Description: Description: Description: Description: Description: Description: http://www.psych.wustl.edu/coglab/images/alan_web_2.jpgALAN 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). London: Academic Press.

 

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

University of California, Los Angeles

1285 Franz Hall  Box 951563

Los Angeles, CA  90095-1563

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. Cicero illustrated this with the stroke of a pen: No old man forgets where he has hidden his treasure.”      -Gabriel Garcia Marquez