Current Research Projects
Children’s Memory for Pain and Painful Experiences (BSC#: 03-1035)
Improving Children’s Coping via Forgetting of Biased Pain-Related Memory
During various medical procedures (e.g., needles) children may remember only the most threatening parts of the experience, even if the pain is mild and brief. This memory may produce fear and avoidance of later necessary medical care. There are many aspects of a painful event, such as the setting in which the event took place and the thoughts and feelings associated with it. We are interested in which part of the experiences children remember most accurately. The purpose of this project is to learn how individual differences (e.g., age and gender) and situational factors affect children’s memory for both pain and non-pain related memories, as well as their memory for a cold water activity. In future studies we plan to develop a memory-based intervention to help children cope with pain. This intervention would help parents and practitioners coach children to focus less on the unpleasant parts of their experiences, thereby enhancing their ability to cope with future pain. In other words, understanding children’s memory for painful experiences would improve the treatment and management of pain, and may help children cope with later painful events. As a thank you for permitting your child to participate, he/she will receive either a prize or $5 in cash for each day of the study, for total of $10. In addition, parents and guardians are entered into two $100.00 draws which will be completed at the end of the study.
If your child has an interest in memory or science, please encourage him/her to read the information For Kids and Teens.
Download the Children’s Memory for Pain Poster for this research study.
Memory Accuracy & Memory Distortion across the Lifespan (BSC#: 02-381)
Memory for Word Lists
The purpose of the current study is to examine the relationship between the opportunity to study words and subsequent memory. You will hear a list of words and will then be given several memory tests via a personal computer. In order to describe the sample of participants that took part in the study, you will also be asked to complete a brief demographics questionnaire. Completing this study should take no longer than 45 minutes.
Memory for Related and Unrelated Words
The purpose of this study is to examine participants’ memory for related and unrelated words. Participants will study lists of words presented on a computer screen. Following the study of each list, participants will be asked to write down as many words as they can remember as being presented on the previous study list. Participants will also be asked to complete a brief demographic questionnaire to help describe those who participated in the study. This study takes approximately 30 minutes to complete.