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Candice Morey

Dr Candice Morey

(she/her)

Users
Available for postgraduate supervision

Teams and roles for Candice Morey

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

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

Articles

Conferences

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.

 

External research collaborators

Dr. Angela AuBuchon, Boys Town National Research Hospital

Dr. Bonnie Auyeung, University of Edinburgh

Prof. 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

Prof. Evie Vergauwe, University of Geneva

Prof. Claudia von Bastian, Sheffield University

Teaching

I am deputy exam board chair for the School of Psychology. I deliver undergraduate lectures on memory theory and systems, and deliver practical training on research methods. I am also responsible for delivering undergraduate tutorials and seminars on cognitive psychology, perception, and mental health at Year 2.

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

Academic positions

  • 2021 - present: Reader, Cardiff University School of Psychology
  • 2017- 2021: 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

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 or submit a formal application. I supervise projects investigating memory, attention, cognitive control, and their development in children.

Current supervision

Contact Details

Email MoreyC@cardiff.ac.uk
Telephone +44 29208 75375
Campuses Tower Building, Room 7.10, 70 Park Place, Cardiff, CF10 3AT

Research themes

Specialisms

  • Developmental cognitive neuroscience
  • Cognitive neuroscience
  • cognitive psychology