University of Alberta


Faculty of Arts Faculty of Science

Department of Psychology
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Academic Profiles

Tom Spalding
  • Associate Chair for Graduate Studies
  • Associate Professor
  • Area: Cognition
  • Office: BS-P581
  • Phone: 780-492-7778
  • Email:
  • Weblinks: Homepage , Labpage
Research Interests
  • My research interests are broad, but all relate to the issue of how people combine information in the course of learning, comprehension, and inference. This overarching interest has led to research on concepts, conceptual combination, memory, word meanings, analytic reading, and expository writing, as well as peripheral interests in spatial cognition, conceptual development, and consumer loyalty.
Selected Publications
  • Ji, H., Gagné, C. L., & Spalding, T. L. (2011) Benefits and costs of lexical decomposition and semantic integration during the processing of transparent and opaque English compounds. Journal of Memory and Language, 65, 406-430
  • Spalding, T. L. & Gagné, C. L. (2011). Relation priming in established compounds: Facilitation? Memory & Cognition, 39, 1472-1486.
  • Gagné, C. L. & Spalding, T. L. (2011). Inferential processing and meta-knowledge as the bases for property inclusion in combined concepts. Journal of Memory and Language, 65, 176-192.
  • Spalding, T. L., Mullaly, A. C., & Phillips, V. L. (2010). The change of standard effect: Distorted standards and adjusted impressions. Memory & Cognition, 38(5), 605-616.
  • Spalding, T. L., Gagné, C. L., Mullaly, A. C., & Ji, H. (2010). Relation-based interpretations of noun-noun phrases: A new theoretical approach. In S. Olson (ed.), New impulses in word-formation (Linguistische Berichte Sonderheft 17), Buske, Hamburg, 283-315.