Wheaton News

Psi Chi Undergraduate Research Grant funds senior Katie Lanni’s work

Katie Lanni ’25 has received a Psi Chi Undergraduate Research Grant, which will help to fund a project looking into how music can affect us.

Partnering with Katherine Eskine, associate professor of psychology and chair of Wheaton’s Psychology and Neuroscience Department, Lanni is exploring the role that listening to music plays in an individual’s executive functioning. Individuals use executive function skills to make plans, solve problems and adapt to new situations.

For her project, Lanni is trying to replicate some of the established research while simultaneously exploring a new area. “We’re looking at the role of music in physiological responses using the galvanic skin response (GSR),” she said.

GSR measures electrical changes in the skin caused by sweat gland activity in the palms and fingers and can provide information about the body’s level of physiological arousal in response to stimuli.

“Participants are listening to two pieces of music, and one babble [a recording similar to muffled conversation] for a controlled condition, and their resting GSR is measured to see if there are any changes,” Lanni explained. “The new portion we’re observing is whether or not the physiological responses or the emotional arousal that are caused by listening to the music, plays a role in people’s executive functioning.”

Eskine, whose primary area of research is in the cognitive neuroscience of creativity, believes that the GSR information is particularly important. “[Based on the results] you could determine what parts of the music are having the most profound effect on arousal,” she said. “For people who have a larger effect, you would expect them to have larger increases in their performance on the executive function.”

A portion of Eskine’s research has established a connection between music and problem solving. Using EEG [electroencephalography] to understand what’s happening in the brain, Eskine said has found evidence that music listening has an effect on how individuals solve creative problems.

“I have also conducted research to determine if listening to music can change how you approach problems, and I’ve found that it does,” she said.

Both Lanni and Eskine were thrilled to learn about the research grant awarded to Lanni by Psi Chi, the International Honor Society in Psychology, to which Lanni was inducted as a new member last May.

“Receiving the grant was a huge moment of pride and gratitude for me in my Wheaton career,” said Lanni. “It’s a small way for me to repay Professor Eskine [who received a stipend as part of the award] and all the professors in the Psych Department for what they have done for me.

“The award is allowing us to purchase the materials we need to conduct the experiment, such as the GSR sensors and the scoring software for the executive function exams,” Lanni said.

Eskine shared, “We’re using methods and materials that scientists use, and ultimately, her paper could be published in a professional journal.” Lanni will defend her thesis at the end of the semester.

Growing up in Walpole, Mass., Lanni was impressed by the small class sizes and the tight-knit community she encountered during a visit to Wheaton, where her mother, Jenny, serves as an associate professor of biology.

Lanni has always loved music and played some piano and guitar, but she prefers to sing. Considering a career in music therapy when she arrived on campus, Lanni participated in an a cappella group and took some voice lessons at Wheaton. She enrolled in many psychology and music courses including “Perception” with Psychology Professor Rolf Nelson, where she became fascinated with the role of music and hearing in psychology.

To further explore her newfound area of interest, Lanni turned to Eskine, who has served as Lanni’s academic advisor since her first year. While speaking about her research idea for a senior thesis, Eskine agreed to serve as Lanni’s thesis advisor.

“Katie is incredibly organized,” Eskine shared. “She does things with the thoroughness of a natural born scientist. She has the depth of thought to connect ideas from multiple places and the detailed orientation to really support the scientific method.”

Another aspect of Lanni’s campus involvement strongly influenced her future plans. As a fellow of the Wheaton Interdisciplinary Institute for the Humanities, she participated in programming titled Whose Normal, which opened her eyes to the field of occupational therapy.

“The program taught me about the accessibility needs among students in the community and how some faculty design their syllabi to meet these needs,” Lanni said. “Designing public spaces has historically been done for individuals without disabilities. Learning about this helped me understand the need for compassion for people who may not have felt they belonged in the past because of their physical or emotional needs … It increased my desire to help people.”

After graduating, Lanni will start classes June 1 at Tufts University’s three-year doctoral program in occupational therapy.

“Katie is testing non-pharmaceutical, free ways of enhancing cognition, which will be applicable for her occupational therapy work later on,” said Eskine. “I don’t think Katie realizes how accomplished she is … but she will.”