Jeffrey Coldren

Dr. Jeffrey Coldren - profile photo

Dr. Jeffrey Coldren

Chair Professor

Psychological Sciences & Counseling

Beeghly Hall 4106

phone: (330) 941-3264

jtcoldren@ysu.edu

Bio

I am a Professor and Department Chair of Psychological Sciences and Counseling at Youngstown State University. I earned my Ph.D. from the University of Kansas in Child Development and Developmental Psychology under the direction of Prof. John Colombo and my MA in Human Development under the supervision of Prof. Frances Degen Horowitz. I earned my BA from Albright College. Prior to attending KU, I entered the Life-Span Developmental Psychology Program at West Virginia University. Following my graduate training, I completed a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Toledo with Prof. Robert Haaf. I also did a sabbatical leave at McGill University under the direction of Prof. Thomas Shultz in the Laboratory for Natural and Simulated Cognition.

Research Interests

My research investigates the development of cognition and learning across the lifespan involving processes such as stimulus dimensionalization, transfer, response shifting, attention, hypothesis-testing, and executive functioning. I have conducted studies with infants, preschool and elementary school children, and college students. Most of my research questions have both theoretical and applied aspects of cognitive processes. In addition to conducting empirical experiments, I also use computational models to simulate the development of psychological processes. Currently, I am conducting studies on learning cessation in autonomous learning agents (i.e. humans and computers). Specifically, do humans of different ages (kindergarten children and college students) self-regulate their learning to maintain engagement when making progress toward a goal, and importantly cease learning when it no longer becomes productive?

Teaching Interests

I teach Principles of Development for School Psychology, Advanced Statistical Techniques for Psychology, Statistics for Psychology, Research Design and Methods, Child Development, and Educational Psychology.

  • 1992

    Ph D, Child Development and Developmental Psychology

    University of Kansas

  • 1987

    MA, Human Development

    University of Kansas

  • 1983

    BA, Psychology

    Alright College

  • 2023

    YSU Foundation

    James P. Tressel Endowed Chair for Leadership

  • 2022

    Distinguished Research Professor in Teaching as a Chairperson

  • 2004

    The Rich Center for Autism

    Rich Center Faculty Fellow

  • 2020 - present

    Department Chairperson

  • 2015 - present

    Coordinator

  • 2023

    "Conditions Under Which College Students Cease Learning"

    J. Coldren

    Frontiers in Psychology, volume 14

  • 2013

    "Cognitive Control Predicts Academic Achievement in Kindergarten Children"

    J. Coldren

    Mind, Brain, and Education, Wiley, volume 7, issue 1, p. 40-48

  • 2009

    "Attention as a Cueing Function During Kindergarten Children's Dimensional Change Task Performance"

    J. Coldren, J. Colombo

    INFANT AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT, volume 18, issue 5, p. 441-454

  • 2003

    "Spatial reversal as a measure of executive functioning in children with autism."

    J. Coldren, C. Halloran

    The Journal of genetic psychology, volume 164, issue 1, p. 29-41

  • 2000

    "Asymmetries in Infants' Attention to the Presence or Absence of Features"

    J. Coldren, R. Haaf

    The Journal of Genetic Psychology, Informa UK Limited, volume 161, issue 4, p. 420-434

  • 1998

    "Infants' perception of solid objects"

    K. Marks, J. Coldren

    Infant Behavior and Development, Elsevier BV, volume 21, p. 552

  • 1996

    "Infant attention to visual cue and background context: Asymmetric processing of visual components"

    J. Coldren, R. Haaf

    Infant Behavior and Development, Elsevier BV, volume 19, p. 401

  • 1996

    "Attention, recognition, and the effects of stimulus context in 6-month-old infants"

    R. Haaf, B. Lundy, J. Coldren

    Infant Behavior and Development, Elsevier BV, volume 19, issue 1, p. 93-106

  • 1995

    "Individual differences in infant fixation duration: Dominance of global versus local stimulus properties"

    J. Colombo, L. Freeseman, J. Coldren, J. Frick

    Cognitive Development, Elsevier BV, volume 10, issue 2, p. 271-285

  • 1994

    "The nature and processes of preverbal learning: implications from nine-month-old infants' discrimination problem solving."

    J. Coldren, J. Colombo

    Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, volume 59, issue 4, p. 1-75; discussion 76-93

  • 1993

    "Individual Differences in Infant Visual Attention: Four-Month-Olds' Discrimination and Generalization of Global and Local Stimulus Properties"

    L. Freeseman, J. Colombo, J. Coldren

    Child Development, JSTOR, volume 64, issue 4, p. 1191

  • 1991

    "Individual Differences in Infant Visual Attention: Are Short Lookers Faster Processors or Feature Processors?"

    J. Colombo, D. Mitchell, J. Coldren, L. Freeseman

    Child Development, JSTOR, volume 62, issue 6, p. 1247

  • 1990

    "Form categorization in 10-month-olds"

    J. Colombo, K. McCollam, J. Coldren, D. Mitchell, S. Rash

    Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, Elsevier BV, volume 49, issue 2, p. 173-188

  • 1990

    "Discrimination learning during the first year: stimulus and positional cues."

    J. Colombo, D. Mitchell, J. Coldren, J. Atwater

    Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition, volume 16, issue 1, p. 98-109

  • 1989

    "Longitudinal correlates of infant attention in the paired-comparison paradigm"

    J. Colombo, D. Wayne Mitchell, J. Dodd, J. Coldren, F. Horowitz

    Intelligence, Elsevier BV, volume 13, issue 1, p. 33-42

  • 1987

    "10-Hz flash visual evoked potentials predict post-cataract extraction visual acuity."

    J. Odom, R. Hobson, J. Coldren, G. Chao, G. Weinstein

    Documenta ophthalmologica. Advances in ophthalmology, volume 66, issue 4, p. 291-9

  • 2024 - 2024

    Reviewer, Journal Article
    Mind, Brain, and Education

  • 2015 - 2023

    Editorial Review Board Member
    Frontiers in Psychology

Jeffrey Coldren Profile Pic

I am a Professor and Department Chair of Psychological Sciences and Counseling at Youngstown State University. I earned my Ph.D. from the University of Kansas in Child Development and Developmental Psychology under the direction of Prof. John Colombo and my MA in Human Development under the supervision of Prof. Frances Degen Horowitz. I earned my BA from Albright College. Prior to attending KU, I entered the Life-Span Developmental Psychology Program at West Virginia University. Following my graduate training, I completed a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Toledo with Prof. Robert Haaf. I also did a sabbatical leave at McGill University under the direction of Prof. Thomas Shultz in the Laboratory for Natural and Simulated Cognition.

My research investigates the development of cognition and learning across the lifespan involving processes such as stimulus dimensionalization, transfer, response shifting, attention, hypothesis-testing, and executive functioning. I have conducted studies with infants, preschool and elementary school children, and college students. Most of my research questions have both theoretical and applied aspects of cognitive processes. In addition to conducting empirical experiments, I also use computational models to simulate the development of psychological processes. Currently, I am conducting studies on learning cessation in autonomous learning agents (i.e. humans and computers). Specifically, do humans of different ages (kindergarten children and college students) self-regulate their learning to maintain engagement when making progress toward a goal, and importantly cease learning when it no longer becomes productive?

I teach Principles of Development for School Psychology, Advanced Statistical Techniques for Psychology, Statistics for Psychology, Research Design and Methods, Child Development, and Educational Psychology.

Profiles:

Research Gate
Frontiers
ORCiD