Memory expert to present the Phi Beta Kappa Lecture for the Assembly Series

March 19, 2009 -- It's a given that 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 they received while matriculating here is something they can learn from Henry L. "Roddy" Roediger III. The preeminent psychologist and expert on human memory will give a talk for 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, Ph.D., is the James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor, and dean of academic planning in Arts & Sciences at Washington University. He is an experimental cognitive psychologist whose work in human learning and memory has been acknowledged with prestigious 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 previously 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 Washington 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, the Society of Experimental Psychologists, and the Experimental Psychology Division of the American Psychological Association.

He is a graduate of Washington & Lee University, where he received a bachelor's degree; and of Yale University, where he received a doctorate in cognitive psychology.

For more information on this program or other Assembly Series programs — and to see the updated list of programs still to come — visit the Web page at http://assemblyseries.wustl.edu, or call 314-935-4620.