Degree: Experimental Psychology, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee

Research Interests/Specialties: Memory; Cognition; Perception

Joined ISU: August, 2005

After receiving my Ph.D. in experimental psychology I accepted a post-doc research position in Perception research at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee exploring the abilities of the human ear in identifying and recognizing complex auditory patterns including speech and random patterns composed of noise. I became more interested in memory abilities while exploring the limits of pattern recognition as it became clear that only a small portion of the entire pattern was recognized for repetition detection.

I started teaching college courses (Introductory Psychology) while a graduate student and have taught a variety of classes (Intro, Perception, Motivation, Learning, Cognition, Research, and Sexuality) at several Universities in Wisconsin and Indiana. I enjoy teaching and learning about psychological topics and am constantly asking questions about what we think we know and how we think we know it.

I currently have several lines of ongoing research including:

1. Exploring eye movement patterns in reading using an infared eye tracker,
2. Measuring individual differences in cognitive style using a battery of measures in hopes of identifying why some individuals allow themselves to make many errors while problem solving and others do not,
3. Examining physical evidence of cognitive errors by analyzing the number and types of items that get turned in to lost and founds in airports and other public spaces, and
4. Researching individual differences in the age and accuracy of early memories.

My loves of teaching and research in psychology have been joined by watching and interacting with my two children who are constantly reminding me of the power of the human processing mechanisms as they illustrate learning and cognitive processes.

The classes I teach at ISU involve a lecture portion where I attempt to stimulate understanding of the concepts presented in the text books. All my classes require students to read the text and then come to class prepared to ask and answer questions about the material. Through Blackboard, I provide some notes online as well as self-learning activities (multiple choice questions) and links to related websites for you to explore outside of class. We are constantly refining and expanding our knowledge on all areas in psychology so as well as presenting past research findings I attempt to keep current by encouraging students to bring to class articles from current newspapers and magazines that relate to the topic at hand. This way the class becomes a learning experience for all and hopefully a memorable and an enjoyable one, as well.