Kevin Peters
Associate Professor

Research interests:

My current research interests cover three main areas. (1) Neuroethics
of Cognitive Enhancement: I have recently become interested in how
people define cognitive enhancement and what factors are related to
one’s willingness to use pharmaceuticals to enhance their cognitive
performance and other aspects of psychological functioning.
(2) Mild Cognitive Impairment and Dementia: I am interested in the
critical examination of how well we can reliably and validly predict
the onset of dementia (e.g., Alzheimer disease). Much of this work is
relevant to issues related to the use of pharmaceuticals to prevent
the onset of dementia. (3) Sleep and Memory: I am interested in how
different sleep states are related to different types of memory
consolidation. I am primarily interested in how sleep facilitates
motor learning and the consolidation of memory for emotional
information. I am also interested in how these relationships differ in
young and older adults.

Teaching

PSYC 2010H-A FA PTBO:            Thinking Critically about Psychology

PSYC 3230H-A FA PTBO:            Sleep & Arousal

PSYC 3230H-A WI PTBO:           Sleep & Arousal

PSYC 4290H-A WI PTBO:           Identifying and Predicting Dementia

Selected publications

Peters, K.R., Ray, L., Smith, V., & Smith, C.T. (2008). Changes in the
density of Stage 2 sleep spindles following motor learning in young
and older adults. Journal of Sleep Research, 17(1), 23-33.

Katz, S., & Peters, K.R. (2008). Enhancing the mind? Memory medicine,
dementia, and the aging brain. Journal of Aging Studies, 22, 348-355.

Peters, K.R., Rockwood, K., Black, S.E., Hogan, D.B., Gauthier, S.G.,
Loy-English, I., Hsiung, G-Y., Jacova, C., Kertesz, A., & Feldman,
H.H. (2008). Neuropsychiatric symptom clusters and functional
disability in Cognitively-Impaired-Not-Demented individuals. American
Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 16(2), 136-144.

Peters, K.R., Smith, V., & Smith, C.T. (2007). Changes in sleep
architecture following motor learning depend on initial skill level.
Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 19(5), 817-829.