Research Methods Seminar

9/18/09 - Dr. Michael Dougherty, PSYC/NACS, The lack of robustness of robust statistics to transformation and
a potential solution

A common problem in the behavioral and social sciences is the failure of data to conform to the assumptions of standard least-squares (LS) estimation techniques. Three common approaches to dealing with violations of assumptions include (a) ignoring the assumptions and hoping the statistic is robust to the violations, (b) transforming the data to make it look like it meets the assumptions, and (c) utilizing so-called robust estimation methods. In this talk, I describe a fourth approach to dealing with messy data based on a new statistical modeling approach – the General Monotonic Model (GeMM). GeMM dispenses with least-squares estimation techniques and instead utilizes information contained in the rank orders. Using real data drawn from 3 different domains of psychology (implicit attitudes, cognitive ability, and risky decision making) I illustrate (a) that GeMM provides more stable results than LS techniques, (b) GeMM yields solutions that are relatively insensitive to transformation whereas LS procedures do not, and (c) GeMM has superior statistical power than LS procedures when assumptions are violated.

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9/25/09 - Stephen David, UMD: Institute for Systems Research, *Spectro-temporal representation of sound in human electrocorticography (ECoG)*

10/2/09 - Dr. Joseph Dien, UMD-CASL

10/09/09 - Dr. John Polich, Scripps Inst. in CA, Everything You’ve Always Wanted to Know
about P3a and P3b But Were Afraid to Ask

10/23/09 - Meghan Graham, NACS

10/30/09 - Hui Wang, NACS, Feasibility of Inhibiting Beta site amyloid precursor protein
cleavaging enzyme 1 (BACE1) for the Treatment of Alzheimer’s disease

11/6/09 - Alexia Nunez, NACS, Adult neurogenesis and behavior in the olfactory bulb

11/13/09 - Sharona Atkins, NACS

11/20/09- Leslie Hainley, NACS

12/4/09 - Erika Hussey, NACS

In the Department

fMRI grant proposal funded

A grant proposal submitted by NACS faculty for a functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging facility on campus has been funded by the National Science Foundation Major Research Instrumentation Program. This facility will substantially enhance our ability to conduct cutting edge research in human neuroscience and cognitive science. NACS faculty members come from a variety of departments including Bioengineering, Hearing and Speech, Human Development, Kinesiology, Linguistics, Psychology, and others.

Banneker-Key Scholars

The Banneker-Key Scholarship is the most prestigious and competitive scholarship that the University offers to incoming freshmen. The top tier of awards supplies the full cost of tuition, fees and room and board coupled with a book allowance for four years. The Psychology Department has 9 Banneker-Key Scholars among the incoming freshman class. This raises the total number of Banneker-Key Scholars in the departmenr to 33, more than 1/3 of the 95 Banneker-Key Scholars in all of BSOS.

Upcoming Events

DEC 1

Developmental Job Talk

Dr. Kathleen Corriveau will give a talk entitled "Children's selective trust in informants". Dr. Corriveau is a candidate for the position in the developmental area.