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Kathleen McDermott

Kathleen McDermott

Professor of Psychology
Degrees: 
Ph.D., Rice University
M.A., Rice University
B.A., University of Notre Dame
E-mail: 
kathleen.mcdermott@wustl.edu
Phone: 
(314) 935-8743
Office: 
Psychology Building 343B
Mailbox: 

Campus Box 1125

Research Interests

Professor McDermott investigates human memory encoding and retrieval and how the two interact.  Her research uses both behavioral (traditional psychological) and functional neuroimaging (specifically, fMRI) techniques.  Ongoing projects include explorations of how memory is used to think about upcoming events (i.e., to simulate future episodes); why attempting to remember recently-experienced information enables the learner to gain more from a subsequent encoding episode than they otherwise would learn; and the contribution of regions within parietal cortex to encoding and retrieval.

Selected Publications

  • Arnold, K. M., & McDermott, K. B. (2012, July 9). Test-Potentiated Learning: Distinguishing Between Direct and Indirect Effects of Tests. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1037/a0029199

  • Arnold, K. M., K. B. McDermott, et al. (2011). "Imagining the near and far future: The role of location familiarity." Memory & Cognition 39: 954-967.

  • McDermott, K. B., K. K. Szpunar, et al. (2009). "Laboratory-based and autobiographical retrieval tasks differ substantially in their neural substrates." Neuropsychologia, 47, 2290-2298. 

  • Szpunar, K. K., J. C. K. Chan, et al. (2009). "Contextual processing in episodic future thought." Cerebral Cortex, 19, 1539-1548.

  • Szpunar, K. K., J. M. Watson, et al. (2007). "Neural substrates of envisioning the future." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, 104, 642-647.

Courses

  • Human Learning and Memory
  • First Year Graduate Seminar
Faculty