Research Aims

The overarching goal of my research is to contribute to the advancement of psychological and neuropsychological assessment. This work has broad impacts including the potential to improve patient outcomes and reduce healthcare burden and costs.

Primary Research Areas

  • Test Development and Validation

    Test development and validation is fundamental to ensuring that assessments are accurate, reliable, and applicable to diverse populations.

    My work in this area focuses on examining the psychometric properties of both self-report measures and performance-based assessments. This involves utilizing advanced psychometric techniques, including exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis and other latent modeling approaches.

    Future work in this area includes investigating the psychometric properties of neuropsychological assessment tools in underrepresented populations and developing and cross-validating novel performance validity tests (PVTs).

  • Assessment Factors

    There has been increased recognition that cognitive test performance is not solely determined by neurological processes.

    My work investigates how non-neurological factors (e.g., response bias, psychopathology, personality) impact cognitive functioning in individuals with and without cognitive impairment. This research has utilized both experimental designs and the use of large clinical datasets to establish the extent to which non-neurological factors contribute to variability in test performance.

    Future work in this area will focus on socio-cultural factors, examiner bias, and norm selection with a particular emphasis on how these factors impact psychological and neuropsychological test performance in Black individuals.

Secondary Research Interests

  • Transdiagnostic Factors

    Transdiagnostic risk factors provide valuable information for tailoring treatment approaches. Rather than designing interventions specific to each disorder, clinicians can develop strategies that target common mechanisms. This approach increases the efficiency of interventions and reduces the risk of symptom recurrence or the development of co-morbid disorders.

    My work in this area has focused on the measurement of perfectionism and elucidating its relationship with psychopathology utilizing advanced psychometric techniques, including exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis and other latent modeling approaches. Although I continue to collaborate on projects related to perfectionism and other transdiagnostic risk factors, this is not a primary area of research.

  • +Robinson A., Reed, C., Davis, K., Divers, R., Miller L., Erdodi, L.A., & Calamia, M. (2023). Settling the score: Can CPT-3 embedded validity indicators distinguish between credible and non-credible responders referred for ADHD and/or SLD?. Journal of Attention Disorders, 27(1), 80–88.

    https://doi.org/10.1177/10870547221121781

    +Robinson A., Miller L., Herring., T., & Calamia, M. (2023). Utility of the D-KEFS Color Word Interference Test as an embedded validity indicator in psychoeducational evaluations. Psychology & Neuroscience, 16(2),138–146. https://doi.org/10.1037/pne0000301

    +Robinson A., Weitzner, D., & Calamia, M. (2022). Factor structure of the Anxiety Sensitivity Index-3 in a sample of older adults. European Journal of Ageing, 19(4), 1543–1548.https://doi.org/10.1007/s10433-022-00736-9

    +Robinson, A., Stasik-O’Brien, S., & Calamia, M. (2022). Toward a more perfect conceptualization of perfectionism: An exploratory factor analysis in undergraduate college students. Assessment, 29(3), 385–396.https://doi.org/10.1177/1073191120976859

  • +Robinson A., *Huber, M., *Breaux, E., Pugh, E., & Calamia, M. (2022). Failing the b Test: The influence of cutoff scores and criterion group approaches in a sample of adults referred for psychoeducational evaluation. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 44(9), 619–626. https://doi.org/10.1080/13803395.2022.2153805

    Divers., R., +Robinson A., Miller, L., Davis, K., Reed, C., & Calamia, M. (2022). Examining heterogeneity in depression symptoms and associations with cognition and everyday function in MCI. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 44(3), 185–194. https://doi.org/10.1080/13803395.2022.2102154

    Roye, S., Calamia, M., & Robinson, A. (2022). Examining patterns of executive functioning across dimensions of psychopathology. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry. Advance Online Publication. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbtep.2022.101778

    Pugh, E., De Vito, A., Divers, R., Robinson, A., Weitzner, D., & Calamia, M. (2020). Social factors that predict cognitive decline in elderly African-Americans. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 36(3), 403-410. https://doi.org/10.1002/gps.5435

    +Robinson, A., & Abramovitch, A. (2020). A neuropsychological investigation of perfectionism. Behavior Therapy, 51(3), 488-502.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.beth.2019.09.002

  • +Robinson, A., Stasik-O’Brien, S. M., Schneider, J., & Calamia, M. (2023). Examination of the relationship between dimensions of perfectionism, incompleteness, and harm avoidance in college students. Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy, 37(2), 156-168. https://doi.org/10.1891/JCP-2021-0021

    Abramovitch, A., +Robinson, A., Buckley, M., Demet Ç., de Putter, L., Timpano, K.,(2023). Are student cohorts with psychopathology representative of general clinical populations? The case for OCD. Journal of Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jocrd.2023.100807

    +Robinson, A.,Moscardini, E.,Tucker, R., & Calamia, M. (2022).Perfectionistic self-presentation, socially-prescribed perfectionism, and suicide in U.S. adults: Re-examining the Social Disconnection Model. Archives of Suicide Research, 26(3), 1447–1461. https://doi.org/10.1080/13811118.2021.1922108 

    +Robinson, A., Divers, R., Moscardini, E., & Calamia, M. (2021). Perfectionism, conscientiousness, and neuroticism: Does age matter? Personality and Individual Differences, 172. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2020.110563

Select Peer-Reviewed Publications

+ Denotes lead or co-lead statistical analyses |* Denotes undergraduate mentee