Nelson Cowan

37.7k citations

301 papers · 23.6k indexed · 11 hit papers · h-index 74

Impact in

Cognitive Neuroscience top 0.02%
- Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Memory Processes and Influences
- Neural dynamics and brain function
- Memory and Neural Mechanisms
- Neuroscience and Music Perception
- Neurobiology of Language and Bilingualism
Experimental and Cognitive Psychology top 0.05%
- Cognitive Abilities and Testing

Papers in

Cognitive Neuroscience 216
- Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies 121
- Memory Processes and Influences 75
- Neurobiology of Language and Bilingualism 33
- Memory and Neural Mechanisms 31
- Neuroscience and Music Perception 30
Experimental and Cognitive Psychology 111
- Visual and Cognitive Learning Processes 30

Co-authors: J. Scott Saults Candice C. Morey Andrew R. A. Conway Michael F. Bunting Emily M. Elliott Noelle L. Wood Timothy J. Ricker Jeffrey N. Rouder
Journals: Journal of Experimental Psychology Learning Memory and Cognition (39 papers)Psychonomic Bulletin & Review (15 papers)Memory & Cognition (14 papers)Journal of Experimental Psychology General (12 papers)Developmental Psychology (10 papers)
Partner nations: United States United Kingdom Canada

In The Last Decade

Nelson Cowan

290 papers receiving 22.4k citations

Hit Papers

11 papers align trajectories log scale

The many faces of working memory and short-term storage 2016 · 348 citations

What are hit papers?

Hit papers significantly outperform the citation benchmark for their cohort. A paper qualifies if any of the following hold:

it has ≥500 total citations;
it reaches ≥1.5× the top-1% citation threshold for papers in the same subfield and year (the threshold is the minimum needed to enter the top 1%, not the average within it);
it reaches the top citation threshold in at least one of its specific research topics.

2016 Psychonomic Bulletin & Review
2013 Educational Psychology Review
2010 Psychology Press eBooks
2010 Current Directions in Psychological Science
2008 Progress in brain research
2005 Cognitive Psychology
2002 Intelligence
2001 Psychonomic Bulletin & Review
2001 Behavioral and Brain Sciences
1988 Psychological Bulletin
1984 Psychological Bulletin

Peers

Countries citing papers authored by Nelson Cowan

Since Specialization

Citations

This map shows the geographic impact of Nelson Cowan's research. It shows the number of citations coming from papers published by authors working in each country. You can also color the map by specialization and compare the number of citations received by Nelson Cowan with the expected number of citations based on a country's size and research output (numbers larger than one mean the country cites Nelson Cowan more than expected).

Fields of papers citing papers by Nelson Cowan

Since Specialization

Physical SciencesHealth SciencesLife SciencesSocial Sciences

This network shows the impact of papers produced by Nelson Cowan. Nodes represent research fields, and links connect fields that are likely to share authors. Colored nodes show fields that tend to cite the papers produced by Nelson Cowan. The network helps show where Nelson Cowan may publish in the future.

Co-authors

The 25 scholars most cited alongside Nelson Cowan, linked wherever they have co-authored with each other. Click a name or a connecting line to browse the papers they share.

Border = papers with Nelson Cowan Line = papers co-authored together Nelson Cowan links everyone, so they are left out of the graph.

All Works

Sort: Min cites: Since: Top N: Style:

20 of 20 papers shown

#	Work
1	Encoding colors and tones into working memory concurrently: A developmental investigation Developmental Science ·Nelson Cowan, Dominic Guitard	2024	1
2	Visual Working Memory in Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders ·Mackenzie N. Cissne, Katherine R. Bellesheim, Nelson Cowan, Shawn E. Christ	2024	1
3	Phonological Working Memory and Sentence Production in School-Age Children with Typical Language, Dyslexia, and Comorbid Dyslexia and Developmental Language Disorder Journal of Child Language ·Heidi M. Mettler, Mary Alt, Shelley Gray, Tiffany P. Hogan, Samuel GREEN, Nelson Cowan	2022	1
4	Deconfounding serial recall: Response timing and the overarching role of grouping. Journal of Experimental Psychology Learning Memory and Cognition ·Nelson Cowan, Emily M. Elliott	2022	2
5	Working Memory Predicts New Word Learning Over and Above Existing Vocabulary and Nonverbal IQ Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research ·Shelley Gray, Roy Levy, Mary Alt, Tiffany P. Hogan, Nelson Cowan	2022	16
6	Benefits and pitfalls of data compression in visual working memory Attention Perception & Psychophysics ·Laura Lazartigues, Frédéric Lavigne, Carlos Aguilar, Nelson Cowan, Fabien Mathy	2021	5
7	Developmental change in the nature of attention allocation in a dual task. Developmental Psychology ·Nelson Cowan, Angela M. AuBuchon, Amanda L. Gilchrist, Christopher L. Blume, Alexander P. Boone, J. Scott Saults	2020	11
8	Contributions of filtering and attentional allocation to working memory performance in individuals with autism spectrum disorder. Journal of Abnormal Psychology ·Kimberly E. Bodner, Nelson Cowan, Shawn E. Christ	2019	6
9	Assessing Working Memory in Children: The Comprehensive Assessment Battery for Children – Working Memory (CABC-WM) Journal of Visualized Experiments ·Kathryn L. Cabbage, Shara Brinkley, Shelley Gray, Mary Alt, Nelson Cowan, Samuel Green, Trudy Kuo, Tiffany P. Hogan	2017	2
10	Assessing Working Memory in Children: The Comprehensive Assessment Battery for Children – Working Memory (CABC-WM) Journal of Visualized Experiments ·Kathryn L. Cabbage, Shara Brinkley, Shelley Gray, Mary Alt, Nelson Cowan, Samuel Green, Trudy Kuo, Tiffany P. Hogan	2017	18
11	Domain-general and domain-specific functional networks in working memory NeuroImage ·Dawei Li, Shawn E. Christ, Nelson Cowan	2014	46
12	Attention to attributes and objects in working memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology Learning Memory and Cognition ·Nelson Cowan, Christopher L. Blume, J. Scott Saults	2012	91
13	Models of verbal working memory capacity: What does it take to make them work? Psychological Review ·Nelson Cowan, Jeffrey N. Rouder, Christopher L. Blume, J. Scott Saults	2012	96
14	With development, list recall includes more chunks, not just larger ones. Developmental Psychology ·Nelson Cowan, Anna Hismjatullina, Angela M. AuBuchon, J. Scott Saults, Neil Horton, Kathy Leadbitter, John N. Towse	2010	19
15	Attention and Working Memory: Tools for Understanding Consciousness Civil War Book Review ·Jill Talley Shelton, Emily M. Elliott, Nelson Cowan	2008	4
16	Differential effects of alcohol on working memory: Distinguishing multiple processes. Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology ·J. Scott Saults, Nelson Cowan, Kenneth J. Sher, Matthew Moreno	2007	69
17	Life-span development of visual working memory: When is feature binding difficult? Developmental Psychology ·Nelson Cowan, Moshe Naveh‐Benjamin, Angela Kilb, J. Scott Saults	2006	177
18	Preserving the Spirit and Respect of Academia Through Traditions APS observer ·Nelson Cowan	2003	0
19	Can auditory memory for tone pitch be rehearsed? Journal of Experimental Psychology Learning Memory and Cognition ·Timothy A. Keller, Nelson Cowan, J. Scott Saults	1995	48
20	Identifying Phonemes and Syllables: Evidence from People Who Rapidly Reorder Speech Scholarworks (University of Massachusetts Amherst) ·Nelson Cowan, Martin D. S. Braine, Lewis A. Leavitt	1986	1

About Nelson Cowan

Nelson Cowan is a scholar working on Cognitive Neuroscience, Experimental and Cognitive Psychology, Developmental and Educational Psychology, Statistics and Probability and General Decision Sciences, having authored 301 papers that have together received 23.6k indexed citations. Recurring topics across this work include Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies (121 papers), Memory Processes and Influences (75 papers), Reading and Literacy Development (51 papers), Child and Animal Learning Development (37 papers), Neurobiology of Language and Bilingualism (33 papers), Memory and Neural Mechanisms (31 papers), Neuroscience and Music Perception (30 papers) and Visual and Cognitive Learning Processes (30 papers). The work is most often cited by research in Cognitive Neuroscience (16.6k citations), Experimental and Cognitive Psychology (8.1k citations), Developmental and Educational Psychology (6.1k citations), General Decision Sciences (409 citations) and Statistics and Probability (1.4k citations). Nelson Cowan has collaborated with scholars based in United States, United Kingdom and Canada. Frequent co-authors include J. Scott Saults, Candice C. Morey, Andrew R. A. Conway, Michael F. Bunting, Emily M. Elliott, Noelle L. Wood, Timothy J. Ricker, Jeffrey N. Rouder, David J. Therriault and Zhijian Chen. Their work appears in journals such as Journal of Experimental Psychology Learning Memory and Cognition, Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, Memory & Cognition, Journal of Experimental Psychology General and Developmental Psychology.

Rankless uses publication and citation data sourced from OpenAlex, an open and comprehensive bibliographic database. While OpenAlex provides broad and valuable coverage of the global research landscape, it—like all bibliographic datasets—has inherent limitations. These include incomplete records, variations in author disambiguation, differences in journal indexing, and delays in data updates. As a result, some metrics and network relationships displayed in Rankless may not fully capture the entirety of a scholar's output or impact.

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