Research Approaches
Laboratory & Life Beyond
We use in-person and online data collection methods to study how people use their memory in laboratory and real life settings.
We are particularly interested how people prioritize memory content for important life events.
Adult Development
Learning does not end when we reach adulthood. In fact, our ability to process, retain, and use information continues to develop from young adulthood through old age. We study study how changes in cognition and motivation across adulthood relate to memory in social and emotional contexts
Behavior & Brain Activity
We study responses to social and emotional content using behavioral experimental methods (e.g., memory and decision-making tasks) as well as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). FMRI methods allow us to determine how brain activity is associated with the processing, remembering, and use of social and emotional content.
Memory & Social Evaluation
Memory is important for helping us think about our past experiences, but it can also help us to make decisions and evaluations in the present moment. Our lab studies not only how social and emotional information is remembered, but how that information is used for decisions and evaluations.