Faculty Profile
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Andrew J. Niemiec, Ph.D
Associate Professor of Psychology and
Director of the Neuroscience Program
Samuel Mather Hall 322
(740) 427-5378
niemieca@kenyon.edu
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- Ph.D. (Experimental Psychology) Loyola University Chicago,
1991
- M.A. (Sensory Physiology and Perception) Loyola University
Chicago, 1989
- B.S. (Psychology) Loyola University Chicago,
1984
1994
- 2000-Present Associate Professor of Psychology,
Department of Psychology, Kenyon College, Gambier, OH
- 1994-2000 Assistant
Professor of Psychology, Department of Psychology, Kenyon College, Gambier,
OH
- 1991-1994 NIH Postdoctoral
Research Fellow, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, Michigan
- 1989-1991 Lecturer,
Department of Psychology, Loyola University Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
I serve as an ad hoc reviewer for the Journal of the Acoustical Society
of America, the Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology,
and the Psychological Record. I also serve as a grant reviewer for
the National Science Foundation and the Tinnitus Research Consortium.
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At Kenyon, Psychology is rightly classified as one of the Natural Sciences.
I try to get my students to adopt the behavior and attitudes of a natural
scientist. Generally, this means being curious, being intent on
making precise measurements, and trying to figure out how things work.
Because the development of these behaviors and attitudes is contingent
upon learning how to ask and answer scientific questions, I tend to emphasize
the importance of the scientific method and its role in the collection,
analysis, and interpretation of data. Basically, I believe that once
a student experiences the joys, frustrations, and challenges of doing scientific
research, (s)he will find the intellectual rewards well worth the investment
of time and energy.
Psychology is the study of behavior and mental processes.
Biology is the study of living things. Since only living things
can behave and have mental processes, it follows that psychology must be
a subdiscipline of biology. As you can probably tell from my little
syllogism, I teach courses in biological psychology and neuroscience. In
the Psychology Department these courses include Sensation & Perception,
Research Methods in Sensation & Perception, Comparative Psychology,
Introduction to Psychology as a Biological Science, Research Methods in Biopsychology,
Seminar in Animal Behavior, and Individual Study in Psychology. I
am also currently the Chair of Kenyon's Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience
where I teach courses such as Introduction to Neuroscience, Current Research
Topics in Neuroscience, and Individual Study in Neuroscience. I am
also a member of Kenyon's Interdisciplinary Program in Scientific Computing.
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My research interests fall into the general areas of animal behavior,
animal cognition, and sensory/perceptual processes. My training is
in the area of comparative psychoacoustics, which involves investigating
complex sound processing and communication in humans and animals.
The ultimate goal of this type of research is to understand
how the brain makes sense of the stimulation an organism receives from its
environment. As a comparative sensory psychologist, I attempt to
answer questions such as: How do humans and animals perceive their world?
What are the similarities and differences between humans' and other animals'
perceptions? What are the effects of various sensory specializations
on an organism's perception of its world? How does an organism's perception
of its world affect its behavior?
Since returning from my sabbatical, I have been branching out
into other areas of animal behavior research including the study of animal
communication systems and emotion. In this type of research, I try to determine
what sorts of information animals share, the advantages and disadvantages
of sharing information, as well as whether the types of emotions animals
display parallel human emotions. For example: What does play behavior
in dogs tell us about its function in human adults and children? Are there
better ways of measuring anxiety in animals so that we can develop better
anti-anxiety drugs for humans?
These types of studies are important because they provide information
about the similarities and differences with which various species (including
our own) experience the world. This allows us to examine human behavior
in a larger, more biological and evolutionary context.
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| Recent Publications (students shown
in bold) |
LePrell, C.G., Niemiec, A.J., and Moody, D.B. (2001) Macaque thresholds
for detecting increases in intensity: Effects of formant structure.
Hearing Research, 162: 29-42.
Niemiec, A.J. (2001) The effects of increasing masker temporal regularity
on co-modulation masking thresholds in chinchillas. Association
for Research in Otolaryngology Abstracts,24: 85.
Niemiec, A.J., Florin, Z.P., and Winter, A.Q.
(2000) The use of spectral and temporal cues by chinchillas in co-modulation
masking experiments. Association for Research in Otolaryngology
Abstracts,23: 27.
Niemiec, A.J., Winter, A.Q., and Florin, Z.P.
(1999) Chinchillas do not show masking release in co-modulated noise. Association
for Research in Otolaryngology Abstracts,22: 22.
Moody, D.B., LePrell, C.G., and Niemiec, A.J. (1998) Monaural
phase discrimination by macaque monkeys: Use of multiple cues. Journal
of the Acoustical Society of America,103(5): 2618-2623.
Raphael, Y., Adler, H.J., Niemiec, A.J., and Altschuler, R.A.
(1996) Trauma, repair and regeneration: The role of supporting cells.
In R.J. Salvi, D. Henderson, V. Colletti, and F. Fiorino (eds) Auditory
System Plasticity and Regeneration.Thieme Medical Publishers, Inc.,
New York.
Niemiec, A.J. and Moody, D.B. (1995) Constant stimulus and
tracking procedures for measuring sensitivity. In R.J. Dooling, R.R.
Fay, G. Klump, and W.C. Stebbins (eds) Methods in Comparative Psychoacoustics.Birkhäuser-Verlag
Publishing, Basel, Switzerland.
Adler, H.J., Niemiec, A.J., Moody, D.B., and Raphael, Y. (1995)
Tectorial membrane regeneration in acoustically damaged birds: An
immunocytochemical technique. Hearing Research, 86: 43-46.
Moody, D.B., Garbe, C.M., and Niemiec, A.J. (1995) Auditory
communication in Japanese macaques: Salience of acoustic stimulus features.
In G.A. Manley, G.M. Klump, C. Koppl, H. Fastl, and H. Oeckinghaus
(eds) Advances in Hearing Research: Proceedings of the 10th
International Symposium on Hearing.World Scientific Publishing Co.,
London.
Niemiec, A.J., Raphael, Y., and Moody, D.B. (1994) Return of
auditory function following structural regeneration after acoustic trauma:
Behavioral measures from quail. Hearing Research, 79:
1-16.
Dye, R.H., Niemiec, A.J., and Stellmack, M.A. (1994) Discrimination
of interaural envelope delays: The effect of randomizing component starting
phase. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 95(1):
463-467.
Niemiec, A.J., Yost, W.A., and Shofner, W.P. (1992) Behavioral
measures of frequency selectivity in the chinchilla. Journal of the
Acoustical Society of America, 92(5): 2636-2649.
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| Committees, Organizations, and Groups |
- Acoustical Society of America
- American Psychological Society
- Animal Behavior Society
- Association for Research in Otolaryngology
- Midwestern Psychological Association
- Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Society
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I am currently investigating a perceptual mechanism called co-modulation
masking release (CMR). CMR is one possible mechanism by which the
brain can separate a particular sound from competing sounds that occur at
the same time. It is an auditory analog of the phenomenon Gestalt psychologists
referred to as "common fate." I am examining the extent to which
chinchillas, a common physiological model of the human auditory system,
show CMR. If, like humans, chinchillas show CMR then we can use them to study
the neurophysiology underlying CMR.
I am also investigating ultrasonic vocalizations in rats and
other rodents. Rats emit at least two types of ultrasonic vocalization.
The 50 kHz vocalizations occur when the rats experience positive
emotional states such as when they are receiving rewarding drugs or when
they are playing. 22 kHz vocalizations occur when the rats experience
negative emotional states such as a mild electrical shock or when the rat
is in an open, unprotected area where it is subject to predation. My
students and I have been investigating how well these vocalizations serve
as inidices of the animals' emotional state.
Another ongoing project involves studying the vocalizations
dogs make when they are playing. We are attempting to further investigate
a recent report that dogs make a specific type of vocalization that may correspond
to laughter. Such vocalizations have been found in other species,
for example, in chimps (the breathy pants that often accompany their "play
face" expression) and rats (50 kHz ultrasonic vocalizations).
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| The best thing about being at Kenyon is |
There are lots of friendly, interesting people.
| Hobbies and favorite things |
-Spending time with my wife Lynne and our various
dogs (west highland white terriers, a golden retriever, and some mixed
breeds) |
| -Playing guitar with friends & students
(including Kenyon's renowned Natural Science Guitar Group) |
| -Exploring songwriting as well as new styles of music (I'm primarily
a rock and acoustic blues sort of guy but I have been known to dabble in folk,
bluegrass, and old-time music.) |
| -Dog obedience training (Want a real challenge? Try obedience training
a terrier!) |
| -Reading |
| -Bicycling |
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