Influential Research Papers

This table lists prominent research papers written by faculty members in the Department of Psychology in collaboration with their graduate students and colleagues. Senior faculty list papers that are widely cited, as well as those that represent their current research program. Junior faculty list papers that  represent their developing research program. The citation count is provided by Google Scholar. Click on the article to obtain an up-to-date citation count and other information. To see a professor's Google Scholar Profile (for those who have one), click on their name.

In the Department of Psychology, we are proud of the research productivity of our faculty. Citation counts provide one indication of a research program’s cumulative impact in an area of specialization. This is a delayed measure of impact as it usually takes quite a long time for a paper to be cited many times.

Please note that it is not meaningful to compare faculty members by looking at overall citation counts. There are two reasons for this: 1) the average time it takes to publish a research paper and the average rate at which a research paper is cited is different within different sub-disciplines of psychology and 2) the number of times a research paper is cited depends upon the number of years that it has been published.

 

Name & Google Scholar Profile

Reference

 

Commentary

Alexitch, Louise

Chapdelaine, R. F., & Alexitch, L. R. (2004). Social skills difficulty: Model of culture shock for international graduate students. Journal of College Student Development, 45(2), 167-184.

 

Alexitch, Louise

Alexitch, L. R. (1997). Students' educational orientation and preferences for advising from university professors. Journal of College Student Development38(4), 333-343.

 

Alexitch, Louise

Alexitch, L. R. (2002). The role of help-seeking attitudes and tendencies in students' preferences for academic advising. Journal of College Student Development43(1), 5-19.

 

Borowsky, Ron

Borowsky, R., & Besner, D. (1993). Visual word recognition: A multistage activation model. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 19(4), 813.


These experiments and model demonstrated the advantages of a stages-of-processing framework over parallel distributed processing for understanding lexical reading processes (examining semantic priming, stimulus quality, and word frequency), and also led to an interesting exchange with Plaut & Booth in Psychological Review over a decade later (Borowsky & Besner, 2006; Besner & Borowsky, 2006). Perhaps most interesting was that they declined the opportunity for a final rebuttal...

Borowsky, Ron

Borowsky, R., & Masson, M. E. (1996). Semantic ambiguity effects in word identification. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition22(1), 63.

 

These experiments and neural network simulations were the first to demonstrate how different characteristics of neural networks can simultaneously account for: (1) semantic ambiguity advantages (e.g., in a lexical decision task you identify ambiguous words like 'bat' sooner than unambiguous words like 'bet', which is simulated in the network by a measure of familiarity in the semantic system), (2) disadvantages (e.g., eye-tracking gaze duration is longer for ambiguous words when reading for meaning, which is simulated in the network by the time for the activation pattern to settle in the semantic system), and null effects (no differences in naming reaction time, as phonological processing can proceed without influence from semantics). 

Borowsky, Ron

Borowsky, R., Cummine, J., Owen, W. J., Friesen, C. K., Shih, F., & Sarty, G. E. (2006). FMRI of ventral and dorsal processing streams in basic reading processes: insular sensitivity to phonology. Brain topography18(4), 233-239.

 

This fMRI study was the first to compare reading aloud of exception words (e.g., ‘one’, which must be read via lexical memory) and pseudohomophones (e.g., ‘wun’, which must be read via sublexical spelling to sound translation) to examine the cortical visual processing streams as well as the insular cortex, and their relationship to lexical and sublexical reading processes. It was the first to use these optimal stimulus types and show independent fMRI BOLD activation in the ventral- lexical and dorsal-sublexical streams, and further suggested the insular cortex to be sensitive to phonological processing (particularly sublexical spelling-sound translation). 

Campbell, Jamie

Campbell, J. I. (1994). Architectures for numerical cognition. Cognition53(1), 1-44.

 

Different arithmetic notations recruited distinct calculation processes, 
showing that mental arithmetic is not fundamentally abstract.

Campbell, Jamie

Campbell, J. I., & Xue, Q. (2001). Cognitive arithmetic across cultures. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General130(2), 299-315.

 

Extracurricular cultural activities, rather than differences in formal education, contributed to differences in arithmetic ability between Chinese and North American adults.

Campbell, Jamie

Campbell, J. I., & Graham, D. J. (1985). Mental multiplication skill: Structure, process, and acquisition. Canadian Journal of Psychology/Revue canadienne de psychologie39(2), 338-366.

 

This article introduced the network-interference theory of learning and memory for basic arithmetic facts, which remains an influential model to this day.

Chirkov, Valery

Chirkov, V., Ryan, R. M., Kim, Y., & Kaplan, U. (2003). Differentiating autonomy from individualism and independence: a self-determination theory perspective on internalization of cultural orientations and well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology84(1), 97-110.

 

Chirkov, Valery

Chirkov, V. I., & Ryan, R. M. (2001). Parent and teacher autonomy-support in Russian and US adolescents common effects on well-being and academic motivation. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology32(5), 618-635.

 

Chirkov, Valery

Ryan, R. M., Chirkov, V. I., Little, T. D., Sheldon, K. M., Timoshina, E., & Deci, E. L. (1999). The American dream in Russia: Extrinsic aspirations and well-being in two cultures. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 25(12), 1509-1524.

 

Cummings, Jorden

Cummings, J. A., Hayes, A. M., Laurenceau, J-P., & Cohen, L. H. (2010). Conflict management mediates the relationship between depressive symptoms and daily negative events: Interpersonal competence and daily stress generation. International Journal of Cognitive Therapy3, 318-331.

 

Cummings, Jorden

Cummings, J. A., Zagrodney, J. M., & Day, T. E. (2015). Impact of open data policies on consent to participate in human subjects research: Discrepancies between participation action and reported concerns. PLOS ONE10(6).

 

Cummings, Jorden

Cummings, J. A., & Ballantyne, E. C. (2014). What does bad supervision look like? The Behavior Therapist37, 230-235.

 

Please contact Dr. Cummings for more information about this article.

jorden.cummings@usask.ca

Desjardins, Michel

Gelech, J. M., & Desjardins, M. (2011). I am many: The reconstruction of self following acquired brain injury. Qualitative Health Research21(1), 62-74.

 

Desjardins, Michel

Talebi, M., & Desjardins, M. (2012). The immigration experience of Iranian Baha’is in Saskatchewan: The reconstruction of their existence, faith, and religious experience. Journal of Religion and Health51(2), 293-309.

 

Desjardins, Michel

Poldma, T., Labbé, D., Bertin, S., De Grosbois, È., Barile, M., Mazurik, K., ... Artis, G. (2014). Understanding people's needs in a commercial public space: About accessibility and lived experience in social settings. European Journal of Disability Research/Revue Européenne de Recherche sur le Handicap8(3), 206-216.

 

Elias,

Lorin

Elias, L. J., Bryden, M. P., & Bulman-Fleming, M. B. (1998). Footedness is a better predictor than is handedness of emotional lateralization. Neuropsychologia36(1), 37-43.

 

This paper is widely cited for two reasons.  First, because it demonstrates an association between emotional lateralization and foot preference (as opposed to hand preference). Second, it contains a laterality questionnaire I developed, so some of the citations are from people using my measure.

Elias,

Lorin

Saucier, D. M., Green, S. M., Leason, J., MacFadden, A., Bell, S., & Elias, L. J. (2002). Are sex differences in navigation caused by sexually dimorphic strategies or by differences in the ability to use the strategies?. Behavioral Neuroscience, 116(3), 403.

 

This paper used eye-tracking to look for strategy differences between males and females when learning routes.  We found the expected sex differences in the type of navigation, but it wasn't caused by differences in the exploration of the maps.

Elias,

Lorin

Elias, L.J., Saucier, D.M. (2005). Neuropsychology: Clinical and Experimental Foundations. New: York: Pearson/Allyn & Bacon.

 

This 200- or 300-level textbook presented a balance of both the experimental and clinical perspectives in neuropsychology, whereas most texts focus mainly on either experimental or clinical content.

Grant,

Peter

Grant, P. R., & Brown, R. (1995). From ethnocentrism to collective protest: Responses to relative deprivation and threats to social identity. Social Psychology Quarterly58(3), 195-212.

 

This paper is widely cited because it is one of the few experimental tests of key hypotheses derived from relative deprivation theory.

Grant,

Peter

Grant, P.R., & Nadin, S. (2008). The Credentialing Problems of Foreign Trained Personnel from Asia and Africa Intending to Make their Home in Canada: A Social Psychological Perspective. Journal of International Migration and Integration, 8, 141-162.

 

This study records, in detail, the problems faced by skilled immigrants to Canada from a social psychological perspective using both quantitative and qualitative data. Very few studies use this perspective which is why it is cited frequently.

Grant,

Peter

Grant, P. R., Abrams, D., Robertson, D. W., & Garay, J. (2015). Predicting Protests by Disadvantaged Skilled Immigrants: A Test of an Integrated Social Identity, Relative Deprivation, Collective Efficacy (SIRDE) Model. Social Justice Research28(1), 76-101.

 

This very recent paper describes a test of a new theory (the SIRDE model of social change) which integrates social identity theory, relative deprivation theory and resource mobilization theory. The research program that led to the development of this theory started with the paper by Grant & Brown (1995) which is cited above.

Hunter, Paulette

Hunter, P.V., Antony, M.M. (2009). Cognitive-behavioral treatment of emetophobia: The role of interoceptive exposure. Cognitive and Behavioral Practice16(1), 84-91.

 

At the time I wrote this paper, there was very little published work on the experience of emetophobia. This case study emphasized interoceptive exposure as a potentially useful approach in the treatment of this disorder. Clinical psychology students may also find it useful as an example of one style of case conceptualization. 

Hunter, Paulette

Dever Fitzgerald, T., Hunter, P.V., Hadjistavropoulos, T., Koocher, G.P. (2010). Ethical and legal considerations for Internet-based psychotherapy. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy39(3), 173-187.

 

This paper relied on the International Declaration of Ethical Principles for Psychologists as a framework to explore ethical issues that can arise in the context of Internet-based psychotherapy. 

Hunter, Paulette

Hunter, P.V., Hadjistavropoulos, T., Smythe, W., Malloy, D., Kaasalainen, S., & Williams, J. (2013). The Personhood in Dementia Questionnaire (PDQ): Establishing an association between beliefs about personhood and health providers’ approaches to person-centred care. Journal of Aging Studies27(3), 276–287

 

The three studies that formed my dissertation project are all represented in this paper, which shows that beliefs about the moral rights and psychological and social capacities ("i.e., personhood") of people with advanced dementia influence health providers' intended approaches to care. I continue to be interested in ways to improve the care of people with advanced dementia. 

Lawson, Karen

Lawson, K., Wiggins, S., Green, T., Adam, S., Bloch, M., & Hayden, M. R. (1996). Adverse psychological events occurring in the first year after predictive testing for Huntington's disease. The Canadian Collaborative Study Predictive Testing. Journal of Medical Genetics, 33(10), 856-862.

 

I published this paper while working as a Research Scientist at the Department of Genetics at UBC. My work there led me to return to university for my PhD to study the intersection between genetic technologies and societal norms.

Lawson, Karen

Lawson, K. L., & Turriff-Jonasson, S. I. (2006). Maternal serum screening and psychosocial attachment to pregnancy. Journal of Psychosomatic Research60(4), 371-378.

 

Although there had been much suggestion that maternal serum screening could negatively impact the maternal fetal bond, this work (co-authored with a graduate student) provided the first quantitative evidence that  screening may disrupt the developmental trajectory of the maternal-fetal bond, even after favorable results are known.

Lawson, Karen

Lawson, K. L. (2001). Contemplating selective reproduction: the subjective appraisal of parenting a child with a disability. Journal of Reproductive and Infant Psychology19(1), 73-82.

 

The first publication stemming from my PhD dissertation, this paper examines normative attitudes towards persons with disabilities that contribute to the use of prenatal diagnostic testing

Loehr, Janeen

Loehr, J. D., & Palmer, C. (2007). Cognitive and biomechanical influences in pianists’ finger tapping. Experimental Brain Research178(4), 518-528.

 

Loehr, Janeen

Loehr, J. D., Large, E. W., & Palmer, C. (2011). Temporal coordination and adaptation to rate change in music performance. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance37, 1292-1309.

 

Loehr, Janeen

Loehr, J.D., Kourtis, D., Brazil, I.A. (2015). It’s not just my fault: Neural correlates of feedback processing in solo and joint action. Biological Psychology111, 1-7.

 

MacGregor, Michael

Davidson, K., MacGregor, M. W., Stuhr, J., Dixon, K., & MacLean, D. (2000). Constructive anger verbal behavior predicts blood pressure in a population-based sample. Health Psychology19(1), 55-64.

 

MacGregor, Michael

MacGregor, M.W., Davidson, K.W., Barksdale, C., Black, S., & MacLean, D. (2003). Adaptive defense use and resting blood pressure in a population-based sample. Journal of Psychosomatic Research55(6), 531-541.

 

MacGregor, Michael

MacGregor, M.W., Davidson, K.W., Rowan, P., Barksdale, C., & MacLean, D. (2003). The use of defenses and physician health care costs: Are physical health care costs lower in persons with more adaptive defense profiles? Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics72(6), 315-323.

 

McDougall, Patricia

Vaillancourt, T., Hymel, S., & McDougall, P. (2003). Bullying is power: Implications for school-based intervention strategies. Journal of Applied School Psychology19(2), 157-176.

 

McDougall, Patricia

Vaillancourt, T., McDougall, P., Hymel, S., Krygsman, A., Miller, J., Stiver, K., & Davis, C. (2008). Bullying: Are researchers and children/youth talking about the same thing? International Journal of Behavioral Development32(6), 486-495.

 

McDougall, Patricia

Hymel, S., Vaillancourt, T., McDougall, P., & Renshaw, P. D. (2002). Peer acceptance and rejection in childhood. In P. K. Smith & C. H. Hart (Eds.) Blackwell Handbook of Childhood Social Development (pp. 265-284). Maiden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.

 

McMullen, Linda

 Wertz, F. J., Charmaz, K., McMullen, L. M., Josselson, R., Anderson, R., & McSpadden, E. (2011). Five ways of doing qualitative analysis: Phenomenological psychology, grounded theory, discourse analysis, narrative research, and intuitive inquiry. New York, NY: Guilford.

 

McMullen, Linda

Stoppard, J. M. & McMullen, L.M. (2003) (Eds.). Situating sadness: Women and depression in social context. New York, NY: NYU Press.

 

McMullen, Linda

McMullen, L. M. (1989). Use of figurative language in successful and unsuccessful cases of psychotherapy: Three comparisons. Metaphor and Symbol4(4), 203-225.

 

McWilliams, Lachlan

McWilliams, L. A., Cox, B. J., & Enns, M. W. (2003). Mood and anxiety disorders associated with chronic pain: an examination in a nationally representative sample. Pain106(1), 127-133.

 

McWilliams, Lachlan

McWilliams, L. A., Bailey, S.J. (2010). Associations between adult attachment ratings and health conditions: Evidence from the National Comorbidity Survey Replication. Health Psychology29(4), 446-453.

 

McWilliams, Lachlan

McWilliams, L. A., Cox, B. J., & Enns, M. W. (2000). Impact of adult attachment styles on pain and disability associated with arthritis in a nationally representative sample. The Clinical Journal of Pain, 16(4), 360-364.

 

Mickleborough,

Marla

Mickleborough, M.J.S., Hayward, J., Chapman, C., Chung, J., & Handy, T. C. (2011).  Reflexive attentional orienting in migraineurs: the behavioral implications of hyperexcitable visual cortex.  Cephalalgia, 31, 1642-1651

Mickleborough,

Marla

Mickleborough, M.J.S., Truong, G., & Handy, T. C.  (2011).  Top-down attentional control of visual cortex in migraine populations.  Neuropsychologia, 49, 1006-1015

Mickleborough,

Marla

Mickleborough, M.J.S., Daniels, J.K., Coupland, N.J., Kao, R., Williamson, P.C., Lanius, U.F., Hegadoren, K., Schore, A., Densmore, M., Stevens, T., & Lanius, R.A.  (2011).  The effects of trauma-related cues on pain processing in posttraumatic stress disorder: an fMRI investigation.  Journal of Psychiatry and Neuroscience, 36, 6-14

Morrison, Melanie

Morrison, M. A., & Morrison, T. G. (2003). Development and validation of a scale measuring modern prejudice toward gay men and lesbian women. Journal of Homosexuality, 43(2), 15-37.

 

Morrison, Melanie

Morrison, T. G., Kalin, R., & Morrison, M. A. (2004). Body-image evaluation and body-image investment among adolescents: a test of sociocultural and social comparison theories. Adolescence39, 571-592.

 

Morrison, Melanie

Morrison, M. A., Morrison, T. G., & Sager, C. L. (2004). Does body satisfaction differ between gay men and lesbian women and heterosexual men and women?: A meta-analytic review. Body image1(2), 127-138.

 

O'Connell, Megan

Mateer, C. A., Sira, C. S., & O'Connell, M. E. (2005). Putting Humpty Dumpty together again: the importance of integrating cognitive and emotional interventions. The Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation20(1), 62-75.

 

We call for more integration in rehabilitation for neuropsychological impairments and use  case studies to demonstrate efficacy of multifaceted interventions .

O'Connell, Megan

O'Connell, M. E., Mateer, C. A., & Kerns, K. A. (2003). Prosthetic systems for addressing problems with initiation: Guidelines for selection, training, and measuring efficacy. NeuroRehabilitation, 18(1), 9-20.

 

We review how to incorporate neuropsychological impairments into an intervention plan,  We explain how to train people with anterograde amnesia to program and respond to an external cueing device.

O'Connell, Megan

O'Connell, M. E., & Tuokko, H. (2002). The 12-item Buschke memory test: appropriate for use across levels of impairment. Applied Neuropsychology, 9(4), 226-233.

 

Olver, Mark

Wormith, J. S., & Olver, M. E. (2002). Offender treatment attrition and its relationship with risk, responsivity, and recidivism. Criminal Justice and Behavior29(4), 447-471.

 

This is an early study examining the prevalence and predictors of attrition from a violent offender treatment program. This study found that actuarially high risk Aboriginal men were particularly vulnerable to attrition, which in turn predicted post-release recidivism.

Olver, Mark

Olver, M. E., Wong, S. C., Nicholaichuk, T., & Gordon, A. (2007). The validity and reliability of the Violence Risk Scale-Sexual Offender version: Assessing sex offender risk and evaluating therapeutic change. Psychological Assessment19(3), 318-329.

 

This study examined dynamic sexual violence risk and was one of first to demonstrate linkages between positive treatment change in sexual offenders and decreased recidivism in the community.

Olver, Mark

Olver, M. E., Stockdale, K. C., & Wormith, J. S. (2011). A meta-analysis of predictors of offender treatment attrition and its relationship with recidivism. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology79(1), 6-21.

 

This is a large scale meta-analysis of 114 offender treatment attrition studies across a range of general and specialized programs (domestic violence, sexual offender). A large number of predictors were identified with implications for client retention to minimize attrition. Failure to complete treatment was associated with a 10-23% increase in recidivism, depending on the program and outcome.

Prime, Steven

Prime, S.L., Vesia, M., & Crawford, J.D. (2008). Transcranial magnetic stimulation over posterior parietal cortex disrupts transsaccadic memory of multiple objects. The Journal of Neuroscience, 28, 6938-6949

 

Prime, Steven

Prime, S. L., Tsotsos, L., Keith, G. P., & Crawford, J. D. (2007). Visual memory capacity in transsaccadic integration. Experimental Brain Research,180(4), 609-628.

 

Prime, Steven

Prime, S.L., Vesia, M., & Crawford, J.D. (2011). Cortical mechanisms for transsaccadic memory and integration of multiple object features. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 366, 540-553

 

Sarty, Gordon

Elias, L. J., Saucier, D. M., Hardie, C., & Sarty, G. E. (2003). Dissociating semantic and perceptual components of synaesthesia: behavioural and functional neuroanatomical investigations. Cognitive Brain Research16(2), 232-237.

 

One of the first fMRI papers on color/number synaesthesia showing real differences in the brain organization of synaesthetes.

Sarty, Gordon

Sarty, G. E., Bennett, R., & Cox, R. W. (2001). Direct reconstruction of non‐Cartesian k‐space data using a nonuniform fast Fourier transform. Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, 45(5), 908-915.

 

Mathematical characterization of a widely used image reconstruction technique is MRI.

Sarty, Gordon

Sarty, G. E., Obenaus, A.  (2012). Magnetic resonance imaging of astronauts on the international space station and into the solar system. Canadian Aeronautics and Space Journal58(1), 60-68.

 

The beginning of my adventure into putting an MRI into space.

Teucher, Ulrich

Chandler, M. J., Lalonde, C. E., & Teucher, U. (2004). Culture, Continuity, and the Limits of Narrativity: A Comparison of the Self-Narratives of Native and Non-Native Youth. In C. Daiute & C. Lightfoot (Eds.), Narrative Analysis: Studying the Development of Individuals in Society (pp. 245-267). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage (2004).

 

This chapter provides the narrative scholarly basis to the psychological and epidemiological work by Chandler and Lalonde on Native adolescent suicides and I was glad to contribute to this narrative background. 

Teucher, Ulrich

Cresswell, J., & Teucher, U. (2011). The body and language: MM Bakhtin on ontogenetic development. New Ideas in Psychology, 29(2), 106-118.

 

This article speaks to recent debates on the phenomenological immediacy of experience; here I was able to add Max Scheler’s influences on Bakhtin’s thinking that now show up in Wertsch and other contemporary psychologists.

Teucher, Ulrich

Teucher, U. (2003). The therapeutic psychopoetics of cancer metaphors: Challenges in interdisciplinarity. History of Intellectual Culture, 3(1), 1-15.

 

This was my first journal publication of my work on cancer metaphors, using both quantitative and qualitative methods.

Thompson, Valerie

Thompson, V. A. (1994). Interpretational factors in conditional reasoning. Memory & Cognition, 22(6), 742-758.

 

Relying on beliefs when reasoning logically had long been regarded as an "error" or a "bias".  In this paper, I showed that the reliance on beliefs was not an error, but a systematic incorporation of knowledge.  Consequently, it is possible to predict, with some degree of accuracy, the types of belief-based inferences people will draw on a logical reasoning task

Thompson, Valerie

Thompson, V. A. (2009). Dual process theories: A metacognitive perspective. In two minds: dual processes and beyond. In J. Evans & K. Frankish. In Two Minds: Dual Processes and Beyond (pp. 171-295). Oxford, UK: Oxford.

 

Metacognition refers to the processes by which we monitor and control our cognitive processes.  In other words, metacognitive processes alert us to when we have made an error, assess confidence in our performance, signal when the current strategy or plan is not working, etc.  These processes have been well-studied in the context of memory and education, but never before in the context of reasoning.  In these two papers, I introduced a metacognitive theory of reasoning and developed a new paradigm to test that theory.

Thompson, Valerie

Thompson, V.A., Turner, J.A.P., Pennycook, G. (2011). Intuition, reason, and metacognition. Cognitive Psychology63(3), 107-140.

 

Wormith, J. Stephen

Andrews, D. A., Bonta, J., & Wormith, J. S. (2006). The recent past and near future of risk and/or need assessment. Crime and Delinquency52(1), 7.

 

This review discussed risk assessment in the context of risk, need and responsivity. It challenged traditional mental heath approaches to risk assessment and responded to feminist critiques.

Wormith, J. Stephen

Wormith, J. S., & Olver, M. E. (2002). Offender treatment attrition and its relationship with risk, responsivity, and recidivism. Criminal Justice and Behavior29(4), 447-471.

 

We examine patterns and predictors of offender attrition from a high intensity violent offender treatment program at the RPC.

Wormith, J. Stephen

Andrews, D. A., Bonta, J., & Wormith, J. S. (2011). THE RISK-NEED-RESPONSIVITY (RNR) MODEL Does Adding the Good Lives Model Contribute to Effective Crime Prevention? Criminal Justice and Behavior38(7), 735-755.