Department of Psychology

Research Interests

• Nature of reinforcement effects
• Contingency and causality effects
• Spatial cognition
• Music perception
• Superstition
• Behavioral momentum
• Activity anorexia
• Color-priming
• The putative Mozart effect

Education

• National Research Service Award Fellow, 1985-1987, Duke University
• Ph.D., 1985, University of Tennessee-Knoxville
• M.A., 1978, Bryn Mawr College
• A.B., 1973, University of Pennsylvania

Representative Publications

• O'Donnell, M., Nelson, L. D., Ackerman, E., Aczel, B., Akhtar, A., Aldrovandi, S., ... & Zrubka, M. (2018). Registered Replication Report: Dijksterhuis & van Knippenberg (1998). Perspectives on Psychological Science, 13 (2), 268-294.   OSF Project Page
• Steele, K. M. (2014). Failure to replicate the Mehta and Zhu (2009) color-priming effect on anagram solution times. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 21, 771-776. doi:10.3758/s13423-013-0548-3
• Steele, K. M. (2006). Unconvincing evidence that rats show a Mozart effect. Music Perception, 23, 455-458. [PDF]
• Steele, K. M., & Williams, A. K. (2006). Is the bandwidth for timbre invariance only one octave? Music Perception, 23, 215-220. [PDF]
• Steele, K. M. (2005/2006). Weak justification for combining groups: A reply to Schellenberg. Scientific Review of Mental Health Practice, 4, 16-18.
• Steele, K. M. (2005/2006). Do music lessons enhance IQ? A reanalysis of Schellenberg (2004). Scientific Review of Mental Health Practice, 4, 6-9.
• Steele, K. M. (2003). Do rats show a Mozart effect? Music Perception, 21, 251-265. [PDF]
• Steele, K. M. (2001). The "Mozart Effect": An example of the scientific method in operation. Psychology Teacher Network, 11, 2-5. [PDF]
• Steele, K. M. (2001). Case response for the class that (probably) cheated: Dr. Dill's dilemma. Ethics & Behavior, 11, 349-362.
• Steele, K. M. (2000). Arousal and mood factors in the "Mozart effect." Perceptual and Motor Skills, 91, 188-190. [PDF]
• Steele, K. M., Dalla Bella, S., Peretz, I., Dunlop, T., Dawe, L. A., Humphrey, G. K., Shannon, R. A., Kirby Jr., J. L., & Olmstead, C. G. (1999). Prelude or requiem for the 'Mozart effect'? Nature, 400, 827. [PDF of Chabris, Steele et al., and Rauscher reply]
• Steele, K. M., Bass, K. E., & Crook, M. D. (1999). The mystery of the Mozart effect: Failure to replicate. Psychological Science, 10, 366-369. [PDF]
• Steele, K. M., Brown, J. D., & Stoecker, J. A. (1999). Failure to confirm the Rauscher and Shaw description of recovery of the Mozart effect. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 88, 843-848. [PDF]
• Steele, K. M. (1998). Evolutionary drift in the psychology curriculum [Review of the book Experimental Psychology]. Contemporary Psychology, 43, 200-201.
• Steele, K. M., Dello Stritto, M. E., & Brigner, W. L. (1997). Changes in perceived color with intermittent illumination. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 85, 759-765.
• Steele, K. M., Ball, T. N., & Runk, R. (1997). Listening to Mozart does not enhance backwards digit span performance. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 84, 1179-1184. [PDF Format]