Nora S. Newcombe, Ph.D.

 

Email:  newcombe@temple.edu
Phone: (215) 204-6944

Interests: Memory for early childhood, development of spatial cognition, individual differences in spatial ability. Cognitive neuroscience related to these interests, and educational applications (especially K-12 education and college teaching implications) of these interests and of cognitive research more generally.

Nora S. Newcombe, Ph.D. , is a Professor of Psychology at Temple University. Dr. Newcombe was educated at Antioch College, where she graduated with a major in psychology in 1972; and at Harvard University, where she received her Ph.D. in Psychology and Social Relations in 1976. She taught previously at Penn State University. She is a fellow of four divisions of the American Psychological Association (General, Experimental, Developmental, and Psychology of Women), of the American Psychological Society, and of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, has been a Visiting Professor at the University of Pennsylvania, Princeton, and the Wissenschaftskolleg in Berlin. Dr. Newcombe is a past President of Division 7 (Developmental Psychology) of the American Psychological Association, a major professional organization of psychologists interested in child and adolescent development.

A nationally recognized expert on cognitive development, Dr. Newcombe's research has focused on spatial development and the development of episodic and autobiographical memory. Her work has been federally funded by NICHD and the National Science Foundation over 20 years. Dr. Newcombe has served as Editor of the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General and as Associate Editor of Psychological Bulletin , as well as on the Human Cognition and Perception Panel at the National Science Foundation and numerous editorial boards.

She is the author of numerous scholarly chapters and articles on aspects of cognitive development, and the author or editor of three books, including Making Space: The Development of Spatial Representation and Reasoning (with Janellen Huttenlocher) published by the MIT Press in 2000. Recent honors include the George Miller Award and the G. Stanley Hall Awards from APA, and the Women in Cognitive Science Mentor Award.

Recent News and Events

Read recent articles about Dr. Newcombe:

http://www.slate.com/id/2194486/entry/2194525/
http://www.psychologicalscience.org/observer/getArticle.cfm?id=2331
http://www.apa.org/science/psa/dec06cos.html
http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/524238/
http://www.apa.org/ppo/issues/nora0906.html
http://www.apa.org/monitor/apr05/culture.html

Nora Newcombe has recently received the following honors:

*president of the Eastern Psychological Association.

* The American Psychological Association's Division 7 (Developmental Psychology) 2007 G. Stanley Hall Award for Distinguished Contribution to Developmental Psychology.

* Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Cambridge, MA.

* The American Psychological Association's 2006 Award for Distinguished Service to Psychological Science.

* Women in Cognitive Science Mentorship Award (2006).

* The American Psychological Association's Division 2 (Society for the Teaching of Psychology) 2006 G. Stanley Hall Lecturer.

* The George A Miller Award for an Outstanding Recent Article in General Psychology. Dr. Newcombe won the award for her article "The nativist-empiricist controversy in the context of recent research on spatial and cognitive development." Psychological Science , 2002, 13 , 395-401.

* The James H. Glackin Distinguished Term Faculty Fellow in Psychology.

* Temple University's 2004 Paul W. Eberman Faculty Research Award.

The 10th Annual CNSF Congressional Exhibition and Reception, Science at Work

The Coalition for National Science Funding held its 10th Annual CNSF Exhibition and Reception for Members of Congress, Science @ Work, on June 22. The purpose of the annual event is to showcase the crucial role of the National Science Foundation in meeting the nation's research and education needs. This year the Exhibition attracted a capacity crowd of over 370 people, including Members of Congress Bartlett R-MD, Coble R-NC, Ehlers R-MI, Etheridge D-NC, Hobson R-OH, Regula R-OH; John Marburger, Science Advisor to the President and Director of OSTP, Arden Bement, Interim Director of the NSF, and Joe Bordogna, Assistant Director of the NSF, Congressional staffers; and staff from OSTP and NSF. OPC staff joined SRCD member, Dr. Nora Newcombe of Temple University's Infant Lab in her poster presentation on spatial learning development. Dr. Newcombe also visited with representatives Jim Gerlach (R-PA) and Chaka Fattah (D-PA) to advocate for NSF funding, accompanied by OPC staff.

Dr. Newcombe at the CNSF Congressional Exhibition and Reception

The 2004 NAEYC Symposium on Assessment

At a meeting for the National Institute for Early Childhood Professional Development in Baltimore (June 20-23, 2004), Temple researchers participated in a session entitled "Using Science to Inform Preschool Assessment". The session showcased the existing knowledge base that is available about preschool development and assessment. Given the inadequacy of existing assessment tools for children 2 to 4 years old, the development of new methods and instruments is severely needed. Examples of the science behind several developmental domains and recommendations for how assessment could be improved were presented.

The 2004 NAEYC Symposium on Assessment

From Left: Nora Newcombe, Aquiles Iglesias, Anita Kochanoff, Marsha Weinraub, Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, Herbert Ginsburg