Ralph Hale, Ph.D.
Area(s) of Expertise: Cognitive psychology
Overview
Ralph G. Hale earned his Ph.D. in Psychology with a focus on Visual Perception and Memory from the University of Georgia in 2018. Prior to his doctoral program, Ralph earned an Associate of Arts degree from Gainesville State College in 2009 followed by Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees from the University of Georgia in 2011 and 2015, respectively. In 2018, Ralph was awarded the Charles L. Darby Award for outstanding graduate teaching as well as the Richard L. Marsh Award for extraordinary commitment to research mentoring while at UGA. In 2018, Ralph earned an Interdisciplinary Certificate in University Teaching from the University of Georgia Teaching Academy. Since joining UNG, Ralph has been a Teaching Excellence Award for Tenure-Track Faculty winner in 2020, an Outstanding Transfer Champion nominee in 2021, a UNG Alumni Association Distinguished Professor Award nominee in 2022, an Excellence in Undergraduate Research Award honorable mention in 2022, a Southeastern Psychological Association Mentor Award nominee in 2022, the Ann Matthews Purdy Outstanding Teaching of the Year Award winner in 2023, and the Excellence in Undergraduate Research Award winner in 2023. In addition, Ralph was awarded an academic writing grant from UNG’s Center for Teaching, Learning, and Leadership in 2018; Leap-into-Action grants from the Association of American Colleges and Universities for interdisciplinary research projects in 2020 and 2022; and Faculty Undergraduate Summer Engagement (FUSE) grants for student-focused research in 2021 and 2023.
Ralph is dedicated to mentoring undergraduate students in educational, research, and professional settings to help them chart successful courses toward their eventual career objectives. His research mentees have worked on a wide variety of cognitive research projects, presented their findings at professional research conferences around the country, and published their work in prestigious research journals. Ralph values his service to his students, university, and surrounding community. He is the faculty advisor for Psi Chi (the international honor society in psychology) and the Psychology Club. Ralph serves on an assortment of departmental, college, and university committees; he serves as an advisor and mentor; and he serves the profession in many ways, including as a peer reviewer, conference presentation session chair, and science fair judge. Ralph is a member of many professional organizations including Vision Sciences Society, Psychonomic Society, and American Association of University Professors—and often attends conferences for these organizations and others. Ralph’s research interests focus broadly on the areas of visual perception, memory, and empirical aesthetics.
Courses Taught
- PSYC 1101 – Introduction to Psychology
- PSYC 1102 – Introduction to Psychological Science
- PSYC 2103 – Human Growth & Development
- PSYC 3080K – Research Methods
- PSYC 3310 – Cognitive Psychology
- PSYC 4250 – Sensation & Perception
- PSYC 4230 – Biopsychology / Neuroscience
- PSYC 4403 – Special Topics: Memory
- PSYC 4950 – Advanced Topics in Psychology
- PSYC 4960 – Psychological Reading & Research
Education
- Ph.D., Psychology, The University of Georgia, 2018
- M.S., Psychology, The University of Georgia, 2015
- B.S., Psychology, The University of Georgia, 2011
- A.A., Psychology, Gainesville State College, 2009
Research/Special Interests
Ralph's current research focuses on an investigation of the impact of global context and ecological validity on various visual illusions (e.g., illusory color spreading) and visual memory errors (e.g., boundary extension). The eventual goal of this line of inquiry is to determine what these illusions and visual memory errors tell us about our typical day-to-day visual perceptions by examining these visual phenomena in more ecologically valid global configurations. Additionally, Ralph is generally interested in a broad array of visual factors including color vision, figure-ground organization, object and scene recognition, visual search, illumination, social gaze, attention, iconic memory, visual short-term memory, and multimodal memory.
Publications
Hale, R.G. & Brown, J.M. (2021). Influence of context on spatial expanse of color spreading in the watercolor illusion. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13414-021-02306-0
Brown, J. M., Breitmeyer, B. G., Hale, R. G., & Plummer, R. W. (2018). Contrast sensitivity indicates processing level of visual illusions. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 44(10), 1557-1566. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/xhp0000554
McDunn, B. A., Brown, J. M., Hale, R. G., & Siddiqui, A. P. (2016). Disentangling boundary extension and normalization of view memory for scenes. Visual Cognition, 24:5-6, 356-368, doi: 10.1080/13506285.2016.1274810
Hale, R.G., Brown, J.M. & McDunn, B.A. (2016). Increasing task demand by obstructing object recognition increases boundary extension. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 23: 1497. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-016-1018-5
Hale, R.G., Brown, J.M., McDunn, B.A., & Siddiqui A.P. (2015). An influence of extremal edges on boundary extension. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 22: 961. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-014-0751-x
Work Experience
2018 – present, Assistant Professor of Psychological Science, University of North Georgia, Gainesville, GA.
2012 – 2018, Teaching / Research Assistant, University of Georgia, Athens, GA.
Personal Information
Professional Affiliations:
- Vision Sciences Society
- Psychonomic Society
- Association for Psychological Science (APS)
- American Psychological Association (APA)
- Society for the Teaching of Psychology (STP)
- Society for Experimental Psychology & Cognitive Science
- Society for Behavioral Neuroscience & Comparative Psychology
- Southeastern Psychological Association
- American Association of University Professors
- Psi Chi Honor Society in Psychology