Bret Roark

Professor of Psychology
Ralph and Marie Barby Chair
 
Owens Hall 301
405.585.4176
 
OBU Box 61245
500 W. University
Shawnee, OK 74804

Dr. Roark began teaching at OBU in 1992. His graduate training is in Cognitive Psychology, and he currently teaches a variety of courses related to the science of Psychology. He is a recipient of the Promising Teacher Award at OBU and is the Ralph and Marie Barby Endowed Professor of Psychology. Each year, Dr. Roark is proud to take several of his students to Psychological conferences to present the research they have conducted under his supervision.

Educational Background:

B.A., Oklahoma Baptist University
M.A., Texas Tech University
Ph.D., Texas Tech University
Dissertation: "Human and Computer Learning of Linguistic Categories"

Courses Taught:

PSYC 1223: General Psychology
PSYC 2223: Statistics for the Behavioral and Social Sciences
PSYC 2623: Research Methods in PsychologyPSYC 3013: Biological Psychology
PSYC 3543: History of Psychology
PSYC 3583: Experimental Psychology
PSYC 3803: Cognitive Psychology

*Click on each course to see its most recent syllabus.

Selected Publications and/or Professional Activities:

2002. Worthen, J. B. & Roark, B. Free recall accuracy for common and bizarre verbal information. American Journal of Psychology, 115, 377-394.

1998. Worthen, J. B., Hutchens, S. A., Roark, B., & Gutierrez, G. The internal structure of social categories: Components and predictors. American Journal of Psychology, 111, 581-605.

1996. Taraban, R. & Roark, B. Competition in learning language-based categories. Applied Psycholinguistics, 17, 125-148.

1995. Brant, L., Marshall, P. H., & Roark, B. On the development of prototypes and preferences. Empirical Studies of the Arts, 13, 161-170.

Honors Theses or Student Research Directed:

2005, March. Allred, Benjamin T., & Roark, Bret M. Can you see how I feel? Gender differences in emotion recognition from isolated facial features. Paper presented at the meeting of the Southwestern Psychological Association, Memphis, TN.

2005, March. Bryant, Allison H. The relationship between English vocabulary and second language learning. Paper presented at the meeting of the Southwestern Psychological Association, Memphis, TN.

2005, March. Guinn, Megan D. The effect of time interval on retrieval blocking. Paper presented at the meeting of the Southwestern Psychological Association, Memphis, TN.

2005, March. Mui, Jonathan W., & Roark, Bret M. Timing the effects of relazation on anxiety and test performance. Paper presented at the meeting of the Southwestern Psychological Association, Memphis, TN.

2005, March. Sarver, Dustin E., & Roark, Bret M. Stereotype threat and stereotype fit: A relational analysis. Paper presented at the meeting of the Southwestern Psychological Association, Memphis, TN.

Professional Interests:

Cognition and Memory
Educational Assessment
Course Ratings Systems