ALAN CASTEL, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor,
Department of Psychology
University of California, Los Angeles
castel@ucla.edu
RESEARCH INTERESTS
How
do we remember and why do we forget, and how does this change across the adult
lifespan? In general, my research interests focus on human memory, attention
and cognitive aging. This includes the strategic control over memory and attentional processes, how value influences memory,
expertise, visual attention, memory for numerical information,
neuropsychological and behavioral models of associative memory and aging,
metacognition and decision making, and how various memory disorders influence
performance. In addition, I am interested in applied aspects of cognitive aging
and areas of learning, memory, and cognition.
If you
are interested in gaining research experience in the Memory and Adult Cognition
Lab, please
contact me.
"Memory,
the art of attention” -Samuel Johnson
RESEARCH
PUBLICATIONS (click on title or email me to request
a pdf):
Castel,
A. D., Humphreys, K. L., Lee, S. S., Galván, A., Balota, D. A., & McCabe, D. P. (in press). The development of memory efficiency and
value-directed remembering across the lifespan: A cross-sectional study of
memory and selectivity. Developmental Psychology.
Friedman,
M. C., & Castel, A. D. (in press). Are we aware of our ability to forget? Metacognitive predictions of directed
forgetting. Memory
& Cognition.
Sungkhasettee,
V. W., Friedman, M. C., & Castel, A. D. (in press). Memory and metamemory for
inverted words: Illusions of competency and desirable difficulties. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review.
McCabe, D. P., Castel, A. D., & Rhodes, M. G. (in
press).
The influence of fMRI lie detection evidence on juror
decision making. Behavioral Sciences & the Law.
Kornell,
N., Rhodes, M. G., Castel, A. D., Tauber, S. K. (in press). The ease of processing heuristic and the stability
bias: Dissociating memory, memory beliefs, and memory judgments.
Psychological Science.
Halamish, V., McGillivray, S., & Castel, A. D. (in
press). Monitoring one’s own forgetting in younger and older
adults. Psychology
and Aging.
McGillivray,
S., & Castel, A. D. (2011). Betting on memory leads to metacognitive
improvement in younger and older adults. Psychology
and Aging,
26, 137-142.
Castel,
A. D., Lee, S. S., Humphreys, K. L., & Moore, A. N. (2011). Memory capacity, selective control,
and value-directed remembering in children with and without
attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Neuropsychology, 25, 15-24.
McGillivray,
S., & Castel, A. D. (2010). Memory for age-face associations: The role of
generation and schematic support.
Psychology and Aging, 25,
822-832.
Metcalfe,
J., Eich, T. S., & Castel, A. D. (2010). Metacognition of agency across the
lifespan. Cognition, 116, 267-282.
Kornell,
N., Castel, A. D., Eich, T. S., & Bjork, R. A. (2010). Spacing as the friend of both memory
and induction in younger and older adults. Psychology
and Aging, 25, 498-503.
Peters,
E., & Castel, A. D. (2009). Numerical representation, math
skills, memory, and decision making. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 32, 347-348. (commentary)
Castel, A. D., Balota, D. A., &
McCabe, D. P. (2009). Memory efficiency and the strategic control of
attention at encoding: Impairments of value-directed remembering in Alzheimer’s
disease. Neuropsychology, 23, 297-306.
Rhodes, M. G., & Castel, A. D. (2009). Metacognitive illusions for auditory information:
Effects on monitoring and control. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 16, 550-554.
Castel,
A. D. (2008). The adaptive and strategic use of memory by older
adults: Evaluative processing and value-directed remembering.
In A. S. Benjamin & B. H. Ross (Eds.), The psychology of learning and motivation (Vol. 48, pp. 225-270).
Rhodes, M. G., & Castel, A. D.
(2008). Memory predictions are influenced by perceptual
information: Evidence for metacognitive illusions. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General,
137,
615–625.
Rhodes, M. G., & Castel, A. D.
(2008). Metacognition and part-set cuing: Can interference be
predicted at retrieval? Memory
& Cognition, 36, 1429-1438.
Castel, A. D.
(2008). Metacognition and learning about primacy and recency effects in free recall: The utilization of
intrinsic and extrinsic cues when making judgments of learning. Memory
& Cognition, 36, 429-437.
McCabe, D. P., & Castel, A. D. (2008). Seeing is believing: The
effect of brain images on judgments of scientific reasoning. Cognition, 107, 343-352. [see also related
article in Science News Focus (2008), Growing
pains for fMRI]
Rhodes, M. G., Castel, A. D., &
Jacoby, L. L. (2008). Associative recognition of face pairs by younger and
older adults: The role of familiarity-based processing. Psychology and Aging, 23, 239-249.
Christ,
S. E., Castel, A. D., & Abrams, R. A. (2008). The capture of attention by new
motion in young and older adults. Journal of Gerontology: Psychological
Sciences, 63, 110-116.
Castel, A. D.
(2007). Aging and memory for numerical information: The role
of specificity and expertise in associative memory. Journal of Gerontology: Psychological
Sciences, 62, 194-196.
Castel, A. D., McCabe, D. P., & Roediger, H. L.,
III., & Heitman, J. L. (2007).
The dark side of expertise: Domain specific memory errors.
Psychological Science, 18, 3-5.
Castel, A. D., McCabe, D. P., & Roediger, H. L., III.
(2007). Illusions of competency and overestimation of
associative memory for identical items: Evidence from judgments of learning.
Psychonomic Bulletin & Review,14,107-111.
Castel,
A. D., Balota, D. A., Hutchison, K. A., Logan, J. M., & Yap, M. J. (2007). Spatial attention and response control in healthy
younger and older adults and individuals with Alzheimer’s disease: Evidence for
disproportionate selection impairments in the Simon task. Neuropsychology, 21,170-182.
Castel, A. D., Farb, N., &
Craik, F. I. M. (2007). Memory for general and specific value information in
younger and older adults: Measuring the limits of strategic control.
Memory & Cognition, 35, 689-700.
Dodd, M. D., Castel, A. D., & Roberts, K. E. (2006). A strategy disruption component to
retrieval-induced forgetting. Memory
& Cognition, 34, 102-111.
Klein, R. M., Castel, A. D., &
Pratt, J. (2006). The effects of memory load on the time course of
inhibition of return. Psychonomic
Bulletin & Review, 13, 294-299.
Wilson, D. E., Castel, A. D., & Pratt, J.
(2006). Long-term inhibition of return for spatial locations:
Evidence for a memory retrieval account? Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 59, 2136-2148.
Castel,
A. D. (2005). Memory for grocery prices in younger and older adults:
The role of schematic support. Psychology and Aging, 20, 718–721.
Castel,
A. D., Pratt, J., & Drummond, E. (2005). The effects of action video game experience on the
time course of inhibition of return and the efficiency of visual search.
Acta Psychologica,
119, 217-230.
Castel, A. D., Pratt, J., Chasteen, A. L., Scialfa, C. T. (2005). Examining task difficulty and the time course of
inhibition of return: Detecting perceptually degraded targets. Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology,
59, 90-98.
Rendell, P. G., Castel, A. D., & Craik, F. I. M.
(2005).
Memory for proper names in old age: A disproportionate
impairment? Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 58A, 54-71.
Castel, A. D., & Craik, F. I. M. (2003). The effects of aging and divided attention on memory
for item and associative information. Psychology and
Aging, 18, 873-885.
Castel, A. D., Chasteen, A. L., Scialfa,
C. T., & Pratt, J. (2003). Adult age-differences in the time course of inhibition
of return. Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences, 58, 256-259.
Fischer, M. H., Castel, A. D., Dodd, M. D., & Pratt,
J. (2003).
Perceiving numbers cause spatial shifts of attention.
Nature Neuroscience, 6, 555-556.
Dodd, M. D., Castel, A. D., & Pratt, J. (2003). Inhibition of return occurs with multiple rapid shifts
of attention: Evidence supporting the limited role of memory in visual search. Perception
& Psychophysics, 65, 1126-1153.
Castel, A. D., Pratt, J., & Craik, F. I. M. (2003). The role of spatial working memory in inhibition of
return: Evidence from divided attention tasks. Perception &
Psychophysics, 65, 970-981.
Castel, A. D., Benjamin, A. S., Craik, F. I. M., &
Watkins, M. J. (2002). The effects of aging on selectivity and control in
short-term recall. Memory
& Cognition, 30, 1078-1085.
Pratt, J., & Castel, A. D. (2001). Responding to feature or location: A re-examination of
inhibition of return and facilitation of return. Vision Research, 41,
3903-3908.
OTHER RELEVANT
ARTICLES:
Memory and successful aging: A conversation with Coach
John Wooden. (2009). APS Observer, 22, 13-15. [link to APS web article]
UCLA Newsroom Summary:
What John Wooden teaches us about aging [link]
In Memory
of David P. McCabe: Friend, Collaborator and Colleague. (2011). APS Observer, 24, 27-28.
CURRICULUM VITAE:
Click here for a copy of my Curriculum Vitae.
Please email me
if you would like more information.
CONTACT INFORMATION:
Alan
Castel
Department
of Psychology
1285
Franz Hall Box
951563
Phone:
(310) 206-9262
Fax:
(310) 206-5895
E-mail:
castel @ ucla.edu
“The advantage of a bad memory is that one
enjoys several times the same good things for the first time”
-Friedrich Nietzsche
“Selection is
the very keel on which our mental ship is built. And in the case of
memory its utility is obvious. If we remembered everything, we
should on most occasions be as ill off as if we remembered nothing” -William James
"...it
is a triumph of life that old people lose their memories of inessential things,
though memory does not often fail with regards to things that are of real
interest to us.