Students who work in my lab gain valuable research experience in the area of cognitive psychology. Most of the studies I conduct are on memory (e.g., unconscious forms of memory, false memory, forgetting). Descriptions of current projects can be found at www.ilstu.edu/~dmmcbri/mem_lab.html.

Research experience is valuable to students for several reasons. The most immediate is an application of principles learned PSY 138, PSY 231, and PSY 331. Working in my lab will give you a "hands-on" experience with concepts covered in these courses and may help you do well in these courses. In addition, students get to see how research in psychology really works in practice. Students who wish to attend graduate school in any area will gain research experience that is needed to obtain admission to graduate programs in psychology. In addition, course credit can be earned by working as a research assistant in my lab (e.g., PSY 290 or PSY 287 and PSY 390). Students may also be eligible to fulfill their PSY major capstone requirement after working in my lab with PSY 290.

Lab Experiences

Students who work in my lab receive the following valuable experiences:

Computer skills: All of my experiments are presented by computer and students receive computer training necessary to run subjects and code data.
Reading and understanding journal articles: At biweekly lab meetings with other students, we discuss articles related to the project.
Oral presentation skills: At the lab meetings, each student presents a portion of the assigned articles for group discussion.
Training in research ethics: necessary for running subjects
Writing skills: Students write a summary paper of the project at the end of the semester.
Training in experimental research methods: Students are responsible for understanding the design of the study, the purpose of the study, and expected results of the study.
Data coding and analysis techniques: Students help code and analyze the data at the completion of a study.
Leadership experiences: For more advanced or honors students, leadership experiences are available in helping me lead lab meetings, train students, and develop materials and procedures of a studies—once students have research experience working in my lab, they can work with me to design a study on a topic of their choosing in memory, conduct the study in my lab, and possibly gain a publication from the study.
Research presentation skills: Some students who have worked in my lab have chosen to present the research project at the ISU Undergraduate Research Symposium or at national conferences - these experiences are excellent additions to a resume, vita, or graduate school application.
Interesting knowledge about human memory: Through discussion of a study, students gain an understanding of current knowledge about memory.

Teaching Opportunities with Dr. McBride

Students can also gain insight into the teaching of university courses by serving as an undergraduate teaching assistant (UTA). Students enroll in PSY 291 and who work with me as a UTA gain experience with preparation of class activities, helping students learn material, writing exam questions, grading exams and class assignments, and delivering lectures to the class. It is also possible to fulfill the PSY major capstone requirements after completing PSY 291 with PSY 391. Currently, students may be eligible to serve as a UTA for me in the following courses:

PSY 111 Introduction to Psychology
PSY 138 Reasoning in Psychology Using Statistics
PSY231 Research methods in Psychology

Students must have previously taken the course and each a grade of B or better. You may contact me by e-mail or call 438-7146 to talk about being a part of my memory lab or a UTA experience, or stop in to see me in DeGarmo 458.