Lisa A. (Farley) VanWormer
UWF Psychology Department, Rm 232 •
Pensacola FL 3251
850-857-6217
• lvanwormer@uwf.edu
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EDUCATION
Purdue University, West Lafayette IN, 2001-2006
Ph.D. Cognitive Psychology; Minor in Gerontology; Specialization in Human Factors 08/2006
M.S. Cognitive Psychology 05/2004
Lake Superior State University, Sault Ste. Marie MI, 1996-2000
B.S. Psychology; Minor in English/Literature; Magna cum laude with an Honors Degree
05/2000
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WORK EXPERIENCE
Current Position
Assistant Professor
Psychology Department. University of West Florida
Courses Taught
EXP 3082 Experimental Psychology
EXP 3082L Experimental Psychology Laboratory
EXP 4507 Memory and Cognition
EXP 6506 Advanced Cognitive Psychology
Visiting Instructor
Psychology Department, Purdue University.
F 2006- PSY 200 Cognitive Psychology (Enrolled students 1st semester = 250)
S 2007- PSY 200 Cognitive Psychology (Enrolled students 2nd semester = 350)
Responsible for creating material relevant to a general survey course of cognitive psychology. Topics
ranged from sensation and perception to problem solving and decision making to artificial intelligence.
Duties included preparing and giving 2, 1 ¼ hour lectures each week, constructing both multiple-choice
and short-essay exams quarterly, and assigning outside readings that best demonstrated how class concepts
were exercised in everyday life. Demonstrated a hands-on approach by maintaining a student accessible
web-page with daily updates of extra credit assignments, study guides, and general class announcements.
Encouraged student participation through extra credit opportunities both in and out of the classroom.
Teaching Assistant:
Spring 2006 – IE/PSY 577 Human Factors in Engineering
Worked with Dr. Robert Proctor and a team of teaching assistants for approximately 60
students. Duties included the shared responsibility of making weekly project presentations and
grading projects and exams.
Fall 2005- IE/PSY 577 Human Factors in Engineering
Worked with Dr. Robert Proctor and a team of teaching assistants for approximately 150
students. Duties included the bulk of responsibility for directing the Continuing Engineering
Education and Distance Learning students who were working for major corporations across the
United States. Duties also included the shared responsibility of making weekly project presentations,
preparing test questions, and grading projects and exams.
Fall 2001 to Fall 2004 -- PSY 200 Introduction to Cognition
Alternated as a teaching assistant for Dr. Ian Neath and Dr. Aimee Surprenant. As the sole teaching
assistant, duties included providing personal assistance to 80-100 students each semester, grading shortessay exams, and overseeing student participation in CogLab, a cognitive psychology online laboratory.
Research Assistant:
Fall 2003 to August 2006- Funded by National Institute on Aging Grant
Member of the Cognitive Aging and Memory Lab co-founded by Dr. Aimée Surprenant and Dr. Ian Neath.
Recruited and tested study participants ranging from age 18 to age 95. Primarily investigating the
relationship between sensory and memory deficits found in elderly adults. Older adults tend to have
impaired hearing and visual acuities which leads to impoverished stimuli. Currently, a number of our
studies test the hypothesis that by allocating compensating mental resources to overcome these sensory
deficits, older adults decrease the quality of mental resources that might normally be devoted to further
processing of the stimuli, such as storage and rehearsal. This hypothesis, if supported, would seem to
suggest that decreasing the load on sensory processing would produce a noticeable improvement in
memory performance for older adults.
Summer 2002- Funded by Caterpillar Inc. Grant
Worked as part of a team under the supervision of Dr. Aimée Surprenant (Cognitive
Psychology) and Dr. Patricia Davies (Mechanical Engineering) in an ongoing investigation of
the effect of sound quality in tractor cabs on work performance. Not only can loud cab
environments contribute to an individual’s hearing loss, it can also lead to detriments in task
performance.
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AD HOC REVIEWER
American Journal of Psychology
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PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
Association for Psychological Science
Southeastern Psychological Association
Faculty Co-Advisor of PsiChi, the National Honor Society of Psychology (2008-2009)
Faculty Co-Advisor of the Student Psychological Association (2008-2009)
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PUBLICATIONS AND PRESENTATIONS
Neath, I., Farley, L. A., & Surprenant, A. M. (2003). Directly assessing the relationship between irrelevant
speech and articulatory suppression. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 56A, 1269-1278.
Surprenant, A. M., Kelley, M. R., Farley, L. A., & Neath, I. (2005). Fill-In and infill errors in order memory.
Memory, 13, 267-273.
Surprenant, A. M., Farley, L. A., & Bireta, T. J. (2007). A history of memory and aging. In J. S.Nairne (Ed.),
Foundations of memory: Essays in honor of Henry L. Roediger, III. Hove, UK: Psychology Press.
Farley, L. A., Neath, I., Allbritton, D. W., & Surprenant, A. M. (2007). Irrelevant speech effects and implicit
sequence learning. Memory & Cognition.
Presentations
Farley, L.A., & Sawyer, T. (2000). The role of homophones as investigative materials in the multiple memory
debate. Poster presented at the 2000 Midwestern Psychological Association Conference, Chicago, Illinois.
Farley, L. A., Neath, I., & Surprenant, A. M. (2003). Irrelevant speech and implicit memory. Paper presented
at the Invited Symposium Auditory Attention/ Distraction at the XX British Psychological Society
Cognitive Section Conference, University of Reading, September 2003
Surprenant, A. M., Bireta, T. J., Farley, L. A., & Neath, I. (2005). Modeling the effects of aging on immediate
memory for phonologically confusable lists. Poster presented at the Aging and Speech Communication
Conference, Indiana University, October 2005.
Surprenant, A. M., Farley, L. A., & Neath, I. (2005). Age-related differences in the phonological similarity
effect: The contribution of sensory acuity. Poster presented at the 46th Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic
Society, Toronto, Canada, November 2005.
Surprenant, A. M., Farley, L. A., & Neath, I. (2005). Age-related differences in the phonological similarity
effect: The contribution of sensory acuity. Poster presented at the 46th Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic
Society, Toronto, Canada, November 2005.
Farley, L.A., Neath, I., & Suprenant, A.M. (2006). Testing exceptions to the inhibitory deficit hypothesis.
Poster presented at the 47th Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society, Houston, Texas, November 2006.
VanWormer, L.A. (2009). Examining the role of salience on the inhibitory deficit hypothesis. Poster presented
at the 55th Annual Meeting of the Southeastern Psychology Association, New Orleans, Louisiana, February
2009.