In the Memory Lab we study human learning and memory with specific projects often drawing inspiration from real world problems. How should students study for a test? How do voters remember a flip-flopping politician's positions? How does someone's culture affect the way they remember a shared event? For all of these questions I use behavioral experiments (both in the lab and online) to explore the encoding and retrieval processes involved in human memory.
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Noticing and Remembering ChangeWhen politicians flip-flop does it make it more difficult for people to remember the politician's current position? A major theory in cognitive psychology, known as interference theory, would say yes. However, recent research suggests that when people notice a change and later remember it, it actually enhances their memory. I have explored the mechanisms of noticing and remembering change both in politics (my dissertation) and in the formation of false memories.
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