Lynn Hasher is a cognitive scientist known for research on
attention,
working memory
Working memory is a cognitive system with a limited capacity that can 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 memory, ...
, 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'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...
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 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 ...
and Senior Scientist at the
Rotman Research Institute at
Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care
Baycrest Health Sciences is a research and teaching hospital for the elderly in the North York district of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is fully affiliated with the University of Toronto. Baycrest was originally founded in 1918 as the Toronto J ...
.
Hasher received the 1995-1996 James Mckeen Cattell Fellowship from the
Association for Psychological Science. She was awarded a
John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship 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. 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 land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...
in 1970, under the supervision of
Leo Postman
Leo Joseph Postman (June 7, 1918 – April 22, 2004) was a Russian-born American psychologist known for his research on human memory.
Career
He taught at the University of California, Berkeley from 1950 to his retirement in 1987. In 1961, he ...
. 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 a graduate residential college at the University of Toronto that was established, built and partially endowed in 1962 by the Massey Foundation and officially opened in 1963, though women were not admitted until 1974. It was mo ...
. Hasher retired in December 2017.
Hasher is a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science, the
Psychonomic Society, 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
An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determin ...
. 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 the ...
,
Canadian Institutes of Health Research
The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR; french: Instituts de recherche en santé du Canada; IRSC) is a federal agency responsible for funding health and medical research in Canada. Comprising 13 institutes, it is the successor to the M ...
, and
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council
The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC; french: Conseil de recherches en sciences naturelles et en génie du Canada, CRSNG) is the major federal agency responsible for funding natural sciences and engineering rese ...
.
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 identif ...
. 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 (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 (german: Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften), abbreviated BBAW, is the official academic society for the natural sciences and humanities for the German states of Berlin a ...
.
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