Psychology of Space & Time Lab
My Lab at Ball State University, Department of Psychological Science
My primary interest is spatial cognition, i.e., how we think of space and solve spatial problems. This is something we deal with every day, whether in a formal setting (visualizing brain sections from different angles; rotating molecules mentally) or informal (putting together furniture; navigating a new environment). I specifically focus on memory and perception of the environment and related individual differences – why are some of us better than others at navigation?
Current Lab Members | Fall 2025
Top row, from left: Dan Gavin, Dan Nardi, Corey Griffin.
Bottom row, from left: Genesis Jones, Daniel Trujillo, Anna Gick, Keegan Maxwell.
Grad students:
Corey Griffin (lab manager). Corey Griffin is a second-year master’s student in the Clinical Psychology program. He graduated with a bachelor’s in psychology from Indiana Wesleyan University. His research experience is in addiction and post-traumatic growth. In his free time, Corey is an avid sports fan and enjoys spending time with his friends.
Dan Gavin. Dan is a first-year graduate student in the Psychological Sciences Master’s Program at Ball State University. Dan received his bachelor’s degree in psychology from Indiana University Bloomington in 2025. This is Dan’s first year in Dr. Nardi’s laboratory, but he has worked in other labs throughout his undergraduate career. He’s interested in cognitive psychology, specifically memory and learning. In his free time, he likes to spend time with friends, watch movies, and run.
Anna Gick. Anna is a second-year graduate student in the Psychological Science Accelerated Master’s Program at Ball State University. Anna got her Bachelor’s in Psychological Science from Ball State, with a minor in Studio Art. Anna’s research interests include child development and psycholinguistics, specifically language development. This is Anna’s second year working in Dr. Nardi’s lab. Anna also spent the last two years working in Dr. Holtgrave’s lab, doing research on communication. In her spare time, she likes reading, spending time with friends, playing sports such as softball and bowling, and baking.
Undergrad students:
Genesis Jones. Genesis is a 3rd year undergraduate student in the psychological science program. She has three minors in American Sign Language, Autism Spectrum Disorders, and Counseling. Genesis plans to continue her studies and go to graduate school for Applied Behavioral Analysis. During her free time, she loves reading, listening to music, and watching tv.
Keegan Maxwell. Keegan is an aspiring Graduate Student. He got his Bachelor’s in Psychological Science at BSU in 2022. After three years, he has returned to pursue either a Master’s in Psychological Science or Clinical Psychology. Keegan currently works for 988 Suicide and Crisis Hotline. His research interests are Mindfulness, Meditation, Memory, and Learning. His hobbies are Dungeons and Dragons, Board games, hiking, weightlifting, and meditation.
Daniel Trujillo. Daniel is currently a fourth-year undergraduate majoring in Psychological Science. He has a double minor in Neuroscience and Sports/Exercise Psychology. Daniel takes an interest in the cognitive aspect of the field and how research is conducted. He plans on continuing to graduate school to study Cognitive Psychology. In his free time, he enjoys working out and going on walks, cooking for himself or friends and family, and an interest of his is collecting and selling vintage 90’s/00s clothing.
Former members
Graduate: Carlie Merriweather, Molly Armstrong, Claire Weseman, Jospeh Wilson, Alex Detrich, Katelyn Singer, Alexa Pellegrino, Krista Price, Sam Carpenter, Somer Johnson.
Undergraduate: Caroline Erny, Dana Ibarra, Ian McBeath, Trey Koch, Christian Jenkins, Jack Gill, Kai Klaker, Kayleen Mitchell, Lauren Brizzi, Ethan Clapp, Alicia Van Duyn, Alissa Dittmer, Cameron Savage, Ruby Yantz, Raina Huber, Joe Bryant, Mackenzie Hathaway, Viveka Melo.
ABOUT ME
I received my Ph.D. in Psychology (concentration in Cognitive Neuroscience) from Bowling Green State University, under the supervision of Vern Bingman. I also have a Master’s and a Bachelor degree in Biology.
I am currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychological Science at Ball State University.
Current Project: EEG Study of Mnemonic Strategies in VR
The purpose of the project is to study the effectiveness of mnemonic strategies and the associated neural underpinnings. Participants will be tested in a memory task in which they have to encode objects presented in a Virtual Reality environment. While participants are performing the task, their brainwaves will be recorded with electroencephalography (EEG). This will allow us to study the neural signatures of stronger memory traces (i.e., better memory retrieval) and understand what – if any – neural differences are exhibited between participants with better memory and those with poorer memory.
Previous Projects
Floor Slant Perception and Memory (2023-2024). How do people navigate without vision? We are interested in nonvisual cues that people can use in the environment to find their way. We specifically focus on the slant of the ground (a hill, or a ramp). Participants are tested for their ability to perceive the slant and remember it. The question is: what makes some people better than others? Are there individual characteristics that make some of us more skilled in navigation?
The Influence of Mask Wearing on Distance Perception (2022-2023). The Action-Specific View of Perception holds that we perceive the world in terms of our ability to act upon it. For example, studies have found that if someone is wearing a backpack, a hill will seem steeper. If someone is afraid of spiders, spiders will seem closer (and larger). In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, in this project we examine if people perceive strangers as closer when the stranger is not wearing a facemask (more threatening), and as farther when they are wearing a facemask (less threatening).
And now some pictures of my lab at conferences and events
List of recent accomplishments (for a complete list, see my cv)
- Publications (journal articles)
- Weseman, C. E., Nardi, D., Ahenkora-Amoako, H., Ramirez, G., Erny, C. E., Gill, J. D., Jenkins, C. T., Koch, T., McBeath, I. D., & Wilson, J. B. (2025). Influence of working memory and spatial anxiety on floor slant perception. Quarterly journal of experimental psychology (2006), 17470218251370907. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/17470218251370907
- Nardi, D., Dickin, D.C., Detrich, A.N., Aultman, A.L., Burns, E., Pellegrino, A., Price, K.M., Savage, C.J., Welch, J.N., Yantz, R.J., Huber, R.N., & Shaw, S.T. (2024). Individual Differences in Proprioceptive Reorientation: A Study on Body Characteristics and Posturography. Spatial Cognition & Computation. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1080/13875868.2024.2403355
- Nardi, D., Singer, K.J., Price, K.M., Carpenter, S.E., Bryant, J.A., Hatheway, M.A., Johnson, J.N., Pairitz, A.K., Young, K.L., & Newcombe, N.S. (2021). Navigating Without Vision: Spontaneous Use of Terrain Slant in Outdoor Place Learning. Spatial Cognition & Computation. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1080/13875868.2021.1916504
- Coppola, V.J., Nardi, D., & Bingman, V.P. (2021). Age-associated decline in septum neuronal activation during spatial learning in homing pigeons (Columba livia). Behavioural Brain Research. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbr.2020.112948
- Presentations (peer reviewed)
- Armstrong, M., Merriweather, C., Erny, C., Gick, A., Ibarra-Escobar, D., Griffin, C., Nardi, D. (2025, May). Examining the Impact of the Method of Loci Strategy on Memory Retrieval and ERP. [Poster Presentation]. Association for Psychological Science Annual Convention, Washington, DC.
- Merriweather, C., Armstrong, M., Erny, C., Gick, A., Ibarra-Escobar, D.*, & Nardi, D. (April, 2025). An ERP Study of Mnemonic Strategy in Virtual Reality. [Poster session]. Midwestern Psychological Association Annual Conference, Chicago, IL.
- Edwards, B.*, & Nardi, D. (April, 2025). The effects of the Method of Loci on state anxiety. [Poster session]. Midwestern Psychological Association Annual Conference, Chicago, IL.
- Weseman, C.*, & Nardi, D. (2024, April). How Spatial Anxiety and Working Memory Impact Nonvisual Spatial Reorientation. Poster Presented at the 2024 Midwestern Psychological Association Conference, Chicago, IL.
- Detrich, A.N.*, & Nardi, D. (2023, November). Contagion Fear: Influence of Mask-Wearing on Distance Perception. Psychonomic Society, San Francisco, CA.
- Nardi, D., Detrich, A., & Huber, R. N. (2023, April). Effect of Weight in a Nonvisual Spatial Reorientation Task. Annual Meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago, IL.
- Detrich, A.*, Pellegrino, A.*, Price, K.*, & Nardi, D. (2022, May). Floor-Slant Perception in Older Adults. Association for Psychological Science Annual Conference, Chicago, IL.
Daniele Nardi's website 