Professor McDermott investigates human memory. More specifically, her research uses behavioral (traditional psychological) and functional neuroimaging (specifically, fMRI) techniques. One new line of research explores individual differences in learning. Specifically, people who learn quickly tend to also retain the newly-learned information well over the long-term. One`s capacity for efficient learning is highly reliable, and we aim to better understand the cognitive factors contributing to this ability.  Another interest lies in exploring the link between remembering and imagination. How do we draw upon memory to envision potential future scenarios? How does imagination lead us to remember events that we did not overtly experience? Another interest is in how memory retrieval alters the accessibility of later memory. Specifically, taking a memory test does not simply assess memory but also enhances the likelihood of later remembering the tested material (and related information). Our lab is exploring these phenomena behaviorally and using fMRI. 

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