Kerry Jordan

Biography

I am an Associate Professor of Psychology at USU and direct the Brain and Cognition PhD program. My research primarily focuses on cognitive development. I am particularly interested in how multiple sources of information, such as those from multiple sensory modalities, can facilitate learning. My lab uses a variety of behavioral and neural methodologies to investigate such questions as: 1) To what degree can young children and nonhuman animals represent abstract concepts like number? Do they share systems of representation with each other and/or with adult humans? 2) Do cognitive representations in these populations extend across sensory modalities? 3) Can we enhance nonverbal attention, learning, and memory in domains such as numerical cognition by providing redundant information in multiple sensory systems? Much of this work currently focuses on early mathematics knowledge and is funded by the National Science Foundation. A newer line of research in my lab focuses on the development of environmental cognition. I obtained a PhD in psychology from Duke University. Before that, I earned a BA in psychology and biology from Harvard University. I invite interested undergraduate and graduate students to contact me and collaborate in making new discoveries.