Why we respond the way we do

The formal studying of memory has gone strong since the late 1800s with Ebbinghaus's well-controlled experiments. As such, much is known about what makes memory stronger (e.g., repeated exposure, emotionally-laden content, long duration, repeated retrievals, etc.). Surprisingly, we know much less about why we respond the way we do when faced with a memory cue.

As we age, our memory ability decreases, and our responding changes too. Older adults become more conservative, so they're less likely to claim they experienced an event than younger adults (Holdstock et al., 2021). Why? Another example is when people describe an event, they are later more conservative than when they did not describe the event (Wilson, Seale-Carlisle, & Mickes, 2017). More examples are in some publications on the lab website http://www.mickeslab.com.

Why do we respond the way we do? This PhD project would investigate this very question. The project is not set in stone but will involve a series of behavioural experiments and modelling, and be grounded in theory. The project's flexibility allows the PhD student to work with the supervisor on the research questions, hypotheses, preregistration, etc.

While the work will be theoretically grounded, the applicability is potentially widespread, including in

- police practices

- courts

- classrooms

- training

- clinical and counselling

Applicants should have at least some experience with the following

- open science practices (i.e., preregistrations, registered reports)

- signal detection theory

- recognition memory literature

- designing in-person and online experiments to test hypotheses

- data analyses

- programming (e.g., python and R)

- obtaining ethical approval

- writing scientific papers

and the PhD will strengthen these areas.