DR. SMITH

My general research and teaching interests are in brain-cognition relationships. Currently I am investigating functional specializations of the cerebral hemispheres and their interactions in the performance of particular kinds of tasks. I also encourage and assist students to develop their own research interests. I list below some of the publications and paper presentations which are based on projects in which I have involved students.

I received my graduate education in Clinical Psychology at Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania and in Experimental Psychology at Cornell University. The research for my Ph.D. dissertation on the electrophysiological correlates of attention was carried out in the Department of Biophysics at Cornell. I received postdoctoral training in Neurophysiology at the University of Michigan, where I participated in an electrophysiological investigation of the chemoreceptive functions of the osphradial ganglion in Aplysia, and in Neuroanatomy at Mahidol University, in Bangkok, where I used lesion techniques to study the involvement of prolactin and oxytocin pathways in maternal and ingestive behavior in rats.

I came to Colgate in 1973 as a Sloan Foundation Research Fellow in Neuroscience. The following year I joined the faculty. The courses I currently teach include PSYC/NEURO 170 (Brain and Behavior), PSYC 252 (Language and Thought), PSYC 351 (Perception and Cognition), PSYC/NEURO 375 (Cognitive Neuropsychology), and CORE 140 (Brain-Behavior Relationships from an Evolutionary Perspective).

In addition to teaching and research, my academic interests include course and curriculum development in higher education. In 1994-1996, I took a leave of absence from Colgate to serve as a Program Director in the Education Directorate of the National Science Foundation.

Representative Publications (Names followed by asterisks are students)

  • Jahan_Parwar, B., Smith, M., & von Baumgarten, T. (1969). Activation of neurosecretory cells in the Aplysia by osphradial stimulation. American Journal of Physiology, 215, 1246-1257.

  • Smith, M. & Holland, R. (1975). Effects of lesions of the nucleus accumbens on lactation and postpartum behavior. Physiological Psychology, 3, 331-336.

  • Smith, M., Chu*, & Edmonston, W. E. (1977). Cerebral lateralization of haptic perception: Braille-music interaction reveals a functional basis. Science, 197, 688-690.

  • Smith, M. (1981). Sex differences in the perceptual and cognitive skills essential to reading acquisition. In A. Ansara, N. Geschwind, A. Galaburda, M. Albert, & N. Gartrell (Eds.), Sex differences in dyslexia. Towson, MD: The Orton Society.

  • Smith, M. O., Shaywitz, B., Shaywitz, S., Gertner, J., Raskin, L., & Gelawan, E. (1985). Exogenous growth hormone levels predict attentional performance. Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics, 6, 273-278.

  • Scholan, K.*, & Smith, M. O. (1990) A sex difference in field dependence/independence in the absence of vestibular activation and eye movements. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 71, 763-768.

  • Gendebien, M., * Smith, M.). (1992). Field dependence and perceptual, cognitive, and affective measures of body image in asymptomatic college students. Personality and Individual Differences, 13, 937-943.

    Representative Presentations at Eastern Psychological Association Meetings

  • Smith, M. O., Edmonston, W. E., & Adams, W. V. (1978). Language acquisition : The role of the right hemisphere.

  • Smith, M. O., & Eden, E.* (1979). Cerebral interhemispheric relations: Interactions of linguistic stimuli applied to auditory and tactual modalities,

  • Callahan, L. G.* & Smith, M. O. (1980). Changes in tactual sensitivity with menstrual cycle.

  • Jackson, L. C.* & Smith, & M. O. (1981). Prototype vs. distinctive features learning in pattern perception: Sex differences and age trends.

    • http://www.colgate.edu/departments/neuroscience
    Questions to:     msmith@center.colgate.edu
    Copyright 1997 © Colgate University.