UNCCharlotte Psychology


 

 

 

 

 

 

Mark Faust
Assistant Professor
B.A., University of Washington
M.S., Ph.D., University of Oregon

Office: Colvard 4041
Phone: (704) 687-3564
FAX: (704) 687-3096


Department of Psychology
9201 University City Blvd.
Charlotte, NC 28223-0001


Email: mefaust@uncc.edu

 

General Research Area:

    Cognitive Neuroscience

    Cognitive Psychology

Additional Research Areas:

    Health Psychology

Specific Research Interests:

    Changes in cognitive and neural function with age and dementia

    Attention and executive control processes

    Cognitive speed and efficiency

 

PSYC 2102 Spring 2008

    PSYC 2102 Syllabus

     PSYC 2102 Lab 1 Part 1

     PSYC 2102 Homework #1

    

 

 

 

Course Syllabi

    PSYC 2102 Research Methods

     PSYC 3116 Cognition

     PSYC 3216 Cognitive Science

     PSYC 4316/5316 Cognitive Neuroscience

     PSYC 8102 Research Design & Quantitative Analysis I

 

 

Presentations

 

    

      Age & Dynamic Control of Stroop Interference

      Dynamic Control of Flanker Interference

      Task-Switching & Prior-Task Interference

       Age & Decoy Effects in Preferential Choice

 

       ERP & Stroop Data

               st7-100.rar

 

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Cognitive Neuroscience &

Control Processes Lab

The focus of the lab is the cognitive neuroscience and cognitive psychology of cognitive control processes that modulate the more specific processes employed in performing cognitive tasks.  For example, cognitive control processes might work to make the perceptual and linguistic processes involved in reading a word more efficient, or they might work to perform a mental reconfiguration of goals and strategies during a switch from one mental task to another.  The lab has a 40 channel EEG system for recording ERPs (event-related potentials that reflect the average brain electrical activity, as measured from outside the head, following presentation of a stimulus event), and 2 cognitive testing stations for measuring response times during performance of cognitive tasks.

One line of research in the lab involves examining the cognitive control processes that operate during a switch from one cognitive task to another.  The question of interest is the extent to which cognitive control processes can completely inhibit the processes associated with performance of the prior switched-from task.  We have developed a behavioral measure that assesses the extent to which aspects of the switched-from task have been inhibited and have conducted a series of experiments that measure response time and percent correct to examine this prior-task inhibition. We are looking forward to a new series of experiments that will assess ERPs during task switching.

Other recent lines of research in the lab have looked at cognitive control processes during the Stroop color naming task (assesses the ability to deal with conflicting information), meditation and cognitive control, and the role of cognitive control processes during preferential choice tasks (e.g., Do you prefer car A or car B?).

 

 

EEG/ERP Studies

The lab has a 40 channel EEG system for recording ERPs (event-related potentials that reflect the average brain electrical activity, as measured from outside the head, following presentation of a stimulus event).  We are currently testing for ERP markers of automatic word reading using the Stroop Color Naming/ Word Ignoring task.

 

 

Representative Publications

Faust, M.E., Balota, D.A., & Multhaup, K.S. (2004).  Phonological blocking during picture naming in dementia of the Alzheimer type.  Neuropsychology, 18, 526-536.

Balota, D. A., & Faust, M.E. (2002).  Attention in dementia of the Alzheimer’s type.  In F. Boller & S. Cappa (Eds.) The handbook of neuropsychology, 2nd edition: Aging and dementia (pp. 51-80).  New York: Elsevier Science.

Spieler, D.H., Balota, D.A., Faust, M.E. (2000).  Levels of selective attention revealed through analyses of response time distributions.  Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 26, 506-526.

Faust, M.E., Balota, D.A., Ferraro, F.R., & Spieler, D.H. (1999).  Individual differences in information processing rate and amount: Implications for group differences in response latency.  Psychological Bulletin, 125, 777-799.

Kanne, S.M., Balota, D.A., Spieler, D.H., & Faust, M.E. (1998).  Explorations of Cohen, Dunbar, and McClelland’s (1990) connectionist model of Stroop performance.  Psychological Review, 105, 174-187.

Faust, M.E., & Balota, D.A. (1997).  Inhibition of return and covert orienting in healthy older adults and individuals with dementia of the Alzheimer’s type.  Neuropsychology, 11, 13-29.

Faust, M.E., Balota, D.A., Duchek, J.M., Gernsbacher, M.A., & Smith, S. (1997).  Inhibitory control during comprehension in individuals with dementia of the Alzheimer's type.  Brain and Language, 57, 225-253.

Faust, M.E., & Gernsbacher, M.A. (1996).  Cerebral mechanisms for suppression of inappropriate information during sentence comprehension.  Brain and Language, 53, 234-259.

Spieler, D.H., Balota, D.A., & Faust, M.E. (1996).  Stroop performance in younger adults, healthy older adults and individuals with senile dementia of the Alzheimer’s type.  Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 22, 461-479.

Gernsbacher, M.A., & Faust, M.E. (1995).  Skilled suppression.  In F.N. Dempster & C.J. Brainerd (Eds.), Interference and inhibition in psychology.  San Diego: Academic Press.

Hale, S., Myerson, J., Faust, M., & Fristoe, N. (1995).  Converging evidence for domain-specific slowing from multiple nonlexical tasks and multiple analytic methods.  Journals of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences, 50B, P202-P211.

Sullivan, M.P., Faust, M.E., & Balota, D.A. (1995).  Identity negative priming in older adults and individuals with dementia of the Alzheimer’s type.  Neuropsychology, 9, 537-555.

Gernsbacher, M.A., & Faust, M.E. (1991a).  The role of suppression in sentence comprehension.  In G.B. Simpson (Ed.), Comprehending word and sentence.  Amsterdam: North Holland.

Gernsbacher, M.A., & Faust, M.E. (1991b).  Less-skilled comprehenders have less-efficient suppression mechanisms. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 17, 245‑262.

Gernsbacher, M.A., Varner, K., & Faust, M.E. (1990).  Investigating differences in General Comprehension Skill.  Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 16, 430‑445.

 

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