Marilyn Welsh
Professor
Degree: Ph.D., 1983, UCLA, Developmental Psychology (minors in Cognitive and
Physiological Psychology)
My area of interest:
My research program in developmental and cognitive neuropsychology is focused on examining the nature of executive function, the cognitive processes mediated by the prefrontal cortex. I have conducted studies to explore the development of executive processes in typical and atypical populations, the construction and validation of new assessment tools, and the degree to which interventions can facilitate executive functions in children and adults. Some of this work has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, and the March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation.
My teaching philosophy:
I strive to teach content-rich classes that combine both lecture and discussion formats. My goal is to link the topic area, whether it is research methods or child psychology, to current issues in society, as well as to provide students with the practical, critical thinking skills to make informed decisions about their own lives. The courses I teach typically are: Introduction to Research Methods, Advanced Research Methods, Human Growth and Development, Child and Adolescent Psychology, Developmental Disabilities and Psychopathology, as well as graduate-level courses on development.
My latest professional activity:
- Emick, J. & Welsh, M.C. (2005). Association between formal operational thought and executive functions. Learning and Individual Differences, 15, 177-188.
- Welsh,M.C.& Huizinga, M.C. (2005). Tower of Hanoi disk-transfer task: influences of strategy knowledge and learning on performance. Learning and Individual Differences., 15, 283-298.
- Welsh, M.C., Friedman, S.L., & Spieker, S.J. (2005). Executive Functions in Developing Children: Current Conceptualizations and Questions for the Future. In D.Phillips & K.McCartny (Eds.), Handbook of Early Childhood Development. London: Blackwell.
- Zook, N., Welsh, M.C., Ewing, V. (2006). Performance of healthy, older adults on the Tower of London-Revised: Associations with verbal and nonverbal abilities. Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition 13,1-19.
- Mutter, B., Alcorn, M., & Welsh, M.C. (2006). Theory of mind and executive function: Working memory capacity and inhibitory control as predictors of false-belief task. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 102, 819-835.
- Gorman Barry, P., & Welsh, M.C. (2007). The BrainWise Curriculum: Neurocognitive Development Intervention Program. In D. Romer & E. Walker (Eds.), Adolescent Psychopathology and the Developing Brain: Integrating brain and prevention science. New York: Oxford University Press.
- Welsh, M.C., Kathryn De Roche, & David Gilliam (in press). Neurocognitive Models of Early-treated Phenylketonuria: Insights from Meta-Analysis and New Molecular Genetic Findings. To appear in C. Nelson & M. Luciana (Eds.), Handbook of Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience. Boston: MIT Press.