2007 APA Program Retrospective

– Anne M. Cleary & Veronica J. Dark

In our unbiased [J] opinion, the Division 3 program at this year’s APA convention in San Francisco was fantastic.  This year’s theme was “Uniting Psychology Through Memory,” and as such, the division hosted and co-hosted many cross-disciplinary events that all tied back to the general theme of learning and memory.  In addition to the Presidential Address by Howard Egeth, Division 3 hosted eight invited addresses by prominent researchers (Jonathon Crystal, Steve Clark, Elizabeth Marsh, Lynne Reder, Alan Brown, Art Shimamura, Steve Luck and Anthony Wagner each gave wonderful talks) and co-hosted several innovative symposia with other divisions. And, even though this year’s conference extended into Monday (which for many academics was the first Monday of classes), all of the talks were well-attended and well-received.

Division 3 also hosted a new type of event, suggested by Nelson Cowan, in which a prominent speaker gives an introductory talk that is followed by a set of related posters presented by students and post-docs.  We invited Elizabeth and Robert Bjork to organize our inaugural event of this type.  The event was entitled, “Memory Dynamics and the Optimization of Instruction,” and began with opening talks from Elizabeth and Robert Bjork followed by 13 poster presentations (see the program below for more details). In addition to inviting members of their own lab to present posters, Robert and Elizabeth invited presenters from laboratories around the country to present research related to the theme of learning and education.  They even held a dinner for the invitees following the event. The result was a mini-conference on research related to education, and it was well-attended and was received with great enthusiasm by attendees. An award was given for the best invited poster at this session, and that award went to Nate Kornell from UCLA, who was the lead author on a poster entitled, “Categorizing Paintings: The Spacing Effect on Inductive Learning.” His co-authors were Makah Leal, Timothy Wong & Robert A. Bjork.  We hope that Division 3 will continue to host such events at future conventions, and thanks to Nelson Cowan for suggesting it!

Division 3 also started a new practice at its poster session this year:  We gave an award for the best poster first-authored by a graduate student. Two awards were given this year. The second-place award went to Marc V. Richard from Colorado State University for his poster “Sequencing Movement: Learning a Pattern of Directions in the SRT.” The Award for Best Poster went to Amanda C. G. Hege from the University of Virginia for her poster “Effect of Mood on Inadvertent Plagiarism.”

Finally, we would like to recognize the two winners of this year's New Investigator Awards who were able to participate in the program, receiving their awards at the Division 3 Business Meeting.  Congratulations to Jochen Barth and to Michael Bunting.  Jochen Barth received the award for his paper published in Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, and Michael received the award for his paper published in Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition.

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS:

         Howard Egeth, Johns Hopkins University

         Attentional Control: From the Bottom Up and then Back Down

NEW EVENT: INVITED SPEAKERS FOLLOWED BY INVITED POSTER SESSION:

         Opening Talk I:  Elizabeth Ligon Bjork, UCLA

         Memory Considerations in the Optimization of Learning: Creating Desirable Difficulties

         Opening Talk II:  Robert A. Bjork, UCLA

         Metacognitive Considerations in the Optimization of Learning: Heuristics and Illusions

         Invited Poster Presentations:

         Aimee Callender & Mark McDaniel, Washington University

         Text Comprehension in Education

         Andrew C. Butler & Henry L. Roediger, III, Washington University

         Feedback Enhances the Benefits of Testing

         Benjamin C. Storm, Katerina Belova, Robert A Bjork & Elizabeth L. Bjork, UCLA

         The Effects of Spacing and Generation During Reading

         Jennifer C. Storm, Benjamin C. Storm, Michael C. Friedman & Robert A. Bjork, UCLA

         When Expanding Test Schedules Succeed and Fail to Enhance Learning

         Bridgid Finn & Janet Metcalfe, Columbia  University

         The Influence of Memory for Past Test on Metacognitive Monitoring and Control

         Deanna M. Fierman, Alice F. Healy, & Lyle E. Bourne, University of Colorado, Boulder

         Optimizing Memory for Instructions by Varying Presentation Modality: Explorations of a Navigation Task

         Jeri L. Little, Elizabeth L. Bjork, Robert A. Bjork UCLA

         Does Retrieval Induce Forgetting, Facilitation, or Both?

         Kathy Wildman & Mark McDaniel, Washington University

         Test-Enhanced Learning for Facts and Concepts

         Mathew J. Hays & Robert A. Bjork, UCLA

         Expanding-Interval Retrieval Practice and the Goldilocks Principle

         Michael J. Serra, Columbia University

         How Do Diagrams Improve Memory for Science Text?

         Nate Cornell, Makah Leal, Timothy Wong & Robert A. Bjork, UCLA

         Categorizing Paintings: The Spacing Effect on Inductive Learning.

         Phillip Kellman & Joel Zucker, UCLA

         Dynamic Sequencing in Computer-based Learning Technology: Optimizing Efficiency for Item Memory and Perceptual Learning

         Shana Carpenter, Hal Pashler, Doug Rohrer & Nicholas Cepeda, University of California, San Diego

         Does Forced Guessing Cause One to Learn the Wrong Answer?

INVITED CO-SPONSORED SYMPOSIA:

Origins of Causal Reasoning (with Division 6)

        Aaron P. Blaisdell, UCLA (Chair)

        Nicola Clayton, University of Cambridge

        By Hook or Crook: How Apes and Corvids Understand Tools

        Josep Call, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology

        Causal Reasoning in the Great Apes

        Alison Gopnik University of California, Berkeley

        Young Children’s Causal Reasoning: Correlations, Actions and Mechanisms

        Derek C. Penn, University of Louisiana

        A Difference of Kind: Discontinuities between Human and Nonhuman Causal Cognition

Advancing Psychological Science by Studying Complex Tasks and Expertise (with Division 21)

        Earl B. Hunt, University of Washington (co-chair) & Leo Gugerty, Clemson University (co-chair):

        Phillip L. Ackerman, Georgia Tech

        How Does Task Complexity Relate to Basic and Applied Experimental Psychology?

        Werner W. Wittman, University of Mannheim

        Brunswik-Symmetry, A Golden Key Concept to Disentangle Complexity

        Peter Pirolli, Palo Alto Research Center

        Information foraging and sense making theory: Playing both sides of the street

        Christopher D. Wickens, Alion Science and Technology

        Can Perceptual-Cognitive Theory be Advanced by Complex Tasks?

Numerical Competence in Nonhuman Animals---Looking Back, Looking Forward (with Division 6)

        Michael J. Beran, Georgia State University (Chair)

        Michael J. Beran, Georgia State University

        Enumeration, Estimation, and Fuzzy Math by Chimpanzees

        Irene M. Pepperberg, Harvard University

        Grey Parrot Numerical Competence

        Jessica F. Cantlon & Elizabeth M. Brannon, Duke University

        Numerical Computation Mechanisms in Monkeys and Humans: Abstraction, Comparison, Arithmetic

        Jacky Emmerton, Purdue University

        Role of Perceptual Factors in Numerical Processing by Pigeons

        Sarah T. Boysen, Ohio State University

        Acquisition Parameters for Establishing Numerical Representation in Chimpanzees

Language Comprehension and Aging (with Division 20)

        Debra McGinnis, Oakland University (Chair)

        Gabriel A. Radvansky, University of Notre Dame

        Aging and Deeper Understanding

        Noh Soh Rim & Elizabeth A. L. Stine-Morrow, University of Illinios, Urbana-Champaign

        Age Differences in Character Activation During Narrative Comprehension

        Debra McGinnis, Oakland University

        Inferential Processes during Narrative Comprehension in Young-old and Old-old Adults

        Lise Abrams, University of Florida

        Misspelling Perception Influences Older Adults’ Recall: The Relevance of Context

INVITED ADDRESSES:

Jonathon D. Crystal, University of Georgia

Animal Models of Cognition: Episodic-like Memory and Metacognition in Rats

Steven E. Clark, University of California, Riverside

Theory Development on the Road from Mistaken Identification to Wrongful Conviction

Elizabeth J. Marsh, Duke University

Illusions of Knowledge

Lynne M. Reder, Carnegie Melon University

Bridging the Gap Between Implicit and Explicit Memory: Memory Does Not Divide on Consciousness

Alan S. Brown, Southern Methodist University

False Recognition in Everyday Experience: Taking Clues from Déjà vus

Arthur P. Shimamura, University of California, Berkeley

Emotional Influences on Contextual Memory

Steven J. Luck, University of California, Davis

Visual Working Memory: Representation, Process, and Function

Anthony D. Wagner, Stanford University

The Cognitive Neuroscience of Remembering