Dr. Shaun P. Cook

I am a cognitive neuropsychologist with similar research and teaching interests. Generally, I am interested in how healthy aging, brain damage, or neurological disease affects cognitive function, most notably memory. My research goals include detailing how memory functions and then using that information to develop strategies or programs aimed at improving the memory of those who have experienced a decline in memory ability.

Consequently, I am interested in instances of everyday memory as well as instances of unusual memory such as flashbulb memory and false memory. I believe that a converging evidence paradigm results in the strongest evidence for research findings. Therefore, my research program integrates multiple techniques including neuropsychological studies, aging studies, neuroimaging, and computational modeling. Along with memory, executive function holds a great deal of fascination for me. I am the director of Millersville’s Neuropsychology of Memory and Aging Lab and a senior researcher in the Center for Developmental research. In addition to my work at Millersville, I am currently collaborating with researchers from the University of Arizona, Carnegie Mellon University, and the University of Ottawa.

I teach 17 different courses at Millersville, 12 of them regularly. These courses are in my area of expertise and include undergraduate as well as graduate courses such as Research Methods, Statistics, Human Memory, Neuropsychology, Physiological Psychology, Applications of Biopsychology, among others. The nature of these courses vary as some are seminar courses, some are labs courses, some are interactive lectures. I teach these courses in a variety of settings and delivery methods, both face-to-face an online.

At Millersville, I am the Director of the Psychology Honors Program and serve the university in a number of positions, including as the Psychology Faculty Senator, Faculty Senate Pro Tem, the Faculty Senate Parliamentarian, the chair of the Educator of the Year Committee, the chair of the University Honors College Curriculum Committee, the chair of the Joint Senate Conference Committee, among others. I am also the Chair of the Cognitive Division of the Eastern Psychological Association.