I am a third year graduate student in the Experimental Psychology program with a concentration in Hearing Science. My mentor is Dr. Fred Wightman. Our lab is located at the Heuser Hearing Institute.

Our research here examines the development of auditory attention in children. I am currently at work on a project which is examining the effects of distracting sounds on short term memory in children and adults.

Education:

1999 B.S. Psychology : College of Charleston

2009 M.S. Experimental Psychology: University of Louisville

Publications:

Wightman F.L., Kistler D.K., and O'Bryan, A. (under review) "Dichotic informational masking in children and adults." Submitted to the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.

Posters:

O'Bryan, A., Wightman, F.L., Kistler, D.K., Rothpletz, A.M. (March 2010). "Spatial Release from Informational Masking in Normally Hearing Children." Poster presented at the Graduate Research Symposium, University of Louisville.

O'Bryan, A., Kistler, K.J., Wightman, F.L., (November 2009). "The Irrelevant Speech Effect and Children: Methodological Considerations." Poster presented at the annual meeting of the Psychonomic Society.

Wightman, F.L., Kistler, D.J., Rothpletz, A.M., O'Bryan, A. (February 2009). "Informational Masking in Children with Cochlear Implants." Poster presented at annual meeting of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology.

Presentations:

"The Development of the Perception of Prosody in Children with Cochlear Implants" Presented at the Experimental Psychology Graduate Seminar, January 2010.

"The Irrelevant Speech Effect and Children" Presented at the Experimental Psychology Graduate Seminar, October 2008.