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| Name |
Roediger, Henry L. |
| Location
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Washington University in St. Louis |
| Primary Field
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Psychological and Cognitive Sciences |
 Election Citation
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Roediger has been one of the preeminent figures in the cognitive psychology of memory for over forty years. He has made systematic and highly influential contributions to experimental research on such critical issues as implicit vs. explicit memory, false memory, and the effects of testing on learning and retention.
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Research Interests
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Henry Roediger's research is concerned with several broad topics concerning human memory. One thrust of his work concerns the power of retrieval practice as a memory enhancer, producing greater learning than other study strategies. This research has been extended into educational practice. Roediger has also developed a straightforward technique to induce false memories in laboratory settings, and this paradigm has been widely used to study illusory memories. An earlier program of research involved experiments elucidating the relation between explicit and implicit memory tests, and he is known for advancing the theoretical approach of transfer appropriate processing to account for differences among tests. Two more recent research interests currently being pursued are the study of people with extraordinary memory abilities and the study of collective (or historical) memory. The former involves cognitive assessment of people who have developed great abilities in remembering (e.g., contestants in memory tournaments, people who memorize large parts of the Bible, among others) to determine if they have cognitive abilities in common. The latter topic is concerned with how people in groups remember, such as how Americans remember events of World War II or other historical milestones, and how these memories shape political discourse.
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