InSPHIRe Lab

Dr. Colagiuri (PI) at the University of Sydney and Dr. Geers (Co-I) have received a 3-year federal grant from the Australian Research Council. The funded research will examine the role of social factors in altering and inducing nocebo side effects.

Congratulations!

InSPHIRe lab graduate, Dr. Ashley Murray, completed her NIH Fellowship and was recently hired as a Research Survey Methodologist in the Program for Research in Survey Methodology at RTI International. Congratulations, Ashley!

Recent Experimental Psychology doctoral graduate Kelly Clemens has accepted a tenure-track Assistant Professor position in the Department of Psychology at Illinois State University (ISU) starting in August 2023.

Kelly is excited to continue her line of research exploring psychological determinants of treatment behaviors and outcomes at ISU. 

Our honor student Loren Taylor presented her research on the role of culture in predicting dental anxiety and fear last Friday. Great presentation at the UT undergraduate student research exhibition on 12/9/22

Dr. Jason Rose was selected as a Fellow of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP)! SPSP is the world’s largest association of social and personality psychologists, and this honor designates Dr. Rose as stand out and leader within the field. Congratulations, Dr. Rose!

Loren Taylor, an InSPHIRe undergraduate lab member, was recently announced as a recipient of the 2022 Fall Academic Year Research Program award from the University of Toledo Office of Undergraduate Research!

Loren Taylor’s research titled “Cultural Factors Alter Dental Fear Development” aims to understand the mechanisms behind dental fear development across cultures to assess differences.

Congratulations Loren and good luck with your research!

Dr. Geers (Co-I) and Dr. Faasse (PI) at UNSW have received a 3-year federal grant from the Australian Research Council. The grant work will examine the psychological processes involved perceptions and outcomes of generic vs. branded medicines.

Dr. Andrew Geers’ side of the lab have begun a once-a-semester newsletter to highlight the achievements of their lab members. Like 2020, 2021 has brought some unique challenges. Despite this, they had a productive and exciting semester full of research, awards, and lots of learning!

Click the following link to review the newsletter: Toledo Placebo Fall 2021 Newsletter

Dr. Andrew Geers discusses dental anxiety and etymology with reporter, Shira Feder, of The Paper Gown.

“We find that having a really negative, painful dental experience early in your history seems to be important for development of dental fear and phobia,” says Andrew Geers, an experimental psychologist and professor at the University of Toledo who researches dental phobias. When children have bad experiences at the dentist’s office, they may later put off scheduling appointments, cancel their appointments and have more cavities.”

Take a look for the full article at the following link: https://thepapergown.zocdoc.com/is-your-dental-anxiety-something-more-serious/

 

A recent publication by InSPHIRe lab members Dr. Geers, Kelly Clemens, and Emily Jason has been generating a lot of media attention. The study described in the paper entitled Psychosocial Factors Predict COVID-19 Vaccine Side Effects (Geers et al., in press) found that COVID-19 vaccine side effect expectations (e.g., pain at the injection site, fever, chills, headache, joint pain) predicted side effects in participants three months later. These findings demonstrate the well-documented nocebo effect (i.e., the opposite of the placebo effect), in which negative expectations of treatment result in more negative treatment-related outcomes. Congratulations on the publication! Check out some of the various media coverage below:

U.S. News and World Reports:
https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2021-11-08/your-expectations-could-shape-your-odds-for-vaccine-side-effects

NBC 24:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_8sfs2eFPE

University of Toledo News:
https://news.utoledo.edu/index.php/11_05_2021/expectation-shapes-reality-psychological-factors-predict-covid-vaccine-side-effects

WTOL News:

https://www.wtol.com/video/news/health/coronavirus/mindset-impacts-side-effects-from-the-covid-19-vaccines-utoledo-research-shows/512-0c413f15-3435-4671-96aa-44768816420d