Sarah Johnson

Dr. Johnson

Sarah Johnson

Assistant Professor of Psychology (2006)

Education

  • B.A., Bucknell University
  • Ph.D., Temple University

Contact

Email: skjohnson@moravian.edu
Phone: 610-625-7013
Office: PPHAC, Room 224

Areas of Research and/or Expertise

Cognitive psychology and neuroscience; esp. memory and the cognitive processes used to control and organize it, e.g., inhibiting memories

Biography

Sarah K. Johnson received her B.A. from Bucknell University and her Ph.D. in cognitive psychology with a neuroscience focus from Temple University. Her current research focuses on the role of executive processes, which are mediated by the frontal lobes of the brain, in memory. In particular, Dr. Johnson studies inhibitory processes that can impair our ability to retrieve memories. Her research explores how practicing some information can actually make us temporarily “forget” other related information and investigates the inhibitory components of tests used to diagnose frontal-lobe function. Dr. Johnson is the faculty advisor to the Psychology Club and treasurer of the Lehigh Valley Society for Neuroscience chapter.

At Moravian, Dr. Johnson teaches courses on cognitive psychology, physiological psychology, memory disorders, and creativity, several courses within the Neuroscience program, and the psychology department’s research methods/statistics course sequence.  She serves as an Honors program liaison to aid students conducting Honors projects in various departments, is a member of the Human Subjects Institutional Review Board at Moravian, is faculty advisor to the Psychology club and co-founder of the Game club, and helps coordinate activities sponsored by the Neuroscience program for Brain Awareness Week each year.

Publications

  • Johnson, S. K. (submitted). Am I the Author of My Actions? Exploring a Neuroscience Perspective [Review of the book Does Consciousness Cause Behavior?] Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology.
  • Johnson, S. K., & Anderson, M. C. (2004). The role of inhibitory control in forgetting semantic knowledge. Psychological Science, 15(7), 448-453.