The Conclusive Result:
A Distinguished Professor
by Kimberly Parsley
Dr. Sharon Mutter’s intended career path took an unexpected turn the first time she entered the lab.
“I was going to be a Freudian psychoanalyst,” she said, “but I took a psychology of learning course and was hooked. That’s been my passion ever since.”
Dr. Mutter, professor of psychology, has carried that enthusiasm for research with her throughout her career and has passed it on to her students. Her enthusiasm in the classroom and in the lab led to her appointment as a WKU Distinguished Professor.
“I think, and have always thought that as a psychologist-- and to train psychologists-- you can’t just have them in the classroom. Psychology is science. My feeling is that undergraduate and graduate students have to be involved in the lab, in research, to get a more concrete exposure as to how to do research. I feel that very strongly,” she said.
Her ideas on student researchers stem from her own experience. She said that in the classroom, she had difficulty grasping a working understanding of the concepts. That changed when she began conducting research. Then, she said, all the pieces fell into place and she knew that research was what she wanted to do.
“I just find it fascinating,” Mutter said. “It’s like a puzzle, like a mystery. It’s a problem to be solved.”
Mutter teaches upper level cognition and upper level psychology of learning. She makes extensive use of the computer labs and available software to help students learn.
“The textbook is primarily descriptions of research findings. It tends to be pretty abstract. I have found that by having students go to the computer lab and do the experiments, they get a much better feel for the research itself.
“I can’t teach the courses without bringing the research findings in,” she added.
Mutter said that her students are critical to her research, which focuses primarily on aging. She said that she is proud that several of her former students went on to pursue graduate degrees and are now themselves faculty members at other universities. She and her students get a great deal of support from other faculty in the psychology department.
“Even though the department is not a doctoral program, everyone understands and appreciates the value of research and encourages and supports students,” she said.
In a letter of support, Dr. Daniel Roenker, professor of psychology at WKU, wrote: “Sharon involves her students in all aspects of the research program. She has successfully recruited graduate and undergraduate students to her lab. She has trained a number of students who have gone on to obtain doctoral degrees-a testimony to the kind of research experience they gain with her.”
Mutter was the recipient of the Woman in cognitive science mentorship award for 2005. She was the first person from a non-doctoral program to receive the prestigious award. She attributes this to recognition of the amount of time and work that goes into mentoring students who have an interest in continuing on to doctoral programs.
Dr. Jennifer C. Naylor, former student and research associate at Duke University Medical School, wrote: “Dr. Mutter served as my primary mentor during the two years in which I was enrolled at WKU’s graduate psychology program.
“Dr. Mutter has not only inspired me as a scientist, but also as a person, wife, mother, and friend. She approaches her work with extraordinary enthusiasm and dedication, and has an equally inspiring devotion to her family. I deeply admire her for her commitment to both. Of all the academic and intellectual successes that Dr. Mutter has enjoyed, it is her ability to thrive professionally and raise a family-without compromise to either-that inspires me the most.”
Since joining the WKU Psychology faculty, Mutter has received two five-year grants from the National Institute on Aging.
“I have been focusing on the general field of cognitive aging. I’ve been studying how normal aging processes affect older adults’ ability to learn and make judgments,” she said.
As a cognitive psychologist, her specialization is learning, memory, and judgment. Her studies have focused specifically on causal judgment.
“It’s a critical type of learning because it underlies all kinds of human behavior—ability to predict when it will rain, ability to diagnose medical problems, our ability to do scientific reasoning, and everyday problem solving.”
She found that there was little research available that dealt with how causal judgment might change with age. She said that judgment, at its most basic level, involves learning and memory.
“For example,” she said, “if I want to learn what’s causing my allergic reaction, I have to be able to form associations between whatever the causal agent is and the outcome. So I might start looking for things in my environment that might be related to that particular outcome. I have to form those associations.”
She said that she has been trying to determine what the impact of age-related changes in learning and memory will be on older adults’ causal learning. Her findings to date show that older adults do quite well, with the age-related changes being very subtle.
“We see age differences more often in what are essentially preventative relationships,” she said, “meaning that the occurrence of a particular event actually prevents an outcome from occurring.”
She gave the example of a vaccine preventing the flu.
“We see greater problems for older adults in the preventative type of relationship.”
With this knowledge, Mutter said they can work to determine what can be done to help improve the learning capability of older adults for these preventative situations.
Dr. Darlene V. Howard, professor of psychology at Georgetown University, wrote: “I have followed her work with admiration for some years. She tackles important problems and always in the most rigorous and scholarly fashion. Her work has gained her wide recognition in the field of cognitive aging.”
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