Past
As an undergraduate at the University of Illinois, I was fortunate
to have the opportunity to conduct research in several different
areas. While in Lila Vodkin's laboratory, I learned about
genetics, molecular biology, and soybean anatomy. I also became
very adept at removing immature seed coats from their seeds
(robbing the pod) - a little used and undervalued skill in our
society. In the Vodkin lab I characterized seed coat proteins at
different devopmental stages in a variety of genetic isolines.
This research eventually formed my undergraduate thesis and was
published together with other research in the Vodkin lab.
Vodkin, L. O., Lindstrom, J. T., Nicholas, C. D., & Todd J.
T. (1992, April). Cell wall proteins in soybean isogenic lines.
Poster presented at the Keystone Symposia on Molecular and
Cellular Biology: Keystone, CO. Journal of Cellular
Biochemistry, 16F, 236.
Nicholas, C. D., Lindstrom, J. T., Schmidt, J. S., & Vodkin, L. O.
(1992, July). Quantitative and qualitative variation of cell
wall proteins in soybean lines with anthocyanin mutations.
Poster presented at the biennial Conference on the Molecular and
Cellular Biology of the Soybean: Ames, IA.
Nicholas, C. D., Lindstrom, J. T., & Vodkin, L. O. (1993). Variation of cell wall proteins
in soybean lines with anthocyanin mutations. Plant
Molecular Biology, 21, 145-156.
My second undergraduate mentor was Marie Banich. She introduced me
to cognitive neuroscience and one my research interests:
interhemispheric communication and how it affects the interaction
of the cerebral hemispheres. In the Banich lab, I investigated
how humans coordinate processing between the hemispheres when
doing a task that requires comparison of visual and numerical
information. My interest in this topic has followed me to graduate
school.
Banich, M. T., Nicholas, C. D., & Karol., D. L. (1994,
February). Interhemispheric interaction: Variations along a
spectrum. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the
International Neuropsychological Society.
Banich M. T., & Nicholas, C. D. (1998). Integration of
processesing between the hemispheres in word recognition. In M.
Beeman & C. Chiarello (Eds.), Right Hemisphere language
comprehension: Perspectives from cognitive neuroscience.
Hillsdale, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Present
As a graduate student, I worked with Chad Marsolek for my first
few years at the Univeristy of Arizona (Chad is now at the
University of Minnesota). In the Marsolek lab I investigated how
visual-form (shape) information is processed by the cerebral
hemispheres and how this information is communicated between
them.
Marsolek, C. J., Ecker, B. C., Ewald, B. J., Stoltz, E. L.,
Wright, M. E., Nicholas, C. D. (1995, November). Letter-case similarity and
backward pattern masking modulated form-specific priming in the
cerebral hemispheres. Poster session presented at the
annual meeting of the Psychonomic Society: Los Angelas, CA.
Nicholas, C. D., & Marsolek, C. J. (1996, March). Differential interhemispheric transfer
for abstract and specific visual-form information. Poster
session presented at the annual meeting of the Cognitive
Neuroscience Society, San Francisco, CA.
Nicholas, C. D., & Marsolek, C. J. (1997, April). Interhemispheric transfer of abstract
and specific visual information. Poster session presented
at the annual meeting of the Cognitive Neuroscience Society,
Boston, MA.
Marsolek, C. J., Schacter, D. L., & Nicholas, C. D. (1996). Form-specific visual priming for
new associations in the right cerebral hemisphere. Memory &
Cognition, 24, 539-556.
Marsolek, C. J., Nicholas, C. D., & Adresen, D. R.
Interhemispheric communication of abstract and specific
visual-form information. Manuscript submitted preparation.
Since 1996 I have worked in the Cognitive Science Program at the
University of Arizona with my doctoral advisor, Thomas Bever.
Under his guidance, my dissertation investigates the roles of the
cerebral hemispheres and interhemispheric communication in how
humans perceive and attend to letterforms. Some of my other
research in the Bever laboratory examines the role of visual-form
in aesthetic experiences and depth perception.
Nicholas, C. D. (2001). Matchmaking: Sex, conflict, and
the cerebral hemispheres. Unpublished doctoral dissertation,
Univerity of Arizona, Tucson.
Nicholas, C. D., & Bever, T. G. The aesthetics of visual-form:
The Golden Section proportion enhances depth perception.
Manuscript in preparation.
Future
My future research plans are to study human attention, perception,
and memory - specifically the role of the cerebral asymmetry,
communication, and interaction - in aesthetics, linguistics, and
psychology.
