Ohio State Marion alumna and Marysville Ohio native, Madeline Nicol and Associate Professor of Psychology, Dr. Nikole Patson, recently published research findings in The Journal of Cognitive Psychology titled, “The effect of gestures on the interpretation of plural references.” Their research could have positive implications for those suffering from a language disorder or aphasia in terms of helping them communicate more effectively.
"What we were interested in,” said Patson, “is how plurals are represented in people’s minds. When you are listening to me talk and you create a picture a picture in your head of the situation I'm describing.” For example, she shared, “if I say I am bringing some cookies for the party, the number of cookies is left unclear, and it might vary depending on how big the party is. We decided to test whether people could use gestures to determine how many cookies the speaker was talking about. No one had looked at this before.”
Research findings from this study could be helpful or of interest to home signers, people who are deaf and have developed a gestural communication system, or for research into helping people with language impairments recover their language skills, Patson said.
“If someone is suffering from a language disorder or aphasia,” Patson explained, “it can be difficult to treat and get lost language skills back. There have been interventions of how they introduced gestures into language. That would be a potential application of this work,” she said.
This research project was work Nicol began as a junior at Ohio State Marion, which became part of her senior thesis working with Faculty Research Mentor and co-author, Dr. Patson.
Patson, who has been studying the psychology of language for years, explained that this is the first time she has been able to publish alongside a student and more specifically a former student.
“This is the first one that has crossed the finish line, so I am excited,” said Patson of psychology alumna Madeline Nicol completing the entire research study with her.
According to Patson, Nicol stuck around after graduation and collected this data at the Center of Science and Industry, (COSI) in Columbus, with a sample size of around 60 participants.
“She has really stuck with this project in an impressive way. I was really excited about her enthusiasm and dedication toward it,” she said.
Dr. Patson was really encouraged by the results we got, said Nicol, so she was welcoming in working with me to continue the research in an unofficial post grad capacity, she added.
While Nicol explained, there were interns they worked with to complete the research, she was paid for her time, but ultimately continuing with the project after graduation was more of an experience thing.
After completing the research assignment, she began to follow another dream, living on the road in a restored travel trailer, but she believes a graduate school will be on her radar at some point.
“I was at my first stop in Burlington, VT when I got the news we were published. I was excited about the idea of having research published before going on to graduate school,” Nicol said.
Specifically, Nicol envisions the next steps in her career involve continuing her education in the direction of making positive enhancements in the lives of others through psychology.
“I would definitely go into a social psychology program,” Nicol said. “I am really interested in positive psychology. Looking at how we can enhance our life satisfaction and personal well-being, and curate positive emotions.”
Having her name on a published article has given Nicol a great deal of confidence to tackle that next phase of her life and she believes a great deal of that is the guidance and encouragement she received from Dr. Patson both during her undergraduate degree program and post-graduation.
“For me personally, it was huge to recognize I was capable of accomplishing such things. This was not the path I thought I would end up on,” she said. “Meeting Dr. Patson changed my whole direction. She took me under her wing and showed me I am more capable than I thought I was. She helped me discover what I am capable of and how proud I am to have this under belt,” said Nicol.
Now she feels she is ready to tackle graduate school and the next phase of her educational and career journey with the accolade of being a published scholar.