Kevin K. Fleming

Dr. Fleming conducts research on human attention from a cognitive neuroscience perspective. His research examines eye movements and EEG activity during complex performance tasks. This research approach has been applied to several key domains in collaboration with experts seeking new ways to understand human behavior, including his current research with the Air Force on F-16 fighter pilot performance. Fleming is collaborating with Faraday Labs to develop flight garments that protect pilots from harmful radiation using a silver-woven fabric. The Air Force Research Labs (AFRL) has funded this research for $1.8 million over two years as part of an effort to improve pilot safety and performance.

In previous research, Fleming collaborated with the Air Force and Spotlight Labs to test the impact of radio frequency radiation on F-16 fighter pilot performance. This was a $1.5 million project funded by AFRL, and it was completed in May 2025. Fleming has also collaborated with craniofacial surgeons at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center to examine how the faces of children with repaired cleft anomalies are perceived before and after craniofacial surgery. This research won a Building Bridges Award from NIH-DCR and APA.

In earlier research, Fleming has collaborated with the Vermont State Police Academy and the National Center for the Study of PTSD in White River Junction. His research has examined decisions to shoot a gun and the factors that lead to errors in both police officers and military soldiers. He has also examined the cognitive and attentional factors that influence both the development and severity of PTSD in military trauma survivors. The thread that weaves together all of these research applications is that people have automatic biases that must be corrected through cognitive attentional effort. If these biases remain uncorrected, then errors in both perception and performance can occur, sometimes with devastating consequences such as police shootings of unarmed suspects and catastrophic aviation disasters. Fortunately, Fleming conducts this research in flight simulators and virtual shooting galleries.

Ph.D. Cognitive Psychology, University of New Hampshire
M.A. Cognitive Psychology, University of New Hampshire
B.A. Natural Science, Pre-Medicine, Lehigh University

PY 344 Cognition
PY 360 History and Systems of Psychology
PY 401 Senior Seminar

Kimble, M., Cappello, O., & Fleming, K., (2023). Hypervigilance and depression as predictors of eye-tracking to ambiguous pictures in trauma survivors. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 187, 27-33.

Fleming, K. (2021). Grit as a predictor of academic success at Norwich University. Handbook of Research on Character and Leadership Development in Military Schools. Edited by M. P. Ryan & T. L. Weekes, IGI Global; Hershey, PA.

Boonipat, T., Brazile, T. L., Darwish, O. A., Montana, P., Fleming, K. K., & Stotland, M. A. (2018). Measuring Visual Attention to Faces with Cleft Deformity. Journal of Plastic, Reconstructive & Aesthetic Surgery, 72(6), 982-989. Elsevier.