Faculty Achievements

STRIEGEL STUDY WILL CHANGE BINGE EATING "FACTS"
Like all eating disorders, binge eating only affects women and teenaged girls, right? Wrong. Professor of Psychology Ruth Striegel found that medical implications of binge eating are just as damaging to men. Read more about her study (read more).  11/11

PLOUS ELECTED COUNCIL MEMBER FOR PSYCHOLOGY ORGANIZATION'S GOVERNING BOARD
Scott Plous, professor of psychology, was elected to a three-year term as a council member of the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (SPSSI). The council is the governing board of the Society. (read more)  11/11

JUHASZ'S PAPER ON SENSORY SYSTEMS PUBLISHED IN PSYCHOLOGY JOURNAL
Barbara Juhasz, assistant professor pf psychology, assistant professor of neuroscience and behavior, is the co-author of the paper, "Tangible words are recognized faster: The grounding of meaning in sensory and perceptual systems." The paper was published in the September 2011 issue of the Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, Issue 64, pages 1683-1691.  11/11

NIH SUPPORTS ROSE'S NICOTINE DEPENDENCE RESEARCH
Jennifer Rose, research associate professor, received a grant worth $456,225 from the National Institutes of Health on Sept. 7. Rose will use the funds to support her study on "Integrative Analysis for Nicotine Dependence Symptoms in Novice Smokers" through July 2013.  (read more)  11/11

MORAWSKI, CENTER OF HUMANITIES DIRECTOR, RECEIVES ENDOWMENT FROM MELLON FOUNDATION
Jill Morawski is a professor of psychology, professor of science in society, professor of feminist, gender and sexuality studies, and director of the center for humanities. During her directorship, Wesleyan was awarded a $2 million endowment challenge grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to support the Center for the Humanities. This award secures the center's financial future and will allow for increased engagement with the undergraduate curriculum and expanded engagement with scholars and organizations outside Wesleyan. (read more)  10/11

ROSE RECEIVES MAJOR NIDA GRANT
Jennifer Rose, research associate professor of psychology, received a grant worth $450,000 from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). The grant will fund research on the use of Integrative Data Analysis to inform the development of nicotine dependence symptoms among novice smokers.  (9/11)

5 QUESTIONS WITH .... PSYCHOLOGY'S CHARLES SANISLOW ON PSYCHOPATHOLOGY
Charles Sanislow, assistant professor of psychology, is interviewed by the Wesleyan Connection. (read more)  9/11

SANISLOW'S STUDY PUBLISHED IN THE JOURNAL OF ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY
Charles Sanislow, assistant professor of psychology, co-authored a study that was published the Journal of Abnormal Psychology in July 2011. (read more)  9/11

SEAMON: MANY PEOPLE'S 9-11 MEMORIES ARE INACCURATE
Discussing the phenomenon of how memories change over time in The Hartford Courant, Professor of Psychology, Professor of Neuroscience and Behavior John Seamon explains that the mental narrative many of us have created contain inaccuracies, even for seminal events such as the 9-11 terrorist attacks.   (read more)  9/11

SANISLOW CO-AUTHORS STUDY ON BORDERLINE PERSONALITY DISORDER
Charles Sanislow, assistant professor of psychology, co-authored a study published in the August issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry. The study reports on the prospective course of psychopathology and functioning for Borderline Personality Disorder. (read more) 8/11

PSYCHOLOGY DEPARTMENT HOSTS UNDERGARDUATE RESEARCH CONFERENCE
Recently, researchers from Wesleyan hosted a conference presenting findings to peers and colleagues from Wellesley College and Barnard College. Not an unusual event, but what was remarkable was that the researchers were primarily students. The event featured Wesleyan students who do active research in Wesleyan's Cognitive Development Lab, which is co-directed by Hilary Barth, assistant professor of psychology, assistant professor of neuroscience and behavior, and Anna Shusterman, assistant professor of psychology. The lab's research projects explore how young children perceive, learn about and think about the world. (read more) 7/11

RODRIGUEZ MOSQUERA PUBLISHES SPECIAL ISSUE ON SOCIAL IMAGE
Patricia Rodriguez Mosquera, assistant professor of psychology, published a Special Issue on Social Image for the European Journal of Social Psychology. (read more) 7/11

SANISLOW CO-AUTHORS STUDY ON WAYS SEVERITY PLAYS A ROLE IN PREDICTING DYSFUNCTION
Charles Sanislow, assistant professor of psychology, is the co-author of a study published in the summer issue of the Journal of Personality Disorders that reports findings from the Collaborative Personality Study. (read more)  7/11

SANISLOW PUBLISHED IN CLINICAL PSYCHIATRY JOURNAL
Charles Sanislow, assistant professor of psychology, so-authored a study in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry in May that compares the abilities of clinician-practioners and clinical researchers with expertise in personality to make DSM-IV personality disorder diagnoses based on trait models. (read more) 6/11

PLOUS HONORED WITH BINSWANGER AWARDS FOR EXCELLENCE IN TEACHING
Scott Plous, professor of psychology, was honored, with the Binswanger Award. Every year Wesleyan recognizes outstanding teaching with three prizes awarded at Commencement. These prizes, made possible by gifts from the family of the late Frank G. Binswanger Sr., Hon. '85, underscore Wesleyan's commitment to its scholar-teachers, who are responsible for the university's distinctive approach to liberal arts education. (read more)  5/11

JUHASZ, BARTH, AND SULLIVAN '08 PUBLISHED IN PSYCHONOMIC BULLETIN
Barbara Juhasz, assistant professor of psychology; and Hilary Barth assistant professor of psychology, assistant professor of neuroscience and behavior, and Jessica Sullivan '08 are the co-authors of a paper titled, "Adults' number-line estimation strategies: Evidence from eye movements," published in Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, Issue 18, pages 557-563, in June 2011. 5/11

JUHASZ, BERKOWITZ '09 PUBLISHED IN COGNITIVE PROCESSES JOURNAL
Barbara Juhasz, assistant professor of psychology, assistant professor of neuroscience and behavior, and Rachel Berkowitz '09 are the co-authors of "Effects of morphological families on English compound word recognition: A multitask investigation," published in Language and Cognitive Processes, Issue 26, pages 653-682, in 2011.  5/11

SANISLOW'S PERSONALITY, ANXIETY DISORDER STUDY PUBLISHED IN PSYCHOLOGICAL MEDICINE
Charles Sanislow, assistant professor of psychology,  co-authored a prospective study of personality disorders and anxiety disorders.  The work, published in the May issue of the Psychological Medicine, reported results from the NIH-funded Collaborative Longitudinal Personality Disorders, a study which Sanislow has worked on since it began in 1996. The study is online here.  (read more) 5/11

STEMLER'S STUDY ON FEDERAL STANDARDS, HIGH SCHOOL MISSIONS OFTEN AT ODDS
Steve Stemler assistant professor of psychology, has published a new study showing key differences between federal educational initiative goals and high school mission statements. (read more). 4/11

BARTH'S CURRENT BIOLOGY REPORTS SUGGESTS WE SEE ILLUSORY CONTOURS
Hilary Barth assistant professor of psychology, is the co-author of "Non-Bayesian Contour Synthesis" published in Volume 21, Issue 6 of Current Biology, March 2011. The authors studied how our visual system 'fills in the gaps' when looking at interrupted or partially obscured shapes. She's also the author of "Visual Perception: Cizarre Contours Go Against the Odds" published in Volume 21, Issue 7 of Current Biology, April 2011. (read more). 4/11

MATTEL SUPPORTS COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT STUDY (Grant)
Anna Shusterman, assistant professor of psychology; Hilary Barth, assistant professor of psychology and neuroscience and behavior; and , Emily Slusser, a postdoctoral fellow in psychology, received a grant worth $25,000 from Mattel Philanthropy Programs. The grant was awarded on March 24. (read more).  4/11
This funded study was also mentioned in a May 23 Business Wire article (read more) 6/11

DIERKER, ROSE RECEIVE GRANT FOR ADOLESCENT SMOKING STUDY
Lisa Dierker, chair of psychology, professor of psychology and Jennifer Rose, research associate professor of psychology, are the co-recipients of a $97,936 grant from the University of Illinois, through the National Cancer Institute. The award will support their research titled "Social Emotional Contexts of Adolescent Smoking Patterns" through July 2011.  2/11

SANISLOW'S DEPRESSSIVE DISORDER ARTICLE PUBLISHED IN CLINICAL PSYCHIATRY JOURNAL
Charles Sanislow, assistant professor of psychology, co-authored a publication showing that personality disorders increased the time to the remission of a depressive episode, and accelerated the time to relapse of a new depressive episode following remission. The work was published in the December issue of the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry and stems from the NIH-funded Collaborative Longitudinal Personality Study, a 10-year prospective study on which Sanislow is a co-investigator. (1/11)

DIERKER AND QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS CENTER HOSTS POSTER SESSION
Lisa Dierker, chair of psychology, professor of psychology taught the course QAC 201 Applied Data Analysis, that presented a Poster Session. Throughout the semester, students developed skills in several aspects of the research process including generating testable hypotheses based on extant data; evaluating the content of scientific literature; preparing data for analysis; and conducting descriptive and inferential statistical analyses.  (read more). 1/11

DIERKER AWARDED GRANT FROM NIH
Lisa Dierker, chair of psychology, professor of psychology received a grant worth $347,241 for "Center for Prevention and Treatment Methodology." The grant, awarded Nov. 24, is subcontracted with Penn State. (12/10)

SANISLOW CO-AUTHORS ARTICLE ON DIAGNOSING MENTAL DISORDERS
Charles Sanislow, assistant professor of psychology, is the co-author of an article titled "Developing constructs for Psychopathology Research: Research Domain Criteria," published as the lead story in the Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 119, pages 631-639 in 2010. His colleagues from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) contributed to the article.  The article describes the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC), a new approach to diagnosing mental disorders for research purposes. Sanislow is a member of the NIMH working group that is spearheading this effort. 12/10

SANISLOW'S CAPS LAB PRESENTS RESEARCH TO CONNECTICUT PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION
Charles Sanislow, assistant professor of psychology, brought members of his Cognitive-Affective-Personality-Science (CAPS) Lab to the Connecticut Psychological Association's annual meeting in Windsor, Conn. Nov. 12. The students presented their research at the meeting. (read more) 12/10

RODRIGUEZ MOSQUERA'S PAPER ON ENVY IN SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY JOURNAL
Patricia Rodriguez Mosquera, assistant professor of psychology, is the lead author of  "I fear your envy, I rejoice in your coveting. On the ambivalent experience of being envied by others," published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2010.  11/10

COGNITIVE SCIENCE LAB CELEBRATES SEMESTER BY ZIP-LINING
Charles Sanislow, assistant professor of psychology, celebrated the fall semester by taking his students zip-lining Oct. 30 at EMPOWER Leadership Sports in Middletown. (read more) 11/10

SCHUG ORGANIZES WESWIS OUTING TO THE INSPIRING WOMEN SCIENTISTS CONFERENCE
Mariah Schug, visiting assistant professor of psychology, organized WesWIS students (Wesleyan's Women in Science) to attend the forum in New York City. (read more) 10/10

SHUSTERMAN AUTHORS ARTICLE ON NUMBER AQUISITION
Anna Shusterman, assistant professor of psychology, is the co-author of the article, "Early acquisition of the word 'two'," published in The Proceedings of the 2009 Boston University Conference on Language Development, by Cascadilla Press, 2010.  9/10

SANISLOW'S ANTISOCIAL PERSONALITY STUDY PUBLISHED
Charles Sanislow, assistant professor of psychology, is the co-author of a publication examining psychometric characteristics of antisocial personality traits in the September issue of Psychological Assessment.  The work was carried out under the auspices of the Collaborative Longitudinal Personality Study, a 10-year prospective study funded by NIMH on which Sanislow has been an investigator since it began in 1996.  The article is titled "Psychometric characteristics and clinical correlates of NEO-PI-R fearless dominance and impulsive antisociality in the Collaborative Longitudinal Personality Disorders Study."  9/10

RODRIGUEZ MOSQUERA CHAIRS CONFERENCE ON HONOR
Patricia Rodriguez Mosquera, assistant professor of psychology, organized and chaired a recent conference on honor and honor cultures in Barcelona, Spain, Aug. 20-24. It was funded by the European Association of Social Psychology and the British Academy. The conference had an interdisciplinary and international focus. It brought together international experts on honor from anthropology and psychology. This is the first conference on honor and honor cultures ever organized in psychology. Rodriguez Mosquera has since been invited to guest-edit a special issue on honor for the journal Group Processes and Intergroup Relations. 9/10

DIERKER'S NICOTINE DEPENDENCE RESEARCH SUPPORTED BY NIH
Lisa Dierker, chair of psychology, professor of psychology, received a grant worth $590,769 from the National Institutes of Health. The grant will fund her research on "Individual Differences in Smoking and Nicotine Dependence Sensitivity" through Aug. 31, 2012. The award is part of the Recovery and reinvestment Act of 2009. Jennifer Rose, research associate professor of psychology, is the coPI on this grant.

KURTZ PUBLISHED IN NEUROPSYCHOLOGY ENCYCLOPEDIA
Matthew Kurtz, associate professor of psychology, associate professor of neuroscience and behavior, is the author of "Treatment approaches with a special focus on neurocognition: overview and empirical results," published in Understanding and Treating Neuro- and Social-Cognition in Schizophrenia Patients, in 2010 and "Compensatory Strategies; Insight: Effects on Rehabilitation; Rivermead Behavioral Memory Test," published in Encyclopedia of Clinical Neuropsychology, New York: Springer, 2010. 9/10

SEAMON AUTHORS STUDY ON MEMORIZATION
John Seamon, professor of psychology, professor of neuroscience and behavior, is the author of "Memorizing Milton's Paradise Lost: A study of a septuagenarian exceptional memorizer," published in Memory, 2010. Media coverage of this research appeared in the Hartford Courant, the Chronicle of Higher Education, the AARP Bulletin, Connecticut Magazine, APS: Psychological Science in the News, and The New Scientist. 9/10

MORAWSKI PUBLISHED IN THEORY AND PSYCHOLOGY, HISTORY OF PSYCHOLOGY
Jill Morawski, professor of psychology, professor of science in society, professor of feminist, gender and sexuality studies, is the author of "The Location of our Debates: Finding, Fixing and Enacting Reality," published in Theory and Psychology; "Review of Beyond the Box: B.F. Skinner's Technology of Behavior from Laboratory to Life," published in Isis; and "Postwar Promises and Perplexities in the Social Sciences: The Case of 'Socialization'," published in History of Psychology. 9/10

STEMLER: 'TACIT KNOWLEDGE' MAY BE POWERFUL NEW WAY TO IDENTIFY EFFECTIVE TEACHERS
Steve Stemler assistant professor of psychology, is the co-author of a new study titled "The socially skilled teacher and the development of tacit knowledge," which has been published by the British Educational Research Journal. The study spent a year looking the levels of effectiveness experienced by more than 500 teachers in England. The researchers found that the most successful teachers were those who developed the "tacit knowledge" of how to handle situations both inside and outside of the classroom that directly affected their jobs. (read more). 8/10

SANISLOW PARTICIPATES IN NIMH MEETING FOCUSED ON MENTAL DISORDERS
Charles Sanislow, assistant professor of psychology, participated in a National Institute of Mental Health meeting in Bethesda, Maryland on July 13-14 for the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) project. RDoC aims to create new diagnostic criteria for researching mental disorders, and this meeting addressed the role of working memory in this effort.  (read more) 8/10

KURTZ'S NS&B HONORS THESIS ADVISEE, TOLMAN '10 PUBLISHED IN SCHIZOPHRENIA BULLETIN
Arielle Tolman '10, who studied "Neurocognitive Predictors of Objective and Subjective Quality-of-Life in Individuals with Schizophrenia: A Meta-Analytic Investigation" as her senior honors thesis, will have the opportunity to share her research with other scientists interested in schizophrenia. "This is a real achievement, particularly at the undergraduate level," says the paper's co-author and Tolman's advisor Matthew Kurtz, assistant professor of psychology. (read more)   (6/30)

SHUSTERMAN'S STUDY FEATURED IN NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES PUBLICATION
In a new, study, which was published June 25 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, co-author Anna Shusterman, assistant professor of psychology explains how human spatial cognition depends on the acquisition of specific aspects of spatial language. (read more) (6/30)

DIERKER'S STUDY ON ADOLESCENT SMOKERS PUBLISHED
Lisa Dierker,  chair of psychology, professor of psychology, is the author of "Nicotine Dependence Symptoms among Recent Onset Adolescent Smokers, published in Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 106; pages 126-132, in 2010.  (6/10)

JUHASZ PUBLISHED IN COGNITION
Barbara Juhasz,  assistant professor of psychology, is the co-author of "Parafoveal processing in reading is reduced across a morphological boundary," published in Cognition, 116, pages 136-142, in 2010.  (6/10)

BASINGER'S MEMORY A 'PARADISE' FOR PROF. SEAMON
John Seamon, professor of psychology, became intrigued by a feat of memory achieved by local resident John Basinger, who decided in the late 1990s to celebrate the coming of the millennium by memorizing a poem - one that was more than 60,000 words long: John Milton's Paradise Lost. (read more) (5/10)

BARTH RECEIVES NSF GRANT FOR COGNITION RESEARCH
Hilary Barth, assistant professor of psychology, was recently awarded a five-year, $761,000 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to study "magnitude biases in mathematical cognition, learning, and development." (read more) 4/10

STRIEGEL-MOORE STUDY IDENTIFIES SUCCESSFUL BINGE-EATING TREATMENT
A piece in USA Today reports on a new study by Ruth Striegel-Moore, Walter A. Crowell Professor of the Social Sciences, professor of psychology, that produced a self-directed, easy-to-follow, 12-week method to eliminate binge eating. The study, which Striegel-Moore conducted with researchers from Kaiser Permanente and Rutgers University, offered binge eating sufferers a treatment method that was so successful 64% of  the participants reported they were still not binge eating a year later.  (read more) (4/10)

KURTZ RECEIVES TENURE
Matthew Kurtz, Associate Professor of Psychology, was appointed Assistant Professor of Psychology at Wesleyan in 2007. Previously, he has held appointments at the Institute for Living in Hartford, Trinity College, Hartford Hospital, the University of Pennsylvania, the Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation, and Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center. He has been awarded numerous grants from the National Institute of Mental Health, Hartford Hospital, and NARSAD. Appointment begins A (read more)  (3/10)

STEMLER AUTHOR OF TACIT KNOWLEDGE ARTICLE
Steve Stemler, assistant professor of psychology, is the co-author of "The socially skilled teacher and the development of tacit knowledge," published in the British Educational Research Journal, Feb. 24, 2010. (3/10)

DIERKER ASKED 5 QUESTIONS FROM THE WESLEYAN CONNECTION
Lisa Dierker, chair and professor of psychology, provided us with some information on her research findings on adolescents who smoke. (read more) (3/10)

JUHASZ ASKED 5 QUESTIONS FROM THE WESLEYAN CONNECTION
Barbara Juhasz, assistant professor of psychology, assistant professor of neuroscience and behavior, uses a non-invasive eye-tracking machine to examine cognitive processing. (read more)  (2/10)

PATALANO, JUHASZ COLLABORATED RESEARCH USING AN EYE-TRACKING INSTRUMENT
Andrea Patalano, associate professor of psychology, and Barbara Juhasz, assistant professor of psychology, have collaborated on research examining how decisive and indecisive people differ in their processing of information by using an eye-tracking instrument in the Department of Psychology. (read more)  (1/10)

DIERKER, BEVERIDGE RECEIVE NSF AWARDS GRANT
Lisa Dierker, chair and professor of psychology, and David Beveridge, the University Professor of the Sciences and Mathematics, professor of chemistry, received a $174,999 grant from the National Science Foundation. The grant will support an inquiry based, supportive approach to statistical reasoning and applications. The award will be applied Jan. 1, 2010 through Dec. 31, 2012.  (12/09)

MORAWSKI, MOON RECEIVE MELLON GRANT FOR CULTURE STUDY
Jill Morawski, director, Center for the Humanities, professor of psychology, and Don Moon, dean of the Social Sciences and Interdisciplinary Programs, the Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Professor in the College of Social Studies, professor of government and tutor in the College of Social Studies; received a $142,000 Mellon Foundation grant on Oct. 2. The award will fund the John E. Sawyer Seminar on "Comparative Study of Cultures." (11/09)

SHUSTERMAN RECEIVES NSF GRANT FOR LANGUAGE STUDY
Anna Shusterman, assistant professor of psychology, received a grant worth $716,227 from the National Science Foundation's Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) program, Shusterman's project is titled "The role of language in children's acquisition of number concept." The grant will be applied over five years. (read more) (8/09)

DIERKER, ROSE RECEIVE NIH GRANT FOR SMOKING STUDY
Lisa Dierker, professor of psychology, and Jennifer Rose, research associate professor of psychology, received a grant worth $521,938 from the National Institute of Health/National Institute on Drug Abuse. The grant was issued under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Dierker and Rose are researching "Individual Differences in Smoking Exposure and Nicotine Dependence Sensitivity." The grant will be applied over two years. (6/09)

PLOUS AWARDED $700,000 NSF GRANT TO TRANSFORM SPN WEBSITE
Scott Plous, professor of psychology, received a five-year grant for $700,000 from the National Science Foundation for the Social Psychology Network. Plous founded the web-based presence in 1996.The grant will be used to transform the site into a full featured social networking service for visitors and its approximately 2,000 members across the world. (read more)  (5/09)

PLOUS FEATURED IN ARTICLE ON ACTION TEACHING
Scott Plous, professor of psychology, is featured in an article on action teaching in the APA magazine Monitor on Psychology. Plous coined the term "action teaching" in 2000 to refer to teaching that leads not only to a better understanding of psychology but to a more just, humane, and peaceful world, and he manages the web site ActionTeaching.org. (read more) (12/08)

PLOUS WINS CHARLES L. BREWER DISTINGUISHED TEACHING OF PSYCHOLOGY AWARD
Scott Plous,  professor of psychology, won the APF (American Psychological Foundation) 2008 Charles L. Brewer Distinguished Teaching of Psychology Award. This award recognizes a significant career of contributions of a psychologist who has a proven track record as an exceptional teacher of psychology. At the APA convention in Boston in August, Plous will be presented the award at the APF/APA awards ceremony. (read more) (read more about Brewer Award) (9/08)

STRIEGEL-MOORE SELECTED TO REVISE MENTAL DISORDER MANUAL
Ruth Striegel-Moore, the Walter A. Crowell University Professor of the Social Sciences, professor and chair of psychology, was named to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V) group. The work group members are composed of more than 120 world-renowned scientific researchers and clinicians with expertise in neuroscience, biology, genetics, statistics, epidemiology, public health, nursing, pediatrics and social work. As a member, Striegel-Moore will help revise a manual for diagnosis of mental disorders. (5/08)