Rate My Professor Elyssa Twedt

Elyssa Twedt is an Associate Professor of Psychology in the Psychology Department at St. Lawrence University, where she joined the faculty in 2015 as an Assistant Professor and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2022. She earned a Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology from the University of Virginia in 2013, an M.A. in Cognitive Psychology from the University of Virginia in 2010, and a B.S. in Psychology from Vanderbilt University in 2007. Prior to her appointment at St. Lawrence, Twedt held the position of MacEldin Dunn Trawick Teaching and Research Postdoctoral Fellow in the Psychology Department at the University of Richmond from 2013 to 2015 and served as Assessment Project Associate at the University of Virginia Teaching Resource Center from 2012 to 2013.

Twedt's research specializes in spatial cognition, investigating how people perceive spatial layout such as distance and height, remember object locations, and learn navigational routes in natural and virtual environments. She also studies the effects of physical environments on well-being, including the restorative potential of designed natural spaces like informal gardens compared to formal ones, and the influences of visual appeal and individual differences. Her scholarship extends to teaching and learning, open-access materials, and statistical modeling for perceptual data. She teaches Sensation and Perception with Lab, Research Methods with Lab, Introduction to Psychology, and Cognitive Science Seminar. Among her honors are the St. Lawrence University Faculty Research Fellowship Award (2021), Scholarly Development Award (2019), William B. Bradbury, Jr. Faculty Support Award (2018), Rejuvenation Grant (2022), University of Virginia Center for Design and Health Fellow (2020-2021), Social Psychology Network Action Teaching Award (2013), Rebecca Boone Memorial Award for Excellence in Teaching (2013), and Distinguished Teaching Fellowship (2011). Key publications include "Designed natural spaces: Informal gardens are perceived to be more restorative than formal gardens" (Frontiers in Psychology, 2016), "Beyond nature: The roles of visual appeal and individual differences in perceived restorative potential" (Journal of Environmental Psychology, 2019), "Statistical significance filtering overestimates effects and impedes falsification: A Critique of Endsley (2019)" (Frontiers in Psychology, 2020), "Memory for target height is scaled to observer height" (Memory & Cognition, 2012), and "Judgments of others’ heights are biased toward the height of the perceiver" (Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 2015). Twedt has delivered invited talks such as "Greenness aesthetics" (2019) and "Sense of space" (2018), chaired symposia at the American Psychological Association (2014), and presented at conferences including the Eastern Psychological Association and Psychonomic Society.