Lee and Willoughby Awarded Grant to Explore Cognitive Ability through Innovative Research

We are pleased to announce that The Institute of Mental Chronometry has awarded James Lee (PI) and Emily Willoughby (Co-PI) with a grant ($530,129) to study the “Foundations and Implications of Human Cognitive Ability.” The research includes the biological basis of reaction time, the existence and effects of selective placement in adoption studies, and drawing ability and visuomotor task performance."

The project will recruit participants who are asked to accurately reproduce a drawing of an everyday object or animal from a photograph within a short period of time. The reproduced drawings will be evaluated for degree of accuracy. The study aims to answer an under-investigated question in psychology: “What individual characteristics cause some people’s drawings to be more accurate than others, even for a given level of drawing experience?”

James Lee, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Minnesota.

Emily Willoughby, PhD, postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Psychology at the University of Minnesota. 

Composed by Madison Stromberg, communications assistant.