Myrick among IU faculty presenters at AAAS
Assistant professor Jessica Gall Myrick was one of three IU faculty members who presented at the 2016 annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science Feb. 11-15 in Washington, D.C.
The yearly gathering is an opportunity for scientists in various fields, including informatics, chemistry, biology and the philosophy of science, to talk about and present their research. Some receive awards for contributions to their area of expertise.
Myrick presented Feb. 13 on the Internet phenomenon of watching cat videos as a way to boost your energy and positive emotions and decrease negative feelings.
For her study, “Emotion Regulation, Procrastination and Watching Cat Videos Online: Who Watches Internet Cats, Why and to What Effect?” Myrick conducted a survey of about 7,000 people asking if they watch cat videos and, if so, how they affect their moods. The paper was published in the journal Computers in Human Behavior.
Myrick’s research sparked numerous interviews and lots of social media attention, including interviews with NPR, Los Angeles radio station KABC-AM, Canadian Broadcasting Corp. radio, RTE Radio in Ireland, various stations in Australia, The New York Times, HuffPost Live and Germany’s Spiegel TV.
Also, TheConversation.com asked her to write an article explaining the value of her research. She wrote “Study Shows the Paw-sitive Effects of Watching Cat Videos,” which was then picked up by Slate, Mashable, Digg, Quartz and Fortune Magazine.
The conference presentation was part of the “Annals of Improbable Research” portion of the meeting.
School of Informatics and Computing professor Katy Börner and College of Arts and Sciences Professor Emeritus Noretta Koertge joined Myrick in delivering presentations.
More:
- Learn more about Myrick’s research on cat videos.
- Look at the abstract for Myrick’s study, “Emotion Regulation, Procrastination and Watching Cat Videos Online: Who Watches Internet Cats, Why and to What Effect?”
- Learn more about the publication of Myrick’s paper in the journal Computers in Human Behavior.