Welcome to the UTEP HAPPY JDM Lab Homepage
Research at Health, Applied Psychometrics and Judgment/Decision Making Laboratory is conducted by Dr. Osvaldo F. Morera at the University of Texas at El Paso. By training, Dr. Morera is a quantitative psychologist and his research covers three general areas;
1.Judgement and Decision Making
2.Health Psychology
3.Applied Psychometrics
Some of the current research being conducted in the lab includes:
Mosi Dane'el: I examine nutrition labeling, healthy food choice, and health disparities. My thesis focused on the impact of different nutrition labeling formats. Specifically, if colored labels lead to an increased understanding compared to standard nutrition labeling. My publications have focused on health disparities, specifically the distance of a metal company on cancer rates and mental wellness.
Allyson Hughes: My project focuses on understanding the factors that would compose a scale about motivations for seeking health information online. This study was a mixed methods design and involved multiple surveys and qualitative writing prompts. The writing prompts focused on gaining information about how the participant seeks health information, and specifically, if they seek it online, how they make judgments about the information they find.
John Capps: I am currently preparing an project to investigate the level of oxygenated Hemoglobin in the frontal lobe during exercise and how it relates to health status and cognitive functioning. We are using Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), cognitive tasks aimed at executive function in the frontal lobe, and health status (BMI, dietary behaviors) to investigate how exercise benefits cognitive functioning.