From the College of Psychology…
October 2025 Research Highlights reported by the College of Psychology.
From left to right: Dr. Boucher and Dr. Collins.
Leanne Boucher, PhD and Matt Collins, PhD
The study we published examined how a short session of exercise on a treadmill impacted learning rate and long-term memory of a list of words. Participants exercised on a treadmill and then learned a list of words. Two days later they returned, and we measured their memory for the word list. We found that heart rate was predictive of long-term memory – the higher the heart rate during exercise on the treadmill, the more words participants were likely to remember two days later.
https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2026-01516-001
Paula Brochu, PhD, and her research team recently published a study in Frontiers in Psychiatry examining the associations between weight stigma and mental well-being among people in romantic relationships. Using the actor-partner interdependence model, results showed that participants’ internalized, anticipated, and experienced weight stigma were negatively associated with their own mental well-being. Notably, significant negative associations were also observed between participants’ internalized and anticipated weight stigma and the mental well-being of their partners. This research was supported by a President’s Faculty Research and Development Grant.
https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychiatry/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1576406/full
Arie T. Greenleaf, PhD
Dr. Greenleaf, professor in the College of Psychology, recently published an article in Psychology of Consciousness: Theory, Research, and Practice introducing a new counseling framework called Deconstructive Inquiry. This approach challenges the assumption of a divided self that underlies much of Western psychotherapy. Instead, it shows how feelings of inner fragmentation emerge from thought’s own dividing activity. The framework offers a clinical method for directly observing and dissolving these divisions in real time, giving counselors a practical tool for reducing suffering. Drawing from phenomenology, cognitive science, and contemplative traditions, Deconstructive Inquiry provides a transformative way to understand and work with the nature of consciousness in clinical practice.