Studying the Wonders of the Brain 

Lauren Bousquet '08, Psychology major and
Dr. Anthony Richardson, Assistant Professor of Psychology

Interest in how the brain works has led Lauren Bousquet to pursue a research project examining how testosterone levels in the brains of men and women affect the ability to navigate in both real and virtual worlds. The results of her study of spatial abilities could have implications for space flight, for a person’s orientation in a new place, for keeping track of where you are in a space ship.

Bousquet says she was motivated by a Saint Michael’s course in physiological psychology, taught by Dr. Anthony Richardson, assistant professor of psychology, to look further into brain function. She was awarded a summer research grant from the NASA National Space Grant College and Fellowship Program.

The NASA grant provides $3,500 to Bousquet, $750 for equipment, and $1,500 for the advising professor, Dr. Richardson. Additional funds of $1,500 are provided for the two researchers to travel to NASA to present the results of their project.

The project will set up tests for people to go through in the real world and in a virtual, computer world. Bousquet created the real world course in a maze meandering through the Saint Michael’s College library. She created a maze using sophisticated computer programs to form the virtual world on the computer. She spent hours learning the difficult software of 3-D Studio to create the mazes and Vizard to access the mazes. Now that she has the testing grounds established, she is recruiting paid volunteers to participate in the tests. She will then take saliva samples from the participants and coordinate, anonymously, the person’s
testosterone level as shown in the saliva with his or her
performance on the tests.

Past research has shown that men who perform better in the spatial tests tend to have lower testosterone levels, Professor Richardson explained. And women with higher testosterone levels have shown better spatial abilities, he said. The professor agreed that this appears to be counter-intuitive. “It’s a poorly researched area,” he said. “That’s why we’re doing this study.”