Dennis McFadden is the subject of "Faculty Highlights" in the November 21, 2003 section of Research Alert, sponsored by the Office of the Vice President for Research.

"Dr. McFadden has been interested in various aspects of auditory performance--sound localization, masking, adaptation-like effects, and the effects of drugs and intense sound on the auditory system. His more recent work has been in auditory perceptual organization and otoacoustic emissions. He has shown that subjects are better able to discriminate small sensory changes in stimuli that are perceptually organized than in those that are not. To date, the effect has been demonstrated for frequency discrimination, duration discrimination, and with a speech task. Otoacoustic emissions are sounds produced in the inner ear. They are stronger and more numerous in females than in males, and McFadden has been studying the underlying mechanisms. The evidence suggests that prenatal differences in exposure to androgens contributes to the sex difference in otoacoustic emissions -just as it does for other sex differences in the body and the brain. He believes that otoacoustic emissions have the potential to serve as a noninvasive window onto prenatal developmental processes."

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Kim Fromme's research is featured on the UT news site:

Researcher receives $3.2 million grant to track alcohol use by college students

"Developmental trajectories of alcohol use and abuse have been identified across the college years, but little is known about the behavioral risks such as risky sex and aggression associated with collegiate drinking," Fromme said. "Identification of the factors that increase or decrease these types of behaviors during college will have significant implications for the types of university policies and prevention programs that are likely to be successful." (September 2003)

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Bill Swann's research is featured on the UT news site:

Effectiveness of diverse work groups depends upon recognition of individual personalities (September 2003)
?In theory, diversity should contribute to better performance in groups,...When you have a group of diverse people in a group, they will have different viewpoints and experiences they will bring to bear to the task at hand. By having a wide selection of diverse perspectives work group members will be in a better position to generate creative solutions...In practice, that doesn’t happen—or at least it doesn’t happen more often than the opposite, which is that diversity actually undermines performance" --Bill Swann

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Juan Salinas and Les Cohen were quoted in an Austin American-Stateman feature, "Behold the Brain" by Jane Grieg (in Life & Arts, Saturday, August 16, 2003):

"Information is constantly coming in, says Juan Salinas...During a classroom lecture, the teacher's voice is competing with information already stored in the brain as well as information from other areas -- noise in the hallway, a lawn mower outside the classroom window, a growling stomach."

"Cohen says all learning is like reading, integrating simple information into more complex information."

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Federal $4.5 million grant for Magnetic Resonance Imaging machine (fMRI) (August 2003)

The University of Texas at Austin has received $4.5 million from the federal Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP)—to obtain and operate one of the most sophisticated functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging machines (fMRI) in the country to explore how the brain is affected by drug and alcohol abuse. An important element in the grant is the doctoral education component originated by Dr. Francisco Gonzalez-Lima, the George I. Sanchez Centennial Professor in the College of Liberal Arts and Department of Psychology. The focus of the educational component will be the universityÕs graduate program in neurosciences, but also will include training for graduate students in clinical psychology, cell and molecular biology, pharmacy and computer science. Undergraduates also will have opportunities for training in imaging research.

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Race Has Powerful Effects on Children's Perceptions of Job Status, Study Shows (June 26, 2003)

Children's perceptions of job status and their own vocational interests are affected by racial segregation of the workforce according to a new study published in the May issue of Developmental Psychology, a journal published by the American Psychological Association (APA).
Dr. Rebecca S. Bigler, associate professor of psychology and Cara J. Averhart, M.A., at The University of Texas at Austin, and Dr. Linn S. Liben, professor of psychology at The Pennsylvania State University, found that although the jobs themselves were identical, children's perception of status differed depending on the race of the worker.

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University researchers find clues to personality traits in musical preferences (June 18, 2003)

A new study from researchers at The University of Texas at Austin that examines how music preference is related to personality found that most musical choices fall into one of four broad categories: Reflective and Complex, Intense and Rebellious, Upbeat and Conventional, or Energetic and Rhythmic. The results of the study appear in the June issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, published by the American Psychological Association. Researchers Dr. Samuel Gosling and Peter Rentfrow found that musical preference could reliably be sorted into one of these four categories and that these preferences are related to personality, intelligence and values. Read more...

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Fear Factor: Psychologists help people conquer anxieties and phobias

Mike Telch's research was featured in two episodes (Claustrophobia and Arachnophobia) of a new National Geographic Channel series, Phobia. READ A REVIEW OF THE SERIES

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Key brain cells involved in addiction identified by University of Texas at Austin research team

Dr. Adriana A. Alcantara, professor of psychology and neuroscience, and Monica L. Berlanga, Ph.D. candidate in the Institute for Neuroscience
(October 30, 2002)

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Born to Be a Bully? Study shows social stress can change your mind

Yvon Delville's research is the feature story on the University's "Feature" site (September 2002)

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The Personality of Personal Spaces: Your office or bedroom can reveal more about you than you may think

Sam Gosling's research on personal spaces is featured on the University's "Features" site (March 2002)