Welcome to the official Department of Psychology newsletter!
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Geoff WoodmanDr. Geoff Woodman is the 2025 Distinguished Alumnus Award winner. Congratulations Geoff! The award is given to recognize and honor the distinguished alumni of Psychological Sciences at Vanderbilt, we have established the Distinguished Alumnus Lecture. The recipient is a former undergraduate, graduate student, or postdoctoral fellow from the Department of Psychology in the College of Arts and Science or the Department of Psychology and Human Development in Peabody College at Vanderbilt who has made major contributions to the psychological sciences. The recipient will receive a $500 honorarium and will be invited to give the Distinguished Alumnus Lecture. Read more from the nomination letter here.
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Jo-Anne Bachorowski
Dr. Jo-Anne Bachorowski has received Emeritus status in the Department of Psychology. Emeritus status is given to a tenured faculty member who has served the University with distinction over a period of years and who remains upon active status until retirement. Jo-Anne is retiring at the end of the month and we wish her the best in her retirement!
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Emily Fyfe
Dr. Emily Fyfe is the 2025 Randolph Blake Early Career Award Winner. This award is given to recognize exemplary alumni of our program in the early stages of their career. Emily recieved her PhD from Vanderbilt in 2015. She has since then began as an assistant professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Indiana University in 2016, where she earned tenure in 2022. She is conducting original and important research that is having broad impact on both psychological theory and educational practice. Emily’s research focuses on the construction and organization of knowledge, with an emphasis on how people think, learn, and solve problems. She conducts this research in the domain of mathematics given both the theoretical and practical importance of mathematics learning.
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Ryan Balch
Ryan will be joining us in the Department of Psychology as a Senior Lecturer ion Fall 2026. Ryan is no stranger to the department, having taught Social Psychology for us every semester for many years with his primary appointment in LPO in Peabody. Ryan's move across campus is a great opportunity for our department and it will allow Ryan to teach courses (in addition to Social Psychology) that are closely aligned with his interests and expertise. Ryan is a masterful instructor and our students will love the opportunity to be able to take more courses with him. Welcome Ryan!
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Gordon Logan
The American Journal of Psychology published a festschrift issue (Volume 138, Issue 2, 2025), honoring Gordon Logan, 50 years after earning his PhD. The editors of the special issue were Darryl Schneider, Matthew Crump, and Frederick Verbruggen, who worked with Gordon at Vanderbilt. The issue includes articles by colleagues, including Tom Palmeri and Sean Polyn, describing Gordon’s influence on their work. Read more in the article here.
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Isabel Gauthier
Isabel Gauthier, Editor of the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Journal in an editorial article with Jelena Ristic. Read more here.
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Park Lab
Felsenheimer A, Baxter B, Sangimino M, Park S. (2025) Felt Presence in individuals at risk for psychosis: the role of interoception. Psychopathology. 1-25. PMID 41223132
Lyu Y, Chakraborty S, Lee HS, Gagnon H, Park S, Bodenheimer B (2025) The Effects of Crowds on Peripersonal Space and Interpersonal Distance in Immersive Virtual Environments. IEEE ISMAR. DOI:10.1109/ISMAR67309.2025.00141
Voppel A, Ciampelli A, Kircher T, Liddle P, Massuda R, Stein F, Tang SX, Ray MK, Park S, Palaniyappan L. (2025) Analysis of conceptual overlap among formal thought disorder rating scales in psychosis: a systematic semantic synthesis. Schizophrenia. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41537-025-00712-z
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Wallace Lab
Hari Srinivasan, PhD candidate, was selected for SfN's Neuroscience Scholars Program. He also won best poster at Sigma's Xi's iFore Conference in the Graduate Division, Human Behavioral and Social Sciences Category.
PhD students, Adam Tiesman, Harper Marshall and Anna Machado presented posters at the Society for Neuroscience Event (SfN).
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Randy Minas
Randy Minas BSc '05, a Park Lab alumni, was promoted to Hon Kau and Alice Lee Distinguished Associate Professor & Faculty Director of the Master of Science in Information Systems Program at the Shidler College of Business, University of Hawaii.
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The Wallace Lab
Why do our senses often work better together than alone? How do sound, sight, and touch combine to shape behavior? And what happens when multisensory processing goes awry in autism, ADHD, or dyslexia?
The Wallace Lab investigates the brain’s remarkable ability to integrate information across senses. Using animal behavior, human psychophysics, EEG, fMRI, and neurophysiology, they study the neural and developmental bases of multisensory processing. Their work shows how sensory experiences interact to guide perception and action, and how disruptions in these processes contribute to clinical conditions. Read more here.
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| Turkey Toss, Thanksgiving party and gingerbread making!
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