Cognition and Perception

Carleton Cognitive Modeling Lab (CCM)

The CCM Lab is a part of the VSIM group at Carleton University. It was created to support the efforts of those involved with cognitive modeling. This includes building cognitive models, building systems for creating cognitive models, developing better systems for testing cognitive models, doing the research to verify cognitive models, finding real world applications for cognitive models, and promoting the use of cognitive models. In terms of projects, we are open to the use of any modeling system that can offer insights into how the human mind operates.

Child Language and Literacy Research Lab (CLLR)

CLLR (pronounced clear) Lab members conduct research on language development and literacy acquisition.  There are four main research streams currently being explored by CLLR lab members:

  1. The Role of Home Literacy Experiences in the Acquisition of Language and Literacy
  2. Acquisition of Vocabulary
  3. Learning to Read and Write in French and Other Languages
  4. Individual Differences in Phonological Processing

Developmental

Child Language and Literacy Research Lab (CLLR)

CLLR (pronounced clear) Lab members conduct research on language development and literacy acquisition.  There are four main research streams currently being explored by CLLR lab members:

  1. The Role of Home Literacy Experiences in the Acquisition of Language and Literacy
  2. Acquisition of Vocabulary
  3. Learning to Read and Write in French and Other Languages
  4. Individual Differences in Phonological Processing

Healthy Relationships Lab

The Healthy Relationships Lab’s research focus is on the development of healthy relationships among children and youth. Check out the rest of their site for more information about current activities in the lab or otherwise that they’re involved with.

The Laboratory for Child Forensic Psychology (LCFP)

Along with the students working with Dr. Joanna Pozzulo, members of the LCFP are investigating issues related to child eyewitnesses. Child eyewitnesses are children who witness crime or unexpected events. These children then have to relay what happened – who did what?

Four lines of research are being examined the LCFP:

  1. Child Eyewitness Memory
  2. Lineup Procedures
  3. Child Clinical Psychology
  4. Juror Decision Making

Health

Work and Health Research Group

Members of the Work & Health Research Group are doing research in Occupational Health Psychology – a field that concerns the application of Psychology to promoting quality of work life and the health and well-being of workers. Their current research interests have grown out of projects examining the reactions of workers to occupational changes including downsizing, mergers, and organizational restructuring. The Work and Health Research Group has a particular focus on understanding the effects of employment patterns (e.g., contract jobs) on workers’ health and well-being. Over time, we will develop an integrative model of factors that influence dissatisfied workers to remain at, or change, jobs.

Carleton University Happiness Lab (CUHL)

The CUHL studies a variety of topics that are related, in some way, to personality and well-being.  This includes examining the correlates of happiness, as well as the basic processes (e.g., cognitive and emotional) underlying important individual differences. For example, current projects include:

  • Examining how personality contributes to differences in emotional experience and regulation of emotions.
  • Examining nature and people’s subjective connection with nature and how these relate to environmentally responsible behaviour and well-being.  This includes, but is not limited to, the individual difference nature relatedness.
  • Examining why people act more or less sociable (extraverted), and the cognitive and emotional consequences of this variation in behaviour.
  • Examining how emotion states (e.g., sadness and joy) and emotion-related traits (e.g., extraversion and neuroticism) influence perception, judgments, memory, and other cognitive processes.

Conflict Resolution Lab

At the heart of the research conducted in this lab is a desire to understand the causes and consequences of harmdoing at both the interpersonal (one person transgressing against another) and intergroup level (historical and contemporary harm experienced by members of one group at the hands of another group).

The Conflict Resolution Lab tends to concentrate on real-world conflict situations and the processes involved in forgiveness and reconciliation. At the intergroup level, the team seeks to establish a better understanding of the routes and mechanisms by which people come to accept responsibility for their own group’s past transgressions against another group. They also examine factors that influence historically victimized group members’ willingness to forgive outgroup members for their group’s transgressions.

Gambling Lab

At the heart of the research conducted in this lab is a desire to understand the causes of gambling addiction and means to facilitate responsible gambling.  Topics of interest include craving, erroneous cognition/non-rational thought, responsible gambling (e.g., assessment of tools that facilitate limit setting and adherence), stress and coping responses, and refusal to seek treatment.  This research takes place in the Carleton University Gambling Laboratory (CUGL), which is complete with slot machines, a black jack table, and a virtual reality casino.

Click here to see an educational video that the Gambling Lab helped to produce for the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation, entitled “Slot Machine: What Every Player Needs to Know.”

Forensic

Gender and Crime Research Lab

The Gender & Crime Research Lab is dedicated to understanding female offending using integrated approaches.  These approaches incorporate quantitative and qualitative methods as well as gender neutral and female-specific theories of crime.  Currently, the lab is involved in 3 inter-related streams of research: (1) examining the reliability and validity of existing psychologically-based assessment tools that are commonly used to assess female offender risk and need areas but for which little female-specific research exists, (2) developing new models of female criminal behavior using integrated theoretical and methodological approaches, and (3) developing new assessment tools for youthful females that are grounded in theory and research. The director of the Gender & Crime Research Lab is Dr. Shelley Brown.

The Laboratory for Child Forensic Psychology (LCFP)

Along with the students working with Dr. Joanna Pozzulo, members of the LCFP are investigating issues related to child eyewitnesses. Child eyewitnesses are children who witness crime or unexpected events. These children then have to relay what happened – who did what?

Four lines of research are being examined the LCFP:

  1. Child Eyewitness Memory
  2. Lineup Procedures
  3. Child Clinical Psychology
  4. Juror Decision Making

Personality and Social

Carleton University Happiness Lab (CUHL)

The CUHL studies a variety of topics that are related, in some way, to personality and well-being.  This includes examining the correlates of happiness, as well as the basic processes (e.g., cognitive and emotional) underlying important individual differences. For example, current projects include:

  • Examining how personality contributes to differences in emotional experience and regulation of emotions.
  • Examining nature and people’s subjective connection with nature and how these relate to environmentally responsible behaviour and well-being.  This includes, but is not limited to, the individual difference nature relatedness.
  • Examining why people act more or less sociable (extraverted), and the cognitive and emotional consequences of this variation in behaviour.
  • Examining how emotion states (e.g., sadness and joy) and emotion-related traits (e.g., extraversion and neuroticism) influence perception, judgments, memory, and other cognitive processes.

Conflict Resolution Lab

At the heart of the research conducted in this lab is a desire to understand the causes and consequences of harmdoing at both the interpersonal (one person transgressing against another) and intergroup level (historical and contemporary harm experienced by members of one group at the hands of another group).

The Conflict Resolution Lab tends to concentrate on real-world conflict situations and the processes involved in forgiveness and reconciliation. At the intergroup level, the team seeks to establish a better understanding of the routes and mechanisms by which people come to accept responsibility for their own group’s past transgressions against another group. They also examine factors that influence historically victimized group members’ willingness to forgive outgroup members for their group’s transgressions.

Gambling Lab

At the heart of the research conducted in this lab is a desire to understand the causes of gambling addiction and means to facilitate responsible gambling.  Topics of interest include craving, erroneous cognition/non-rational thought, responsible gambling (e.g., assessment of tools that facilitate limit setting and adherence), stress and coping responses, and refusal to seek treatment.  This research takes place in the Carleton University Gambling Laboratory (CUGL), which is complete with slot machines, a black jack table, and a virtual reality casino.

Click here to see an educational video that the Gambling Lab helped to produce for the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation, entitled “Slot Machine: What Every Player Needs to Know.”

Johanna Peetz’s Social Psychology Labs

Dr. Peetz collaborates with undergraduate and graduate students to explore research questions organized into three different labs:

  • Close Relationships Lab: What motivates people to go out of their way to do things for their loved ones? Are loving feelings the only -or even the best- predictor of what we think we’ll do and what we’ll really do for our romantic partner?
  • Time & the Self Lab: How do we think about and represent time? What effects do mental representations of time have on our motivation and behaviour?
  • Financial Predictions Lab: People often attempt to estimate future expenses when faced with everyday choices (e.g., where to buy lunch, how to spend the weekend) as well as major life decisions (e.g., whether to have a child, when to retire). Errors in such prediction can be costly, resulting in unwise financial decisions, and ultimately could contribute to stress and reduced well being.

Procrastination Research Group (PRG)

The PRG began in 1995 when Dr. Tim Pychyl completed his own doctoral work related to personal projects and subjective well being. In his research interviews, a consistent theme emerged in which participants described the difficulty they were having with procrastination on their personal projects and how this procrastination had a negative impact on their well being. This was the beginning of a new focus for Dr. Pychyl and his students at Carleton University as they explored how procrastination, as a breakdown in volitional action, affects our lives.

The PRG is primarily a learning group in that the research conducted is largely work that students complete for their theses at the graduate and undergraduate level. In a very real sense, research is learning in our group, and the PRG website celebrates this learning while disseminating interesting information throughout the world.

Social Diversity Lab

Canadian society prides itself for its emphasis on multiculturalism and its respect for social diversity and pluralism. However, despite these ideals, not all groups are in fact treated equally, nor do all members of a group view their distinctiveness as positive.

Research in the Social Diversity Lab concerns the processes, and the mental health outcomes involved when we define our society and ourselves in terms of our social group memberships. The Social Diversity Lab’s research addresses these issues from four perspectives, including:

  • Embracing a negative social identity (Intergroup Processes)
  • Overcoming differences in opinion (Intragroup Processes)
  • Looking for support (Interpersonal Processes)
  • Coping with life’s stresses (Intrapersonal Processes)