Growing Broccoli and Cauliflower in Minnesota

This archival publication may not reflect current scientific knowledge or recommendations. Current information available from the University of Minnesota Extension: https://www.extension.umn.edu

Native American Youth Perspectives on Resilience

Few existing studies examine resilience in youth by exploring the perspectives of the youth themselves. Research suggests that resilience is culturally contextual and that it is essential to include youth viewpoints when constructing an understanding of resilience. Native American youth are underrepresented in youth resilience studies. For this study, we use an arts informed method to explore resilience among Native American youth. An arts informed method provides for gathering of subjective, intuitive participant perceptions, which aligns with our phenomenological and Indigenous research cultures of inquiry. Participants took photos of that which they perceived to give them strength (“resilience” code-switched for youth) and included explanatory narratives of the photos. We thematically analyzed the photo and narrative data and found themes of family connectedness, cultural identity, self-expression through the arts, and intergenerational role modeling. Native American youth experience emotional support from family and strength in their Native American identity. Self-expression through art and music serves as both a process in which they find strength, as well as a means of expressing personal and cultural identity and connecting with nature. Intergenerational role modeling underscores the strength they feel not only in learning from their elders, but also in setting an example for younger family members. Based on our findings, health, community and educational settings could build Native American youth resilience capacity and opportunity by including family, Native American culture, the arts, and mentor/mentee relationships in their strategies, programming and delivery. Further research should seek to expand and deepen Native American youth perspectives on resilience as well as those of youth that identify with other cultures

Investigating the brain basis of facial expression perception unsing multi-voxel pattern analysis of FMRI data

Wegrzyn M, Riehle M, Labudda K, Woermann F, Kißler J. Investigating the brain basis of facial expression perception unsing multi-voxel pattern analysis of FMRI data. Psychophysiology. 2013;50(Special Issue S1):S83-S84

Growing broccoli and cauliflower in Minnesota -- a production guide

1 online resource (PDF, 8 pages)This archival publication may not reflect current scientific knowledge or recommendations. Current information available from the University of Minnesota Extension: https://www.extension.umn.edu

Investigating the brain basis of facial expression perception using multi-voxel pattern analysis

Wegrzyn M, Riehle M, Labudda K, et al. Investigating the brain basis of facial expression perception using multi-voxel pattern analysis. Cortex. 2015;69:131-140.Humans can readily decode emotion expressions from faces and perceive them in a categorical manner. The model by Haxby and colleagues proposes a number of different brain regions with each taking over specific roles in face processing. One key question is how these regions directly compare to one another in successfully discriminating between various emotional facial expressions. To address this issue, we compared the predictive accuracy of all key regions from the Haxby model using multi-voxel pattern analysis (MVPA) of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data. Regions of interest were extracted using independent meta-analytical data. Participants viewed four classes of facial expressions (happy, angry, fearful and neutral) in an event-related fMRI design, while performing an orthogonal gender recognition task. Activity in all regions allowed for robust above-chance predictions. When directly comparing the regions to one another, fusiform gyms and superior temporal sulcus (STS) showed highest accuracies. These results underscore the role of the fusiform gyrus as a key region in perception of facial expressions, alongside STS. The study suggests the need for further specification of the relative role of the various brain areas involved in the perception of facial expression. Face processing appears to rely on more interactive and functionally overlapping neural mechanisms than previously conceptualised. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved