Associate Professor Psychology

Lab site: Spatial Memory and Cognition Laboratory

 Dr. Schutte received her Ph. D. from the University of Iowa and joined the faculty in 2004. Her research interests are in the area of cognitive development, with a particular focus on the development of spatial cognition. Her primary research program centers on the development of spatial working memory and executive function, and how environments, broadly defined, influence their development. Her research is based on a dynamic systems model of cognition, the Dynamic Field Theory, which is a computational model of spatial cognition that uses dynamic neural fields. She teaches courses in developmental psychology, cognitive development, child behavior and development, and dynamic systems theory.

Select Publications
  • Schutte, A. R., Wu, Y., & Jacoby, M. N. (2022). Individual differences in executive attention and inhibitory control are related to spatial memory biases in adults. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 76. 391-403. doi:10.1177/17470218221092776
  • Wu, Y., Schutte, A. R., (2021). Attentional Shifting Mediates the Relationship between Parenting and Working Memory. Journal of Cognition and Development, 22, 667-677. https://doi.org/10.1080/15248372.2021.1976781
  • Torquati, J. C., Schutte, A. R., Kiat, J. (2017). Attentional Demands of Executive Function Tasks in Indoor and Outdoor Settings: Behavioral and Neuroelectrical Evidence. Children, Youth, and Environments, 27, 70–92.
  • Schutte, A. R., Keiser, B. K., & Beattie, H. L. (2017). Developmental Differences in the Influence of Distractors on Maintenance in Spatial Working. Journal of Cognition and Development, 18, 338-357. DOI: 10.1080/15248372.2017.1300155
  • Schutte, A. R., Torquati, J. C., & Beattie, H. L. (2017). Impact of urban nature on executive functioning in early and middle childhood. Environment and Behavior, 49, 3 – 30. doi: 10.1177/0013916515603095
  • Simmering, V., & Schutte, A. R. (2015). Developmental dynamics: The spatial precision hypothesis. In J.P. Spencer & G. S. Schöner (Eds.), Dynamic Thinking: A Primer on Dynamic Field Theory. Oxford University Press.
  • Schutte, A. R. & Spencer, J.P. (2009). Tests of the Dynamic Field Theory and the Spatial Precision Hypothesis: Capturing a Qualitative Developmental Transition in Spatial Working Memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 35, 1698-1725.
    http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/psychfacpub/496
  • Schutte, A. R., Spencer, J. P., Schoener, G. (2003). Testing the dynamic field theory: Working memory for locations becomes more spatially precise over development. Child Development. 74, 1393-1417. http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/psychfacpub/24