Sarah Hacker, B.A.

Sarah earned her B.A. in Psychology at the University of California, Riverside. She researched with the CCC Lab (Cognition, Categorization, and Conceptualization) to study rule and exception based categorization paradigms as well as overall working memory performance. Sarah's M.A in Cognitive Psychology at the University of Nebraska, Omaha included courses in cognitive development, cognitive neurosciences, perception, and psycholinguistics. Her master's thesis examined the context effects in the popular mega-study method of word recognition experiments. As a research associate at the University of Iowa's Visual Function Lab, Sarah has helped to identify deficits in cognitive processing and attention in adults with sleep apnea, aging adults with mild cognitive impairment, and adults with chronic fatigue (i.e. 12 hour shift working nurses) using EEG, psychophysiological, and simulator methods.

Sarah is currently the lab research supervisor at RADLab, managing the direction of studies that help us understand the cognitive performance of individuals with ASD.

Sarah is interested in studying the differences in cognitive abilities , including working memory, language use, and attention in diverse populations. Particularly, how these cognitive differences impact real-world, every day functioning.

1. Aksan, N., Sager, L., Hacker, S., Lester, B., Dawson, J., Rizzo, M., Ebe, K. & Foley, J. (2017). Individual differences in cognitive functioning predict effectiveness of a heads-up lane departure warning for younger and older drivers. Accident Analysis & Prevention, 99, 171-183.

2. Aksan, N., Sager, L., Hacker, S., Marini, R., Dawson, J., Anderson, S., & Rizzo, M. (2016). Forward Collision Warning: Clues to Optimal Timing of Advisory Warnings. SAE International Journal of Transportation Safety, 4(2016-01-1439), 107-112.

3. Aksan, N., Sager, L., Hacker, S., Lester, B., Dawson, J., & Rizzo, M. (2016). Benefits from Heads-Up Lane Departure Warnings Predicts Safety in the Real-World (No. 2016-01-1443). SAE Technical Paper.

4. Aksan, N., Hacker, S. D., Sager, L., Dawson, J., Anderson, S., & Rizzo, M. (2016). Correspondence between Simulator and On-Road Drive Performance: Implications for Assessment of Driving Safety. Geriatrics, 1(1), 8.

5. Lester, B. D., Hacker, S. D., Vecera, S. P., & Rizzo, M. (2015). Serialization of Behavior during Car Following in Older Drivers. In Proceedings of the 8th International Driving Symposium on Human Factors in Driver Assessment, Training, and Vehicle Design.

6. Aksan, N., Sager, L., Lester, B, Hacker, D., Dawson, J., Anderson, S & Rizzo, M (2015). Effectiveness of a heads-up adaptive lane deviation warning system for middle-aged and older adults. In Proceedings of the 8th International Driving Symposium on Human Factors in Driver Assessment, Training, and Vehicle Design (p. 422-428).

7. Lester, B. D., Sager, L. N., Dawson, J., Hacker, S. D., Aksan, N., Rizzo, M., & Kitazaki, S. (2015, June). Pilot results on forward collision warning system effectiveness in older drivers. In Proceedings of the 8th International Driving Symposium on Human Factors in Driver Assessment, Training, and Vehicle Design (p. 345). NIH Public Access.

8. Cortese, M. J., Hacker, S., Schock, J., & Santo, J. B. (2015). Is reading-aloud performance in mega-studies systematically influenced by the list context?. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 68(8), 1711-1722.

9. Lester BD, Hacker SD, Vecera S, Rizzo M. (2013). Increasing attentional adhesion – occupying executive working memory delays visuospatial attentional disengagement. In Proceedings from Object Perception, Attention, and Memory.

10. Cortese, M. J., Khanna, M. M., & Hacker, S. (2010). Recognition memory for 2,578 monosyllabic words. Memory, 18(6), 595-609.