My research has focused since 1986 on perceptual learning and attention and working memory. Our research uses a wide range of methods including behavioral paradigms for studying learning and sleep consolidation, attention limitations in learning and perception, and the role of working memory in perception. Our lab is equipped for high-density EEG measurements, fMRI data analysis (with access to a 3T scanner), auditory brainstem recordings, and a wide range of speech recording, editing, analysis, synthesis, and sound modification tools. We test individuals, and can carry out nap studies in-lab with polysomnography. We can collect and analyze peripheral physiological measurements (heart rate variability, respiration, etc.) and in collaboration with colleagues carry out genetic analyses. My graduate students and postdoctoral trainees have gone on to become tenured faculty members at a wide range of international research institutions including Michigan State, Purdue, University College London, University of Trento (Center for Mind/Brain Research), and Birkbeck College in London. My graduate students and trainees publish their research in the top scientific journals including Nature, Current Biology, Neuron, J. Neuroscience, PNAS, Learning & Memory, Cognition, and Psychological Science. My students are trained in the lab in basic behavioral research methods, on-line research methods, signal processing, advanced statistical analysis and modelling, human electrophysiology, neuroanatomy and neurophysiology, comparative methods in communication (comparing humans and songbirds), sensory research methods, fMRI, and computational modeling. Students in my laboratory reported the first scientific evidence for sleep consolidation of generalized learning (Fenn et al., 2003, Nature), the first behavioral evidence for functional effects of sleep consolidation in songbirds (Brawn et al., 2010, J. Neuroscience), the first evidence that adults can learn perfect pitch and this learning depends on working memory capacity (Van Hedger et al., 2015, Cognition), and the first evidence of the fate of interfering material following sleep consolidation (Brawn et al.. 2013, Psychological Science). Students and trainees working with me develop new methods for research, develop broad and deep cognitive neuroscience skills and knowledge, and publish successfully their research going on to successful tenure track and tenured faculty research positions.
Indiana University
Bloomington, IN
Postdoctoral - Speech, Hearing, and Sensory Communication
1984
State University of New York at Buffalo
Buffalo, NY
PhD - Cognitive Psychology
1981
Brandeis University
Waltham, MA
BA - Computer Science, Psychology
1976
Timing of Speech in Brain and Glottis and the Feedback Delay Problem in Motor Control.
Timing of Speech in Brain and Glottis and the Feedback Delay Problem in Motor Control. J Neurosci. 2025 May 21; 45(21).
PMID: 40228892
Overlapping Cortical Substrate of Biomechanical Control and Subjective Agency.
Overlapping Cortical Substrate of Biomechanical Control and Subjective Agency. J Neurosci. 2025 Mar 24.
PMID: 40127938
Bayesian p-curve mixture models as a tool to dissociate effect size and effect prevalence.
Bayesian p-curve mixture models as a tool to dissociate effect size and effect prevalence. Commun Psychol. 2025 Jan 23; 3(1):9.
PMID: 39843780
Cardiac afferent signals can facilitate visual dominance in binocular rivalry.
Cardiac afferent signals can facilitate visual dominance in binocular rivalry. Elife. 2024 Oct 02; 13.
PMID: 39356552
Metacognition bridges experiences and beliefs in sense of agency.
Metacognition bridges experiences and beliefs in sense of agency. Conscious Cogn. 2024 Sep; 124:103745.
PMID: 39178588
Author Correction: Single-trial visually evoked potentials predict both individual choice and market outcomes.
Author Correction: Single-trial visually evoked potentials predict both individual choice and market outcomes. Sci Rep. 2024 Feb 06; 14(1):3047.
PMID: 38321048
Temporal Dynamics of Brain Activity Predicting Sense of Agency over Muscle Movements.
Temporal Dynamics of Brain Activity Predicting Sense of Agency over Muscle Movements. J Neurosci. 2023 11 15; 43(46):7842-7852.
PMID: 37722848
Single-trial visually evoked potentials predict both individual choice and market outcomes.
Single-trial visually evoked potentials predict both individual choice and market outcomes. Sci Rep. 2023 09 01; 13(1):14340.
PMID: 37658206
Permutation-based group sequential analyses for cognitive neuroscience.
Permutation-based group sequential analyses for cognitive neuroscience. Neuroimage. 2023 08 15; 277:120232.
PMID: 37348624
Absolute pitch judgments of familiar melodies generalize across timbre and octave.
Absolute pitch judgments of familiar melodies generalize across timbre and octave. Mem Cognit. 2023 11; 51(8):1898-1910.
PMID: 37165298
Stella M. Rowley Professor of Psychology
The University of Chicago
2018
Fellow
The Psychonomic Society
2014
Llewellyn John and Harriet Manchester Quantrell Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching
The University of Chicago
2012
Fellow
Association for Psychological Science
2009
Future Faculty Mentorship Award
The University of Chicago
2007