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Rebecca Johnson

Rebecca Johnson

Professor and Chair of Psychology
Neuroscience Program  

Office: Billie Tisch Center for Integrated Sciences 390G
Phone: 518-580-5306
Email: rjohnso1@skidmore.edu

View Rebecca's Google Scholar Page
View Rebecca's ResearchGate Page
Education:
  • Ph.D., University of Massachusetts Amherst
  • M.S., University of Massachusetts Amherst
  • B.A., Georgetown College
Courses taught at Skidmore:
  • SSP 100 Reading Minds: The History and Science of Literacy
  • PS 202 Statistics and Research Methods I
  • PS 303 Statistics and Research Methods II
  • PS 312B Case Studies in the Neuropsychology of Reading
  • PS 314 Psychology of Reading
  • PS 323 Psycholinguistics
  • PS 351 Psychological Science:  The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
  • PS 351 Topics in Advanced Statistics
  • PS 365 Senior Coda: Rethinking Psychology 
Research interests:

The ability to read is a miracle.  Although humankind invented reading only a few thousand years ago, for many of us, we effortlessly and quickly extract meaning from small visual characters presented on a page.  Yet despite the fact that most of us are quite good at reading, the mental processes involved are highly complex.  My research focuses on the cognitive processes underlying reading.  Specifically, I am interested in how the processing of words differs as a function of (1) the sublexical properties of the text (e.g., the individual letters, letter positions, fonts, formats, or spaces presented), (2) the lexical properties of the words (e.g., their neighbors, emotional valence and arousal, morphological status, etc.), and (3) individual differences across readers (e.g., across various ages or reading ability levels, in those with stroke-induced reading disorders, etc.).  In my work at Skidmore in the LETR (Language, Eye-Tracking, & Reading) Lab, I use experimental techniques that are able to capture the processing of written text as it unfolds.  I have done extensive work using eye-tracking methodology, monitoring the eye movements of readers as they engage in normal silent reading.  I also use other measures such as lexical decision tasks, naming tasks, semantic categorization tasks, masked priming tasks, and self-paced reading tasks.  Each of these measures gives us a fascinating picture of the cognitive processes involved during reading.

Selected publications:
  • Johnson, R. L., Fahrenwald, M.*, Dolynuk, N. V.*, Lupien, A.*, Cleveland, E.*, Klompus, S.*, & Lavin, S.* (2026). Inferring Pink- and Blue-Collar Jobs: Children's Eye Movements When Reading Gender-Stereotyped Occupations. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1177/17470218261488037
  • Spear, A.*, Johnson, R. L., Yun, H.*, Ashby, J., & Kleinsmith, A. (2025).  To boldly go where no text has gone before:  The effects of boldface letters on eye movements in reading.  Attention, Perception, and Psychophysics, 87(4), 1270-1286. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13414-025-03067-w
  • Johnson, R. L. & Slattery, T. J. (2024).  Processing difficulty while reading words with neighbors is not due to increased foveal load: Evidence from eye movements.  Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 86, 1360-1374.  https://doi.org/10.3758/s13414-024-02880-z
  • Johnson, R. L., Koch, C.*, & Wootten, M.* (2024).  Keep clam and carry on:  Misperceptions of transposed-letter neighbours.  Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 77(7), 1363-1374.  https://doi.org/10.1177/17470218231196409
  • Johnson, R. L., Wootten, M.*, Spear, A.*, & Smolensky, A* (2023).  The relationship between personality traits and the processing of emotion words:  Evidence from eye-movements in sentence reading.  Journal of Psycholinguistic Research.  https://doi.org/10.1007/s10936-023-09959-y
  • Johnson, R. L., Nambiar, D.*, & Suman, G.* (2021).  Using eye-movements to assess underlying factors in online purchasing behaviors.  International Journal of Consumer Studies, 46(4), 1365-1380. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijcs.12762
  • Johnson, R. L., Slate, S. R.*, Teevan, A. R.*, & Juhasz, B. J. (2019). The processing of blend words in naming and sentence reading.  Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 72(4), 847-857. https://doi.org/10.1177/1747021818768441
  • Knickerbocker, F., Johnson, R. L., Starr, E. L.*, Hall, A. M.*, Preti, D. M.*, Slate, S. R.*, Altarriba, J. (2019).  The processing of positive and negative emotion-laden words during reading:  An eye-tracking study.  Acta Psychologica, 192, 1-10.  10.1016/j.actpsy.2018.10.008
  • Burton, G., & Johnson, R. L. (2018).  Linguistic pattern.  In R. Roe-Dale (Ed).  Sixfold Symmetry:  Pattern in Art and Science.  Tang Teaching Museum.
  • Johnson, R. L., Bui, B.*, & Schmitt, L. L.* (2018).  Are two spaces better than one?  The effect of spacing following periods and commas during reading.  Attention, Perception, and Psychophysics, 80(6), 1504-1511. 10.3758/s13414-018-1527-6
  • Johnson, R. L., Oehrlein, E. C.*, & Roche, W. L*.  (2018).  Predictability and parafoveal preview effects in the developing reader:  Evidence from eye movements.  Journal of Experimental Psychology:  Human Perception and Performance, 44(7), 973-991. https://doi.org/10.1037/xhp0000506
  • Johnson, R. L., & Starr, E. L.* (2018).  The preferred viewing location in top-to-bottom reading.  Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 71(1), 220-228.  https://doi.org/10.1080/17470218.2017.1307860
  • Juhasz, B. J., Johnson, R. L., & Brewer, J. (2017). An investigation into the processing of lexicalized English blend words: Evidence from lexical decisions and eye movements during reading. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 46(2), 281-294. 10.1007/s10936-016-9436
  • Johnson, R. L., & Raphail, A. M.* (2016). Untangling letter confusability and word length effects in pure alexia. Cognitive Neuropsychology, 32, 442-456.  10.1080/02643294.2015.1113945
  • Knickerbocker, H., Johnson, R. L., & Altarriba, J. (2015).  Emotion effects during reading:  Influence of an emotion target word on eye movements and processing.  Cognition and Emotion. 29(5), 784-806.  10.1080/02699931.2014.938023
  • Blythe, H., Johnson, R. L., Tbaily, L. W., Liversedge, S. P., & Rayner, K.  (2014).  Reading transposed text:  Effects of transposed distance and consonant-vowel status on eye movements.  Attention, Perception, and Psychophysics, 76(8), 2424-2440.  10.3758/s13414-014-0707-2
  • Adelman, J. S., Johnson, R. L., McCormick, S. F., McKague, M., Kinoshita, S., Bowers, J. S...Davis, C. J. (2014). A behavioral database for masked form priming.  Behavior Research Methods.  10.3758/s13428-013-0442-y
  • Johnson, R. L., & Eisler, M. E*. (2012).  The importance of the first and last letter in words during sentence reading.  Acta Psychologica, 141, 336-351.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2012.09.013
  • Johnson, R. L., Staub, A., & Fleri, A. M.* (2012).  Distributional analysis of the transposed-letter neighborhood effect on naming latency.  Journal of Experimental Psychology:  Learning, Memory, & Cognition, 38(6), 1773-1779.  https://doi.org/10.1037/a0028222
  • Johnson, R. L., & Dunne, M. D.* (2012).  Parafoveal processing of transposed-letter words and nonwords:  Evidence against parafoveal lexical activation.  Journal of Experimental Psychology:  Human Perception and Performance, 38, 191-212.  10.1037/a0025983
  • Cushman, C. L.*, & Johnson, R. L. (2011).  Age of acquisition effects in pure alexia.  Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 64, 1726-1742.  10.1080/17470218.2011.556255
  • Johnson, R. L. (2009).  The quiet clam is quite calm:  Transposed-letter neighborhood effects on eye movements during reading.  Journal of Experimental Psychology:  Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 35(4), 943-969.  10.1037/a0015572
  • White, S., Johnson, R. L., Liversedge, S., & Rayner, K.  (2008).  Eye movements when reading transposed text: The importance of word-beginning letters.  Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 34, 1261-1276.  10.1037/0096-1523.34.5.1261
  • Johnson, R. L. & Rayner, K.  (2007).  Top-down and bottom-up effects in pure alexia:  Evidence from eye movements. Neuropsychologia, 45, 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2007.02.026
  • Johnson, R. L.  (2007).  The flexibility of letter coding:  Nonadjacent letter transposition effects in the parafovea.  In R. P. G. van Gompel, M. H. Fischer, W. S. Murray, & R. L. Hill (Eds.).  Eye Movements:  A Window on Mind and Brain (pp. 425-440).  Oxford:  Elsevier.  https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-008044980-7/50021-5
  • Johnson, R. L., Perea, M., & Rayner, K.  (2007).  Transposed-letter effects in reading: Evidence from eye movements and parafoveal preview.  Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 33, 209-229.  10.1037/0096-1523.33.1.209
  • Rayner, K., White, S., Johnson, R. L., & Liversedge, S.  (2006).  Raeding wrods with jubmled letetrs:  There’s a cost.  Psychological Science, 17, 192-193.  https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2006.01684.x
  • Christianson, K., Johnson, R. L., & Rayner, K.  (2005).  Letter transpositions within and across morphemes.  Journal of Experimental Psychology:  Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 31, 1327-1339.  10.1037/0278-7393.31.6.1327
  • Rayner, K. & Johnson, R. L.  (2005).  Letter-by-letter acquired dyslexia is due to the serial encoding of letters.  Psychological Science, 16, 530-534.  10.1111/j.0956-7976.2005.01570.x 
Presentations:

Over 60 conference presentations (many with undergraduate student co-authors) at the annual meetings of the Psychonomic Society, the Eastern Psychological Association, the Mental Lexicon Conference, and the European Conference on Eye-Movements.  

Awards and honors:
  • President’s Award for Leadership and Service.  Skidmore College.  May 2025.
  • Lucy Scribner Library Altered Books Contest, First Place. Skidmore College.  April 2021.
  • Selected to give the 2013-2014 Jon Ramsey Lecture, Unraveling the Tangled Story of Reading, Skidmore College, December 2013.
  • Faculty/Undergraduate Research Presentation Award, Council on Undergraduate Research, Eastern Psychological Association, March 2012.
  • Faculty/Student Summer Research Grant.  Skidmore College.  Summers: 2009, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026.
Professional affiliations:
  • Psychonomic Society
  • Women in Cognitive Science
  • Psi Chi International Honor Society in Psychology
  • Nu Rho Psi National Honor Society in Neuroscience
  • Eastern Psychological Association
  • Council on Undergraduate Research
  • Literacy New York Greater Capital Region
Fun facts:
  • I am blessed to be the mother of five beautiful, fun-loving, wonderful children: Kaira, Matthew, Nathan, Asher, and Levi.
  • My grandfather, Kermit F. Johnson, was the inventor of double-sided tape.

Contact Psychology

Office

Billie Tisch Center for Integrated Sciences 390H
Phone: 518-580-5300

Department Chair

Rebecca Johnson
Professor of Psychology
rjohnso1@skidmore.edu

Academic Administrative Assistant

Nicole Buck
nbuck@skidmore.edu