| Biography |
|---|
| I am a grade 12 student at A.B. Lucas Secondary School; I am heavily involved in volunteer work, research and competitions. I have been doing research as a volunteer at the Brain and Mind Institute at Western University for 4 years. I've always been interested in cognitive psychology and the opportunity to do high level research so early in my high school career has been amazing! This year my project was inspired by the anxiety and minor depression faced by my peers in a challenging final year. Doing research on the diagnosis of mental illness opened my eyes to the challenges faced by clinicians. As a result, I was inspired to use my knowledge of visual perception to try to create a supplementary test which could help to confirm a diagnosis. In the future, I would like to continue testing patients with a variety of mood disorders, in an attempt to investigate disorder specific results. My advice to anyone pursuing science fair would be to follow your passion. To me science fair is much more than a competition it represents my curiosity, fuels my passion and sustains my drive. |
| Dan Alferov
Using the Perception of Facial Emotions to Aid in Diagnosis of Mood Disorders
| Challenge: | Discovery | | Category: | Senior | | Region: | Thames Valley | | City: | London, ON | | School: | A.B. Lucas S.S. | | Abstract: | Mental illness affects 1.8 billion people globally (WHO, 2013). Yet, 30% of patients are misdiagnosed or underdiagnosed. The goal of this project was to create a novel, objective and efficient diagnostic method for mood disorders, based around disorder-specific facial emotion perception deficits. A universal trend in the perception of facial emotions within binocular rivalry for healthy participants was discovered which can aid in differential diagnosis. |
| Awards | Value | The Manning Innovation Achievement Award
Senior
Sponsor: Ernest C. Manning Awards Foundation | $500.00 | The Manning Innovation Achievement Award
and $4000 Manning Young Canadian Innovation Award and also receive an additional $3000 towards their post-secondary education.
Sponsor: Ernest C. Manning Awards Foundation | $4 000.00 | Challenge Award - Discovery
Senior
Sponsor: Youth Science Canada | | Excellence Award - Senior
Gold Medal
Sponsor: Youth Science Canada | $250.00 | Dalhousie University Faculty of Science Entrance Scholarship
Senior Gold Medallist - $5000 Entrance Scholarship
Sponsor: Dalhousie University, Faculty of Science | $5 000.00 | UBC Science (Vancouver) Entrance Award
Senior Gold Medallist - $4000 Entrance Scholarship
Sponsor: The University of British Columbia (Vancouver) | $4 000.00 | University of Manitoba Entrance Scholarship
Senior Gold Medallist - $5000 Entrance Scholarship
Sponsor: University of Manitoba | $5 000.00 | University of New Brunswick Canada-Wide Science Fair Scholarship
Gold Medallist - $5000 Entrance Scholarship
Sponsor: University of New Brunswick | $5 000.00 | University of Ottawa Entrance Scholarship
Senior Gold Medallist - $4,000 Entrance Scholarship
Sponsor: University of Ottawa | $4 000.00 | Western University Scholarship
Gold Medallist - $4000 Entrance Scholarship
Sponsor: Western University | $4 000.00 | | Total | $31 750.00 | |
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