Taylor Vargo

Taylor Vargo is a faculty member in Psychological Sciences and Neuroscience at Simpson College. Specializing in Cognitive and Neuroscience, Taylor’s research focuses on how individual differences (e.g., working memory and prior knowledge) impact comprehension, memory, and attention in our everyday lives. Passionate about mentorship, Taylor enjoys guiding students through independent research projects from the inception of an idea to the presentation of the results at conferences! Past students have looked at a range of topics from older adult memory ability, trauma influences on comprehension in the classroom, and how memory is influenced by social connection and sleep activities. Outside of academia, Taylor is a dedicated cat mom, an avid fan of Survivor (who believes her social game may be enough to win it all), and a super fan of Post Malone.

BA in Psychology — University of Findlay
MS in Psychological Sciences and Human Factors — Kansas State University
PhD in Psychological Sciences and Human Factors — Kansas State University

Poster/Oral Presentations on Undergraduate Research (* denotes responsible undergraduate researcher)

*Morgan, B., *Clemons, B., *Ellwanger, L., *Hangartner, C.J., & Vargo-Simonson, T.L. (2025, April). Ambiguity Got You Down? Just Believe… or Maybe Don’t. Talk given at the annual ILLOWA Undergraduate Psychology Conference, Monmouth, IL.

*Townsend, T. S. & Vargo-Simonson, T.L. (2025, April). Crime or Nawh?: Is cognitive load too high to decide? Poster presented at the 97th annual meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago, IL.

*Gray, E. & Vargo-Simonson, T.L. (2025, April). Walking a Mile in Their TikToks: Study of Viewer Empathy. Poster presented at the 97th annual meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago, IL.

*Pierce, B. & Vargo-Simonson, T.L. (2025, April). Screen Time, Extracurricular Activities, and Mental Health in College Students. Poster presented at the 97th annual meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago, IL.

*Clemons, B., *Morgan, B., *Ellwanger, L., *Hangartner, C.J., & Vargo-Simonson, T.L. (2025, April). Ambiguity Got You Down? Just Believe… or Maybe Don’t. Poster presented at the 97th annual meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago, IL.

*Haynes, E., *Thomas, B., & Vargo-Simonson, T.L. (2025, April). Wordy Work: How Clause Choices Change Sentence Endings. Poster presented at the 97th annual meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago, IL.

*Wilson, B. & Vargo-Simonson, T.L. (2025, April). Tangled Thoughts: Anxiety and Confidence in Ambiguous Tasks. Poster presented at the 97th annual meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago, IL.

*Beckwith, A. & Vargo-Simonson, T.L. (2024, April). It’s a Mystery: Does true-crime influence decision making? Poster presented at the annual meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago, IL.

*Townsend, T. S. & Vargo-Simonson, T.L. (2024, April). Is your sleep schedule affecting the accuracy of your memory? Poster presented at the annual meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago, IL.

*Roberts, S. J. & Vargo-Simonson, T.L. (2024, April). Are stress and loneliness making your memory worse? Ask me! Poster presented at the annual meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago, IL.

*McQueen, T. T., Vargo-Simonson, T.L., & Bailey, H. R. (2024, April). Behaviors and memory strategies through the life stages. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago, IL.

*Sanders, S. E., Vargo-Simonson, T.L., & Bailey, H. R. (2024, April). Impact of interpretation bias modification on academic comprehension. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago, IL.

*Warnes, E. C., *McQueen, T. T., Vargo-Simonson, T.L., & Bailey, H. R. (2023, April). Reminiscence and the Evaluation of Socialization Trends (REST). Poster Presented at the annual meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago, IL.

*Dix, R., Vargo-Simonson, T.L., & Bailey, H. R. (2023, April). Engaged in Discussion: Exploring Student Engagement and Course Performance. Poster Presented at the annual meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago, IL.

*Potter, K. M., *Sanders, S. E., Vargo-Simonson, T.L., & Bailey, H. R. (2023, April). Should Older Adults Take Their Vitamins?: Impacts on Memory. Poster Presented at the annual meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago, IL.

*Hubbell, I., Simonson, T. L., & Loschky, L. C. (2022, March). Poster Presented at the annual meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago, IL.

*Hubbell, I., Simonson, T. L., & Loschky, L. C. (2021, May). Can You Break the Tyranny of Film?: The power of viewers’ film genre preferences and knowledge on attentional selection. Poster presented at the annual Virtual International Vision Sciences Society.

*Wiegel, A., *Royg, J., Simonson, T. L., Smith, M. E., & Loschky, L. C. (2020, March). How do Individual Differences Impact Attentional Selection Ability During Volitional Control Tasks in Film? Talk given at the 40th annual meeting for the Great Plains Students’ Psychology Convention, St. Joseph, Kansas.