The Laboratory under Neuharth

Last Tuesday the multiplatform storytelling class listened to Assistant Professor Dr. Brandon Nutting speak on the laboratory under the Al Neuharth Media Center building. Well the lab is not technically under the building, but it’s in the basement. It’s referred to as the Communication Media Psychology and Related Effects lab. When Nutting first came to the University of South Dakota there was no laboratory to do quantitative research in, and he worked to change that.

            It’s only been two years since the lab has been running. It currently has eight undergraduates, three graduates, and a student in a doctorate program working on the team. They spend the fall semester working on research topics and discovering what they should do their testing on. In the spring they have to collect data, and the summer is used to write papers.

            “When I came here we didn’t have the lab, so we were what I call data poor, so we didn’t have a lot of stuff to write yet,” says Nutting.

            He also says that after these two years the team is now data rich and need to start writing papers. These papers can get published nationally, and the university has had the opportunity to send students to conferences. Charlie Dalldorf is an undergraduate and has worked with Nutting for three years. He was able to go to Seattle over the summer and partake in a conference where professors asked him about doctorate programs, and he hasn’t event gotten his Bachelors yet.

            The lab takes part in studies that are original. These studies include partnering with the South Dakota Center for Cancer Control and Prevention.

            “We are working on putting together a comprehensive website for anyone to find information on clinical trials. All of the hospital chains have come together saying their main goal for the next five years is to increase the amount of people that are enrolled in clinical trials,” says Nutting.

            The team is working to persuade people to participate in trials through messages they are conducting. The Cancer Control Center is looking for ways to help prevent families members from getting cancer and to find early signs through trials. They are also setting aside $10,000 for its participants.

            Nutting says they also test subject’s physiological responses to mediated messages. He says when it comes to physiological response the body cannot lie which helps in getting hard exact answers for research. The team looks at facials and heart rates which are involuntary responses. These responses cannot be changed no matter how hard a person tries. This is beneficial in finding answers Nutting says.

            The subjects that are used are recruited through the SONA system. Most subjects are undergraduates of the university except for the ones who are used in the cancer trials. Those subjects range throughout the state.

            Nutting says expenses are not high for the laboratory since they already have the equipment. However, he hopes to see functional magnetic resonance imaging used in the lab which is similar to an MRI, but it’s for the brain. Eye tracking is expected to be used by the laboratory team in the near future. Nutting says the program is expanding which would allow for an undergraduate and graduate program, but he doesn’t expect a doctoral program at the university.