Lisa Best

Dr. Lisa Best is a Professor of Psychology at the University of New Brunswick in Saint John.

She received her undergraduate degree from York University, her master’s degree from the University of Arkansas (Little Rock) and her PhD from the University of Maine. She joined the Psychology Department in 2002. In 2008 she was awarded the Harrison McCain Young Scholar's Award. She has received numerous grants to support her research.

Dr. Best and her graduate students are currently working on several projects focused on determining how psychosocial factors affect wellness. In these research projects, we are examining how a medical diagnosis or condition (such as cancer, traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury, rheumatoid arthritis) affects physical and psychological health. We are specifically interested in how relatively stable (individual personality characteristics and cognitive functioning) and modifiable (psychological flexibility, resilience, and mindfulness) factors interact and affect overall health. Our goal is to provide strategies for improving both psychological and physical outcomes after disease or injury.

Peer-reviewed publications

Diagrammatic reasoning

Stewart, B.M., Cipolla, J., & Best, L.A. (2009). Extraneous information and graph comprehension: Implications for effective design choices. Campus-Wide Information Systems, 26, pp. 191 - 200.

Best, L.A. (2008). Visual extrapolation of linear and nonlinear trends: Does knowledge of underlying trend type affect accuracy and response bias? In T. Sobh (Ed.), Advances in Computer and Information Sciecnes and Engineering. pp. 273 - 278. Berlin: Springer.

Best, L.A., Smith, L.D., & Stubbs, D.A. (2008).  Detection of sample differences from dot plot displays. In G. Stapleton, J. Howse, & John Lees (Eds.), Diagrammatic Representation and Inference. Berling: Springer.

Best, L.A., Stewart, B.M., & McGuire, K. P. (2008). External Representations and Problem Solving Competence:  Do Graphs Improve Problem-Solving in Students?  Readings in Education and Technology: Proceedings of ICICTE 2008.

Smith, L.D., Best, L.A., Stubbs, D.A., Bastiani-Archibald, A., & Roberson-Nay, R. (2002). Constructing knowledge:  The role of graphs and tables in hard and soft psychology. American Psychologist, 57, pp. 749 - 761.

Smith, L.D., Best, L.A., Cylke, V.A., & Stubbs, D.A. (2000). Psychology without p values: Data analysis at the turn of the century. American Psychologist, 55, pp. 260 - 263.

Learning and technology

Astorino, M., Best, L., Bell, S., Buchanan, J., Creelman, D., Moir, R., Kek, B., Ross, D., & Small, R. (2009).  From Me to Wii: Discovering the millennial student.  Implications for educators. Full day workshop presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education.

Buhay, D., & Best, L. (2009).  Instructing with personal response systems. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education.

Buhay, D., & Best, L. (2009). Do personal response systems enhance learning? Paper presented at the annual Workshop for Instruction in Library Use.

Buhay, D., & Best, L. (2009). Does active participation enhance the effectiveness of library instruction? 5th International Evidence Based Library and Information Practice Conference.

Buhay, D., Best, L., & McGuire, K. (final revisions). The effectiveness of library instruction:  Do student response systems (Clickers) enhance learning?  Canadian Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning.

Health-related research

MacLaren, V.V., & Best, L.A. (2009). Female students' disordered eating and the big fiver personality facets. Eating Behaviors, 10, pp. 192 - 205.

MacLaren, V.V., & Best, L.A. (2009). Multiple Addictive Behaviors in Young Adults: Student Norms for the Shorter PROMIS Questionnaire. Addictive Behaviors, 35, pp. 252 - 255.

Flagel, D.C., Best, L.A., & Hunter, A.C. (2007). Perceptions of stress among students participating in psychology research:  A Canadian survey. Journal of Empirical Research in Human Research Ethics, 2, pp. 61 - 67.

MacLaren, V.V., Best, L.A., & Taukulis, H.A. (2007).  Inhibition in adults with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder: Event-related potentials in the stop task.  Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback, 32, pp. 155 - 162.

MacLaren, V.V., & Best, L.A. (2007).  Symptoms of exercise dependence and physical activity in students.  Perceptual and Motor Skills, 32, pp. 1257 - 1264.

DiTommaso, E., Brannen, C., & Best, L. (2004). The SELSA-S:  Measurement and validity characteristics of the short version of the Social and Emotional Loneliness Scale for Adults. Educational Testing and Measurement, 64, pp. - 99 - 119.