Michael Neelon, Ph.D.

Education

• A., Pomona College (Linguistics)
• A., University of Wisconsin, Madison (Experimental Psychology)
• D., University of Wisconsin, Madison (Experimental Psychology)

Courses Taught

• MLAS/CCS 560 – Climate Change & Society: Communicating Science
• MLAS 560 – The Science of Decision-Making: Positive Psychology and the Brain
• Neur 480 – Seminar in Neuroscience
• Neur 474 – Affective Neuroscience & Psychophysiology
• Psyc 179, Hon 179, 373, & 473, and MLA 560 & 571 – Neuropsychology & Savantism
• Psyc 101 – General Psychology: Brain & Behavior
• Psyc 201 – Research Methods I
• Psyc 202 – Research Methods II
• Psyc 216 – Fundamentals of Neuroscience
• Psyc 362 – Advanced Neuroscience
• Psyc 322 – Sensation & Perception
• Psyc 329 – Cognitive Psychology
• Psyc 412 – Senior Seminar in Psychology: Behavioral- and Neuroeconomics
• Psyc 412 – Senior Seminar in Psychology: Affective Neuroscience & Psychophysiology

Research and Professional Interests

I received my PhD in experimental psychology in 2003 from the University of Wisconsin, where I studied the perception of auditory motion. I then spent a few years as a post-doc in the Department of Neurosurgery at Madison researching the effects of attention on auditory cortical responses using intracranial recordings (ECoG). Since arriving at UNC Asheville, my teaching has focused on the relationship between brain and behavior. I have been involved in various research projects with colleagues and students over the years, often incorporating EEG and psychophysiological methods. Research topics have included:  exploring the perception of sound motion; the relationship between aging, creativity and cognition; and the emotional responses to faces, colors and sounds

• Experimental Psychology/Neuroscience
• Auditory Motion; Creativity & Aging; Emotional Responses to Visual and Auditory Stimuli; EEG and Psychophysiological Methods

Publications

Journal Articles:

• Williams, C. L., Neelon, M. (2013). “Conditional beauty: The impact of emotionally linked images on the red effect in sexual attraction.” Psi Chi Journal of Psychological Research, 18(1):10-19.
• Neelon M. F., Williams J., & Garell P. C. (2011). “Elastic attention: Enhanced, then sharpened response to auditory input as attentional load increases,” Front. Hum. Neurosci. 5:41. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2011.00041.
• Neelon M. F., Williams J., & Garell P. C. (2006) “The effects of attentional load on ERPs recorded from human cortex,” Brain Research, 1118(1):94-105.
• Neelon M. F., Williams J., & Garell P. C. (2006). “The effects of selective auditory attention recorded from human electrocorticograms,” Clinical Neurophysiology, 117:504–521.
• Neelon, M. F., Brungart, D. Kordik, A., & Simpson, B. (2004). “The isoazimuthal perception of sounds across distance: a preliminary investigation into the location of the audio egocenter,” Journal of Neuroscience, 24(35):7640-7647.
• Neelon, M. F. & Jenison, R. L. (2004). “Temporal growth and decay of the auditory motion aftereffect,” Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 115 (6), pp. 3112-23.
• Neelon, M. F. & Jenison, R. L. (2003). “The effect of trajectory on the auditory motion aftereffect,” Hearing Research, 180, pp. 57-66.
• Neelon, M. F. & Jenison, R. L. (2001). “Act Globally, Think Locally. Commentary on Stoffregen and Bardy The Separation of the Senses,” Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 24(2), pp. 231-2.