Some aspects of cognition are automatic, while other aspects of cognition are under our control, like when we intentionally search for our friend in a crowd. For example, you are likely able to remember what you had for breakfast this morning even though you weren’t intentionally studying your breakfast (that memory is automatically encoded). But you also will likely do better on a test if you intentionally studied the information (your memory is influenced by your intentional study strategies). Understanding how automatic and controlled mechanisms interact is essential for developing memory theory and for understanding how different interventions may be able to help individuals with memory difficulties.

Remembering one event often leads to remembering other events that also occurred in a similar context or are related in some way. For example, after remembering what you had for breakfast as you headed out the door to work or school, you might also think about your morning commute that happened right after breakfast. These similarities influence not only which things we remember, but also the order in which events are retrieved, and these patterns of organization can reveal important insights into the core mechanisms of the human memory system. My research investigates automatic and controlled mechanisms determine how we balance the many different kinds of associations that can influence memory search.

Developing well-specified theories that can make clear, testable predictions should be a priority for any research program. Computational models of memory are useful for achieving this goal because they require cognitive mechanisms to be clearly specified so they can be implemented in the form of mathematical equations. My research is aimed at testing existing computational models of memory and further developing them to provide a more comprehensive explanation of both automatic and controlled effects on memory phenomena.