Ph.D., Georgia State University, 1991 Professor Director, Language Research Center Member, Social/Cognitive Program and NBN Program Chair, Department of Psychology dwashburn@gsu.edu 404-413-6203 404-244-5825 730 UL

My research emphasizes two parallel lines of inquiry, one from the perspective of comparative psychology (cognition as it is manifest across species) and the other from the perspective of human factors (individual differences in cognition and performance). These two perspectives complement one another in analysis of the psychological processes that I currently study: attention/executive function, and learning/training. Thus, recent experiments include studies of individual and group differences in attention profiles, comparative and psychometric studies of uncertainty monitoring, procedures that improve the effectiveness of computer-based instruction, the effects of spaceflight on behavior and performance, psychophysiological and cognitive predictors of vigilance, and the cognitive profiles of individuals who excel in detecting threat items in X-ray images of airport baggage.

This broad program of research stems from support provided by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Federal Aviation Administration, the McDonnell-Pew Foundation, the Department of Defense (ARI, ARO, AFOSR, ONR, and USAMRMC), and Georgia State University and enjoys the collaboration of outstanding behavioral scientists from GSU and around the world. With laboratory resources including eye-trackers and transcranial Doppler sonography in the Individual Differences in Executive Attention (IDEA) laboratory, to the unique monkeys and apes available for study at the Sonny Carter Life Sciences Laboratory and the Language Research Center, there are many opportunities for collaboration and participation by other scientists and graduate or undergraduate students.

These research opportunities are well illustrated by the program-project grant from NICHD, “Brain, Behavior & the Emergence of Cognitive Competence” (B2EC2). This multi-institutional, multi-disciplinary research project is designed and funded to examine the emergence across species and developmental periods of executive attention, relational learning, numeric and symbolic processing, spatial problem-solving, and metacognition. Additionally, we are using brain-imaging technology and transcranial magnetic stimulation to identify the brain mechanisms that correspond to each of these cognitive processes.

More information on my research and professional interests can be found at

• APA Science Briefs May 2006
• B2EC2
• The Language Research Center
• GSU Cognitive Research Interest Group
• The Southern Society for Philosophy and Psychology
• The Southeastern Psychological Association
• The International Journal of Comparative Psychology

Representative Publications

Click here for recent CV

Washburn, D. A. (Ed., In press). Primate Perspectives on Behavior and Cognition. APA Press.

Rumbaugh, D. M., & Washburn, D. A. (2003).  The Intelligence of Apes and Other Rational Beings. New Haven: Yale University Press. 

Washburn, D. A., Smith, J. D., & Shields, W. E.  (2006).  Monkeys generalize the uncertain response to novel tasks.  Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 32, 185-189.

Beran, M. J., Smith, J. D., Redford, J., & Washburn, D. A.  (2006). Rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) monitor uncertainty during numerosity judgments.  Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 32, 111-119.

Smith, J. D., Redford, J.S., Washburn, D. A., & Taglialatela, L. A. (2005).  Specific-token effects in screening tasks: Possible implications for aviation security.  Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory & Cognition, 31, 1171-1185.

Smith, J. D., Redford, J., Gent, L., & Washburn, D. A.  (2005).  Visual search and the collapse of categorization.  Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 134, 443-460.

Washburn, D. A., Smith, J. D., & Taglialatela, L. A.  (2005).  Individual differences in metacognitive responsiveness: Cognitive and personality correlates.  Journal of General Psychology, 132, 446-461.

Harris, E. H., & Washburn, D. A.  (2005).  Macaques’ (Macaca mulatta) use of numerical cues in maze trials.  Animal Cognition, 8, 190-199.

Beran, M. J., Beran, M., Harris, E. H., & Washburn, D. A. (2005). Ordinal judgments and summation of nonvisible sets of food items by two chimpanzees and a rhesus macaque.  Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 31, 351-362.

Smith, J. D., & Washburn, D. A.  (2005).  Uncertainty monitoring and metacognition by animals.  Current Directions in Psychological Science, 14, 19-24.

Shields, W. E., Smith, J. D., Guttmanova, K., & Washburn, D. A.  (2005).  Confidence judgments by monkeys and humans.  Journal of General Psychology, 165-186.

Washburn, D. A., Taglialatela, L. A., Rice, P. R., & Smith, J. D. (2004).  Individual differences in sustained attention and threat detection.  International Journal of Cognitive Technology, 9, 30-33.

Washburn, D. A., Rulon, M. J., & Gulledge, J. P.  (2004).  A new breed of computer users: Cursor control via joystick manipulation by rats. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments and Computers, 36, 173-179.

Beran, M. J., Pate, J. L., Washburn, D. A., & Rumbaugh, D. M.  (2004).  Sequential responding and planning in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes and rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta).  Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 30, 203-212.

Smith, J. D., Minda, J. P., & Washburn, D. A. (2004).  Category learning in rhesus monkeys: A study of the Shepard, Hovland, and Jenkins tasks.   Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 133, 398-414.

Smith, J. D., Shields, W. E., & Washburn, D. A. (2003). A comparative approach to metacognition and uncertainty monitoring. The Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 26, 317-339. 

Washburn, D. A., Gulledge, J. P.& Martin, B. A.  (2003). A species difference in visuospatial memory: A failure of memory for what, where, or what is where?  International Journal of Comparative Psychology, 16, 209-225.

Washburn, D. A., & Astur, R. S. (2003).  Exploration of virtual mazes by macaques.  Animal Cognition, 6, 161-168.

Washburn, D. A.  (2003).  The games psychologists play (and the data they provide).  Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, and Computers 35, 185-193.

Washburn, D. A., & Gulledge, J. P. (2002).  A species difference in visuospatial working memory in human adults and rhesus monkeys.  International Journal of Comparative Psychology, 15, 288-302.

Beran, M. J., & Washburn, D. A. (2002).  Chimpanzee responding during matching to sample: Control by exclusion.  Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 78, 497-508.

Washburn, D. A., & Putney, R. T. (2001). Attention and task difficulty: When is performance facilitated? Learning and Motivation, 32, 36-47. 

Washburn, D. A., Rumbaugh, D. M., Richardson, W. K., Shlyk, G. G., & Vassilieva, O. N. (2000). PTS performance by flight- and control-group macaques. Journal of Gravitational Physiology, 7, 89-94.

Washburn, D. A. & Rumbaugh, D. M. (1997). If faster is smarter, why are we slower: A comparative perspective on intelligence and processing speed. American Psychologist, 52, 1147-1148.

Washburn, D. A., & Astur, R. S. (1998). Comparative investigations of visuospatial memory: Rehearsal in the sketchpad? Memory and Cognition, 26, 277-286. 

Washburn, D. A. (1994). Stroop-like effects for monkeys and humans: Processing speed or strength of association? Psychological Science, 5, 375-379. 

Washburn, D. A. (1993). The stimulus movement effect: Allocation of attention or artifact? Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 19, 1-10.