Dr. Polly O’Rourke is an Associate Research Scientist at the Applied Research Laboratory for Intelligence and Security (ARLIS), a University-Affiliated Research Center (UARC) of the United States Department of Defense supporting the Intelligence Community. She also holds affiliate appointments in the Neuroscience & Cognitive Science and Second Language Acquisition programs at the University of Maryland at College Park. Dr. O’Rourke has been with the University of Maryland at College Park since 2011, having started as an Assistant Research Scientist at the University of Maryland Center for Advanced Study of Language (also a UARC). She was promoted to Associate Research Scientist in 2017 and became part of ARLIS in 2018.
MISSION AREA:
Professional Highlights
Won ~$8 M contract awarded by the DARPA Targeted Neuroplasticity Training (TNT) program to study the effect of peripheral nerve stimulation on second language acquisition and brain plasticity (2017-2021), including $1M in plusups for additional work (2019).
Key contributor to the Cyber Aptitude and Talent Assessment (CATA) tool to improve selection for DoD cyber security training (2015-2017), recently nominated as UMD Invention of the Year for 2019.
Lead developer of Cognitive Training Apps for DoD language learners (2014-2015).
Papers
O’Rourke, P. & Bunting, M. (2018). The Cognitive Underpinnings of Mental Model Construction in L1 and L2. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 71, 801-807.
Colflesh, G., Karuzis, V. & O’Rourke, P. (2016). Effects of Working Memory Training on L2 Proficiency and Working Memory Capacity. In A. Papafragou, D. Grodner, D. Mirman & J. Trueswell (Eds), Proceedings of the 38th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. (pp. 289-294). Austin, TX: Cognitive Science Society.
O'Rourke, P. & Colflesh, G.J.H. (2015). Response Dominance Predicts Garden-Path Comprehension: An ERP Study. In D. Noelle, R. Dale, A. Warlaumont, J. Yoshimi, T. Matlock, C. Jennings, & P. Maglio (Eds.), Proceedings of the 37th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. (pp. 1751-1756). Austin, TX: Cognitive Science Society.
Campbell, S. G., O’Rourke, P., & Bunting, M. F. (2015). Identifying Dimensions of Cyber Aptitude: The Design of the Cyber Aptitude and Talent Assessment. In Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting (pp. 721-725). SAGE Publications.