil shale region in western North Dakota sparked a rapid increase in population for the communities in that area. This study examines long-time residents’ perceptions of new residents moving into their community using quantitative methods. The findings reveal that long-time residents who reported an increase in fear of crime because of the oil boom in western North Dakota were less likely to have positive perceptions of new residents. In addition, long-time residents who viewed their community as a friendly place and its residents as trustworthy, and who attempted to interact with new residents, were more likely to report positive perceptions of new residents.

College Arrests and Later Criminal Convictions: An Examination of the Cumulative Disadvantage of Misconduct While in College

ABSTRACT Crimes committed by college students have recently revealed some disturbing forms of misconduct. We know little however, about the sustained criminal behavior of this group in the decades following college. This study assesses whether being arrested while attending college is associated with an adult criminal conviction, 14–17 years following the college years. Data included a matched sample of non-arrested college students during the years 1996–1999, matched by gender, year in school, and college affiliation. The findings reveal that postcollege conviction odds increase between 3.3 and 5.4 times if a student has been arrested while attending college. Dropping out of college is associated with an increase in the odds of later criminal conviction, but dropping out does not have multiplicative effects on arrest status in college and later criminal conviction. Being a first year student moderates the association between arrest status and criminal conviction following college.