Lizzie Wilson, a graduating senior in Psychology and Neuroscience, is the recipient of the 2020 Dashiell-Thurstone Prize.
The Dashiell-Thurstone Prize is awarded each year for the best senior honors thesis, as judged by a faculty committee. This award is named in memory of two significant figures in the life of the Department of Psychology: John Dashiell, who founded the Department in 1920, and Leon Thurstone, who founded the Psychometric Research Laboratory in 1953, which later became a significant component of the Department.
Lizzie, working with her mentor Dr. Eric Youngstrom, won for her outstanding senior honors thesis, titled “The Effect of Blue-Light-Blocking Amber Glasses on Sleep & Affect.” Using a randomized crossover design with a wide variety of objective and self-report measures, her honors thesis examined the effect of blue-blocking amber glasses on sleep quality, latency, efficiency, and duration, as well as positive and negative affect in 15 participants over a 14-day period. Though there was no observed effect of amber glasses on the sleep outcomes, Lizzie’s results provided strong preliminary evidence that amber glasses enhance positive mood at night. Congratulations, Lizzie!