Associate Professor, Department of Psychological Sciences Area Director, Cognition & Neuroscience Program University of Missouri https://gaspelinblog.wordpress.com Pronouns: he/him attention | distraction | vision | eye movements | ERPshttps://bsky.app/profile/ngaspelin.bsky.socialhttps://bsky.app/profile/ngaspelin.bsky.social/post/3mstds4xnwk24We're wrapping up our annual workshop on "R Programming for Psychology and Neuroscience." I wanted to take this opportunity to share some things that I have learned from teaching a coding course. Useful info for students and instructors. On my blog: https://gaspelinblog.wordpress.com/2026/08/11/what-i-have-learned-from-teaching-a-large-national-workshop-on-r-coding/11 Aug 2026 19:25 +0000at://did:plc:evcrdr4dhp2mnvac6zqeaum7/app.bsky.feed.post/3mstds4xnwk24https://bsky.app/profile/ngaspelin.bsky.social/post/3mrn6kljzdc24We have recently published work in Psych Science and JEP:LMC showing a surprising relationship between initial capture and learned suppression of salient distractors. Ultimately, this has led us to believe that attentional control is much more flexible than often assumed. Read more on my blog! https://gaspelinblog.wordpress.com/2026/07/27/from-capture-to-suppression-how-distraction-shapes-attentional-control/27 Jul 2026 15:10 +0000at://did:plc:evcrdr4dhp2mnvac6zqeaum7/app.bsky.feed.post/3mrn6kljzdc24https://bsky.app/profile/ngaspelin.bsky.social/post/3mrauhlifjk2qFun times giving a talk on Signal Suppression 2.0 and attentional capture in Jeremy Wolfe's lab this morning. Thanks for the invitation and excellent questions! I feel like a real grown-up now. :)22 Jul 2026 17:38 +0000at://did:plc:evcrdr4dhp2mnvac6zqeaum7/app.bsky.feed.post/3mrauhlifjk2qhttps://bsky.app/profile/ngaspelin.bsky.social/post/3mnacj7zjec23More fun photos from the Show-Me Mental State conference.01 Jun 2026 14:36 +0000at://did:plc:evcrdr4dhp2mnvac6zqeaum7/app.bsky.feed.post/3mnacj7zjec23https://bsky.app/profile/ngaspelin.bsky.social/post/3mn2coli4u22lGreat success at the Show-Me Mental State conference! So many great talks on attention, working memory, cognitive control, long-term memory, linguistics, and more. Special thanks to Ed Awh for the wonderful keynote! My first shot at conference organizing.30 May 2026 05:23 +0000at://did:plc:evcrdr4dhp2mnvac6zqeaum7/app.bsky.feed.post/3mn2coli4u22lhttps://bsky.app/profile/ngaspelin.bsky.social/post/3mmotqsqd322uI am excited to announce that Steeven Chaloyard has won a Fulbright Scholarship to study in my lab next year. He recently obtained his PhD at the University of Rouen in Normandy, France where he studied with Dr. François Maquestiaux. Look out for some cool forthcoming work from us soon!25 May 2026 15:56 +0000at://did:plc:evcrdr4dhp2mnvac6zqeaum7/app.bsky.feed.post/3mmotqsqd322uhttps://bsky.app/profile/ngaspelin.bsky.social/post/3mm5bct2u4k2pA cool additive color mixing demonstration inherited from Mizzou from the 1940s/50s. Manufactured by General Electric! It consists of 3 light bulbs (R,G,B) and control knobs to adjust the intensity of each bulb. This allows you to produce any possible color combination on an opaque filter.18 May 2026 16:11 +0000at://did:plc:evcrdr4dhp2mnvac6zqeaum7/app.bsky.feed.post/3mm5bct2u4k2phttps://bsky.app/profile/ngaspelin.bsky.social/post/3mm5b2kbxck2pThanks to everyone who applied to our NSF-funded "R Programming for Psychology and Neuroscience" virtual summer workshop. This year, we had over 150 applications from outstanding applicants around the world! We truly appreciate the investment and it is humbling to see so many great applicants.18 May 2026 16:07 +0000at://did:plc:evcrdr4dhp2mnvac6zqeaum7/app.bsky.feed.post/3mm5b2kbxck2phttps://bsky.app/profile/ngaspelin.bsky.social/post/3mlvjxfyvfc2kA cool Müller-Lyer illusion inherited from Nelson Cowan! You can adjust the length of the line via a slide rule and the back has a ruler to measure how far the estimate of equal length was from reality. More cool perception gadgets that I inherited to come!15 May 2026 14:25 +0000at://did:plc:evcrdr4dhp2mnvac6zqeaum7/app.bsky.feed.post/3mlvjxfyvfc2khttps://bsky.app/profile/ngaspelin.bsky.social/post/3mkioi5uuys2yCongrats to the honors students and McNair scholars from our lab! Nice work presenting your final projects and enjoy graduation!27 Apr 2026 18:16 +0000at://did:plc:evcrdr4dhp2mnvac6zqeaum7/app.bsky.feed.post/3mkioi5uuys2yhttps://bsky.app/profile/ngaspelin.bsky.social/post/3mjwrqzvlzc2vLast chance to apply for our virtual summer workshop on R Programming for Psychology and Neuroscience. Funded by NSF, this FREE workshop provides direct training in using R to analyze data from psychological experiments. Open to students from any university. Apps due May 15! rworkshop.missouri.edu https://sites.google.com/view/r-programming-workshop/home/20 Apr 2026 15:26 +0000at://did:plc:evcrdr4dhp2mnvac6zqeaum7/app.bsky.feed.post/3mjwrqzvlzc2vhttps://bsky.app/profile/ngaspelin.bsky.social/post/3mjulgjelck2nSuch a wonderful talk from Keisuke Fukuda. Really cool work on working memory and metacognition! Thanks so much visiting us at Mizzou! @keisukefukuda.bsky.social19 Apr 2026 18:28 +0000at://did:plc:evcrdr4dhp2mnvac6zqeaum7/app.bsky.feed.post/3mjulgjelck2nhttps://bsky.app/profile/ngaspelin.bsky.social/post/3mhuxbibf5s2jA very interesting paper introducing a new technique to manipulate salience during search! [contains quote post or other embedded content]25 Mar 2026 11:09 +0000at://did:plc:evcrdr4dhp2mnvac6zqeaum7/app.bsky.feed.post/3mhuxbibf5s2jhttps://bsky.app/profile/ngaspelin.bsky.social/post/3mhgtu5mfbs2vExcited to see this work out! We show that attention can rapidly learn to ignore salient distractions within 1-2 exposures. Interestingly, this learned suppression is highly contingent on an initial instance of capture! More to come! https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/09567976261430288 @yuezhang-mu.bsky.social19 Mar 2026 20:31 +0000at://did:plc:evcrdr4dhp2mnvac6zqeaum7/app.bsky.feed.post/3mhgtu5mfbs2vhttps://bsky.app/profile/ngaspelin.bsky.social/post/3mgvb777n3k2tWant to learn R? 📊 Join our NSF-funded "R Programming for Psychology and Neuroscience Workshop"! This virtual workshop is completely free and teaches junior scientists the basics of coding for data analysis. Apply by May 15th! rworkshop.missouri.edu #RStats #Psychology #Neuroscience https://rworkshop.missouri.edu12 Mar 2026 20:42 +0000at://did:plc:evcrdr4dhp2mnvac6zqeaum7/app.bsky.feed.post/3mgvb777n3k2thttps://bsky.app/profile/ngaspelin.bsky.social/post/3mgsfkwlirs2nDoes salience boost object representations in working memory, or is it just a visual search artifact? In two new studies w/ Nelson Cowan, we challenge some recent studies for a more flexible model of working memory. Read about it on my blog! https://gaspelinblog.wordpress.com/2026/03/11/flexibility-in-working-memory-overcoming-salience/11 Mar 2026 17:22 +0000at://did:plc:evcrdr4dhp2mnvac6zqeaum7/app.bsky.feed.post/3mgsfkwlirs2nhttps://bsky.app/profile/ngaspelin.bsky.social/post/3mgauuwjszc22Honored to be an APS fellow! Thanks to those who nominated me. And congrats to the others who were also inducted. https://www.psychologicalscience.org/members/fellows04 Mar 2026 18:08 +0000at://did:plc:evcrdr4dhp2mnvac6zqeaum7/app.bsky.feed.post/3mgauuwjszc22https://bsky.app/profile/ngaspelin.bsky.social/post/3mbyxmuzpyc27Elaine (my daughter) is officially the mascot for our Linux-based stimulus machines in the lab. All coding frustrations can now be addressed by viewing this picture. >> sudo get-cuteness09 Jan 2026 16:55 +0000at://did:plc:evcrdr4dhp2mnvac6zqeaum7/app.bsky.feed.post/3mbyxmuzpyc27https://bsky.app/profile/ngaspelin.bsky.social/post/3mac5u45o722fHere's a new paper in which we analyzed >700,000 eye movements to understand attentional suppression of distracting stimuli. This large dataset helps resolve some longstanding questions about the timing and learning of suppression. @kaitlyndrennan.bsky.social https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S001002772500338518 Dec 2025 21:50 +0000at://did:plc:evcrdr4dhp2mnvac6zqeaum7/app.bsky.feed.post/3mac5u45o722fhttps://bsky.app/profile/ngaspelin.bsky.social/post/3m666hgyquv2nWhat can we learn from >700,000 eye movements about distractor suppression? Tonight, Kaitlyn Drennan will present a large data set that aims to resolve difficult-to-answer questions about distractor suppression. Stop by her poster to see beautiful data! ​21 Nov 2025 21:00 +0000at://did:plc:evcrdr4dhp2mnvac6zqeaum7/app.bsky.feed.post/3m666hgyquv2nhttps://bsky.app/profile/ngaspelin.bsky.social/post/3m65r236rei26Are working memory representations feature-based or object-based? This afternoon, Chenye Bao will present some awesome ERP work using the CDA component to test between these accounts. She finds an interesting discrepancy between behavior and ERPs. Don't miss her talk! @chenyebao.bsky.social21 Nov 2025 17:00 +0000at://did:plc:evcrdr4dhp2mnvac6zqeaum7/app.bsky.feed.post/3m65r236rei26https://bsky.app/profile/ngaspelin.bsky.social/post/3m65kdgtn4r27How do we learn to ignore salient distractors? This morning, Yue Zhang will be present fascinating work suggesting successful ignoring actually requires an initial instance of capture. This learning can occur rapidly within 1-2 trials! Don't miss her talk. @yuezhang-mu.bsky.social ​21 Nov 2025 15:00 +0000at://did:plc:evcrdr4dhp2mnvac6zqeaum7/app.bsky.feed.post/3m65kdgtn4r27https://bsky.app/profile/ngaspelin.bsky.social/post/3m63xmk42js2nGreat keynote by Joy Geng at OPAM! Super cool research and great early career advice. Very inspiring and motivational to see!20 Nov 2025 23:52 +0000at://did:plc:evcrdr4dhp2mnvac6zqeaum7/app.bsky.feed.post/3m63xmk42js2n