A Westminster College psychology major will present her research about dissociation and sleep quality at the 2025 National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR) in Pittsburgh April 7-9.

Madison Daraklis, a senior psychology and mathematics double major from Glendora, N.J., will discuss “Mind the Gap: Exploring Proposed Mediating Factors Between Sleep Quality and Dissociation.”

Dissociation is a psychological state in which people feel disconnected from their body or the world around them, and Daraklis said her research—conducted with faculty mentor Dr. Jessica Rhodes, associate professor of psychology and chair of the psychology department at Westminster—points to poor sleep as being a major risk factor for dissociation in some individuals.

“Dissociation can range from pretty normal experiences, like reading a book for two hours when it maybe only ‘felt like’ 20 minutes, to more extreme experiences such as week-long blackouts” during which people experience complete loss of memory or awareness, said Daraklis.

“My study explored other psychological characteristics that might set these folks apart from others,” said Daraklis. “My main goal was to identify potential targets for treatment, as right now there is no treatment for dissociation.”

Daraklis said she and Rhodes concluded that though on average people experiencing poor sleep are more likely to experience dissociation, this relationship is carried by having worse executive functioning such as issues with memory and distraction and more symptoms of post-traumatic stress.

Daraklis used Prolific, a crowdsourcing platform, to conduct her study rather than conducting a traditional college-student sample.

“Using Prolific was super integral to our research because it helped us find people with a wider range of lived experiences,” said Daraklis, adding that she was able to pay participants with grant funding received from Westminster College’s Drinko Center for Undergraduate Research.

Daraklis said that she appreciates that Westminster gave her the opportunity to conduct her own research project start to finish, including grant writing, experimental design, Institutional Review Board proposal writing and data analysis.

“Madison chose an ambitious capstone topic and has worked hard to gain a clear understanding of the literature and to develop a comprehensive study. Her project is novel and creative, and I do not doubt that her work will make a valuable and significant contribution to the literature,” said Rhodes.

In addition to NCUR, Daraklis will present her research at two other upcoming academic conferences during the spring 2025 semester: the NWPA Humanities and Social Sciences Conference at Gannon University on Friday, March 28, and the Penn State Behrend-Sigma Xi Undergraduate Research and Creative Accomplishment Conference in Erie, Pa., on Saturday, April 26.

“These national and regional conferences are providing Madison with the opportunity to showcase and share her impressive work, as well as to develop and broaden her research-related experiences,” said Rhodes.

Westminster’s Drinko Center for Undergraduate Research financially supports undergraduate work through various grants for students participating in academic programs, conferences and creative projects at Westminster College. To learn more, please contact director Dr. Patrick Lackey at ugresearch@westminster.edu or visit www.westminster.edu/drinko.

For more information about Westminster College’s psychology major, please contact Rhodes at rhodesjd@westminster.edu or visit www.westminster.edu/psychology.

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