Psychology Professor’s Book Chosen as Awards Finalist

We are pleased to announce Big Brain Book: How It Works and All Its Quirks by College of Psychology Professor Leanne Boucher Gill, Ph.D., has been recognized as a Finalist in the 24th annual Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Awards.

In the Big Brain Book, readers are welcomed to Lobe Labs and Dr. Brain activities in a brightly illustrated, highly engaging book that uses science to answer interesting questions that tweens, teens, and adults have about the brain and human behavior. This is a fun primer on psychology and neuroscience that makes complex psychological phenomena and neural mechanisms relatable to the reader through illustrations, interesting factoids, and more. Chapters include: What is the brain made up of and how does it work? Why can’t I tickle myself? Why do they shine a light in my eyes when I hit my head in the game? Answers draw from both psychology and neuroscience, giving ample examples of how the science is relevant to the question and to the reader’s life experiences.

The Big Brain Book and its companion picture book for younger readers, Lobe Your Brain: What Matters About Your Grey Matter, were published by Magination Press Children’s Books, the children’s book imprint of the American Psychological Association, in June 2021.

As part of its mission to discover, review, and share the best books from university and independent publishers, Foreword Magazine, Inc. hosts an annual awards program each year. Finalists represent the best books published in 2021. After more than 2,500 individual titles spread across 55 genres were submitted for consideration, the Finalistswere determined by Foreword’s editorial team. Winners will be decided by an expert team of booksellers and librarians—representing Foreword’s trade readership—from across the country.

The complete list of Finalists can be found at:

https://www.forewordreviews.com/awards/finalists/2021/

Boucher Gill has been on the faculty at NSU for 12 years teaching classes in psychology and neuroscience. She has a passion for communicating science with the public and often includes her students in library and museum STEAM outreach programs on brain science. Her research focuses on how cognition can be affected by movement. In this line of research, Boucher Gill examines how different forms of exercise (walking, running, bike riding, SCUBA diving) or fidgeting movements can affect one’s inhibitory control, working memory, learning, and attentional focus. She works with many students who have presented their research at local and national conferences.

Posted 04/10/22