![Candice Morey](https://profiles-cardiff.imgix.net/attachments/3031?w=200&h=200&auto=format&crop=faces&fit=crop&q=90")
Overview
In some ways, memory seems limitless. Unlike a digital storage device which will eventually fill up, there is no apparent limit to how much knowledge we can acquire. In fact, learning is facilliated when we make connections between new information and information we've already learned - it's as if remembering some things leads to remembering others.
Yet remembering novel information is notoriously faulty. Everyone regularly experiences slips where they cannot retrieve the name of person just introduced to them, or forgets where they placed their keys only moments ago, or cannot recall what items they planned to pick up from the market.
I am interested in understanding what limits memory for the immediate past, explaining why these lapses occur so universally, and discovering factors that can help mitigate immediate memory limits. I also advocate for improving the transparency of research so that all of the products of research - from stimuli, to data, to published conclusions - are maximally available to inform decision-making in academia and beyond. Materials supporting my research projects are available on my Open Science Framework page.
Publication
2025
- Nikolov, T. Y., Allen, R. J., Havelka, J., Darling, S., van de Vegte, B. and Morey, C. C. 2025. Navigating the mind's eye: Understanding gaze shifts in visuospatial bootstrapping. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology 78(2), pp. 391-404. (10.1177/17470218241282426)
- Morey, C. et al. 2025. Is verbal rehearsal strategic? An investigation into overt rehearsal of nameable pictures in 5- to 10-year-old children. Journal of Cognition and Development 26(1), pp. 50-69. (10.1080/15248372.2024.2389123)
- Ramzaoui, H., Mathy, F. and Morey, C. C. 2025. Grouping by semantic and color similarity in visual working memory: An attentional mechanism, not compression mechanism. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition (10.1037/xlm0001482)
2024
- Delooze, M. A., Guitard, D., Cowan, N. and Morey, C. C. 2024. Rapid source forgetting across modalities: a problem for working memory models. Memory & Cognition (10.3758/s13421-024-01664-y)
- Allen, R. J., Havelka, J., Morey, C. C. and Darling, S. 2024. Hanging on the telephone: Maintaining visuospatial bootstrapping over time in working memory. Memory & Cognition 52, pp. 1798-1815. (10.3758/s13421-023-01431-5)
2023
- Kubota, M. et al. 2023. The effect of metacognitive executive function training on children's executive function, proactive control, and academic skills. Developmental Psychology 59(11), pp. 2002-2020. (10.1037/dev0001626)
- Overkott, C., Souza, A. S. and Morey, C. C. 2023. The developing impact of verbal labels on visual memories in children. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General 152(3), pp. 825-838. (10.1037/xge0001305)
2022
- Delooze, M. A., Langerock, N., Macy, R., Vergauwe, E. and Morey, C. C. 2022. Encode a letter and get its location for free? Assessing incidental binding of verbal and spatial features. Brain Sciences 12(6), article number: 685. (10.3390/brainsci12060685)
- Vergauwe, E., von Bastian, C. C., Kostova, R. and Morey, C. C. 2022. Storage and processing in working memory: a single, domain-general resource explains multi-tasking. Journal of Experimental Psychology 151(2), pp. 285-301. (10.1037/xge0000895)
- AuBuchon, A. M. et al. 2022. Lexical access speed and the development of phonological recoding during immediate serial recall. Journal of Cognition and Development 23(5), pp. 624-643. (10.1080/15248372.2022.2083140)
2021
- Joseph, T. N. and Morey, C. C. 2021. Impact of memory load on processing diminishes rapidly during retention in a complex span paradigm. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition 48(10), pp. 1400-1419. (10.1037/xlm0001061)
- Elliott, E. M. et al. 2021. Multi-lab direct replication of Flavell, Beach and Chinsky (1966): spontaneous verbal rehearsal in a memory task as a function of age. Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science 4(2), pp. 1-20. (10.1177/25152459211018187)
2020
- Buttelmann, F. et al. 2020. Age-related differentiation in verbal and visuo-spatial working memory processing in childhood. Psychological Research 84, pp. 2354-2360. (10.1007/s00426-019-01219-w)
- Kubota, M. et al. 2020. Consistent use of proactive control and relation with academic achievement in childhood. Cognition 203, article number: 104329. (10.1016/j.cognition.2020.104329)
- Williams, C., Hodgetts, H. M., Morey, C., Macken, B., Jones, D. M., Zhang, Q. and Morgan, P. L. 2020. Human error in information security: exploring the role of interruptions and multitasking in action slips. Presented at: 22nd International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction (HCII 2020), Virtual, 19-24 July 2020HCI International 2020 - Posters: 22nd International Conference, HCII 2020, Copenhagen, Denmark, July 19–24, 2020, Proceedings, Part III, Vol. 1226. Communications in Computer and Information Science Springer, Cham pp. 622-629., (10.1007/978-3-030-50732-9_80)
- Morey, C., Rhodes, S. and Cowan, N. 2020. Co-existing, contradictory working memory models are ready for progressive refinement: Reply to Logie. Cortex 123, pp. 200-202. (10.1016/j.cortex.2019.11.012)
- Aczel, B. et al. 2020. A consensus-based transparency checklist. Nature Human Behaviour 4(4-6) (10.1038/s41562-019-0772-6)
2019
- Morey, C. 2019. Perceptual grouping boosts visual working memory capacity and reduces effort during retention. British Journal of Psychology 110(2), pp. 306-327. (10.1111/bjop.12355)
- Morey, C., Rhodes, S. and Cowan, N. 2019. Sensory-motor integration and brain lesions: Progress toward explaining domainspecific phenomena within domain-general working memory. Cortex 112, pp. 149-161. (10.1016/j.cortex.2018.11.030)
- Morey, C. 2019. Working memory theory remains stuck: Reply to Hanley and Young. Cortex 112, pp. 180-181. (10.1016/j.cortex.2019.01.019)
2018
- Oberauer, K. et al. 2018. Benchmarks for models of short term and working memory. Psychological Bulletin 144(9), pp. 885-958. (10.1037/bul0000153)
- Morey, C. 2018. The case against specialized visual-spatial short-term memory. Psychological Bulletin 144(8), pp. 849-883. (10.1037/bul0000155)
- Morey, C. C. et al. 2018. The effects of verbal and spatial memory load on children's processing speed. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 1424(1), pp. 161-174. (10.1111/nyas.13653)
- Morey, C. and Cowan, N. 2018. Can we distinguish three maintenance processes in working memory?. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 1424(1), pp. 45-51. (10.1111/nyas.13925)
- Morey, C. C., Mareva, S., Lelonkiewicz, J. R. and Chevalier, N. 2018. Gaze-based rehearsal in children under 7: a developmental investigation of eye movements during a serial spatial memory task. Developmental Science 21(3), article number: e12559. (10.1111/desc.12559)
2017
- Sasin, E., Morey, C. C. and Nieuwenstein, M. 2017. Forget me if you can: attentional capture by to-Be-remembered and to-Be-forgotten visual stimuli. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review 24(5), pp. 1643-1650. (10.3758/s13423-016-1225-0)
- Sense, F., Morey, C. C., Prince, M., Heathcote, A. and Morey, R. D. 2017. Opportunity for verbalization does not improve visual change detection performance: a state-trace analysis. Behavior Research Methods 49(3), pp. 853-862. (10.3758/s13428-016-0741-1)
- Allan, A. and Morey, C. 2017. On the right track? Investigating the effect of path characteristics on visuospatial bootstrapping in verbal serial recall. Journal of Cognition 1(1), pp. 1-16., article number: 3. (10.5334/joc.2)
2016
- Morey, C. C. and Miron, M. D. 2016. Spatial sequences, but not verbal sequences, are vulnerable to general interference during retention in working memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition 42(12), pp. 1907-1918. (10.1037/xlm0000280)
- Morey, R. D. et al. 2016. The Peer Reviewers' Openness Initiative: incentivizing open research practices through peer review. Royal Society Open Science 3(1), article number: 150547. (10.1098/rsos.150547)
2015
- Morey, C., Cong, Y., Zheng, Y., Price, M. and Morey, R. D. 2015. The color-sharing bonus: roles of perceptual organization and attentive processes in visual working memory. Archives of Scientific Psychology 3(1), pp. 18-29. (10.1037/arc0000014)
2014
- Gulbinaite, R., Johnson, A., de Jong, R., Morey, C. and van Rijn, H. 2014. Dissociable mechanisms underlying individual differences in visual working memory capacity. NeuroImage 99, pp. 197-206. (10.1016/j.neuroimage.2014.05.060)
- Mall, J. T., Morey, C., Wolff, M. J. and Lehnert, F. 2014. Visual selective attention is equally functional for individuals with low and high working memory capacity: Evidence from accuracy and eye movements. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics 76(7), pp. 1998-2014. (10.3758/s13414-013-0610-2)
- Elliott, E. M., Morey, C., Morey, R. D., Eaves, S. D., Shelton, J. T. and Lutfi-Proctor, D. A. 2014. The role of modality: auditory and visual distractors in Stroop interference. Journal of Cognitive Psychology 26(1), pp. 15-26. (10.1080/20445911.2013.859133)
Cynadleddau
- Williams, C., Hodgetts, H. M., Morey, C., Macken, B., Jones, D. M., Zhang, Q. and Morgan, P. L. 2020. Human error in information security: exploring the role of interruptions and multitasking in action slips. Presented at: 22nd International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction (HCII 2020), Virtual, 19-24 July 2020HCI International 2020 - Posters: 22nd International Conference, HCII 2020, Copenhagen, Denmark, July 19–24, 2020, Proceedings, Part III, Vol. 1226. Communications in Computer and Information Science Springer, Cham pp. 622-629., (10.1007/978-3-030-50732-9_80)
Erthyglau
- Nikolov, T. Y., Allen, R. J., Havelka, J., Darling, S., van de Vegte, B. and Morey, C. C. 2025. Navigating the mind's eye: Understanding gaze shifts in visuospatial bootstrapping. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology 78(2), pp. 391-404. (10.1177/17470218241282426)
- Morey, C. et al. 2025. Is verbal rehearsal strategic? An investigation into overt rehearsal of nameable pictures in 5- to 10-year-old children. Journal of Cognition and Development 26(1), pp. 50-69. (10.1080/15248372.2024.2389123)
- Ramzaoui, H., Mathy, F. and Morey, C. C. 2025. Grouping by semantic and color similarity in visual working memory: An attentional mechanism, not compression mechanism. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition (10.1037/xlm0001482)
- Delooze, M. A., Guitard, D., Cowan, N. and Morey, C. C. 2024. Rapid source forgetting across modalities: a problem for working memory models. Memory & Cognition (10.3758/s13421-024-01664-y)
- Allen, R. J., Havelka, J., Morey, C. C. and Darling, S. 2024. Hanging on the telephone: Maintaining visuospatial bootstrapping over time in working memory. Memory & Cognition 52, pp. 1798-1815. (10.3758/s13421-023-01431-5)
- Kubota, M. et al. 2023. The effect of metacognitive executive function training on children's executive function, proactive control, and academic skills. Developmental Psychology 59(11), pp. 2002-2020. (10.1037/dev0001626)
- Overkott, C., Souza, A. S. and Morey, C. C. 2023. The developing impact of verbal labels on visual memories in children. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General 152(3), pp. 825-838. (10.1037/xge0001305)
- Delooze, M. A., Langerock, N., Macy, R., Vergauwe, E. and Morey, C. C. 2022. Encode a letter and get its location for free? Assessing incidental binding of verbal and spatial features. Brain Sciences 12(6), article number: 685. (10.3390/brainsci12060685)
- Vergauwe, E., von Bastian, C. C., Kostova, R. and Morey, C. C. 2022. Storage and processing in working memory: a single, domain-general resource explains multi-tasking. Journal of Experimental Psychology 151(2), pp. 285-301. (10.1037/xge0000895)
- AuBuchon, A. M. et al. 2022. Lexical access speed and the development of phonological recoding during immediate serial recall. Journal of Cognition and Development 23(5), pp. 624-643. (10.1080/15248372.2022.2083140)
- Joseph, T. N. and Morey, C. C. 2021. Impact of memory load on processing diminishes rapidly during retention in a complex span paradigm. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition 48(10), pp. 1400-1419. (10.1037/xlm0001061)
- Elliott, E. M. et al. 2021. Multi-lab direct replication of Flavell, Beach and Chinsky (1966): spontaneous verbal rehearsal in a memory task as a function of age. Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science 4(2), pp. 1-20. (10.1177/25152459211018187)
- Buttelmann, F. et al. 2020. Age-related differentiation in verbal and visuo-spatial working memory processing in childhood. Psychological Research 84, pp. 2354-2360. (10.1007/s00426-019-01219-w)
- Kubota, M. et al. 2020. Consistent use of proactive control and relation with academic achievement in childhood. Cognition 203, article number: 104329. (10.1016/j.cognition.2020.104329)
- Morey, C., Rhodes, S. and Cowan, N. 2020. Co-existing, contradictory working memory models are ready for progressive refinement: Reply to Logie. Cortex 123, pp. 200-202. (10.1016/j.cortex.2019.11.012)
- Aczel, B. et al. 2020. A consensus-based transparency checklist. Nature Human Behaviour 4(4-6) (10.1038/s41562-019-0772-6)
- Morey, C. 2019. Perceptual grouping boosts visual working memory capacity and reduces effort during retention. British Journal of Psychology 110(2), pp. 306-327. (10.1111/bjop.12355)
- Morey, C., Rhodes, S. and Cowan, N. 2019. Sensory-motor integration and brain lesions: Progress toward explaining domainspecific phenomena within domain-general working memory. Cortex 112, pp. 149-161. (10.1016/j.cortex.2018.11.030)
- Morey, C. 2019. Working memory theory remains stuck: Reply to Hanley and Young. Cortex 112, pp. 180-181. (10.1016/j.cortex.2019.01.019)
- Oberauer, K. et al. 2018. Benchmarks for models of short term and working memory. Psychological Bulletin 144(9), pp. 885-958. (10.1037/bul0000153)
- Morey, C. 2018. The case against specialized visual-spatial short-term memory. Psychological Bulletin 144(8), pp. 849-883. (10.1037/bul0000155)
- Morey, C. C. et al. 2018. The effects of verbal and spatial memory load on children's processing speed. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 1424(1), pp. 161-174. (10.1111/nyas.13653)
- Morey, C. and Cowan, N. 2018. Can we distinguish three maintenance processes in working memory?. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 1424(1), pp. 45-51. (10.1111/nyas.13925)
- Morey, C. C., Mareva, S., Lelonkiewicz, J. R. and Chevalier, N. 2018. Gaze-based rehearsal in children under 7: a developmental investigation of eye movements during a serial spatial memory task. Developmental Science 21(3), article number: e12559. (10.1111/desc.12559)
- Sasin, E., Morey, C. C. and Nieuwenstein, M. 2017. Forget me if you can: attentional capture by to-Be-remembered and to-Be-forgotten visual stimuli. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review 24(5), pp. 1643-1650. (10.3758/s13423-016-1225-0)
- Sense, F., Morey, C. C., Prince, M., Heathcote, A. and Morey, R. D. 2017. Opportunity for verbalization does not improve visual change detection performance: a state-trace analysis. Behavior Research Methods 49(3), pp. 853-862. (10.3758/s13428-016-0741-1)
- Allan, A. and Morey, C. 2017. On the right track? Investigating the effect of path characteristics on visuospatial bootstrapping in verbal serial recall. Journal of Cognition 1(1), pp. 1-16., article number: 3. (10.5334/joc.2)
- Morey, C. C. and Miron, M. D. 2016. Spatial sequences, but not verbal sequences, are vulnerable to general interference during retention in working memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition 42(12), pp. 1907-1918. (10.1037/xlm0000280)
- Morey, R. D. et al. 2016. The Peer Reviewers' Openness Initiative: incentivizing open research practices through peer review. Royal Society Open Science 3(1), article number: 150547. (10.1098/rsos.150547)
- Morey, C., Cong, Y., Zheng, Y., Price, M. and Morey, R. D. 2015. The color-sharing bonus: roles of perceptual organization and attentive processes in visual working memory. Archives of Scientific Psychology 3(1), pp. 18-29. (10.1037/arc0000014)
- Gulbinaite, R., Johnson, A., de Jong, R., Morey, C. and van Rijn, H. 2014. Dissociable mechanisms underlying individual differences in visual working memory capacity. NeuroImage 99, pp. 197-206. (10.1016/j.neuroimage.2014.05.060)
- Mall, J. T., Morey, C., Wolff, M. J. and Lehnert, F. 2014. Visual selective attention is equally functional for individuals with low and high working memory capacity: Evidence from accuracy and eye movements. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics 76(7), pp. 1998-2014. (10.3758/s13414-013-0610-2)
- Elliott, E. M., Morey, C., Morey, R. D., Eaves, S. D., Shelton, J. T. and Lutfi-Proctor, D. A. 2014. The role of modality: auditory and visual distractors in Stroop interference. Journal of Cognitive Psychology 26(1), pp. 15-26. (10.1080/20445911.2013.859133)
Research
Research topics and related papers
I am currently interested in comparing and contrasting how memory limits apply to verbal versus non-verbal materials. People consistently remember more information from an arbitrary set when the to-be-remembered information is verbal compared to when it is spatial or visual. Verbal information is also less susceptible to interference than visual information, which is fragile, and disrupted by many tasks and materials, even if the distracting tasks do not involve any visual content. I am working on understanding these differences with a view toward explaining how memory and attention are distributed between different kinds of information content.
An important part of my research involves investigating how memory improves during childhood. As they grow, children's memory improves. In some ways, children's memory appears to function similarly to adults' memory. However, there are also differences, particularly in the strategies children use (or don't use) to try to remember novel information.
My colleagues and I are working to discover regularities in performance of working memory tasks in both adults and children (e.g., what sort of distraction consistently leads to forgetting, how much novel material of various sorts can we remember, what sorts of speech or eye movement patterns accompany memory lapses), with a view toward a comprehensive and viable explanation for how new information is recorded and learned.
Funding
2020-2021: Greeno, D. (Fellow), Morey, C.C. (prinicpal mentor), & Morgan, P. (co-mentor). ESRC Post-doctoral fellowship. Applying principles of verbal short-term memory to cyber security research. £102,888.
2020: Undergraduate Research Bursary (for student Emma Chubb), Experimental Psychology Society. £2000.
2019-2020: Morgan, P.L. (PI), Morey, C.C., Macken, W.J., & Jones, D.M. National Cyber Security Centre. Exploring task switching and interruption costs and solutions for cyber security work environments. £99,967. Co-Investigator, 10% FTE.
2019: Morey, C.C., principal investigator, with Vergauwe, E., & von Bastian, C.C., co-investigators. British Academy Small Grant. Memory performance during multi-tasking. Host institution: Cardiff University. £9,983.
2016-2019: Chevalier, N., & Karbach, J., principal investigators. Open Research Area ESRC Grant. Supporting cognitive and academic development in children at risk: Metacognitive executive function training in children from low socioeconomic backgrounds. Host institution: University of Edinburgh. £503,810. Co-investigator, 2.66% f.t.e.
2007-2010 (voluntarily shortened to take up full-time position at Rijksuniversiteit Groningen): Morey, C.C., Principal investigator. 1 F32 MH079556-01. NIH National Research Service Award, Postdoctoral Fellowship. Domain-general working memory and cognitive control in the prefrontal cortex. Faculty sponsor: Todd S. Braver, Washington University. $141,318.
2006-2007: Morey, C.C., Principal investigator. 1 F31 MH074205-01A2. NIH National Research Service Award, Pre-doctoral Fellowship. Domain-general storage in working memory. Faculty sponsor: Nelson Cowan, University of Missouri. $37,000.
Research group
Dr. David Greeno
Dr. Tanya Joseph
Ralitsa Kostova
Molly Delooze
Teodor Nikolov
Aoife O'Mahony
Clara Overkott
External research collaborators
Dr. Angela AuBuchon, Boys Town National Research Hospital
Dr. Bonnie Auyeung, University of Edinburgh
Dr. Louise Brown Nicholls, University of Strathclyde
Dr. Nicolas Chevalier, University of Edinburgh
Prof. Nelson Cowan, University of Missouri
Prof. Emily Elliott, Louisiana State University
Prof. Julia Karbach, University Koblenz-Landau
Dr. Evie Vergauwe, University of Geneva
Dr. Claudia von Bastian, Sheffield University
Teaching
I am Undergraduate Lead for the School of Psychology. I deliver undergraduate lectures on research methods and memory. I am also responsible for delivering undergraduate tutorials and practicals on cognitive psychology.
Biography
2007: PhD in Psychology, University of Missouri
2003: Master of Arts in Psychology, University of Missouri
2001: Bachelor of Science in Psychology, magna cum laude, with a minor in Music, Florida State University
Honours and awards
2017 Psychonomic Society Early Career Award Winner
Professional memberships
- Fellow, Psychonomic Society
- Executive committee member, European Society for Cognitive Psychology
Academic positions
- 2017- present: Senior Lecturer, Cardiff University School of Psychology
- 2013-2017: Chancellor's Fellow / Lecturer, University of Edinburgh Department of Psychology
- 2008-2013: Rosalind Franklin Fellow / Lecturer, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, Faculty of Behavioural and Social Sciences
- 2007-2008: NRSA Post-doctoral Fellow, Washington University - St. Louis Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences
Committees and reviewing
- Editor-in-chief, Journal of Cognition
- Editorial board, Memory & Cognition
- Scientific committee, European Working Memory Symposium
- Ad-hoc reviewer, Acta Psychologica, American Psychologist, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, Attention, Perception and Psychophysics, Behavioural and Brain Functions, Behavior Research Methods, Child Development, Cognition, Cognitive Psychology, Cortex, Developmental Science, Experimental Psychology, Frontiers in Perception Science, Frontiers in Neuroscience, Journal of Cognitive Psychology, Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, Journal of Media Psychology, Journal of Memory and Language, Memory, Memory and Cognition, Nature Human Behaviour, NeuroImage, Neuropsychologia, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, Psychological Review, Psychological Science, PLoS One, Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, Scientific Reports – Nature, Visual Cognition as well as various funding agencies
Supervisions
Postgraduate research interests
If you are interested in applying for a PhD, or for further information regarding my postgraduate research, please contact me directly (contact details available on the 'Overview' page), or submit a formal application. I supervise projects investigating memory, attention, cognitive control, and their development in children.
Current students
Molly Delooze
Teodor Nikolov
Aoife O'Mahony