Research areas: psychology of art, art perception, and multisensory perception.
Prof. Sherman's interdisciplinary research program investigates how different senses interact to influence a wide range of perceptual and cognitive states, as well as the role of social and emotional factors in mediating these states. She uses mixed methods including behavioral tasks, eye-tracking, and measuring the neurophysiological substrates of perception using EEG. She also uses both qualitative and quantitative analysis techniques.
Prof. Sherman's main research focus aims to understand people's perceptual, cognitive, and emotional responses to the arts. Her publications in this area explore how individual differences in cognitive capacities such as working memory shape visual art preferences, how perspective-taking and empathy in the museum affect individual’s experiences, the role that the arts play in scientific practice, the social and epistemic value of art engagement, and how art appreciation and art-making generate meaning in our lives. She is currently working on a co-authored book titled "Why the Arts Matter".
A second arm of Prof. Sherman's research examines multisensory perception and integration. Students in her lab investigate how auditory and visual information interact and influence eachother. Most recently, her students have examined how adding sound to a visuo-motor task could facilitate performance, and how individual diferences in multisnersory perception contribute to experiencing various multisensory illusions such as the McGurk effect and the double flash illusion.
Prof. Sherman collaborates widely with students at Oxy and with scholars across fields including psychologists, cognitive neuroscientists, philosophers, anthropologists, and practicing artists. Her research has been funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Science Foundation, and she consults on various current grants funded by the NIH and the Templeton Foundation. If you are interested in collaborating, please get in touch.
Selected publications (bold underline indicates Oxy student co-authors)
- Sherman, A., Anderson, D. (2023). How Art Contributes to Scientific Knowledge. Philosophical Psychology. https://doi-org.oxy.idm.oclc.org/10.1080/09515089.2023.2241499
- Han, Z., Sanchez, D., Levitan C.A., Sherman, A. (2023). Stimulus-locked auditory information facilitates real-time visuo-motor sequence learning. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review. https://pubmed-ncbi-nlm-nih-gov.oxy.idm.oclc.org/37735341/
- Levitan, C; Rusk, I; Jonas-Delson, D; Lou, H; Kuzniar, L; Davidson, G; Sherman, A. (2022). Mask wearing affects emotion perception. iPerception. https://www-ncbi-nlm-nih-gov.oxy.idm.oclc.org/pmc/articles/PMC9248045/
- Sherman, A., Cupo, L., & Mithlo, N. M. (2020). Perspective-taking increases emotionality and empathy but does not reduce harmful biases against American Indians: Converging evidence from the museum and lab. PloS One, 15(2), e0228784. https://pubmed-ncbi-nlm-nih-gov.oxy.idm.oclc.org/32092065/
- Mithlo, N.M. and Sherman, A. (2020). How Perspective‐Taking in Museums Can Lead to Increased Bias: A Call for ‘Less Certain’ Positions in American Indian Contexts. Curator. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/cura.12373
- Levitan, C., Winfield,E., Sherman, A. (2019). Grumpy toddlers and dead pheasants: Visual art preferences are predicted by preferences for the depicted objects. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, & the Arts. https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2019-18097-001
- Jertberg, R., Levitan, C., Sherman, A. (2018). Multisensory processing of facial expressions in binocular rivalry. Emotion. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30321036/
- Sherman, A. & Morrissey, C. (2017). What is art good for?: The socio-epistemic value of art., Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2017.00411.
- Zellmer, A., Sherman, A. (2017). Culturally inclusive STEM education. Science. 1126/science.aaq0358 https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aaq0358
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Sherman, A., Grabowecky, M., & Suzuki, S. (2015). In the working memory of the beholder: art appreciation depends on a match between visual complexity and working memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Psychophysics https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25984587/
Courses
- COGS 101: Intro to Cognitive Science
- COGS 201: Empirical Methods in Cognitive Science
- COGS 265: Art, Creativity, and Cognition
- COGS 298: Intro to Neuroimaging: EEG Methods
- COGS 320: Cognitive Neuroscience
- FYS: This is Your Brain on Art
- FYS: Nature from the Inside Out