"Studying Psychology is a wonderful way to learn about yourself, others and world around you. It can also help you prepare for many different career paths."
Carol Bergfeld Mills
Emerita ProfessorPsychology
Carol Bergfeld Mills is an Emerita Professor of Psychology at Goucher College. She completed her doctorate at the University of Maryland with a specialization in cognitive psychology and speech perception. After a postdoc at Gallaudet College and working in various applied psychology labs in academia and industry, she arrived at Goucher in 1986. At Goucher she has taught a wide variety of courses including: cognitive psychology, cognitive science, cognitive neuroscience, human memory, statistics and applied psychology. Her main research areas while at Goucher were: synesthesia, every day memory, and reading procedural texts. Currently she teaches the psychology of environmental problems in which students explore how psychology can contribute to understanding and solving environmental problems.
Publications
Review Papers
Mills, C.B. & Weldon, L.J. (1987). Reading text from computer screens. ACM Computing Surveys, 19, 329-358. (This review was reprinted in Japanese in an issue of bit entitled Computer Science '87 that appeared in April, 1989).
Horton, D.L. & Mills, C.B. (1984). Human learning and memory. Annual Review of Psychology, 35, 361-394.
Research Papers
1Ghirardelli, T. G., Mills, C. B., Zilioli, M. K.C., Bailey, L. P., Kretschmar, P. K. (2010). Synesthesia affects verification of simple arithmetic equations. The Journal of General Psychology, 137, 175-189.
1Mills, C.B., Metzger, S.R., Foster, C.A., Valentine-Gresko, M.N., Ricketts, S. (2009). Development and cognitive influence of synesthesia in a color-grapheme synesthete, Perception, 38, 591-605.
1Mills, C.B., Innis, J., Westendorf, T., Owsianiecki, L. & McDonald, A. (2006). Effect of a synesthete’s photisms on name recall. Cortex, 42, 155-163.
1Mills, C.B., Boteler, E.H. & Larcombe, G.K. (2003). “Seeing things in my head”: A synesthete’s image for music and notes. Perception, 32, 1359-1376.
1Mills, C.B., Viguers, M.L., Edelson, S.K., Thomas, A.T., Simon-Dack, S.L. & Innis, J.A. (2002). The color of two alphabets for a multilingual synesthete. Perception, 31, 1371-1394.
Diehl, V.A. & Mills, C.B. (2002). Procedural text structure and reader perceptions and performance. Journal of General Psychology, 129, 18-35.
1Mills, C.B., Boteler, E.H., & Oliver, G.K. (1999). Digit Synaethesia: A case study using a Stroop-type test. Cognitive Neuropsychology, 16, 181-191.
Mills, C.B., Diehl, V.A., Birkmire, D.P., Mou, L-C, (1995). Reading procedural texts: Effects of purpose for reading and predictions of reading comprehension models. Discourse Processes, 20, 79-107.
Diehl, V.A. & Mills, C.B. (1995). The effects of interaction with the device described by procedural text on text recall, true/false, and task performance. Memory & Cognition, 23, 675-688.
Mills, C.B., Diehl, V.A., Birkmire, D.P. & Mou, L-C. (1993). Procedural text: Predictions of importance ratings and recall by models of reading comprehension. Discourse Processes, 16, 279-315.
Gade, P.A., & Mills, C.B. (1989). Listening rate and comprehension as a function of preference for and exposure to time-altered speech. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 68, 531-538.
Mills, C.B. (1985). Perception of visual temporal patterns by deaf and hearing adults. Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society, 23, 483-486.
Mills, C.B. (1984). Factors influencing manual sign learning by hearing adults. Sign Language Studies, 44, 261-278.
Mills, C.B., & Weldon, L.J. (1983). Effects of semantic and cheremic context on recognition of manual signs. Memory and Cognition, 11, 93-100.
Mills, C.B., Gade, P.A., & Shields, J.H. (1982). Effects of size of interval between items and noise level upon immediate recall. Journal of Auditory Research, 22, 99-106.
Mills, C.B., Horton, D.L., & Kelly, M.L. (1982). Effects of prior inputs on auditory perceptual processing. Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society, 20, 171-174.
Mills, C.B., & Williams, R.L. (1982). Associative responses of deaf college students. JSAS Catalog of Selected Documents in Psychology, 12, 20 (Ms. No. 2447).
Mills, C.B. (1980). Effects of context on reaction time to phonemes. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 19, 75-83.
Mills, C.B. (1980). Effects of the match between listener expectancies and coarticulatory cues on the perception of speech. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 6, 528-535.
Mills, C.B., & Jordan, I.K. (1980). Timing sensitivity and age as predictors of sign language learning. Sign Language Studies, 26, 15-28.
Martin, J.G., Mills, C.B., Meltzer, R.H., & Shields, J.H. (1980). Anticipatory coarticulation and reaction time to phoneme targets in spontaneous speech. Phonetica, 37, 159-168.
Martin, J.G., Meltzer, R.H., & Mills, C.B. (1978). Visual rhythms: Dynamic text display for learning to read a second language. Visible Language, 12, 71-80.
Mills, C.B., & Martin, J.G. (1977). Articulatory organization in digit recall. Perception and Psychophysics, 21, 463-468.
Meltzer, R.H., Martin, J.G., Mills, C.B., Imhoff, D.L., & Zohar, D. (1976). Reaction time to temporally-displaced phoneme targets in continuous speech. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 2, 277-290.
Mills, C.B., & Martin, J.G. (1974). Articulatory organization in the prefix effect.
Perception and Psychophysics, 16, 309-314.
1 Underlined names indicate student co-authors
External Awards, Honors, Grants
Caroline Doebler Bruckerl ’25 Award 2005 Goucher College (for outstanding teaching, excellent research, and extensive service)
Postdoctoral Fellowship 1977-1978 Gallaudet College
Conference Papers & Panel Participation
1Mills, C.B., Ghirardelli, T.G., Zilioli, M., Bailey, L., Metzger, S.R. & Kretschmar, P. (2008). Additional evidence for faster processing of synesthetic colors in speeded classification of arithmetic equations. The Eastern Psychological Association Meeting, Boston, MA.
1Foster, C., Ricketts, S., Metzger, S., Valentine-Gresko, M., Mills, C.B. (2007). A synesthete’s solution: Wrong color + wrong color = slower times. The Eastern Psychological Association Meeting, Philadelphia, PA.
1Martinkowski, K., Metzger, S., Mills, C.B. (2007). Neuropsychological evaluation of a color-digit synesthete. The Eastern Psychological Association Meeting, Philadelphia, PA.
1Valentine, M., Foster, C., Metzger, S. & Mills, C.B. (2006). Colored-digit synesthete and her experiences across languages. The Eastern Psychological Association Meeting, Baltimore, MD.
1McKim, A., Mills, C.B., Gilbert, N., Oltarzewski, J., Pfarr, J., & Saltz, R. (2006). Some flashbulbs are bigger than others: A comprehensive look at the uniqueness of 9/11/01. The Eastern Psychological Association Meeting, Baltimore, MD.
1Mills, C.B., McKim, A., Gilbert, N., Tripp, S., Wilson, R., & Langrall, C. (2006). Comparison of reminders and “flashbulb” memories for 9/11/01. The Eastern Psychological Association Meeting, Baltimore, MD.
McKim, A., Mills, C.B. (2005). September 11, 2001: Emotional Upset and Safety Concerns, Then and Now. The American Psychological Associaton Meeting, Washington, D.C.
1McKim, A., Mills, C.B., Tripp, S.T., Oltarzewski, J. (2005). Changes in perceived consequences: The significance of 9/11/01. The Eastern Psychological Association Meeting, Boston, MA.
1Mills, C.B., McKim, A., Rogers, S., Samuel, E. (2005) What do you remember best about 9/11/01? The Eastern Psychological Association Meeting, Boston, MA.
1Mills, C.B., Westendorf, T., Owsianiecki, L., McDonald, A., Innis, J. (2004). How names are remembered by a synesthete, multilingual and artists. The Eastern Psychological Association Meeting, Washington, DC.
1Mills, C.B., McKim, A., Chelsea, T., Spayd, N., Shaw, R., Evans, R., Kirkpatrick, R. (2004). You forgot 9/11? The Eastern Psychological Association Meeting, Washington, DC.
1Mills, C.B., Owsianiecki, L., Westendorf, T., Innis, J., & McDonald, A. (2003). Does synesthesia influence name recall? The Psychonomic Society 44th Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
1Martin, C., Callan, J. & Mills, C.B. (2003). Gender differences in eyewitness recall. The Eastern Psychological Association Annual Meeting, Baltimore, MD.
1Mills, C.B., Viguers, M.L., Edelson, S.K., & Innis, J.A. (2002). Stroop effect with Roman and Cyrillic letters for a multilingual synesthete. The Eastern Psychological Association Annual Meeting, Boston, MA.
1Mills, C.B., Edelson, S.K., Viguers, M.L., & Innis, J.A. (2001). Stroop effect with colored letters for a letter synesthete. The Psychonomic Society 42nd Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL.
1Mills, C.B., Mir, S.K., Duke, C., Beswick, J. & Cowles, S.S. (1999). Autobiographical memory. The Eastern Psychological Association Annual Meeting, Providence, RI.
1Mills, C.B., Frank, A., Simon, S., Thomas, A. & Innis, J.A. (1999). Case study of multi-lingual synaesthesia. The Eastern Psychological Association Annual Meeting, Providence RI.
1Evering, G., Woleslagle, J., Winters, K. & Mills, C.B. (1998). Case study of prosopagnosia. The Eastern Psychological Association Annual Meeting, Boston, MA.
1Pinto, K., Hisley, J., Aranda, O., & Mills, C.B. (1998). The generation effect and originality in definitions of unfamiliar words. The Eastern Psychological Association Annual Meeting, Boston, MA.
1Howell, E.H., Mills, C.B., & Oliver, G.K. (1996). Visual synesthesia elicited by music: A case study. The Eastern Psychological Association Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, PA.
1Woleslagle, J., Serig, E., Mills, C.B., & Enger, K. (1996). Structure of procedural text. The Eastern Psychological Association Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, PA.
1Serig, E., Woleslagle, J., & Mills, C.B. (1996). Critical review of the classification and representation of procedural text. The Eastern Psychological Association Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, PA.
Diehl, V.A. & Mills, C.B. (1995). Task and text orientations while reading instruction. The Psychonomic Society 36th Annual Meeting, Los Angeles, CA.
1Mills, C.B., Howell, E.H., & Oliver, G.K. (1995). Case study of synesthesia: Automatic perception of colors for digits. The Psychonomic Society 36th Annual Meeting, Los Angeles, CA.
Diehl, V.A. & Mills, C.B. (1994). Explanations of procedural text comprehensibility depend on performance of the task. The Psychonomic Society 35th Annual Meeting, St. Louis, MO.
Diehl, V.A., Mills, C.B., & Cartier, C. (1994). The effect of doing the task on ratings of sentence difficulty. The Fourth Annual Meeting of the Society for Text and Discourse, Washington, DC.
Mills, C.B., Birkmire, D.P., & Diehl, V.A. (1994). Relationship between three different measures of reading performance for two reading purposes. The Fourth Annual Meeting of the Society for Text and Discourse, Washington, DC.
Diehl, V.A., Cartier, C., & Mills, C.B. (1994). Effects of procedural text reading strategies on several text and task measures. Midwestern Psychological Association Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL
Birkmire, D.P., Mills, C.B., & Diehl, V.A. (1994). Structure and function of procedural text. The Fifth Winter Text Conference, Jackson, WY.
Diehl, V.A., Mills, C.B., & Birkmire, D.P. (1993). Purpose and importance influence reading rates and recall of procedural texts. The Psychonomic Society 34th Annual Meeting, Washington, DC.
Mills, C.B., Diehl, V.A., Birkmire, D.P., & Mou, L-C. (1992). Relationship between importance ratings and recall for procedural text. The Psychonomic Society 33rd Annual Meeting, St. Louis, MO.
Mills, C.B., Diehl, V.A., Mou, L-C, & Birkmire, D.P. (1991). Effect of reading strategies for procedural text on recall, comprehension, and task performance. The Psychonomic Society 32nd Annual Meeting, San Francisco, California.
Diehl, V.A., Mou, L-C, Mills, C.B., & Birkmire, D.P. (1991). The effect of purpose for reading a procedure on performance measures. The Psychonomic Society 32nd Annual Meeting, San Francisco, California.
Diehl, V.A., Mou, L-C., Mills, C.B. (1991). Sentence importance ratings are based on sentence's most important information. American Psychological Society Annual Meeting, Washington, D.C.
Diehl, V.A., Mills, C.B., Birkmire, D.P. & Mou, L-C. (1989). Importance ratings and recall of procedural text: A test of two structural models. The Psychonomic Society 30th Annual Meeting, Atlanta, Georgia.
Diehl, V.A., Mills, C.B., Birkmire, D.P. & Mou, L-C. (1989). Procedural test: Predictions of judgments of importance from structural model analyses. American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, San Francisco, California.
Mills, C.B. (panel organizer and moderator) (1988). Development of documentation in real time. Human Factors Society Annual Meeting, Anaheim, California.
Mills, C.B. (symposium organizer and moderator) (1986). Screen design: How to improve it. Human Factors Society Annual Meeting, Dayton, OH.
Mills, C.B. (panel organizer and moderator) (1986). Usability testing in the real world. CHI '86 Human Factors in Computing Systems Annual Meeting, Boston, MA.
Weldon, L.J., Mills, C.B., Koved, L. & Schneiderman, B. (1985). The structure of information in online and paper technical manuals. Human Factors Society Annual Meeting, Baltimore, MD.
Williams, R.L. & Mills, C.B. (1984). An analysis of word and sign associations of deaf college students. Eastern Psychological Association Meeting, Baltimore, MD.
Mills, C.B. (1982). Effect of auditory experiences on perception of visual temporal patterns. The Psychonomic Society 23rd Annual Meeting, Minneapolis, MN.
Mills, C.B. (1981). Temporal pattern perception by deaf and hearing college students. Regional Research Conference II - Music Education for the Deaf. College Park, MD.
Mills, C.B. & Weldon, L.J. (1980). Effects of semantic and cheremic similarity on recognition of manual signs. The Psychonomic Society 21st Annual Meeting, St. Louis, MO.
Mills, C.B., Horton, D.L., & Kelly, M. (1977). Effects of channel predictability on tone identification. The Psychonomic Society 18th Annual Meeting, Washington, D.C.
Martin, J.G., Meltzer, R.H., & Mills, C.B. (1976). Perceptual phonetics of coarticulation. Acoustical Society of America 92nd Meeting.
Mills, C.B., & Martin, J.G. (1976). Effects of articulatory organization on digit perception and recall. American Psychological Association 84th Annual Convention, Washington, D.C.
Mills, C.B., & Martin, J.G. (1976). Listener expectancies and acoustic cue structure in target RT. The Psychonomic Society 17th Annual Meeting, St. Louis, MO.
Mills, C.B., & Martin, J.G. (1975). Effects of articulatory organization in speech
on digit recall. American Psychological Association 83rd Annual Convention, Chicago,
IL.
1 Underlined names indicate student co-authors
Academic or Professional Associations
Psychonomic Society
Other Professional or Scholarly Activity
Has held 8 patents on sleeping bags that convert to stuffed toys or dolls.