For my summer Undergraduate Research Experience Award Program (UREAP), my research was focused on studying the effects of cognitive load on the relationship between anxiety and cognitive function, particularly working memory. I focused on creating a literature review that allowed me to gain background knowledge on working memory, anxiety, and the deleterious effects on cognitive performance, specifically in older adults. With this literature review, I was able to investigate existing cognitive tasks and methods used by other researchers, which allowed me to better understand the most effective way to increase an individual’s cognitive load while at the same time measuring its effects on cognitive performance and relating these effects to high or low anxiety. The idea is that anxiety intervenes with cognitive performance of a task but only in tasks that are complex, that have increased cognitive load. Though the original research design entailed testing individuals in the lab, my supervisor and I adapted the experiment to a web-based platform to design the study. Thus, the early stages of research required exploring which online platform was best suited to create the experiment. Through exploration, the platform that was decided on was Gorilla, a simple, user-friendly experiment builder program that is widely used and focuses on providing instructional videos on designing questionnaires, spreadsheets, and tasks to undergraduate and graduate students for their research. After spending time learning how to use the Gorilla platform, I created multiple questionnaires measuring mood and anxiety as well as several cognitive tasks that measure working memory and in which cognitive load can be increased. The UREAP program allowed me to secure an honours position for the fall and winter in which I intend to collect data using these tasks and questionnaires.
