Joel Bish

Associate Professor of Psychology

Joel P. Bish, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Psychology at Ursinus. He received his B.S. in Psychology from York College of Pennsylvania, his M.S. in Experimental Psychology from Towson University in Baltimore, and his Ph.D. in Cognitive Neuroscience from the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque.

From 2003 to 2005, Dr. Bish was an NIH National Research Service Award Fellow at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. In 2005, he joined the faculty of Ursinus College in the Psychology Department and served as the Coordinator for the College’s Neuroscience major from 2005 until July of 2014.

Degrees

  • B.S., York College of Pennsylvania
  • M.A., Towson University
  • Ph.D., University of New Mexico

Teaching

The Brain and Its Mind
Applied Cognitive Neuroscience
Behavioral Neuroscience
Research Methods
Neuroscience Capstone

Research Interests

Dr. Bish has research interests across a number of domains of cognitive neuroscience, including:

  1. The normal and abnormal neurological development of visuospatial, executive, and numerical processing.
  2. The relationship between cognitive dysfunction and mild traumatic brain injury (e.g. concussions).
  3. The neurological underpinnings of aesthetics.
  4. The use of multiple neuroimaging techniques (MRI, fMRI, ERP, MEG) to examine the structure/function relationships of the human brain.

Recent Work

Faculty mentor for the following student research projects:

  • EEG and Subjective Correlates of Strobically-Induced Visual Hallucinations.
  • Visual Processing in Individuals with Differential Autistic Qualities.
  • Using Spectral Analysis and Event-Related Potentials to Identify Cognitive Deficits within Concussed Student Athletes.
  • Effects of False Beliefs on Personality Change.
  • Neurocorrelates of Symptomology of ADHD and OCD.

My current research interests include the role of executive function and impulse control in typical and atypical development, the effects of concussion on neuro-cognitive function, and facial processing.

Joel Bish

Related News

Dominique Ballinger Honors Defense
Neuroscience Major Dominique Ballinger Describes Honor’s Research.
Dominique Ballinger ’21 has been a long time research student of Dr. Joel Bish. Below she describes her Honors Research:
Joel Bish
Changing the Culture of Concussions

Neuroscience faculty Joel Bish has turned from research to education. His students showed him the way. Together, they aim to change the culture of concussions through school programs and technology.

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School of Thought

Student and faculty researchers from across academic disciplines advance our knowledge of the brain.