Dr. Amy L. Boggan
Associate Professor of Psychology - Mathematics, Science & Technology
Dr. Amy Boggan joined the YHC faculty in 2012. A Mississippi native, her research interests focus on human expertise, particularly how the human brain develops various types of visual (e.g., chess positions, faces, music notation) and auditory (music, birdsong) expertise and the memory and perceptual advantages shown by experts. Specifically, she wishes to better understand types of expertise that involve more than one sensory modality simultaneously (e.g., sightreading music requires sight, touch, and hearing). She has presented her research at several professional conferences and is an author on papers appearing in the Journal of Neuroscience, the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, Neuroscience Letters, and Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. While at Young Harris, Dr. Boggan has created several psychology elective courses such as the Psychology of Music and Human Error, a class about human factors psychology. She is passionate about undergraduate research as an opportunity for students to shine outside the classroom. As someone who has previously taught political science, geography, and the humanities, she encourages her students to appreciate the connections across disciplines and consider their contributions as individuals and community members. Outside of the classroom, she is a musician and an avid birder (bird-watcher). She enjoys nature photography, and in 2019 one of her photos appeared in Birds & Blooms magazine.
Education
- Ph.D. Cognition and Neuroscience, The University of Texas at Dallas
- M.A. Government and Politics, University of Maryland
- M.S. Applied Cognition and Neuroscience, The University of Texas at Dallas
- B.A. Political Science, The University of Southern Mississippi
- cognitive neuroscience
- perceptual expertise
- the psychology of music
- human factors psychology
- research methods
