VITA

Shannon N. Whitten

March, 2008

The University of Central Florida

250 College Parkway

Palm Bay, FL 32909

Phone: (321) 433 – 7981

Fax: (321) 433 - 7977

E-mail: swhitten@mail.ucf.edu

Personal History:

Birth date: 7-20-74

Birthplace: West Palm Beach, FL. United States

Educational History:

Degree: Ph.D., August 2003

Program: Cognitive Psychology

Committee Chair: Arthur C. Graesser, Ph.D.

Dissertation: The Role of Complexity on Reading, Memory, and Appreciation of Song Lyrics and Science Exposition

Degree: M.S., May, 2000

Program: Cognitive Psychology

Committee Chair: Arthur C. Graesser, Ph.D.

Thesis: Thematic inferences: Understanding the whole story

Degree: B.A., (1997)

Major: Psychology

Honors: Magna cum laude, honors program

Honors thesis: The effect of variations in the presentation of temporal information on mental representation

Degree: A.A. (1995)

Degree: Diploma (1992)

Research Interests:

Primary interests: Comprehension, creativity, discourse processes, educational psychology, inference generation, knowledge representation, learning strategies, media comprehension, memory, narratives, problem solving, psychology of language, social psychology

Other interests: human-computer interaction, philosophy, psychological aesthetics, statistics

Professional Positions:

University of Central Florida, Palm Bay Center

Teaching Responsibilities: Three courses per semester including Research Methods (PSY 3214), Physiological Psychology (PSB 3002), Psychology of Art (PSY 4025), Social Psychology (SOP 3004), Psychology of Aging (DEP 3463), Cognitive Psychology (EXP 3513), Perception (EXP 3204), Memory and Memory Disorders (PSY 3930) and Psychology of language (LIN 3703). Cognitive Psychology (EXP 3513), Perception (EXP 3204) are offered both live and as a web-based course.

Service Responsibilities: Honor's in the Major Cooridinator for Palm Bay campus, Psychology Web-site Committee,Co-director of the Palm Bay Psychology Club.

Research Responsibilities: Co-director of Palm Bay research team.

University of Central Florida, Palm Bay Center

Teaching Responsibilities: Four courses per semester including Research Methods (PSY 3214), Physiological Psychology (PSB 3002), Psychology of Art (PSY 4025), Social Psychology (SOP 3004), Psychology of Aging (DEP 3463), Cognitive Psychology (EXP 3513), Perception (EXP 3204), and Memory and Memory Disorders (PSY 3930)

Service Responsibilities: Co-director of the Palm Bay Psychology Club, Member of the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee, Psychology representative for the FSECC, Psychology web liaison

Research Responsibilities: Co-director of Palm Bay research team.

Cognitive Science Laboratory - University of Memphis

Research on discourse processes, collaborative work on an Office of Naval Research grant investigating deep comprehension of illustrated texts depicting mechanical devices. Collaborative work on a project funded by the National Science Foundation to build and test a computer tool that critiques survey questions

Advisor: Arthur C. Graesser, Ph.D.

Introduction to Psychology, PSYC 1102

Cognitive Science Seminar, PSYC 7514

Journal Articles:

Mottarella, K., Fritzsche, B., Whitten, S., & Bedsole, D. (Accepted with Revisions). Exploration of "Good Mother" stereotypes in the college environment, Sex Roles .

Graesser, A.C., Lu, S., Olde, B.A., Cooper-Pye, E., & Whitten, S. (2005). Question asking and eye tracking during cognitive disequilibrium: Comprehending illustrated texts on devices when the devices break down.  Memory and Cognition, 33, 1235-1247.

Graesser, A. C., Olde, B., Pomeroy, P., Whitten, S., Lu, S., & Craig, S. (2005).  Inferencias y preguntas en la cómprension de textos cientificos (Inferences and questions in science text comprehension).  Tarbiya. 36, 103-129.

Graesser, A.C., and Whitten, S.N. (2001). Scripts of the mind and educational reform. Contemporary Psychology, 46, 261-262.

Graesser, A.C., and Whitten, S.N. (1999). Review of Walter Kintsch's book, “Comprehension: A paradigm for cognition.” Journal of Pragmatics, 32, 1247 – 1252.

Whitten, S.N. & Graesser, A.C. (2001). The psychology of themes. Poetics, 29, 135 - 138.

Zwaan, R.A., Madden, C.J., & Whitten, S.N. (2000). The presence of an event in the narrated situation affects its activation. Memory & Cognition, 28, 1022 – 1028.

Book Chapters:

Graesser, A.C., Karnavat, A.B., Daniel, F.K., Cooper, E., Whitten, S.N., & Louwerse, M. (2001). A computer tool to improve questionnaire design. In Statistical Policy Working Paper 33, Federal Committee on Statistical Methodology (pp.36-48). Washington DC : Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Graesser, A.C., Olde, B., Pomeroy, V., Whitten, S., Lu, S., & Craig, S. (2003). Inferences and questions in science text comprehension. In J. Otero and M. H. Caldeira (Eds.), Comprehension de los textos de ciencias. Madrid: Ed. Paidos.

Whitten, S.N. & Graesser, A.C. (2003). Comprehension of text in problem solving.

R. J. Sternberg and J. E. Davidson, The nature of problem solving . Cambridge University Press.

Whitten, S.N., Graesser, A.C. (1999). Lo studio sistematico della comprensione del discorso . Aldo Nemesio (Ed.) L'esperienza del testo, Rome , Italy : Meltemi.

Zwaan, R.A., Radvansky, G.A., and Whitten, S.N. (2002). Situation models and themes. In W. van Peer and M. Louwerse (Eds), Thematics in psychology and literary studies. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.

Conference Proceedings:

Whitten, S.N., & Graesser, A.C. (2002). The emotional impact of song lyrics depends on the reader and the type of text.  Presentation at the Society for the Empirical study of Literature, Pecs, Hungary.

Whitten, S.N., & Graesser, A.C. & Olde, B.A. (2000, July). Comprehension of mechanical devices. Poster presented at the Annual meeting of the Society for Text and Discourse, Lyon, France.

Conference Presentations:

Whitten, S.N., Mottarella, K. & Bedwell, J. (2007, July). The Relationship Between News Media and Argument Quality. Poster presented at the 17th Annual Meeting of the Society for Text and Discourse, Glasgow, Scotland.  

Fiore, S., McDaniel, R. & Whitten, S.N., & Shoff, H. (2007, April). Narrative And Neuroscience: Leveraging The Power Of Story To Bridge The Humanities And The Neurosciences . Conference sponsored by the Comparative Humanities Program at Bucknell University, Lewisburg, PA.

Whitten, S.N., & Graesser, A.C. (2006, July). A Subject of Interpretation: Does Divergent Thinking Improve Memory for Scientific Texts?

Poster presented at the 16th Annual Meeting of the Society for Text and Discourse, Minneapolis, MN.

Whitten, S.N., & Graesser, A.C. (2000, November). Understanding the Whole story: Thematic inferences are generated spontaneously. Poster presented at the 41st Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society, New Orleans, LA.

Whitten, S.N., & Graesser, A.C. (2000, August). Thematic processing of narrative texts. Presentation at the Society for the Empirical study of Literature, Toronto, CA.

Graesser, A.C., Whitten, S.N., & Olde, B.A. (2000, June). Do males and females differ on mechanical comprehension?. Poster Presented at the Annual meeting of the American psychological Society, Miami, FL.

Whitten, S.N., & Graesser, A.C. (1999, August). Thematic inferences during on-line comprehension. Presentation at the Annual meeting of the Society for Text and Discourse, Vancouver, CA.

Zwaan, R.A., Madden, C.J., & Whitten, S.N. (1998, November). Time shifts, temporal discontinuities, and discontinuations of actions. Poster presented at the 39th Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society, Dallas, TX .

Other Publications:

Whitten, S.N. (2008). Exploring the use of Computational Tools to Grade Student Essays in Web-based Courses. Information Fluency Newsletter.

Mull, D. & Whitten S.N. (2004). Qualitative Research Designs. In N. Salkind (Ed.) TheEncyclopedia of Human Development.

Slavin, K. & Whitten S.N. (2004). Abstract Reasoning. In N. Salkind (Ed.) The Encyclopedia of Human Development.

Tatsch, R. & Whitten S.N. (2004). Convergent Thinking. In N. Salkind (Ed.) The Encyclopedia of Human Development.

Whitten, S.N., Horowitz, R., Graesser, A.C., (1998-2000) Text & Discourse Newsletter. Volumes 84 -86. 

Whitten, S.N., & Graesser, A.C. (2001). Special edition of the journal Poetics on themes.

Funded Projects:

Title: Exploring the use of computational tools to grade student essays in web-based courses

PI: Whitten, Shannon;

Co-PIs: Fiore, Stephen; Sims, Valerie

Sponsoring Agency: UCF Information Fluency Initiative

Grant Number: UCF Information Fluency Enhancement Grant

Dates: 8-07 to 6-08

Award: $1,000

 

Title: Critical thinking about sources of news information

PI: Whitten, Shannon;

Co-PIs: Mottarella, Karen; Bedwell, Jeff

Sponsoring Agency: UCF Information Fluency Initiative

Grant Number: UCF Information Fluency Enhancement Grant

Dates: 8-07 to 6-08

Award: $1,000

 

Ad hoc Reviewer:

Discourse Processes, 1998 - present

AERA conference, 1998

 

Teaching Experience:

University of Central Florida

University of Memphis

Mentorship Experience:

University of Central Florida

Supervision of Undergraduate Research Team Members since 2003:

Cheryl Bemiss

Nicole Bly

Brittney Beard

Angela Carter

Larrissa Cobb

DeAnn Collins

Brandon Dudley

Julia Fullick

Lora Hackney

Ashley Harper

Ashley Heinrich

Ariana Langham

Iris Mackey

Jason Metz

Danielle Mull

Kevin Palmer

Katleen Portillo

Lindsay Reeser

Jacquelyn Strubble

Maria Ricci-Twitchell

Rick Tatsch

RAMP scholar: Angela Carter; 2004- 2005

 

Chair of Undergraduate Honor's in the Major Theses:

Kevin Palmer (2008)

The Effect of Physical Context of Previous Stress Exposure on Stress Response Habituation

Nicole Bly (2007)

Do People Have Negative Stereotypes about Women Who Elect to Have Plastic Surgery?

Ashley Heinrich's (2007)

Investigating the Relationship Between Teen Pregnancy And Social Support Networks

Angela Carter, (2006)

Is meditation an Effective method of Stress Reduction for Students?

Julia Fullick, (2006)

Does Teacher Support Directly Change One's Academic Resiliency and Ability to Sustain Competence Under Pressure?  

Danielle Mull (2005)

Music as A Language:  Does Music Occupy Verbal Working Memory in Experienced Musicians?

 

Honors in the Major Theses, Committee Member:

Kathleen Portillo (2008)

College Students Perceptions of Fellow Students Suffering From Chronic Illness

Maria Ricci-Twitchell (2008)

Exploring the Relationship between Patients' Health Locus of Control and Perception of Physician's Support

Ashley Brown (2005)

The Impact of Gender on Perceptions of Emotional Abuse

Ariana Langham (2005)

Generational Differences in Understanding of Psychological Abuse

Silvana Huayres (2004)

The Influence of Religion on Substance Use Among College Students"

Davina Bedsole (2004)

The Student Perception of Working Moms"

Kristin Day (2004)

The Influence of Title and Use of Jargon on Consumer's Acceptance of Behavior Analysis

 

 

University of Memphis

Supervision of Undergraduate Assistants

Spring 2000 – Summer 2003

Students Mentored:

Elisa Cooper

Frances Daniel

Michelle Edwards

Awards:

Howard D. Baker Undergraduate Research Award, Florida State University. 1997, $300.

Service:

University of Central Florida: 

References:

Dr. Art Graesser

Institute for Intelligent Systems
403C FedEx Institute of Technology
The University of Memphis
Memphis, TN 38152

Phone: (901) 678-2742

e-mail: a-graesser@memphis.edu

Dr. Karen Mottarella

University of Central Florida Palm Bay Center

250 College Parkway

Palm Bay, FL. 32909

Office: (321) 433 – 7982

Fax: (321) 433 – 7977

e-mail: kmottare@mail.ucf.edu

Dr. Valerie Sims

Department of Psychology
University of Central Florida
4000 Central Florida Blvd.

Office Phone: 407-823-0343
407-823-4344
Email: vsims@ucf.edu

Dr. Richard Tucker

Department of Psychology
Univ. of Central Florida
4000 Central Florida Blvd.

Office Phone: 407-823-2566
Main office: 407-823-4344

Email: rtucker@ucf.edu
Website: Learning Institute for Elders at UCF