Timothy P. McNamara

Timothy P. McNamara is a psychologist currently serving as the Searcy Family Dean of the College of Arts and Science at Vanderbilt University. ^[1] He heads the Spatial Memory & Navigation Lab (MemNav Lab) ^[2]

Life

McNamara received his B.G.S. from the University of Kansas in 1979 and his Ph.D. in psychology from Yale University in 1984. His Ph.D. advisor was Robert Sternberg. He started his career at Vanderbilt University in 1983. He was promoted to associate professor in 1989 and to Professor in 1995. At Vanderbilt University, McNamara has served as Chair of the Department of Psychology (1996–2004, 2022–2023); Associate and Vice Provost (2004–2015); and Interim Dean of the College of Arts and Science (2023–2024). He has been involved in higher education accreditation, and served on the Board of Trustees of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges from 2014 to 2019. ^[3]

Research

McNamara's research investigates human spatial memory and navigation. ^{[4] [5]} His highest cited article is entitled "Mental representations of spatial relations." according to Google Scholar ^[6]

Awards and honors

• 1977 Undergraduate Research Participation Awards (Spring & Summer), University of Kansas
• 1978 Beulah Morrison Award for Excellence in Psychology, University of Kansas
• 1978 Department of Psychology Chairman's Prize for Excellence in Undergraduate Research, University of Kansas
• 1979 Upsilon Pi Epsilon Honor Society in Computer Science
• 1979 Pi Mu Epsilon Honor Society in Mathematics
• 1979 Bachelor of General Studies awarded summa cum laude, University of Kansas
• 1986–1988 National Academy of Education Spencer Fellow
• 1994 Elected Fellow of American Psychological Association, Division 3
• 1999 Elected Fellow of American Association for the Advancement of Science
• 2003 Elected Fellow of Association for Psychological Science
• 2019 Thomas Jefferson Award, Vanderbilt University
• 2022 Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Chair in the Social and Natural Sciences, Vanderbilt University

Selected works

• McNamara, T. P. (1986). Mental representations of spatial relations. Cognitive Psychology, 18(1), 87–121.
• Shelton, A. L., & McNamara, T. P. (2001). Systems of spatial reference in human memory. Cognitive Psychology, 43, 274–310.
• Mou, W., & McNamara, T. P. (2002). Intrinsic frames of reference in spatial memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 28, 162–17.
• Mou, W., McNamara, T. P., Valiquette, C. M., & Rump, B. (2004). Allocentric and egocentric updating of spatial memories. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 30, 142–157.
• McNamara, T. P. (2005). Semantic priming: perspectives from memory and word recognition. New York: Psychology Press.
• Kelly, J. W., McNamara, T. P., Bodenheimer, B., Carr, T. H., & Rieser, J. J. (2008). The shape of human navigation: How environmental geometry is used in the maintenance of spatial orientation. Cognition, 109, 281–286.
• Chen, X., He, Q., Kelly, J. W., Fiete, I. R., & McNamara, T. P. (2015). Bias in human path integration is predicted by properties of grid cells. Current Biology, 25 (13), 1771–6.
• Chen, X., McNamara, T. P., Kelly, J. W., & Wolbers, T. (2017). Cue combination in human spatial navigation. Cognitive Psychology, 95, 105–144.
• He, Q., McNamara, T. P., Bodenheimer, B., & Klippel, A. (2019). Acquisition and transfer of spatial knowledge during wayfinding. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 45(8), 1364–1386.
• McNamara, T. P., & Chen, X. (2022). Bayesian decision theory and navigation. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 29, 721–752.

References

1. "Our Dean". as.vanderbilt.edu.
2. "MemNav Lab". www.memnavlab.com.
3. "Cognitive scientist and respected leader Tim McNamara named dean of College of Arts and Science". news.vanderbilt.edu.
4. "NeuroTree publications". neurotree.org/beta/publications.php?pid=25077.
5. "Virtual Reality sheds light on how we navigate in the dark". news.vanderbilt.edu/2015/06/11/virtual-reality-sheds-new-light-on-how-we-navigate-in-the-dark/.
6. "Tim McNamara". scholar.google.com. Retrieved June 24, 2023.