Office: 57 Coming Street
Phone: (843) 953-5517
Email: whitek@cofc.edu

COGNITION
AND
AGING LABORATORY

My teaching interests lie in both cognitive psychology and adult development and gerontology. At the College of Charleston, I have taught Cognitive Psychology, Cognitive Laboratory, and Introduction to Psychological Science.

Introduction to Psychological Science (PSYC 103)

Cognitive Psychology (PSYC 215)

Cognitive Laboratory (PSYC 368)

My research investigates memory and language processes in young and older adults, with specific emphasis on the interactions between memory retrieval, language production, and language comprehension. Much of my research examines the factors that influence word retrieval, spelling production and detection, and memory for new information, in both young and older adults.

 White, K. K., Abrams, L., & Byrd, A. Dissociating age-related deficits in episodic memory by the intentionality of processing at encoding and retrieval. Under review.

Abrams, L., Merrill, L., & White, K. K., & Hausler, L. A. Grammatical class influences how nonwords prime tip-of-the-tongue resolution. Under review.

White, K. K., Abrams, L., Zoller, S. M., & Gibson, S. M. (in press). Why did I right that? Factors that  influence the production of homophone substitution errors. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology.

Cortese, M. J., Khanna, M. M., White, K. K., Veljkovic, I., & Drumm, G. (in press). The activation and monitoring of memories produced by words and pseudohomophones. Journal of Memory and Language.

Abrams, L., Trunk, D. L., & White, K. K. (in press). Visual and auditory priming influences the   production of low-frequency spellings. Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal.

White, K. K., & Abrams, L. (2004). Free associations and dominance ratings of homophones for young and older adults. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, and Computers, 36, 408-420. Special issue: Web-based archive of norms, stimuli, and data: Part 1.

White, K. K., & Abrams, L. (2004). Phonological priming of preexisting and new associations in young and older adults. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 30, 645-655.

Abrams, L., White, K. K., & Eitel, S. L. (2003). Isolating phonological components that increase tip- of-the-tongue resolution. Memory and Cognition, 31, 1153-1162.

White, K. K., & Abrams, L. (2002). Does priming specific syllables during tip-of-the-tongue states facilitate word retrieval in older adults? Psychology and Aging, 17, 226-235.

Recent Presentations

White, K. K., Gibson, S. M., Zoller, S. M., & Abrams, L. (2007, November).   Orthographic priming and homophone substitution errors: Producing similarly-spelled words might influence what you right. Poster to be presented at the 48th annual meeting of the Psychonomic Society, Long Beach, CA.

White, K. K., Zoller, S. M., & Abrams, L. (2006, April). Why did I right that? Older adults' production of homophone spelling errors. Poster presented at the 11th biennial Cognitive Aging Conference, Atlanta, GA.

White, K. K., Byrd, A. L., Hock, C., & Abrams, L. (2006, April). Age-related differences in the use of homophones to learn knew associations. Poster presented at the 11th biennial Cognitive Aging Conference, Atlanta, GA.

White, K. K., & Abrams, L. (2004, November). Young and older adults' responses to homophones: Free associations and dominance ratings. Poster presented at the 45th annual meeting of the Psychonomic Society, Minneapolis, MN.

White, K. K., Whitfield, K. E., Markham, P. M., Trapani, C. S., & Tuffiash, M. (2004, April). Reducing the age-related and ethnicity-related gaps in quantitative literacy. Poster presented at the 10th biennial Cognitive Aging Conference, Atlanta, GA.

Eitel, S. L., Abrams, L. & White, K. K. (2003, May). Priming tip-of-the-tongue resolution by reading initial phonemes versus syllables. Poster presented at the American Psychological Society Conference, Atlanta, GA.

White, K. K., Abrams, L., Gregerson, K. B., & Tolaymat, L. M. (2002, April). Age-related asymmetries in associative word-stem completion. Poster presented at the 9th biennial Cognitive Aging Conference, Atlanta, GA.

Research Funding

Production and Detection of Homophone Spelling Errors in Young and Older Adults, College of Charleston Faculty Research and Development Grant, $3200, May 2006-August 2006.

Aging and Memory for New Associations, College of Charleston Summer Research Grant, $2,500, May 2005-August 2005.

Phonological Priming of Preexisting and New Associations, Individual Predoctoral National Research Service Award (NRSA), National Institute of Mental Health, $36,917, August 2001-December 2002.

Phonological Priming of Preexisting and New Associations in Young and Elderly Adults, APA Division 20 and the Retirement Research Foundation Award for Dissertation Proposal, $1250, 2001-2002.

The Role of Aging in Priming Phonology During Tip-of-the-Tongue States, Leighton Cluff Annual Graduate Scholarship Award for Research, Institute on Aging, University of Florida, $1200, 2000.

Age-Related Differences in Orthographic Priming of Spelling Retrieval, Sigma Xi Grant-in-Aid of Research, $900, 1999-2000.

Aging, Phonological Priming, and Tip-of-the-tongue Resolution, APA Division 20 and the Retirement Research Foundation Award for Master's Proposal, $750, 1998-1999.

Research Funding with Student Collaborators

Age-Related Differences in the Production of Homophone Spelling Errors, College of Charleston Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship, $5000, May 2006-August 2006, PI Mentor (Student Co-Investigator: Sarah Zoller).

Production of Homophone Spelling Errors by Young and Older Adults, Sigma Xi Grant-in- Aid of Research, $827, 2006, PI Mentor (Student Co-Investigator: Sarah Zoller).

Facilitating New Learning in Older Adults, College of Charleston Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship, $5000, May 2005-August 2005, PI Mentor (Student Co-Investigator: Amy Byrd).