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Washington State University
College of Arts and Sciences Department of Psychology

Kim Meidenbauer

Assistant Professor

Ph.D. University of Chicago, 2020

Contact Information

Email: k.meidenbauer@wsu.edu
Office: Johnson Tower 319, Pullman
Phone: 509-335-3508
Website: SCENe Lab

Classes Taught

  • Psychology 592: Cognition and Affective Behavior

Research Interests

• Effects of heat stress on cognitive function, affective states, and aggression
• The role of environmental racism in creating and perpetuating physical and mental health inequities
• Effects of environmental factors (greenspace access, park qualities, heat exposure, air quality) on violent crime and mental health outcomes in urban areas
• Developing methods to bridge lab-based experiments with computational models of large-scale environmental effects
• Using mobile neuroimaging (functional NIRS) to measure neural activity in naturalistic settings

Research in Dr. Meidenbauer’s Social, Cognitive, & Environmental Neuroscience (SCENe) Lab examines how features of the physical and social environment affect individuals’ brains and their behavior. Currently, the lab’s work focuses on how heat exposure can lead to deleterious psychological outcomes and antisocial behaviors, and how greenspace interventions can be used to buffer against the effects of heat stress. Our research employs an environmental justice lens, working with community organizations to examine how place-based interventions may address the compounding effects of economic marginalization and environmental racism. The SCENe lab is also interested in the creation and validation of research methods that allow us to “take the lab outside”, via browser-based tasks, mobile neuroimaging (fNIRS), and experience sampling techniques. We advocate for and prioritize the use of open science practices, including the ethical sharing of data and study materials, providing open and reproducible code, and pre-registering data collection and analysis plans.

Dr. Meidenbauer will be considering graduate student applications for Fall 2024 admission to the Experimental Psychology PhD Program.

Selected Publications

Zhuang, C.*, Meidenbauer, K. L.*, Kardan, O., Stier, A. J., Choe, K. W., Cardenas-Iniguez, C., Huppert, T. J., & Berman, M. G. (2022). Scale Invariance in fNIRS as a Measurement of Cognitive Load. (*authors contributed equally), Cortex. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2022.05.009

Meidenbauer, K. L.*, Niu, T.*, Choe, K. W., Stier, A. J., & Berman, M. G. (2022). Mouse movements reflect personality traits and task attentiveness in online experiments. (*authors contributed equally) Journal of Personality, 00, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1111/jopy.12736

Talen, E., Choe, K. W., Akcelik, G. N., Berman, M. G., & Meidenbauer, K. L. (2022). Street design preference: an on-line survey. Journal of Urban Design, 1–24. https://doi.org/10.1080/13574809.2022.2066512

Meidenbauer, K. L., Choe, K. W., Cardenas-Iniguez, C., Huppert, T.J., & Berman, M. G. (2021) Load-dependent relationships between frontal fNIRS activity and performance: A data-driven PLS approach. NeuroImage. 117795.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2021.117795

Meidenbauer, K. L., Stenfors, C. U. D., Bratman, G. N., Gross, J. J., Schertz, K. E., Choe, K. W., & Berman, M. G. (2020). The affective benefits of nature exposure: What’s nature got to do with it? Journal of Environmental Psychology, 72.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2020.101498

Meidenbauer, K. L., Stenfors, C., Young, J., Layden, E. A., Schertz, K. E., Kardan, O., Decety, J., & Berman, M. G. (2019). The gradual development of the preference for natural environments. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 65. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2019.101328

Kim Lewis Meidenbauer