Faculty of Science
HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA | CANADA B3H 4R2 | +1 (902) 494-3540

Raymond Klein, FRSC

University Research Professor (ends 2015) and Professor of Psychology

Areas of Interest
General: Human perception, attention, cognition & performance; Cognitive neuroscience; Applied cognitive psychology
Specific: Visual attention and its disorders; Reading and dyslexia; Applied cognitive psychology: Eye witness testimony, human factors, performance rhythms, counterfeit detection, problem gambling

Background
1969, BA, SUNY at Stony Brook, Cum Laude
1972, MA, Psychology, University of Oregon
1974, PhD, Experimental Psychology, University of Oregon

Honours & Awards

  • Member Royal Society of Canada, Nov/11
  • Faculty of Graduate Studies: Distinguished Service Award (May, 2000
  • British Psychological Society. Best Cognition Paper in 2002: Spence, Shore & Klein (2001)
  • Fellow, American Psychological Society, since 2003
  • Killam Professor of Science in Psychology (1999-2004)
  • University Research Professorship (2005-2010)

Consultant on eye-witness testimony
I have been retained on several occasions to provide advice on perceptual and cognitive factors that might influence eyewitness testimony;  I have twice been qualified by Courts in Nova Scotia as an expert witness to testify on such matters; and I have been invited to attend, and assist with, the Clinical Law course at the Law School of Dalhousie University when this topic was covered; and I delivered invited seminars to the Canadian Bar Association (Nova Scotia) meeting on Key Developments in the Law of Evidence, and to the Toronto area judges at their Annual Education Seminar.

Service to the field

  • Canadian Society for Brain, Behavior and Cognitive Science, Co-founder and Past President.
  • Networks of Centers of Excellence: Canadian Language and Literacy Research Network (CLLRnet), Theme Leader, member of Research Management committee.
  • International Association for the Study of Attention and Performance, Advisory Council, member 1985-1992
  • Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance, Associate Editor
  • TheScientificWorldJournal, Higher Brain Function, Associate Editor
    Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology, Perception & Psychophysics:, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, Psychonomic Bulletin & Review Consulting Editor
  • Examples of experimental psychology in the real world, Symposium Organizer, CSBBCS (2006)
  • Understanding "Inhibition of Return" by MInd and Brain, Symposium Organizer, CSBBCS (1999)
  • What the brain's neurons can tell the minds' models of mind, Symposium Organizer, Cognitive Neuroscience (1998) 

Mentor
Current graduate students include: Kristie Dukewich, PhD, Psychology/Neuroscience; Yoko Ishigama, MSc, Psychology; Ann Marie Penny, PhD, Clinical Psychyology (Internal Advisor); Cheryl Techentin, PhD (Co supervisor at U. New Brunswick, Fredericton)

Webpage
Cognitive Science Lab

E-mail: Dr. Raymond Klein  

Dr. Ray Klein

Can I have your attention?

I joined Dalhousie's Psychology Department in 1974 after earning my PhD working with Mike Posner at the U. of Oregon. The concept of attention has been at centre stage for me, and I  have been funded by NSERC, continuously since 1975, to study it.

I  have a general interest in most of the topics subsumed under the  banner "cognitive psychology" and in recent years have actively  pursued a range of strategies seeking to understand how cognitive  processes are  implemented in the brain (cognitive neuroscience). I  believe that applying the powerful methods we have developed to understand how the  mind works to real-world problems is a worthwhile, if not necessary, endeavor.

Reflecting this belief I have done contract research for the Department of Defense (how random are our spatial choices?) and the Bank of Canada (how good is our money) and have taught and testified about perceptual and cognitive factors that might influence the accuracy of eyewitness testimony.