Research

My primary research interests include eyewitness memory and student learning. If you are interested in collaborating on research, please email me at lapagliaj@morningside.edu

Some recent projects include the following:

Prequestioning and Student Learning

In this project, I collaborated with several students to examine how asking students about material before a lecture influences their learning of that material. We did experiments in laboratory and classroom settings. We found that prequestioning students about information increases their learning of the material. Prequestioning also improved learning of related, but nonprequestioned information.

Eyewitness Recall and Suggestibility

In this research, I examined how describing an eyewitness event affects suggestibility to later presented misinformation. In a recent study, my student and I examined how initial testing influences encoding of misinformation. We used physiological measures to see if the emotional response to seeing false information changes depending on whether participants were initially tested over the event details.

Test Anxiety and Expressive Writing

In this study (in collaboration with Chris Spicer), we examined how expressive writing and test anxiety affect student performance and metacognitive judgments. We collected data in two sections of general psychology and in two math courses in spring 2015. Overall, we found that students who were test anxious were better able to predict their exam scores following expressive writing.

The Effect of an Applied Quantitative Course on Student Perceptions of Math

In this study (in collaboration with Chris Spicer), we examined how students' perceptions of math changed after taking the AQuA pilot course. We found that the course improved students understanding of quantitative reasoning and reduced their math anxiety.

Physiological Responses to Political Advertisements

In this project collaboration with Valerie Hennings, we examined physiological responses to political advertisements. We had six students involved in this project (one psychology, one math, two biology, and two political science students). I trained them on data collection and coding using the Biopacs. We collected data from over 70 participants and found that participants had stronger reactions to the Super PAC ads (likely because they were more negative) than the campaign ads for both presidential candidates.

Classroom Assessment

I have conducted assessment in several courses that I teach regularly. I have presented my innovative course designs and assessment at several conferences.

Gamification and Student Motivation

I incorporated gamification into my Behavior Modification course in an attempt to increase student motivation and participation. Students were divided into "houses" (like in Harry Potter) and competed in the House Cup. They earned points and badges for their house based on participation. A survey conducted at the end of the semester examined student competitiveness, motivation, and perceptions of the House Cup. Students who were more extrinsically motivated and were highly competitive had more positive perceptions of course gamification. Unsurprisingly, the students who did well in the House Cup had more positive perceptions of gamification compared to the losing teams.

Project-based Integrative Learning in a Cognitive Psychology Course

I transformed my Cognitive Psychology course into an integrative experience course. Students examined an interdisciplinary topic and taught a class period, designed and conducted an empirical study examining this topic, and presented what they learned to their target audience. My assessment data indicated that this project significantly improved student learning.

Using Learning-Enhancing Techniques to Teach Learning and Memory

In my Learning and Memory class, I used learning-enhancing techniques from cognitive psychology (e.g., testing, distributed practice) to improve student learning.