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Faculty Mentors for the 2008 Summer Program
Anne Cleary studies human recognition memory, or how it is that
people recognize that they have experienced something before. Her
particular interest is in when people recognize something based on a
feeling of familiarity, such as when you recognize a person’s face
as familiar, but cannot recall anything specific about the person. She is
also interested in relating feelings of familiarity to such common
experiences as the tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon (when you know that a
word is in your memory, about to be recalled, but you momentarily cannot
access it), and déjà vu experiences (the feeling of having been someplace
or seen something before).
Ben Clegg investigates the general topic of skill acquisition.
A core component of this research has been studies of implicit
learning--knowledge that can be acquired without any direct intention to
learn it, and with limited subsequent awareness of the information that
has been learned. These are the type of situations in which you may know
how to do something, but cannot necessarily describe it to someone else.
His research explores the nature of the representation of knowledge used
to guide performance. The central issues revolve around how you learn
things, and what you then know. This work has included the use of a
number of basic research paradigms, such as sequence learning in the
serial reaction time task, and the Hebb Digits
task. Work also includes attempts to apply cognitive psychology to
complex real-world tasks like driving, human supervisory control of
automated systems, and research within the new field of augmented
cognition.
Deana Davalos investigates
cognitive processes in clinical populations, time processing, infant neurophysiology,
and aspects of cognitive aging. One line of research focuses on
understanding the development of time processing abilities from birth to
late adulthood. In particular, is there a relationship between one's
ability to process time accurately and higher order cognitive skills such
as planning, sequencing, and executive functioning? Her research involves
behavioral testing, event-related potentials, and neuropsychological
testing.
Ed DeLosh is interested in human learning and memory. Why is it
that the act of generating information or being tested on it produces
better memory on a later test than studying the information again? Why
are some study schedules (spaced or expanding schedules) better than
others (massed)? Why is it that rare or bizarre items may be better
remembered than common items? These are some of the key questions of both
theoretical and applied importance that are being addressed in Dr. DeLosh’s lab.
Dave McCabe maintains an active research laboratory investigating
human memory. He is particularly interested in episodic memory, which is
the memory system responsible for recall of specific life events. One
issue of interest is the accuracy of episodic memory. He is interested in
discovering the factors that lead to memory errors, and in discovering
ways to reduce these errors. In order to investigate these issues,
a variety of experimental and correlational
techniques are employed, including studies examining whether younger and
older adults differ in their memory abilities.
Patrick Monnier is
interested in how humans perceive the world, and in particular, how
colors are perceived. Using psychophysical procedures, Dr. Monnier investigates how the appearance of colors is
affected by the spatial layout in which colors are presented, a
phenomenon referred to as chromatic induction. Quantitative estimates of
color appearance are obtained using well-calibrated computer monitors and
by having observers make color-matching judgments. In a separate line of
research, he studies how color can be used to guide visual attention. For
this purpose, a visual search paradigm is used in which observers are
asked to determine the presence or absence of a target presented among a
set of distractors. The general aim of this
research program is to understand and describe the neural substrates that
govern the perception of colors. A practical application of this work is
the development of better interfaces where color may be used to code
information efficiently while minimizing errors.
Matthew Rhodes studies
human memory. One line of work examines the accuracy with which we
can predict our own or others’ memory performance, examining this
issue on both a basic and applied level. Other lines of work
investigate processes in recognition memory and predictors of individual
differences in memory accuracy.
Carol Seger studies
how people learn about patterns present in the world, including concepts,
categories, visual patterns, sequences, rules, and skills. She is
interested in how patterns are represented in the mind and brain, how
they affect our behavior, and how their representations are changed by
experience. Much of the current research in her lab examines how the
basal ganglia interact with cerebral cortex to subserve
learning. In addition to behavioral techniques, her lab utilizes
functional magnetic resonance imaging and electroencephalography.
Lucy Troup investigates how the brain processes visual
information. She is particularly interested in how low level perceptual
representation is linked to high level conscious perception. Recent work
includes using "Event Related Potentials" to investigate the
nature of face perception and expertise in the brain. Other research
includes using EEG to investigate how information about the visual image
is bound together to form a complete perception. For example, how color
and form information is bound together. In collaboration with colleagues
in the Department of Computer Science, Dr Troup is also involved in
research evaluating face recognition algorithms, as well as how
understanding human vision can help create artificial computer vision
systems.
Vicki Volbrecht studies
how the visual system enables us to perceive color, particularly how
color vision changes across the retina. The center part of vision
only has cones mediating perception, but outside this area there are both
rods and cones in the retina. Traditionally, it was assumed that
rods did not provide any color information. Recent studies
demonstrate that this is not the case; rods can alter color
perception. It is the influence of rods on color perception that Dr.
Volbrecht studies using a Maxwellian-view
optical system.
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