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Springer Early Career Achievement Award reception
On July 31 the Psychology Department celebrated the American Psychological Association’s announcement that associate professor Elizabeth Kensinger is this year’s winner of the Springer Early Career Achievement Award for her research on age, emotion, and memory. Below, from left, are psychology professor and department chair Ellen Winner (back to camera), A&S interim dean David Quigley, Kensinger, and Patricia DeLeeuw, vice provost for faculties.
Photograph: Lee Pellegrini
Since joining the Psychology Department in 2006, Elizabeth Kensinger, associate professor and director of the University’s Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Laboratory, has studied and written about how age and emotions influence the formation and retrieval of memories. She became interested in this field as a graduate student, and since then has conducted research supported by the National Science Foundation, the National Institute of Mental Health, and the Dana Foundation, among others. In dozens of articles and presentations, she has reported that emotions significantly influence whether and how people remember experiences, that an emotion’s positive or negative valence affects memories’ accuracy (negative emotions enhance accuracy), and that neural imaging techniques reveal physical changes in the brain indicative of a connection between strong emotions and memory. The American Psychological Association announced in July that she is the 2009 winner of the Springer Early Career Achievement Award in Research on Adult Development and Aging, “designed to honor an individual whose work has made significant early career contributions to understanding critical issues in the psychology of adult development and aging.” Above, at a July 31 Psychology Department celebration of the announcement, from left, are psychology professor and department chair Ellen Winner (back to camera), A&S interim dean David Quigley, Kensinger, and Patricia DeLeeuw, vice provost for faculties. |
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Psychology Undergraduate Research Conference
On May 4, the Psychology Department held its annual PURC, the Psychology Undergraduate Research Conference.
Jenny Wong receives the 2009 Peter Gray Award for Outstanding Creative Achievement in Psychology.
Brett Ford presents her poster, What Do People Want to Feel? Emotion Regulation as a Function of Utility (advisor Maya Tamir).
These two presenters are Jenny Wong with Characterizing Memory Distortions as a Function of Time and Emotionality (advisor Elizabeth Kensinger) and Colleen Maher with Exploring the Mind of the Emerald Tiger: Shadowing Ireland’s First Neuropsychologist (advisor Gene Heyman). |
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Graduate Research Day
Pictured below are the four organizers for the 8th Annual Graduate Research Day. From left to right, they are Shannon Snapp, Kate Hudspeth, Christina Reppucci, and Caren Walker. Graduate Research Day is a one-day research conference at which students in the Department of Psychology graduate programs present their ongoing research to the Boston College community.
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