Projects in Cognitive Psychology Supervised by Andrew Cook

cooka4@sage.edu

Professor Andrew Cook will supervise one-semester research projects in the Spring 2026 semester. Depending on students’ interest and preparation, projects will involve either (1) conducting a literature review and writing a research proposal or (2) collecting data and writing an empirical paper. 

Professor Cook is willing to supervise projects for a variety of topics under the umbrella of human memory (e.g., encoding, retention, forgetting), but his expertise is outlined in the topics bolded below. Alternatively, Professor Cook can supervise projects related to digital communication (e.g., texting) and the evolution of language.

Intrinsic Memorability

Why do we remember some things better than others? Intrinsic memorability is the probability that a stimulus will be remembered based on its internal attributes. This probability is consistent across individuals and cultures, and observable at rapid presentation speeds (e.g., 13ms), suggesting that intrinsic memorability attributes may be a prioritizing signal of information that is important to remember. My research focuses on how the memorability of an item impacts learning of information associated with that item. For instance, I have found that the more memorable a face is, the more memorable the person’s name is, regardless of what their name is. Possible empirical projects that focus on generalizing effects on new stimuli and memory paradigms include:

• Can memorable scenes or objects enhance memory for source information (e.g., spatial location)?
• Can faces enhance temporal knowledge (e.g., was the item originally from list 1 or 2), facts, or language learning?
• How accurate are metamemory (guesses about what one will remember or forget) judgements for information associated with a memorable or forgettable cue?

Adaptive Memory

Humans have shown an advanced ability to process and remember survival-related stimuli over non-survival information. For example, remembering where food or the boundaries of a predator’s territory may increase the probability of survival by fulfilling nutritional needs or avoiding threat. My research investigates how stories that include survival themes may activate our adaptive memory, thereby enhancing retention for story details. 

Digital Communication 

Language is evolving with technology. Digital forms of written communication, such as texting, take on an informal conversational style, but lack typical cues available in spoken conversation (e.g., intonation, stress, rhythm, eye contact, facial expressions, gestures). My research has investigated how textisms (digital signals like emojis, intentional misspellings, abbreviations) can serve as a mediator for conversational cues and disambiguate the meaning of a message.