Between conducting comprehensive survey research and working with children to understand their perceptions of emotion, sophomore Christine Idowu (x’27) did not experience a typical Madison summer. While she found time to enjoy evenings at the Memorial Union’s Terrace, Idowu’s priority was her work in the Waisman Center’s Child Emotion Lab for the Letters & Science Summer of Excellence in Research (LASER) program. Through her work, future educators, physicians and childcare workers will have a deeper understanding of the way children perceive and handle emotion.
“We’re hoping this study will provide parents and childcare workers with basic knowledge concerning how children’s emotional understanding works and how they can use different contextual cues to infer how someone’s feeling,” Idowu says.
The lab has sought to answer questions regarding children’s emotional development, such as how are emotions shaped by biology and experience? How can understanding children’s brain development inform policies and programs to support children’s health, welfare and education?
Idowu, an aspiring physician specializing in pediatrics or family medicine, says the research from this lab has provided her with important resources to set her up for a career working with children.
“I chose this research study, because I loved how it had a focus on children and how they think, and as a future physician who is interested in pediatrics, it’d be interesting to know how my patients think,” Idowu says.
Originally from Hoffman Estates, Illinois — a neighborhood near O’Hare Airport outside of Chicago — Idowu wants to use her position as a physician to give back to her community by expanding healthcare resources for underprivileged residents of the area.
Idowu credits the LASER program with preparing her for medical school and future research opportunities. Eventually, she hopes to give back and support programs like LASER at UW–Madison, so more students can have access to educational resources and opportunities.
“In STEM you hardly see minorities, let alone female minorities,” Idowu says. “As a Black African female, I want to invest in my community.”
Idowu and her research mentor, developmental psychologist Hannah Kramer, worked with a sample of adults this past summer.
Participants took surveys where they rank responses to feelings based on internal, external and social factors. For example, adults rank how they can best tell if someone is feeling happy or frustrated, whether that is through personality, physical or social cues.
So far, researchers have found that the respondents react to internal and external factors more than social factors, meaning they look for physical cues and changes in demeanor rather than someone’s background that may factor into emotional responses.
“Our adult sample will help us determine the developmental differences in children ages 4 to 9, because studies have shown how, as children age — especially around 8 to 9 — they tend to interpret things internally rather than relying on external factors,” Idowu says.
Once survey results are collected, the lab uses statistical tests, T-test and ANOVA test, to determine numerical differences between the three variables. Idowu learned to use ANOVA test to analyze the differences between the means of more than two groups, in addition to the T-test to examine differences between two groups.
The outcomes of this study will give parents and people working with children, including pediatricians and teachers, insights concerning how children perceive and understand emotion.
“I’m hoping to have a better understanding of children and how they think, how they form emotions and how they view the world around them,” Idowu says. “As a physician, it’s important not only to diagnose and treat your patients but also understand how they think, so you can take better care for them.”
Idowu’s passion for medicine stemmed from the humanity aspect of caring for patients and empathizing with them throughout their treatment. While Idowu does not plan to continue with this research during the school year, the Child Emotion Lab has encouraged her to continue with research in the future, as she progresses on her path to medical school.