SARAH CREEM-REGEHR
Sarah Creem-Regehr
email: sarah.creem@psych.utah.edu		 Assistant Professor of Psychology

The Creem-Regehr Lab
Brain and Behavior

B.A. 1994, Colgate University; M.A. 1997, University of Virginia; Ph.D 2000, University of Virginia.

RESEARCH:

Cognitive neuroscience; visual perception; visual-motor control; spatial cognition

Dr. Creem-Regehr's research program examines the interactions between motor and visual representations involved in object and spatial perception and cognition. She uses multiple methods including cognitive studies of perception and action, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), and immersive computer displays to investigate the relationship between actions and visual cognition. More specifically, one area of her work examines a theory of "two visual systems" which proposes that visual information may be transformed by different neural systems for different purposes. One system works to transform visual information for the direct control of movement ("how"), whereas the other system transforms information for long-term representations that may later inform actions ("what"). Her research investigates the extent to which these two systems may be defined as modular systems and the circumstances in which they interact. A second area of her research focuses on human spatial cognition in real and virtual environments. She is interested in the cognitive and neural mechanisms underlying people's ability to represent space. She examines people's ability to imagine different spatial transformations of themselves or of objects in the world. She also examines the influence of real movement of the body in perceiving the world, and forming representations of spatial layout. Her recent work has also involved the study of the nature of distance perception in virtual environments.

Selected Publications

Creem-Regehr, S. H., Gooch, A. A., Sahm, C. S. and Thompson, W. B. Perceiving virtual geographical slant: Action influences perception. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, (in press).

Creem-Regehr, S. H. (2003) Updating space during imagined self- and object-translations. Memory & Cognition, 31:941-952.

Creem, S. H., Downs, T. H., Wraga, M., Harrington, G., Proffitt, D. R., and Downs, J. H. (2001) An fMRI study of imagined self-rotation. Cognitive, Affective & Behavioral Neuroscience, 1:239-249.

Creem, S. H., Wraga, M., and Proffitt, D. R. (2001) Imagining physically impossible transformations: Geometry is more important than gravity. Cognition, 81:41-64.

Creem, S. H., and Proffitt, D. R. (2001) Defining the cortical visual systems: What, where, and how. Acta Psychologica, 107:43-63.

Creem, S. H., and Proffitt, D. R. (2001) Grasping objects by their handles: A necessary interaction between cognition and action. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 1:218-228.

Wraga, M., Creem, S. H., and Proffitt, D. R. (2000) Updating displays after imagined object- and viewer-rotations. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition 26:151-168.

Creem, S. H., and Proffitt, D. R. (1999) Separate memories for visual guidance and explicit awareness: The roles of time and place. In: Stratification of Consciousness and Cognition B. H. Challis and B. N. Velichkovsky (Eds.), John Benjamins Publishing, pp. 73-94.

Creem, S. H., and Proffitt, D. R. (1998) Two memories for geographical slant: Separation and interdependence of action and awareness. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 5(1):22-36.

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