Lynn Hasher
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Lynn Hasher is a cognitive scientist known for research on
attention Attention or focus, is the concentration of awareness on some phenomenon to the exclusion of other stimuli. It is the selective concentration on discrete information, either subjectively or objectively. William James (1890) wrote that "Atte ...
,
working memory Working memory is a cognitive system with a limited capacity that can Memory, hold information temporarily. It is important for reasoning and the guidance of decision-making and behavior. Working memory is often used synonymously with short-term m ...
, and
inhibitory control Inhibitory control, also known as response inhibition, is a cognitive process – and, more specifically, an executive function – that permits an individual to inhibit their impulses and natural, habitual, or dominant behavioral re ...
. Hasher is
Professor Emerita ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retirement, retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". ...
in the Psychology Department at the
University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...
and Senior Scientist at the Rotman Research Institute at Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care. Hasher received the 1995-1996 James Mckeen Cattell Fellowship from the
Association for Psychological Science The Association for Psychological Science (APS), previously the American Psychological Society, is an international non-profit organization whose mission is to promote, protect, and advance the interests of scientifically oriented psychology in r ...
. She was awarded a
John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon individuals who have demonstrated dis ...
in 1986. Hasher is one of the authors of ''Working Memory and Human Cognition'' (1996)''.''


Biography

Hasher received her Bachelor of Arts in psychology from
Smith College Smith College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in Northampton, Massachusetts, United States. It was chartered in 1871 by Sophia Smit ...
. She received her Ph.D. in psychology from the
University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...
in 1970, under the supervision of Leo Postman. Hasher held faculty positions at Carleton University, Temple University, and Duke University. In 1999, Hasher joined the faculty of the University of Toronto and the Rotman Research Institute. While at the University of Toronto, she became a Fellow of
Massey College Massey College is the postgraduate University of Toronto#Colleges, college of the University of Toronto located at the University of Toronto#St. George campus, St. George campus in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The college was established, built and ...
. Hasher retired in December 2017. Hasher is a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science, the
Psychonomic Society The Psychonomic Society is an international scientific society of over 4,500 scientists in the field of experimental psychology. The mission of the Psychonomic Society is to foster the science of cognition through the advancement and communicatio ...
, and the
Society of Experimental Psychologists The Society of Experimental Psychologists (SEP), originally called the Society of Experimentalists, is an academic society for experimental psychologists. It was founded by Edward Bradford Titchener in 1904 to be an ongoing workshop in which mem ...
. She is a member of the Memory Disorders Research Society. Her research has been funded by the
National Institute on Aging The National Institute on Aging (NIA) is a division of the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), located in Bethesda, Maryland. The NIA itself is headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland. The NIA leads a broad scientific effort to understand ...
,
Canadian Institutes of Health Research The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR; ; IRSC) is a federal agency responsible for funding health and medical research in Canada. Comprising 13 institutes, it is the successor to the Medical Research Council of Canada. CIHR supports ...
, and
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC; , CRSNG) is the major federal agency responsible for funding natural sciences and engineering research in Canada. NSERC directly funds university professors and students as ...
. She is married to David Goldstein, with whom she conducted research on the
illusory truth effect The illusory truth effect (also known as the illusion of truth effect, validity effect, truth effect, or the reiteration effect) is the tendency to believe false information to be correct after repeated exposure. This phenomenon was first identi ...
. They have two children.


Research

Hasher's research career has focused on basic attentional processes, including inhibitory control, the role of attention in understanding language and remembering events, and how control of attention changes with age. Many of her seminal studies on attention and working memory were conducted in collaboration with Rose Zacks. Hasher's research team has explored circadian rhythms and the impact of sleep schedule on cognition and emotion. In a study exploring happiness in young adults and older adults, they found that older adults tended to report more positive emotions than younger adults, and were more likely to be morning-type people. Across groups, being a morning-type person was associated with higher rates of happiness. Another study asked how performance on tasks requiring attention varies in relation to the time of day. Using
functional magnetic resonance imaging Functional magnetic resonance imaging or functional MRI (fMRI) measures brain activity by detecting changes associated with blood flow. This technique relies on the fact that cerebral blood flow and neuronal activation are coupled. When an area o ...
(FMRI), Hasher and her research team examined changes of neutral activity in the attention control network. Results showed that time of testing influenced task-related FMRI signals in older adults.


Awards

In 2009 Hasher presented the Paul B. Baltes Lecture at the
Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities The Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities (), abbreviated BBAW, is the official academic society for the natural sciences and humanities for the German states of Berlin and Brandenburg. Housed in three locations in and around Ber ...
.


Representative publications

* Hasher, L., Goldstein, D., & Toppino, T. (1977). Frequency and the conference of referential validity. ''Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 16''(1), 107–112. * Hasher, L., Quig, M. B., & May, C. P. (1997). Inhibitory control over no-longer-relevant information: Adult age differences. ''Memory & Cognition, 25''(3), 286–295. * Hasher, L., Stoltzfus, E. R., Zacks, R. T., & Rypma, B. (1991). Age and inhibition. ''Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 17''(1), 163–169. * Hasher, L., & Zacks, R. T. (1979). Automatic and effortful processes in memory. ''Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 108''(3), 356–388. * Hasher, L., & Zacks, R. T. (1984). Automatic processing of fundamental information: the case of frequency of occurrence. American Psychologist, 39(12), 1372–1388.


References


External links


Faculty PageRotman Research Institute Profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hasher, Lynn Living people American women psychologists 21st-century American psychologists Smith College alumni University of California, Berkeley alumni Academic staff of the University of Toronto Year of birth missing (living people) American women academics 21st-century American women