We are currently pursuing several interrelated lines of research:
Self-Regulation of Learning and Motivation
Students’ motivation plays an important role in their overall learning process as it directs, determines, and sustains specific learning activities. Different motivational beliefs and attitudes impact how students approach their learning. Prior literature supports the close link between motivation and various aspects of learning such as strategy use, affect, engagement, persistence, and performance. Relatedly, self-regulated learning provides a valuable perspective for understanding how students can self-regulate their own learning process in different contexts. Understanding students’ motivation and self-regulated learning supports educators to provide effective learning experiences and relevant interventions.
Mnemonic Effects of Retrieval Practice
People generally conceptualize testing as an assessment tool for evaluating learning (summative assessment) and providing feedback to guide future learning activities (formative assessment). However, a growing body of evidence indicates that testing (i.e. retrieval practice) can also be used as a learning tool. This line of research focuses on how retrieval practice can be used to increase long-term retention and improve understanding, and the underlying mechanisms that produce these effects.
Acquisition and Correction of False Knowledge
Our world abounds with false information – urban legends, political slander, and untruths about other cultures are just a few of the many possible examples. Often this false information is innocuous, but some of it is quite malicious because it undermines people’s understanding of the world and conflicts with learning the truth. This line of research focuses on understanding how people acquire false knowledge, especially when they have prior knowledge that contradicts the false information, and how false knowledge can be corrected.
Mnemonic Effects of Retrieval on Autobiographical and Collective Memories
Autobiographical memory plays a central role in people’s construction of a self-concept and the way in which they interact with the world around them. One basic question that has produced a large corpus of research is how the content and phenomenological characteristics of autobiographical memories change over time. This line of research focuses on how repeated retrieval (i.e. rehearsal) of autobiographical memories affects the way in which people remember events from their life.