W. Trey Hill
Advisor: Gary L. Brase, Ph.D.
Description of Research
The modern world is becoming increasingly more technical, relying on human understanding of mathematical and scientific concepts. As a result, knowledge about probability and number concepts has become a premium in today’s market. However, the ability to work with numbers (i.e., numerical literacy; numeracy) is also very important for everyday decision making tasks such as shopping for deals at the store, or mentally comprehending the amount of money spent in the latest installment of government bailout. Unfortunately, many people (including doctors) have shown low performance in tasks related to numeracy. My research currently examines the exact nature of numeracy. For example, is numeracy a single construct? If not, how many types of numeracy exist, and what are their characteristics? I am also in the process of creating a behavioral measure of numeracy in an attempt to bridge the gap between paper/pencil tests of knowledge and more real-world applications.
A secondary area of interest is related to the functional (evolutionary) role of music. Some studies in the past have suggested a sexual selection hypothesis (Miller, 2000), one originally proposed by Darwin who believed music to be a display of fitness from males to females. Recently, there has been an upsurge of interest in the idea of group music making serving as a tool to create social cohesion in small living groups (Levitin, 2008; McNeill, 1995). Some of my work currently in progress is examining a new method for testing the relationship between group music making and cohesion. Further research will examine whether this cohesion has effects on perceived trust, and/or helping behavior in adults (see Kirschner & Tomasello, 2010).
Selected Readings Related to My Research
Numerical Literacy
Chapman, G. B., & Liu, J. (2009). Numeracy, frequency, and Bayesian reasoning. Judgment and Decision Making, 4(1), 34-40.
Peters, E., Vastfjall, E., Slovic, P., Mertz, C. K., Mazzocco, K., & Dickert, S. (2006). Numeracy and decision making. Psychological Science, 17, 407-413.
Group Music Making, Cohesion
Kirschner, S., & Tomasello, M. (2010). Joint music making promotes prosocial behavior in 4-year-old children. Evolution and Human Behavior, 31, 354-364.
Mithen, S. (2006). The singing Neanderthals: The origins of music, language, mind, and body. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Representative Publications
Hill, W. T., & Palmer, J. A. (2010). Affective response to a set of new musical stimuli. Psychological Reports, 106(2), 581-588.
Representative Presentations
Stevens, R., Hill, W. T., & Leonard, J. (2009, May). Recall improvement due to virtual location change. Presented at the annual conference of the Association for Psychological Science, San Francisco, CA.
Hill, W. T., & Brase, G. L. (2010, June). A mind designed to work with frequencies, regardless of numeracy. Presented at the annual conference of the Human Behavior and Evolution Society, Eugene, OR.
Holtzclaw, Carlson, C., Ilaoa, S., Ducote, K., Hill, W. T., & Palmer, J. A. (2010, June). Adaptive threat discrimination: Assessing the medium and the message. Presented at the annual conference of the Human Behavior and Evolution Society, Eugene, OR.
Teaching Experience
Classes Taught:
- Experimental Methods Lab - Fall 2010
- Quantitative Methods Lab (ULM) – Fall 2008
Teaching Assistant (TA) assignments:
- Cognitive Psychology – Spring 2010
- General Psychology - Fall 2009, Spring 2010
Education
B.S., Psychology - Oklahoma State University, 2007
M.S., Experimental Psychology - University of Louisiana at Monroe, 2009
Announcement
Any undergraduates interested in my research are encouraged to contact me. I am currently looking for a research assistant to help with data collection and entry. In return the student(s) will gain research experience, and authorship on presentations and possibly manuscripts. I strongly encourage this opportunity for those students who wish to pursue a graduate education in psychology. Research experience looks very good on graduate school applications. If interested, contact wthill@ksu.edu or gbrase@ksu.edu.
