Erica House

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I'm a first year Graduate student studying at the University of West Florida. I will be graduating with my Masters in General Psychology in December 2008, and will also be applying to Doctoral programs in Fall 2008.

Currently, I'm teaching the Experimental Psychology Lab under the supervision of Dr. James Arruda. Teaching has been quite the 'eye-opening' experience for me! I never considered teaching as a possibility before, but I'm finding the whole process quite enjoyable. If I continue to teach next semester, I'm planning on researching the effects of different teaching styles (particularly focusing on the use of powerpoint slides) on students academic success.

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Who do I work with?

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What do I research?

As I'm still trying to decide what my main focus in psychology is, my past research experience has been varied. I've studied the metacognition of reading comprehension, the relationship between self-efficacy and life satisfaction, the effects of background music on reading comprehension and retention, as well as the effects of Ginko Biloba on reaction time, mood and short-term memory.

Currently, my focus is on my thesis. For my thesis I'm assessing the reliability and validity of the Visual Analog Mood Scales (VAMS) when used with non-English speaking, pain patients at a headache clinic in Milan, Italy.