Department of Psychology

Cognitive Program Core Faculty

The Cognitive Psychology program at Penn State emphasizes research and theory in a variety of subareas of cognitive psychology and human performance. All cognitive students' programs emphasize basic theoretical issues and research methodologies in cognitive psychology, but individual programs vary widely depending upon the student's substantive interest. As in the other programs in the department, the student works with his or her faculty adviser to develop an individualized program of major and minor areas. Faculty and students in the cognitive area participate in a weekly "bag lunch" that provides opportunities to discuss ongoing research projects and issues. Graduates of the program are prepared to enter research and teaching positions in university or college settings, or to work in applied research organizations.

Core Faculty at the University Park Campus

Brown, Frederick M., Ph.D., 1971, University of Virginia
Frederick Brown investigates the rhythms of human behavior, including daily (circadian, sleep/wake), monthly (lunar phase, reproductive), and seasonal (SAD syndrome) cycles. His research includes identifying and measuring the rhythmic aspects of alertness, motivation, performance, and napping; morning versus evening activity preferences and creative personality factors; daily cycles of behavioral disorders; and sleep-disruption factors, including night- and shift-work effects. His applied emphasis is health psychology.

Carlson, Rich, Ph.D., 1984, University of Illinois
Richard Carlson is studying the thought processes involved in complex tasks such as symbolic and spatial problem solving and reasoning. His current research is concerned primarily with the acquisition of problem solving skills, skills for integrating component processes in complex mental routines, and the control of fluent mental activity. His major conceptual effort recently has involved developing a theory of consciousness and cognitive skill. This theory emphasizes the parallel structures of perceptual, symbolic, and emotional awareness and the role of performatory representation in mental processes.

Gilmore, Rick O., Ph.D., 1997, Carnegie Mellon University
Rick Gilmore's research asks three questions: What are the representations underlying spatial perception and action? How are these representations instantiated in the brain? How do they develop, and why? The developmental cognitive neuroscience approach he takes to these questions combines insights from behavioral studies, biological experiments, and computational models. The ultimate aim is a unified, biologically and computationally plausible, account of the development of spatial perception and action early in life.

Kroll, Judith, Ph.D., 1977, Brandeis University
Judith Kroll is studying the cognitive processes that accompany the development of proficiency in a second language. Her work is focused on topics such as how adults learning a second language become able to think abstractly in their second language, how the representation of the two languages by fluent bilinguals is influenced by their acquisition history, and how individual differences in language processing in the first language predict second-language performance. Her research group has ongoing collaborations with colleagues in The Netherlands in Amsterdam and Nijmegen.

Rosenbaum, David, Ph.D., 1977, Stanford University
David Rosenbaum is interested in the cognitive substrates of skilled performance, especially those underlying human motor control and perceptual-motor integration. He focuses on the planning and control of manual performance (mainly reaching and grasping objects), using computer modeling and recording of behavior. He also works on timing and rhythm, including issues related to rhythmic influences on basic cognitive processes.

Weiss, Daniel, Ph.D., 2000, Harvard University
Daniel Weiss is interested in the cognitive mechanisms underlying language acquisition. This work focuses on statistical learning mechanisms that have been implicated in the learning of phonetic categories, as well as word segmentation and rule-learning. He uses a comparative approach in order to determine whether these abilities are unique to humans. His research compares the abilities of infant and adult humans with the abilities of non-human primates. In addition, he is interested in animal communication, particularly vocal learning and recognition.

Wenger, Michael J., Ph.D., 1994, Binghamton University, State University of New York
Michael Wenger's research focuses on the dynamic interactions of perceptual and memory processes, facial perception and memory, perceptual and cognitive expertise, and latency-accuracy relations in perception and cognition. Central to each of these research endeavors is a commitment to developing and testing formal (mathematical and computational) models of the hypotheses and phenomena under consideration, with an increasing emphasis on the tools of computational neuroscience.