Peter Richard Killeen

Peter Richard Killeen (born 1942) is an American psychologist who has made major contributions to a number of fields in the behavioral sciences.

He joined the faculty of Arizona State University and in 1978 rose to the rank of Professor of Psychology.

He has been a visiting scholar, University of Texas, Austin 1984, Cambridge University in 1992, Centre for Advanced Study, Oslo, 2004 His honors include: Woodrow Wilson, NSF, and NIMH Graduate Fellowships, Graduate Student Faculty of the Year Award, Fellow of: American Psychological Association, American Psychological Society, Association for Behavior Analysis; Member, Psychonomic Society; Sigma Xi (President, ASU Chapter, 1986 – 87), Wakonse (teaching) Fellow, 1993, Fellow, Society of Experimental Psychologists (1997; Secretary/Treasurer 2000 – 3), Senior Scientist Award (1996; NIMH), President, Society for Quantitative Analysis of Behavior (1999 – 2002); Poetry in Science Award, SQAB, 2002, F. J. McGuigan Lectureship on Understanding the Human Mind (APA: 2004), Ernest and Josephine Hilgard Award for the Best Theoretical Paper (Killeen & Nash, 2003), Faculty of 1000 Citation as Must Read: Russell et al. (2006) Response variability in AD/HD.

Killeen has also developed a theory of learning as causal inference (1981) bringing these together in his paper on the perception of contingency in conditioning: Scalar timing, response bias, and the erasure of memory by reinforcement (Killeen, 1984).

He is one of the premier integrators and critics of models in quantitative analysis of behavior.