·Ph.D.  Georgia Institute of Technology, 2002
 ·M.S.   University of Tennessee, 1998
 ·B.A.    Ohio State University, 1995
 

Came to Kenyon in:

 2002
 
 

Professional History

I began my career in psychology working for a human factors/engineering company doing research on eye movements of drivers.  Information about where a driver is looking was important in the design of vehicles.  At the University of Tennessee I worked in the Wheeler Center for Odor Research, studying odor sensitivity and memory.  While a graduate student at Georgia Tech, I focused my research on individual differences in the ability to control attention.

 

Teaching Interests

I am excited to be teaching introductory psychology, along with cognitive psychology, which is my area of interest.  I also look forward to teaching research methods in cognitive psychology.

 

Research Interests

My current research goal is to better understand individual differences in controlled attention.  This research is funded by a grant from the United States Air Force, and serves the purpose of helping to select individuals for pilot training.  Tasks that require controlled attention include higher order tasks, such as learning a programming language or comprehending difficult text, as well as more molecular tasks, such as pitch discrimination (when a delay is used) and the flexible allocation attention to specific regions of space.

 

Recent Publications

·Payne, T.W., & Metzger, R.  (1998).  Can you imagine a smell?   Journal  of Consciousness Studies.

 

Committees, Organizations, and Groups

·Midwestern Psychological Association  ·Attention & Working Memory Lab at Georgia Tech

 

Current Projects

I have become interested in the relationship between attention and intelligence, particularly fluid intelligence.  My most current research is aimed at understanding why low-level attention tasks, such as pitch discrimination tasks and auditory inspection time tasks consistently correlate with fluid intelligence tasks.  Results of my research suggest that this is likely due to attentional processes, as opposed to sensory processing.

 

The best thing about being at Kenyon is

So far I am swept away by the beauty of the campus, it’s reputation, and the incredibly nice people.
 

Hobbies and favorite things

I love art from around the globe, and I consider myself to be an amateur anthropologist in that I love reading about 
ancient cultures and life ways. 
 

One thing to do or accomplish in life

 To leave my students enlightened about the human mind and behavior.
 
 

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