I am Arthur F. Thurnau Emeritus Professor of Psychology, University of Michigan. I am located in Swannanoa, North Carolina, just outside of Asheville, where I work as an educational consultant and online instructor for U of M. Previously, I was a member of the faculty at the University of Michigan for 28 years.
For over three decades, I have investigated how the brain processes errors and how error processing affects anxiety disorders and executive function. I was a co-discoverer of the error-related negativity (ERN), an event-related potential that occurs when people make errors. That original report has been cited over 3800 times and is the third highest cited article ever in the journal Psychological Science. My laboratory made the initial discovery that individuals with OCD show exaggerated ERN activity compared to healthy controls, which has spawned a large research literature on anxiety and the ERN. Since then, I have collaborated with Greg Hanna in Psychiatry on a major research program using the ERN to understand the development of pediatric psychopathology, including OCD, ADHD, and autism. In a second major line of my research, I have collaborated with developmental psychologists Jennie Grammer, Fred Morrison, and Pam Davis-Kean to understand how elementary school affects brain activity and executive function in young children.
Just as important to my scholarly identity is my interest in higher education and student success: teaching first-year college students cognitive science principles for academic success, developing new approaches to instruction, and exploring institutional factors that shape academic success. One of my most rewarding experiences has been creating and teaching a first-year seminar called “Cognitive Science of Academic Success,” which distills evidence-based principles governing memory, attention, motivation, and anxiety into practical strategies that help students become self-directed learners. I taught a similar course in Michigan’s Comprehensive Studies Program (CSP) Summer Bridge Program, Michigan’s renowned program for students from underserved communities. I have always reserved half of my seats in the academic success class for CSP students. I have made numerous presentations on the cognitive science of learning for other audience, including professionals, high school students, and college students at the University of Michigan and elsewhere.
Most recently, I have focused on developing generative artificial intelligence tools that help undergraduates learn more effectively, using the same principles I teach in my courses. In my smaller online classes I combine generative AI with oral exams, an approach I describe in this video: https://ggl.link/gehring1. In larger classes I have developed AI tutoring tools to help students learn course materials. I presented my approach to the university’s Information Technology Teaching and Learning Group, who are responsible for classroom applications of generative AI at Michigan.
My interest in students’ academic success extends to improving instruction and university curricula. For three years I co-taught my department’s graduate student instructor training course. My expertise in instructional practices led to roles on university committees, including chairing the search for the new director of Michigan’s Center for Research on Learning and Teaching and chairing a provost’s advisory team for engaged education and digital learning. I have developed a line of research uses institutional administrative data to understand the factors that contribute to undergraduate academic success. In a paper under revision with economist Julian Hsu, I use quasi-experimental methods and large-scale institutional data to uncover factors that promote or hinder student success. Intriguingly, we identified gender differences in how students respond to university placement recommendations for Pre-Calculus vs. Calculus, underscoring the importance of tailoring interventions to individual student characteristics.