Research
Our lab conducts research on human learning and memory with an emphasis on the social aspects of memory. The aim is to understand how social influences shape memory and learning, the transmission of memory in groups and social networks, social shaping and transmission of emotional memories, and the emergence of collective memory.
This research addresses questions about how memory propagates among social connections and the consequences of such memory contagion, the indirect influence on our memories of people in our social networks whom we have never met, sharing of emotional memories in social groups, changes in our memory representations as a result of reminiscing with others, social memory and aging, effects of social and non-social scaffolding on learning and using general knowledge, and the emergence of collective memory.
Our research has been supported by the National Institute of Mental Health, National Science Foundation, Russell Sage Foundation, and a Google Faculty Research Award.
See below for various research themes that are being pursued by our lab:
Our work on this theme focuses on the following topics:
- The process of collaborative memory
- Emergence of collective memory
- Propagation of emotional memory
- Collaboration and aging
- Collaboration and education
- Propagation of accurate and erroneous memories
- Culture and Memory
Our work on this theme focuses on the following topics:
- Propagation of memory in small groups and large social networks
- Influence of group structure on memory transmission
- Influence of size of social networks
- Agent-based computational simulations
Our work on this theme focuses on the following topics:
- Context learning and emotional memory
- Autobiographical memory content
- Memory accuracy versus social contagion for emotional information
Our work on this theme focuses on the following topics:
- Propagation of general knowledge
- Social and nonsocial scaffolding of knowledge representation
- Efficacy of learning methods
- Stereotype threat and cognition
Our work on this theme focuses on the following topics:
- Collaborative memory and aging
- Behavioral and neural considerations
- Episodic recall deficits
Our work on this theme focuses on the following topics:
- Neural bases of memory and amnesia
- New verbal and conceptual learning in amnesia
- Consciousness, subjective states, and memory
- Distinctions between implicit and explicit memory
- Perceptual, conceptual, and attentional bases of memory