This summer, I had the opportunity to conduct research with Dr. Gunther in the psychology department. The goal of this internship was to gain hands-on experience with research methods, data collection, and the interpretation of results in psychological science. Much of our time was dedicated to developing my senior capstone project, which involved reading core literature, refining research questions, and identifying the most relevant sources to build a strong foundation for the study. Our primary focus was on crossmodal correspondences, specifically, understanding the conditions under which congruence effects emerge or disappear.
In addition to working on my own project, I was able to assist Dr. Gunther with her ongoing research in Hebbian conditioning and a crossmodal study involving pitch and color brightness. These experiences expanded my understanding of how sensory modalities interact and how to design experiments that examine those interactions. Dr. Gunther was an incredible mentor throughout, especially in teaching me how to use MATLAB, operate psychophysics research equipment, and troubleshoot technical challenges in the lab.
Outside the lab, she also guided me in interpreting primary literature more critically and introduced me to different statistical approaches used in psychological research. A major takeaway from this experience was learning how to prepare for graduate school, from identifying programs to understanding the expectations of a research-based academic path.
Most importantly, this internship helped me define my passion for neuroscience more clearly. I now have a better sense of which subfields excite me and where I might want to focus in the future. I’m incredibly grateful to Dr. Gunther for selecting me for this opportunity and for connecting me with people who will play a key role in my academic and professional development.
