URCAD Selfie Contest Winner: Olivia Hutchinson

Mon, 15 Apr 2024 13:01:10 -0400

The URCAD Selfie Contest Winner for Best Overall Selfie is Olivia Hutchinson! Olivia will receive a $100 gift card to the UMBC Bookstore.

Olivia took this selfie before the start of the poster session and sent it to her mom, who asked, "Are you nervous?" Her reply: "I don't know, do I look nervous??" Olivia, you were great, but we love your sense of humor!

Effects of Child Abuse and Acute Stress on the Experience of Emotion in People with Schizophrenia

Olivia Hutchinson, Psychology, Jacob Nudelman1, Eric Neutzling, Gabrielle Pakravan², Adriann Lai¹, Elie Holzel¹
¹Department of Psychiatry, University of Maryland School of Medicine, ²University of Maryland, College Park
Raimi Quiton, Psychology; James Waltz, Department of Psychiatry, University of Maryland School of Medicine

Early-life adversity and psychosis can alter sensitivity to stimuli. We used images from the International Affective Pictures Set (IAPS) to examine how diagnosis and abuse history influence picture ratings under stress. We hypothesized that stress would heighten reactivity to unpleasant stimuli and reduce reactivity to pleasant ones.

52 people with schizophrenia (PSZ) and 32 healthy volunteers (HVs) performed the Emotional Experience Task (EET) – requiring subjects to view and rate the “positivity” and “negativity” of emotions evoked by pictures twice – once after experiencing an acute stressor and once after a neutral event. We assess abuse history with the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire.

PSZ exhibited reduced rating range, relative to HVs. PSZ rated positive pictures as less positive (t = 1.958; p = 0.05) and negative pictures as less negative (t = 2.711; p = 0.008) than HVs. Physical abuse (PA) scores correlated with aversive image ratings (r = 0.309; p = 0.035) and the acute stressor’s impact on positive (r = 0.333; p = 0.022) and neutral stimuli (r = 0.300; p = 0.040). Higher PA was associated with greater stressor impact on IAPS ratings.

Diagnosis and abuse history impacted affective picture ratings. These factors did not interact in influencing picture ratings.
I am a recipient of a UMBC Travel Award from the UMBC Division of Undergraduate Academic Affairs