Gustavus Adolphus College

Assistant Professor Download curriculum vitæ
Psychology

BA Universit of St Thomas Psychology; PhD University of Minnesota Neuroscience

Professor Costello, Assistant Professor of Psychology, teaches in the area of Cognitive Neuroscience. She teaches a first term seminar called Animals and Society, Cognitive Psychology, Introductory Psychology, Research Methods and a senior seminar on neuroscience topics. Costello was as psychology major with a neuroscience concentration and biology minor at the University of St. Thomas. She found her calling for neuroscience after taking an alcohol, drugs, and behavior course her sophomore year. She's been hooked on the brain since! After graduating, Professor Costello worked as a research assistant at the Minneapolis VA Hospital doing PET scan (brain scan) research with a group of psychiatrists. She was accepted into the Neuroscience graduate program at the University of Minnesota and graduated in 2003. She did research in the areas of visual attention and perception, where she used advanced brain imaging methods (fMRI) and behavioral methods to study how we can pay attention to multiple stimuli in the visual world. It was in graduate school that Patricia realized that she wanted to pursue a career where the emphasis was on teaching, but yet she wanted to work with students to continue her passion for research. She took the Preparing Future Faculty series of courses at the University of Minnesota and had the opportunity to teach courses at the University of St. Thomas and St. Olaf College. After graduating from the University of Minnesota, Costello worked at Bradley University in Peoria, IL as the neuroscientist in the Psychology Department. She taught Physiological Psychology, History of Psychology, Introductory Psychology and Experimental Psychology. Professor Costello truly feels at home teaching in the Gustavus Adolphus College Psychology department. Here she has the opportunity to develop new courses, take students abroad (she spent January 2008 in London teaching a Forensic Psychology course), do research with students eager to gain research experience, and also work with colleagues on various committees dedicated to the advancement of the college.

Areas of Expertise

• Visual perception
• Attention
• Unconscious processing