Janet Metcalfe

David Miele

My research examines how motivational orientations (e.g., being in a promotion- or prevention-focus) and motivationally-relevant beliefs (e.g., holding an entity or incremental theory of intelligence) influence the metacognitive processes (e.g., assessments of how well one understands a text) that people rely on to regulate their own learning (e.g., to decide which text to study next or when to stop studying).

Patrick Kennedy, 4th Year PhD

My current research focuses on topics of being “in the zone”. These zone experiences are commonly reported in a variety of different situations and are described as very positive and absorbing experiences. While many times experts refer to being in the zone during intense “optimal experience” situations, zone states also frequently occur while doing everyday activities such as washing the dishes or exercising in the gym. My research is specifically concentrated on what influences the occurrence of the experience in general, what it motivates behaviorally and what the cognitive implications are for being in this state (i.e. attentional, learning or memory effects).

Karen Kelly, 3rd Year PhD

In very broad terms I am interested in understanding the self, self-awareness, and deficits in self-awareness. Specifically, I would like to purse the questions related to how individuals understand themselves and their abilities (metacognition) and how this relates to their ability to understand others (Theory of Mind). I am particularly interested in exploring deficits in these areas to better understand their developmental and evolutionary significance. I am also hoping to explore agency and the specific conditions under which individuals feel in control of events along with factors that contribute to errors in judgments of agency. Ultimately, the way that metacognition, agency, and (although in a different sense) Theory of Mind contribute to the overall sense of knowing one's self.

Elina Kanellopoulou, 2nd Year PhD

I was born in Athens, Greece where I lived until the age of 18 when I completed the International Baccalaureate Bilingual Diploma. I obtained a Bachelors of Arts and a Masters from the University of Oxford, UK where I majored in Mathematics and Philosophy (MMathPhil). My anthropocentric focus in my philosophy studies and a desire to employ a more applied approach to the issues I was interested in was what led me to the field of experimental psychology. In my current project with Prof. Janet Metcalfe we are looking into people’s sense of being in control and the implications that different levels of control have on processes such as learning, creativity and strategy formation. I am also engaged in another line of research with Prof. Betsy Sparrow, on existential awareness and its implications on decision making.

Barbie Jean Huelser, 1st Year PhD

I am interested in investigating how to apply what we have learned from the field cognitive psychology to enhance student learning and how social factors, such as motivation, might mediate memory and learning.

Ljubica Chapman, 2nd Year PhD

After having studied Developmental Psychology at the University of Belgrade, I came to Columbia to complete my undergraduate degree in Psychology. I have worked with COCI, Cherish Our Children International, and organized fundraisers to raise money for orphaned children in Belgrade.

Matthew Kirkpatrick, 4th Year PhD

In general my interests lie in better understanding the acute cognitive effects produced by drugs of abuse and factors that may mediate drug-taking behavior. Currently, I am investigating judgments of metacognition of agency under acute methamphetamine administration.

Jared Van Snellenberg, 5th Year PhD

Broadly speaking, I am interested in how it is that the brain instantiates our internal mental experiences. More specifically, I'm interested in the functional neuroimaging of higher cognitive processes (particularly working memory and cognitive control) and in what can be revealed about normal cognition by studying patient populations. To this end, I am currently working on a project with Ed Smith and Janet Metcalfe on binding (i.e. the process by which multiple aspects of a stimulus or event become associated with each other in memory) and the possibility that it underlies both episodic memory formation and multiple-category learning. As an undergraduate at Simon Fraser University, I also carried out electro-and magnetoencephalographic studies of working memory as well as a meta-analysis of functional neuroimaging studies of working memory in schizophrenia.

Brandon Luke

After studying English at Columbia, I came to the Metcalfe lab with some, but not a lot of psychology research background. I’m primarily interested in education and adolescent development, and hope to gain a meaningful understanding of the way different modes of self perception affect learning, study habits, and performance—and eventually think about what educators, parents, and peers can do to promote environments that allow children and teenagers to develop positive self perceptions that could lead to effective learning and living strategies.