Full website is now available here: memlab.uark.edu
Currently accepting applications for PhD students, due 12/01/2024
In the MEM lab, we aim to understand the processes underlying memory at a basic level and in aging–in particular, how memories are formed, represented, and translated into behavior and subjective reexperiencing.
We leverage eyetracking, novel task design, and computational modeling to investigate these questions. (Graduate students can choose which method(s) they’d like to use.) We also examine interactions between memory and other cognitive processes, particularly visual attention and semantic knowledge, to better understand memory itself.
Some examples of the questions we investigate:
- How is it that you can be sure you know someone, but have no idea where you know them from? (As in, what are the mechanisms of familiarity-based memory?)
- Does how you look at something determine how well you’ll remember it, and what type of memory you’ll have?
- How are unconscious memories formed, and how do they influence our behavior?
- How do our schemas and stereotypes bias our memories?
- Can we develop new cognitive strategies to improve our memory, especially as we get older?
About the University of Arkansas:
We are an R1 university located in Fayetteville, which is situated in the beautiful Ozark mountains and consistently ranked near the top of US News and World Reports’ best cities to live in the US. The Psychological Science department is supported by the Howells endowment, which gives graduate students funding via travel funds, fellowships to supplement assistantships, and internal research grants. The department is highly collaborative–students are often co-mentored, so if you are interested in that, feel free to reach out.
Lab Members
Michelle Ramey, PhD
Assistant Professor, Principal Investigator
Brody Terry, BS
PhD student
Samantha Stark
Lab manager