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This version of NSU News has been archived as of February 28, 2019. To search through archived articles, visit nova.edu/search. To access the new version of NSU News, visit news.nova.edu.
This version of SharkBytes has been archived as of February 28, 2019. To search through archived articles, visit nova.edu/search. To access the new version of SharkBytes, visit sharkbytes.nova.edu.
NSU Research Spotlight: Psychology Research
Jaime Tartar, Ph.D.
Jaime Tartar, Ph.D., is passionate about what she does—studying how sleep impacts daytime emotions toward the goal of improving emotional health.
Because studies indicate that most Americans are chronically sleep deprived and that some function poorly with even as much as seven hours of sleep a night, Tartar considers sleep loss a pervasive, but largely unrecognized, health concern.
“The topics of sleep and stress are interesting to everyone. I can discuss my research with a stranger on an elevator ride for two minutes or with a colleague at a conference for two hours. I always get great questions about sleep that start with ‘is it true that…,’” she says.
Tartar has yet to experience a big “eureka moment,” though she admits to a combination of excitement, nervousness, and worry during an experiment when she looks at a new data set. “My heart speeds up, and I am ridiculously tense as I scan the data set,” she says.
Since virtually no studies exist to show how sleep loss affects both emotional processing and psychological markers of emotional health, Tartar sees a field of study with limitless potential, and one with a potentially large economic and public health impact.
Tartar gets lots of satisfaction with “pretty much everything” she does at NSU. “I love that so many people are interested, and it feels great to shed light on some of the mysteries of human behavior,” she says.
“I also love working with student research assistants and watching them develop as scientists.”