Hilary Stebbins
Associate Professor University of Mary Washington
- Fredericksburg VA
Dr. Stebbins researches college student sleep patterns and circadian rhythms.
University of Mary Washington
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Biography
Dr. Stebbins is a member of several professional organizations, including the Association for Psychological Science, the Society for Neuroscience, and the Cognitive Neuroscience Society. Furthermore, she is an active member of the UMW chapter of Phi Beta Kappa and served as President of the Kappa of Virginia Chapter in 2016.
In addition to her work with independent research students, Dr. Stebbins typically teaches classes related to biological psychology including Psychopharmacology, Cognitive Neuroscience, and Biological Psychology. She also teaches research and process classes such as Research Methods in Psychology, Research Seminar in Biological Psychology, and a Freshman Seminar on the Science of Sleep.
Areas of Expertise
Education
Brown University
Ph.D.
Experimental Psychology (Cognitive Neuroscience)
2007
Mary Washington College
B.S.
Psychology
2001
Affiliations
- Association for Psychological Science
- Society for Neuroscience
- Cognitive Neuroscience Society
- Phi Beta Kappa
Media Appearances
UMW Psychology Students Claim Top State Awards
EagleEye online
2019-05-30
According to Associate Professor Hilary Stebbins who supervised the research, Jacobs’ findings suggest that the performance of evening types was impaired in the morning, which might be related to higher morning cortisol levels. “These findings have implications when we consider what we expect from our students, who are heavily skewed towards being evening types, in the morning,” said Stebbins.
UMW Psychology Students Claim Top State Award
UMW Voice online
2018-04-27
The winning UMW team, under the tutelage of Associate Psychology Professor Hilary Stebbins, spent a year studying the relationship between sleep deprivation and impulsive actions.
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“Usually when we think about sleep deprivation, we think about people pulling ’all-nighters,’” said Stebbins, who notes that type of sleep deprivation is rare.
The Sound of Success
University of Mary Washington News online
2017-11-07
As she conducted her own study, examining the perceptions of people with both cochlear implants and hearing aids, she referred to the notes she’d hauled across the country. Thick with information about data collection, ethics, presentation and more, the lessons she’d learned in UMW Associate Professor of Psychology Hilary Stebbins’ research methods class “came up over and over again.”
“She’s an extraordinarily driven student,” Stebbins said of Funkhouser. “She doesn’t just take every opportunity, she goes out and finds opportunities to do really impressive things.”
Event Appearances
“I’m Tired, but Ambitious”: How Lower Reported Sleep Duration Affects Perception of Task-Oriented and Interpersonal Traits in College Students
30th APS Annual Convention San Francisco, CA
2018-05-23
Growth Mindset and Positive Expectations about the Future: The Relationships Among Mindset, Self-Efficacy, Self-Compassion, and Optimism
29th APS Annual Convention Boston, MA
2017-05-24
Social Anxiety but Not Rejection Sensitivity Affects Emotional Expression Identification
29th APS Annual Convention Boston, MA
2017-05-24
Articles
Spontaneous eye blink rate mediates the relationship between sleepiness and impulsivity to negative stimuli
Biological Psychology2021
Previous studies have demonstrated that sleep deprivation results in a negativity bias, especially in the context of impaired response inhibition. In the present study we investigated spontaneous eye blink rate (EBR), a correlate of dopamine function, as a mediator of the relationship between subjective sleepiness and impulsivity toward negative stimuli on a Go/NoGo task. Participants rated their sleepiness on a number of measures including the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), the Karolinska Sleepiness Scale (KSS) and subscales of the Chronic Sleep Reduction Questionnaire (CSRQ). The findings revealed that EBR mediated the relationship between sleepiness as measured by the Karolinska Sleepiness Scale (KSS) and commission errors on negatively valanced stimuli. These findings suggest that reduced inhibition in responding to negative stimuli can be found as a function of subjective sleepiness and that changes in dopamine function may be one contributing factor explaining this relationship.
The influence of stimulus sex and emotional expression on the attentional blink
Emotion2015
Past studies have demonstrated that angry faces used as the first target (T1) in an attentional blink paradigm interfere with processing of a second, neutral target (T2). However, despite research that suggests that the sex and emotional expression of a face are confounded, no study has investigated whether the sex of a stimulus might interact with emotional expression to influence the attentional blink. In the current study, both the sex and emotional expression of a T1 stimulus were manipulated to assess participants' ability to report the presences of a subsequent neutral target. Although the findings revealed limited evidence to support an interaction between sex and emotion, both the sex and emotional expression of the T1 stimulus were found to independently affect reporting of T2. These findings suggest that both emotional expression and stimulus sex are important in the temporal allocation of attentional resources to faces.
