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There are many researchers at Georgia State University engaged in research on topics relevant to cognitive psychology. These faculty members provide a resource network to students who are interested in learning more about attention, executive functioning, learning, memory, language, reading, decision making, or other aspects of cognition. Additionally, these researchers serve as a support community to other scientists interested in collaboration or consultation.

Anyone with interests in cognitive psychology, including its intersection with neuropsychology, development, individual differences, animal behavior, artificial intelligence and modeling, and social/emotional behavior can join the GSU Cognitive Research Group by contacting David Washburn (404-413-6203; 404-244-5825).

Michael J. Beran, Ph.D. – Dr. Beran is a Research Scientist at the Language Research Center. His research is focused on three areas of cognition in nonhuman primates. The first is numerical cognition with an emphasis on nonhuman primate counting and arithmetic skill. The second area is delay of gratification and self-control in nonhuman primates. The third is research investigating the long-term memory of chimpanzees for symbols used in inter-species and intra-species communication. Other interests include the effects of herbal supplements on nonhuman primate cognition and the role of language acquisition in other areas of cognitive performance by these animals. Dr. Beran also is an instructor in the Department of Psychology at Spelman College where he teaches courses in Learning and Cognitive Psychology.

Kim Darnell, Ph.D. – Dr. Darnell is a psycholinguist whose research includes studies of visual word recognition in non-alphabetic writing systems (e.g., Japanese), as well as brain response to syntactic and semantic anomalies during text processing. As a member of the university-wide advisory boards for the Center for Teaching and Learning and the Freshman Learning Community program, Dr. Darnell has also become involved with several studies concerning the scholarship of teaching and learning. Her most recent publication is "The Process of Psychological Research," a laboratory textbook for undergraduate students of psychological research methods. Dr. Darnell is also extensively involved in the training and supervision of graduate student instructors at the department and university levels.

Scott Decker, Ph.D. – Dr. Decker is a school psychologist in the Department of Counseling and Psychological Services, whose primary focus has been on the assessment of neuropsychological functions. He is interested in the development and interpretation of cognitive and social assessments based on a comparative and evolutionary perspective, especially as it applies to school based environments. He has worked as a neuropsychological test developer, and co-authored a test of visual-motor ability (Bender-Gestalt II) as well as helping to develop several other instruments (WJ-III Tests of Cognitive Abilities). He teaches a course in cognitive assessment.

Tricia Z. King, Ph.D.–Dr. King's research program examines cognitive and social-emotional abilities of individuals with acquired neurological conditions. She is interested in the neuroanatomical correlates associated with disruption in executive and memory functions. Dr. King teaches Introduction to Clinical Neuropsychology.

Heather Kleider, Ph.D. - Dr. Kleider’s research focuses on episodic memory, with an emphasis on face recognition and eyewitness accuracy. She is interested in the conditions and circumstances under which people make memory errors, with special interest in the heuristics and biases that people employ when recollection is difficult. Dr. Kleider teaches Introductory Psychology, both regular and honors sections, as well as cognition and memory courses at the upper division levels.

Charles R. Menzel, Ph.D. – Dr. Menzel is a Research Associate at the Language Research Center.  His research on spatial memory and spatial cognition includes studies of how language-trained chimpanzees remember and communicate the location of hidden items.  He also examines maze-solving and physical or simulated foraging by chimpanzees, monkeys and humans as other ways of studying the representation and use of spatial information.

Mary K. Morris, Ph.D.–Dr. Morris is a clinical neuropsychologist whose research investigates the cognitive and social-emotional characteristics of children, adolescents and adults with developmental disabilities, and with acquired medical and neurological disorders that interrupt normal development. She serves as the Director of the Regents Center for Learning Disorders at Georgia State University where ongoing studies investigate the cognitive profiles, psychosocial issues, and neurobiological correlates of developmental learning disorders in adults. Dr. Morris teaches several courses relevant to graduate training in cognitive psychology, including Introduction to Clinical Neuropsychology, Neuropsychological Assessment, Developmental Neuropsychology, and Efficacy of Neuropsychological Intervention.

Robin Morris, Ph.D. – Dr. Morris conducts cognitively oriented research on developmental and attention-related disabilities, acquired brain injury, reading and reading disabilities. Dr. Morris teaches Psychology and Neuropsychology of Reading and Reading Disabilities, a course for anyone who is interested in understanding the role of the brain in the development and dysfunction of the complex set of cognitive and linguistic skills called reading.

Michael Owren, Ph.D. -- Dr. Owren's research examines vocal communication in nonhuman primates, humans, and other mammals as an interaction of direct acoustic impact, affective learning in listeners, and referential communication. Nonlinguistic ("not language") signaling is of particular interest, including all primate calls, emotion-driven human sounds such as laughter, and acoustic cues to characteristics such as vocalizer gender, identity, and emotional state in both nonhuman primates and humans. The research approach is comparative in nature, typically contrasting acoustics, perception, and function in vocalizations produced by monkeys and humans in order to better understand the evolution of vocal behavior across the primate order. Dr. Owren teaches Natural Science Aspects of Psychology and a graduate seminar in animal behavior.

James L. Pate, Ph.D. – Dr. Pate conducts research on memory and decision-making in humans and on various cognitive functions of nonhuman primates. In memory studies, he investigates the factors that influence the von Restorff effect, an enhanced memory for items that are different from surrounding items. In decision-making research, he is interested particularly in the effects of subtle differences in descriptions of situations on the decisions that people make. He also investigates the long-term memory of chimpanzees for language-like symbols and planning behavior of chimpanzees. Finally, Dr. Pate does research on the history of the topics mentioned above.

Marise Parent, Ph.D.– Dr. Parent’s research program is aimed at understanding how emotions and neurotransmitters contribute to memory and memory dysfunction. Her main experimental subject is the laboratory rat, and for comparative purposes she also examine memory in humans.

Ann Pearman, Ph.D. - Dr. Pearman is a psychologist with a joint appointment in the Gerontology Institute and the Psychology Department.  Dr. Pearman's primary interests include the etiology and treatment of perceived and actual cognitive impairment in older adults.  Her most recent line of inquiry has been to explore these issues in terms of combined psychophysiological, self-report, and hormonal perspectives.   Other related interests include: metamemory, control beliefs, and memory screening.  Relevant coursework includes "Psychology of Aging" and "Memory and Aging".

Rose A. Sevcik, Ph.D. – Dr. Sevcik is a developmental psychologist whose research examines the process of symbol acquisition by children with developmental and reading disabilities. Dr. Sevcik teaches a range of courses with cognitive foci including Psychology of the Atypical Child, Developmental Psychology, and the Psychology of Animal Behavior.

David A. Washburn, Ph.D. – Dr. Washburn’s research is focused on Individual and species differences in attention and executive functioning. Human adults and children, and nonhuman primates including monkeys and chimpanzees (with and without language training) are tested on tasks designed to reflect concentration, searching, vigilance, planning, uncertainty monitoring, and behavioral regulation. Other cognitive interests include studies of relational and associative learning, research on visuospatial working memory, studies on numerical cognition, and examination of the role of language in cognition. This research is conducted on campus, in area schools, and at the Language Research Center. Dr. Washburn regularly teach undergraduate and graduate courses in Cognitive Psychology, and works individually with students on readings, research, and practicum opportunities relevant to cognitive science, human factors, and comparative cognition.

Rihana Williams Smith, Ph.D. - Dr. Williams Smith’s research is focused on vocabulary development and reading comprehension.  The four central areas of her research are: (1) the processes that occur during the incidental acquisition of new word meaning from written text and during classroom instruction; (2) the assessment of vocabulary knowledge; (3) predictors of reading comprehension performance; and (4) properties of the text that elicit strategy use by the reader.  Dr. Williams Smith directs the Tracking Eye Movements and Vocabulary Acquisition (T.E.V.A.) Laboratory.  The use of eye movement monitoring and a variety of assessment tools has provided a means to investigate these areas in both children and adults.