Catherine Forestell

Assistant Professor of Psychology

Office: Integrated Science Center, Room 1093
Phone: 757 221 3892
Email: [[caforestell]]
Website: {{http://wmpeople.wm.edu/caforestell}}
CV: {{http://www.wm.edu/as/psychology/documents/cv/ForestellCV2013.pdf,pdf}}

Educational Background

PhD in Experimental Psychology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada, 2002

MSc in Experimental Psychology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada, 1997

BSc in Psychobiology with honors, University of New Brunswick, Saint John, NB, Canada, 1995

Research Interests

My research interests intersect the areas of learning and memory, developmental psychology, and sensation and perception, with a specific focus on the mechanisms involved in the development and maintenance of food preferences and eating habits from infancy to adulthood. This work involves 1) investigating how early experiences with flavors affects children’s liking of foods as measured by the Facial Action Coding System, 2) assessing strategies for increasing fruit and vegetable consumption in children, 3) examining the role of classical conditioning in children’s flavor learning, and 4) investigating the role that restrained eating plays in the development of eating habits, such as vegetarianism, in young adults, and  5) investigating how early exposure to parental tobacco and alcohol use affects later affective responses and implicit attention toward substance-related cues. 

Selected Recent Publications

Forestell, C. A. & Mennella, J. A. (2012). More than Just a Pretty Face: Predictors of Infants’ Vegetable Acceptance and Mothers’ Perceptions. Appetite.

Schindler, J.M.,* & Corbett, D., & Forestell, C.A., (Under Review). Teaching Children to Like Fruits and Vegetables; Assessing the Effectiveness of a School Health Initiative Program. Appetite.

Forestell, C. A., Dickter, C. L., & Young, C. M.,* (Under Review). Take me away: The relationship between escape drinking and attentional bias for alcohol-related cues. Alcohol.

Osborne, C. L.,* & Forestell, C. A., (2012). Increasing Consumption of Fruits and Vegetables in Children: Does the Type of Exposure Matter? Physiology & Behavior (Invited submission for special issue).

Forestell, C. A., Spaeth, A. M.*, & Kane, S. A.,*, (2012). To eat or not to eat red meat: A closer look at the relationship between restrained eating and vegetarianism in college females. Appetite. doi: 10.1016/j.appet.2011.10.015.

Haight, J.,* Dickter, C. L., & Forestell, C. A., (2012).  A comparison of daily and occasional smokers’ implicit affective responses to smoking cues. Addicitive Behaviors. doi:10.1016/j.addbeh.2011.10.006

Dickter, C. L., & Forestell, C. A., (2011). Peering through the smoke: The effect of parental smoking behavior and addiction on daily smokers’ attentional bias to smoking cues. Addictive Behaviors. Advance online publication doi:10.1016/j.addbeh.2011.09.017

Forestell, C. A., Dickter, C. L., Wright, J. D.*, & Young, C. M.,* (2011). Clearing the smoke: Parental influences on non-smokers’ attentional biases to smoking-related cues. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, Advance online publication. doi: 10.1037/a0025096.

Courses Taught at W&M

• Research Methods
• Developmental Psychology
• Sensation & Perception
• Research Methods in Developmental Psychology
• Service Learning in Developmental Psychology