Today I received word from both the Association for Psychological Science (APS) and the Vision Sciences Society (VSS) that my abstracts were accepted at their annual conventions. Both of these presentations are part of my dissertation work that addresses the often-flat confidence-accuracy relationship found in police lineup rejections. Below is a description of each poster and information on the talks themselves.
With my name officially on the registrar, I’m happy to announce that I’m teaching a 300-person, upper-division undergraduate course during the Winter 2023 quarter! I’ve accepted an “associate-in-lieu” position in the Department of Psychology at UCSD.
The course is PSYC 144 Memory & Amnesia. The course will review basic research into the nature of memory. It will survey current research and theory concerning human memory and amnesia from both cognitive and neuropsychological perspectives. Topics covered will include short-term memory, encoding and retrieval processes, forgetting, memory distortion, implicit memory, drug effects on memory, amnesic syndromes, and the effects of aging on memory processes.
“Stay in the chair.” It’s one of the mantras used within writing groups at UCSD in order encourage progress on long writing projects. Below are some tips for staying in the chair. The list is broken down by the type of issue impeding focus too—super nifty.
Truthfully, this is one of the most helpful lists I’ve been given for productivity in graduate school.
Below are some writing tips from a graduate writing retreat hosted by UC San Diego’s Teaching + Learning Commons. These tips are centered around how to overcome resistance to writing when you find yourself doing (or thinking about doing) avoidance behaviors.
I’m incredibly proud to report that I recently advanced to candidacy! In our department, that means passing a qualifying paper defense (which I did in July 2020) as well as successfully “defending” a dissertation proposal paper and presentation.
My dissertation, “Evidence of Innocence: The Psychology of Lineup Rejections,” will comprise of three published or to-be-published studies. The first study was published in Law and Human Behavior earlier this year. The second and third studies will be basic-science studies investigating 1) why the confidence-accuracy relationship for lineup rejections ranges from negligible to slightly-positive and 2) the specific decision variable that is used for confidence during a lineup rejection.
Thank you to my committee: Drs. John Wixted (Chair), Tim Brady, Uma Karmarkar, John Serences, and Angela Yu.
Every year, the Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny (CARTA) hosts a student symposium. It’s a chance for students, faculty, outside researchers, and funders to get a glimpse into the research and interests of students within the anthropogeny Ph.D specialization track. As a two-time CARTA Fellowship recipient (each fellowship being $20,000), I also use this time to update generous donors about my current research.
CARTA is inherently interdisciplinary and hosts researchers from fields including psychology, biomedical sciences, neuroscience, biology, linguistics, and the fine arts (amongst other majors). If you’d like to view my five-minute talk called “Recognition Memory” or the talks of my colleagues, you can do so here. (This link will eventually become private by the organization. Please contact me if you do not have access and would like to view the talk.)
This June, I’ll be presenting “A comparison between a rate-them-all simultaneous lineup procedure vs. standard simultaneous and show-up procedures” as a virtual poster at V-VSS.
The conference date is June 1-2nd. The poster will be presented in Poster Session 5 on Thursday, June 2nd at 7-9am (PDT).
I will present the poster “The Psychology and Neuroscience of Confidence in Memory and Perception” at Psychonomic Society’s annual convention. This poster (2427) is based on an expansion of my qualifying paper, and will be co-authored between myself and Dr. John T. Wixted.
This year’s meeting will take place on November 4-7. I will be available for live discussion within the meeting platform on November 6th, 12-1pm Central Time. Or, as always, contact me with any questions.
Abstract:
The solution to real-world problems often requires a deep, basic-science understanding of the problem at hand. Confidence and decision time are issues that matter in the real-world and have been intensively investigated in the past 20 years in both psychological science and neuroscience. In cognitive psychology, confidence is usually conceptualized in terms of signal detection theory while speeded decision-making is conceptualized in terms of evidence accumulation modeling. However, no singular model of confidence for a perceptual decision dominates. In mathematical psychology, accounts of speeded decision-making in terms of a balance-of-evidence decision variable has gained currency in recent years. In neuroscience, the field tends to approach evidence accumulation and confidence in relation to lateral intraparietal cortex (the role of which is debated) and reaction time, with some research indicating a balance-of-evidence decision variable. A review of these largely independent lines of research suggests a potentially fruitful way to naturally integrate signal detection theory and evidence accumulation models in a way that comports with the relevant neuroscience evidence.
Update: The abstract number was previously 5117. Renumbering occurred when this year’s annual convention moved from a hybrid format to strictly online. You can view a PDF of the poster here.
The Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny (CARTA) has graciously awarded me another year of funding through their fellowship!
Thank you to Drs. Fred Gage (CARTA Co-Director), Margaret Schoeninger (CARTA Co-Director), Ajit Varki (CARTA Co-Director) and Pascal Gagneux (CARTA Associate Director) for their continued support. Also, thank you Salk Institute for Biological Studies for supporting CARTA and young researchers.
My first year of CARTA was spent working from home and attending virtual symposia. I learned a lot about human origins, but I did miss the camaraderie and richness of thought-exchange that is present in an in-person environment. Personally, in the coming year, I look forward to deepening my understanding of human migration and group dynamics (both may provide information about settings that could facilitate the development of certain recognition memory processes), as well as my understanding of how virology changes the genome in ways that may impact attention, stress, or memory.
I look forward to another year of research — this time back on campus!
Thank you again to the funders of this fellowship and to the selection committee for their continued faith and support.
-A.Y.
Tomorrow is the first day of APS Virtual! I’ll be presenting the poster, “Enhancing Evidence of Innocence from Police Lineups,” which you can find here. You will need to login to APS in order to access it.
Additionally, I’ll be leading a Hot Topic Discussion on Memory in Forensics. I’m excited to see what ideas other APS members bring to the 30-minute discussion on the state of the field, where it’s going, and what questions we hope to be answered in the future. On a personal note, it’s super cool seeing my name listed as a speaker and being able to engage with other attendees in a live-session. This is my first time engaging with the APS research community in a manner other than a poster.
