Associate Professor
Links
Contact
(216) 368-2681
Mather Memorial Building 131A
Research interests
My research crosses multiple levels of investigation from high-level studies of complex human performance to lower-level investigations of cognitive control. My current lines of research include:
The Role of Experiential Factors on Performance Variance
How does starting age, domain-specific practice, and experience outside one’s domain predict performance variance? I have conducted a number of meta-analyses on deliberate practice as well as a replication of the seminal study. I am currently working on a project investigating experiential factors’ influence on sports performance variance.
Task Characteristics Moderate the Importance of Cognitive and Experiential Predictors
Cognitive abilities and experiential factors are sometimes pitted against one another in a nature-nurture debate. To move beyond this dichotomy, I’m interested in when one set of factors are more predictive than the other. There seem to be some tasks where practice is more predictive of performance variance and others where cognitive abilities are more predictive. I am interested in examining whether there are systematic task characteristics that moderate these relationships with performance variance. I am currently conducting a multi-lab, multi-phase line of research in this area.
Beliefs’ Influence on Achievement
More recently, I have become interested in the role of beliefs, namely mindsets, and their presumed influence on goals, study, and achievement. I have conducted a meta-analysis and correlational studies, and there are several more projects on this topic in the pipeline.
Artificial Intelligence Assistance Might Cause Skill Atrophy
With colleagues in computer science and engineering, I am exploring how artificial intelligence assistance might negatively impact human skills. We are beginning to investigate how artificial intelligence assistants might hinder learning and/or cause skill atrophy among experts.
Mechanisms of Cognitive Control
With my graduate students, I am investigating mechanisms of cognitive control during visual search and engagement of cognitive control mechanisms when task contexts change.