Mallory Brown

For my experience, I took an internship with the Psychology Department at Merrimack College. I worked with Dr. Amanda Cremone-Caira on her current research project. We are investigating risk-taking tendencies in preschool age children. I had the opportunity to collect data from preschool classrooms and learn more about data processing. I was also able to complete an related project on teacher and caregiver survey score difference on behavioral development.

I got to learn more about how EEG signal is processed. This is a brain scanning method that records the timing of neuronal responses. I had known of the tool and seen it used. However, I got to learn how to process this signal from the raw data into something useful. I had not known about the complex steps involved in this process. I got to learn about the different techniques, tools, and even got to process my own files.

This experience was incredibly impactful for my career goals. I was able to learn more about the types of research that I am interested in conducting in the future. I made meaningful contacts in the Neuroscience research community. I also go to prepare a poster for my research which is a tangible experience that I have used on applications.

I am currently continuing this research as a part of my statistics seminar capstone project. I am investigating demographic factor impact on variation in teacher and parent scores of behavioral development. I am also returning to this internship for Summer 2026.

This award provided financial support for this experience. It helped to pay for the small prizes given to the children who participated in the data collection process. It helped to pay for the software for processing EEG signal and for the behavioral assessment surveys.