Washington University’s Phi Beta Kappa initiates have a superior ability to learn and assimilate information. But learning how to retain and retrieve all that knowledge is something they can learn from Henry L. “Roddy” Roediger III, Ph.D.
The pre-eminent psychologist and expert on human memory will present the Assembly Series’ Phi Beta Kappa Lecture at 4 p.m. Monday, March 30, in Graham Chapel. The talk, “Enhancing Retention Via Repeated Retrieval: Why Studying Matters Less Than You Might Think,” is free and open to the public.
Roediger, the James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor and dean of academic planning in Arts & Sciences, is an experimental cognitive psychologist whose work in human learning and memory has won many awards.
Among his most recent honors are the Howard Crosby Warren Medal from the Society of Experimental Psychologists and the Arthur Holly Compton Faculty Achievement Award from Washington University.
Roediger has conducted groundbreaking research in the area of memory illusions and false memories as well as the study of implicit memory (how previous experience affects behavior without conscious recollection of the past). His most recent research focuses on applying principles from laboratory studies in cognitive psychology to improve learning and retention in educational situations. This last topic will form the basis of his lecture.
Roediger joined the University in 1996 as professor and chair of the Department of Psychology in Arts & Sciences.
Two years later, he was the first faculty member to receive a McDonnell distinguished professorship. In 2004, Roediger was named dean of academic planning.
Roediger has held leadership positions for a number of organizations, including presidencies of the American Psychological Society, the Psychonomic Society, and the Experimental Psychology division of the American Psychological Association.
He earned a bachelor’s degree from Washington and Lee University and a doctorate in cognitive psychology from Yale University.
For more information on this or other Assembly Series programs, visit assemblyseries.wustl.edu or call 935-4620.