Assistant Professor, Psychology
University of Indianapolis
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Study of Cognition, Contradictions, and Misconceptions

The Study of Cognition, Contradictions, and Misconceptions (SCCAM) Lab is a (cognitively focused) psychology lab affiliated with the Department of Psychological Science at the University of Indianapolis. The faculty advisor is Dr. Candice Burkett, an assistant professor in the department. Broadly speaking, we are interested in higher order cognitive processes that occur while engaging with textual and multi-media materials. Most of our projects involve the study of contradictory material and misconceptions in different topic areas. Specifically, we study under what conditions people attend to contradictory material between multiple sources and what cognitive processes are involved in both detecting and “resolving” contradictory material. In addition, we study the presence of, and processes involved in overcoming misconceptions about psychological phenomena.

Meet The Current Lab Members

Jezalyn Hyzer
Research Interests: Processing and multi-tasking for Neurodivergent Individuals

Paisley McFarland
Research Interests: Identifying and combatting neuromyths about ASD as well has investigating the relationship between ASD-based neuromyths and behavioral indicators of bias.

Abigail Slaughter
Research Interests: I am interested in studying paradigms and cognitive dissonance and how they relate to the business world, such as marketing and advertising tactics.

Melia Trimmer
Research Interests: The role of mistranslations in game plot comprehension and gaming experiences.

Nicholas Wood
Research Interests: Consciousness, Dreams, Psychedelic Therapies. Neurodegenerative Diseases, Substance Abuse

Samantha Leander
Research Interests:
Comprehension of food labels, food label allergy warning efficacy, the role of risk taking in food-based decisions for individuals with food allergies.

Elizabeth Brookover
Research Interests:
Identification, predictors, and reduction of statistics anxiety for undergraduate students.

Thomas Largent
Research Interests: I am currently interested in how stigma can affect perceptions of mental health disorders, specifically desired social distance and perceived chronicity. My past research experience includes a program evaluation in which we used CQR-C. Current research initiatives are looking into stigma (desired social distance and perceived chronicity) in schizophrenia and depression, as well as my work with the SCCAM lab.

Mya Price
Research Interests: Linguistic analysis of character development for fictional characters in popular media.

Amaya Stowers
Research Interests: I am most interested in learning more about how we can make higher education a better community for learning, engagement, and connection. Current projects include investigating faulty perceptions of students with mental health concerns and undergraduate perceptions of text/graph contradictions.

Sydnee Widmann
Research Interests: The impacts of true crime media consumption on memory for crime-based events.

Tara Wrobel
Research Interests:
Behavioral Issues & Behavior Management, Mental Health & Influential Factors, Psychological Misconceptions & Stigma, Ethical Practices in Research & Treatment, Benefits & Risks of Psychological Treatments, Virtual Evaluation & Treatment, Barriers to Treatment, Relationships of Common Comorbidities in Psychological Diagnoses

Dailyn Burks
Research Interests: