King's Psychology alumni present at top international conference

Work by recent King’s psychology alumni Wan Liu ’19 and Mike Moes ’20 was presented during the week of July 29-August 1, 2020 at CogSci 2020, the Cognitive Science Society conference – the top international conference in the field of cognitive science. The conference went ahead virtually due to COVID-19. Both students are part of Dr. Marcie Penner’s Cognitive Science & Numeracy Lab. 

Wan Lui presented her award-winning Honors Thesis research, examining the effects of numeracy skills, exposure to scientific findings in the media, and personal experience on decision-making.  She found that people with better numeracy skills made more accurate decisions, but that the application of numeracy skills was selective. People used their skills to confirm the outcome that they wanted to be true. 

Lui says because everything was moved online, she pre-recorded her presentation, which was five minutes in length and posted it online. During her poster session, she answered questions from people who virtually visited her poster booth. She received many compliments and much interest in her study.

Read the full paper here: https://cognitivesciencesociety.org/cogsci20/papers/0530/0530.pdf 

Mike Moes is a co-author (with Drs. Marcie Penner, Associate Professor, Department of Psychology and Aaron Cecala, post-doctoral fellow at Western University) on research conducted for an Independent Study in Cognitive Neuroscience, examining the neural correlates of finger representation. They found that the mental representation of one’s fingers is associated with activation in the frontal-parietal network and cerebellum.  

The paper was based off an independent study done by Moes as an undergrad. “It was a lot of hard work, but it really paid off, given that it was accepted to a conference,” he says.

For any student interested in a career in research or wishes to attend graduate school, Moes recommends doing an independent study. “While having publications on a CV as an undergrad certainly gives an edge, the real value is in the practical experience gained through doing the project. My experiences may be atypical though, as my mentor Dr. Penner is truly exceptional,” he explains.

Read the full paper here:https://cognitivesciencesociety.org/cogsci20/papers/0799/0799.pdf 

Mike Moes was also a co-author on a chapter last year in the book Mathematical Learning and Cognition in Early Childhood: Integrating Interdisciplinary Research into Practice.

For more information on CogSci 2020, the Cognitive Science Society conference, please visit: https://cognitivesciencesociety.org/cogsci-2020/