Tammy Jechura

Professor of Psychological Science

Tammy J Jechura, Professor of Psychology, and Health Psychologist, began exploring nature around the time that she started to crawl and has never stopped. Her love of psychology and biology has been a driving factor in the direction of her studies. As an undergraduate, she studied homing pigeons’ natural navigational abilities. Her graduate work examined the role of social cues in an animal model of jet lag recovery. As the health psychologist at Albion College, she hopes to spread her enthusiasm for scientific exploration to her students through hands-on activities and practical application of class information. Research interests include circadian rhythms, sleep, stress, and general health. Besides nature, her interests include animal behavior, photography, outdoor activities, and painting.

Education

B.S., Bowling Green State University, 1994
M.A., 1999, Ph.D., University of Michigan, 2002

Appointed 2004

Courses

LA 101: To Sleep or Not to Sleep?
PSYC 101: Introduction to Psychology
PSYC 286: Research Methods & Statistics I (lecture & laboratory)
PSYC 230: Health Psychology

Publications

Mitchell, R., Burns, E., Korthase, K.A., and Jechura, T.J. (in preparation). The effects of androstadienone and circadian rhythms on resume evaluation. In preparation. Submitted to Physiology and Behavior.
Jechura, T.J. (2024). Including cognitive errors in diagnostics in the health psychology curriculum. North American Journal of Psychology, 26(4), 747-758.
Woodard, M.A., Jechura, T.J. & Elias, E.A. (2017). Sleep and college satisfaction. North American Journal of Psychology, 19(3), 541-551.
Kahn, M.C., Siegel, J.J., Jechura, T.J. & Bingman V.P. (2008). Response properties of avian hippocampal formation cells during food search in a goal-less environment. Behavioural Brain Research, 191, 153-163.
Hummer, D.L., Jechura, T.J., Mahoney, M.M. & Lee, T.M. (2007). Gonadal hormone effects on circadian entrainment in the developing diurnal rodent, Octodon degus. American Journal of Physiology-Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology, 292(1), 586-597.
Bingman, V., Jechura, T.J., & Kahn, M.C. (2006). Behavioral and neural mechanisms of homing and migration in birds . In M.F. Brown and R.G. Cook (Eds.), Animal Spatial Cognition: Comparative, Neural, and Computational Approaches. [On-line]. Available:www.pigeon.psy.tufts.edu/asc/bingman/
Fuchs, T., Haney, A., Jechura, T.J., Moore, F.R. & Bingman, V.P. (2006). Daytime naps in night-migrating birds: behavioural adaptation to seasonal sleep deprivation in the Swainson’s thrush, Catharus ustulatus. Animal Behaviour, 72(4), 951-958.
Jechura, T.J., Stimpson, C.D. & Lee, T.M. (2006). Odor-facilitated reentrainment in male and female juvenile Octodon degus. Physiology and Behavior, 89, 617-622.
Jechura, T.J., Mahoney, M.M., Stimpson, C.D. & Lee, T.M. (2006). Odor-specific effects on reentrainment following phase advances in the diurnal rodent, Octodon degus. American Journal of Physiology-Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology. Online ID:R-00005-2006.R1.
Jechura, T.J. & Lee, T.M. (2004). Ovarian hormones influence olfactory cue effects on reentrainment in the diurnal rodent, Octodon degus. Hormones and Behavior, 46(3), 349-355.
Lee, T.M., Hummer, D.L., Jechura, T.J. & Mahoney, M.M. (2004). Pubertal development of sex differences in circadian function: An animal model. New York Academy of Science, 1021, 262-275.
Jechura, T.J., Walsh, J.M. & Lee, T.M. (2003). Testosterone suppresses circadian responsiveness to social cues in the diurnal rodent, Octodon degus. J. Biological Rhythms, 18(1), 43-50.
Jechura, T.J. (2002). Sex differences in circadian rhythms: effects of gonadal hormones in Octodon degus. Dissertation, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI.
Jechura, T.J., Walsh, J.M. & Lee, T.M. (2000). Testicular hormones modulate circadian rhythms of the diurnal rodent, Octodon degus. Hormones and Behavior, 38(4), 243-249.
Goel, N., Governale, M.M., Jechura, T.J. & Lee, T.M. (2000). Effects of intergeniculate leaflet lesions on circadian rhythms in Octodon degus. Brain Research, 877, 306-313.
Casini, G., Fontanesi, G., Bingman, V.P., Jones, T.J., Gagliardo, A., Ioale, P., and Bagnoli, P.(1997). The neuroethology of cognitive maps: contributions from research on the hippocampus and homing pigeon navigation. Archives Italiennes de Biologie, 135(1),73-92.
Bingman, V., G. Casini, C. Nocjar and Jones, T.-J. (1994). Connections of the piriform cortex in homing pigeons (Columba livia) studied with Fast Blue and WGA-HRP. Brain, Behavior and Evolution, 43, 206-218.
Bingman, V.P. and Jones, T.-J. (1994). Sun-Compass based spatial learning impaired in homing pigeons with hippocampal lesions. J. Neuroscience, 14(11), 6687-6694.
Bingman, V.P., Jones, T.J., Strasser, R., Gagliardo, A. and Ioale, P. (1994). Homing pigeons, hippocampus and spatial cognition. In Behavioural Brain Research in Naturalistic and Semi-naturalistic Settings: Possibilities and Perspectives, Alleva, E., Lipp, H.P., and L. Nadel, eds.