Cognitive Psychology Lab

Prof. Dr. Magdalena Abel

The Cognitive Psychology Lab examines human learning and memory. We take a broad perspective and explore remembering at the individual level, in smaller social groups, and in large collectives. Our research explores the cognitive basis of remembering. Additionally, we are also interested in how memory operates and is used in applied settings.

Prof. Dr. Magdalena Abel
Professor of Cognitive Psychology

Research Projects

Publications

Abel, M. (in press). Does collaborative remembering serve a directive function? Examining the influence of collaborative remembering on subsequent decision making. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology.
Hou, C., Umanath, S., Corning, A., & Abel, M. (in press). You don’t understand me! But, I do! Awareness of cross-generational differences in collective remembering of national historic events. Memory.
Umanath, S., Hou, C., Corning, A., & Abel, M. (in press). Things have changed but now they’ll stay the same: Generational differences and mental time travel for collective remembering of national historic events. Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition.
Hackländer, H. P. M., Schlüter, H., & Abel, M. (2024). Drinking the waters of Lethe: Bringing voluntary choice into the study of voluntary forgetting. Memory & Cognition, 52, 254–270.
Abel, M. & Bäuml, K.-H. T. (2023). Item-method directed forgetting and perceived truth of news headlines. Memory, 31, 1371-1386.
Abel, M., Nickl, A. T., Reßle, A., Unger, C., & Bäuml, K.-H. T. (2023). The role of sleep for memory consolidation: Does sleep protect memories from retroactive interference? Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 30, 2296–2304.
Abel, M. & Bäuml, K.-H. T. (2023). Joint contributions of collaborative facilitation and social contagion to the development of shared memories in social groups.Cognition, 238, 105453.
Roediger, H. L. III & Abel, M. (2022). The double-edged sword of memory retrieval: Positive and negative consequences of retrieval. Nature Reviews Psychology, 1, 708-720.
Abel, M., Umanath, S., & Barzykowski, K. (2022). Decades later: What World War II events are remembered as the most important ones? Implications of data collected in 12 countries. In H.L. Roediger III and J.V. Wertsch (Eds.) National memories: Constructing identity in populist times (pp. 190-208). Oxford University Press.
Umanath, S. & Abel, M. (2022). United States and Germany’s collective memories of pride and shame for American and German history. In H. L. Roediger III and J. V. Wertsch (Eds.), National memories: Constructing identity in populist times (pp. 236-258). Oxford University Press.
Abel, M., Kuchler, B., Meier, E., & Bäuml, K.-H. T. (2021). List-method directed forgetting: Do critical findings generalize from short to long retention intervals?Memory & Cognition, 49, 1677-1689.
Abel, M. & Berntsen, D. (2021). How do we remember public events? Pioneering a new area of everyday memory research. Cognition, 214, 104745.
Choi, S. Y., Abel, M., Siqi-Liu, A., & Umanath, S. (2021). National identity can be comprised of more than pride: Evidence from collective memories of Americans and Germans. Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition, 10, 117-130.
Abel, M. & Bäuml, K.-H. T. (2020). Would you like to learn more? Retrieval practice plus feedback can increase motivation to keep on studying. Cognition, 201, 104316.
Abel, M. & Bäuml, K.-H. T. (2020). Social interactions can simultaneously enhance and distort memories: Evidence from a collaborative recognition task. Cognition, 200, 104254.
Bäuml, K.-H.T., Abel, M., & Kliegl, O. (2020). Inhibitory processes in episodic memory. In M. Eysenck & D. Groome (Eds.), Forgetting: Explaining Memory Failure (pp.125-146). Sage Publishing.
Abel, M. & Bäuml, K.-H. T. (2020). Retrieval-induced forgetting in a social context: Do the same mechanisms underlie forgetting in speakers and listeners? Memory & Cognition, 48, 1-15.
Roediger, H. L., Abel, M., Umanath, S., Shaffer, R. A., Fairfield, B., Takahashi, M., & Wertsch, J. V. (2019). Competing national memories of World War 2. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 116, 16678-16686.
Abel, M.*, Umanath, S.*, Fairfield, B., Takahashi, M., Roediger, H. L., & Wertsch, J. V. (2019). Collective memories across 11 nations for World War II: Similarities and differences regarding the most important events. Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition, 8, 178-188. [* shared first authorship]
Abel, M. & Bäuml, K.-H. T. (2019). List-method directed forgetting after prolonged retention interval: Further challenges to contemporary accounts. Journal of Memory and Language, 106, 18-28.
Abel, M., Haller, V., Köck, H., Pötschke, S., Heib, D., Schabus, M., & Bäuml, K.-H. T. (2019). Sleep reduces the testing effect – but not after corrective feedback and prolonged retention interval. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 45, 272-287.
Kliegl, O., Abel, M. & Bäuml, K.-H. T. (2018). A (preliminary) recipe for obtaining a testing effect in preschool children: two critical ingredients. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, 1446.
Abel, M. & Roediger, H. L. III (2018). The testing effect in a social setting: Does retrieval practice benefit a listener? Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 24, 347-359.
Abel, M., Umanath, S., Wertsch, J. W., & Roediger, H. L. (2018). Collective memory: How groups remember their past. In M. L. Meade, A. Barnier, P. Van Bergen, C. Harris, & J. Sutton (Eds.), Collaborative Remembering: Theories, Research, and Applications (pp. 280-296). New York: Oxford University Press.
Abel, M. & Bäuml, K.-H. T. (2017). Collaborative remembering revisited: Study context access modulates collaborative inhibition and later benefits for individual memory. Memory & Cognition, 45, 1319-1334.
Bäuml, K.-H. T., Aslan, A., & Abel, M. (2017). The two faces of selective memory retrieval – cognitive, developmental, and social processes. In B. Ross (Ed.), The Psychology of Learning and Motivation (Vol. 66). Academic Press: Elsevier Inc.
Abel, M. & Roediger, H. L. III (2017). Comparing the testing effect under blocked and mixed practice: The mnemonic benefits of retrieval practice are not affected by practice format. Memory & Cognition, 45, 81-92.
Abel, M. & Bäuml, K.-H. T. (2017). Testing the context-change account of list-method directed forgetting: The role of retention interval. Journal of Memory and Language, 92, 170-182.
Abel, M. & Bäuml, K.-H. T. (2016). Retrieval practice can eliminate list-method directed forgetting. Memory & Cognition, 44, 15-23.
Roediger, H. L. III & Abel, M. (2015). Collective memory: a new arena of cognitive study. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 19, 359-361.
Abel, M. & Bäuml, K.-H. T. (2015). Selective memory retrieval in social groups: When silence is golden and when it is not. Cognition, 140, 40-48.
Bäuml, K.-H. T., Holterman, C., & Abel, M. (2014). Sleep can reduce the testing effect – it enhances recall of restudied items but can leave recall of retrieved items unaffected. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 40, 1568-1581.
Abel, M. & Bäuml, K.-H. T. (2014). Sleep can reduce proactive interference. Memory, 22, 332-339.
Abel, M. & Bäuml, K.-H. T. (2014). The roles of delay and retroactive interference in retrieval-induced forgetting. Memory & Cognition, 42, 141-150.
Abel, M. & Bäuml, K.-H. T. (2013). Adaptive Memory: The influence of sleep and wake delay on the survival-processing effect. Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 25, 917-924.
Abel, M. & Bäuml, K.-H. T. (2013). Sleep can eliminate list-method directed forgetting. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 39, 946-952.
Abel, M. & Bäuml, K.-H. T. (2012). Retrieval-induced forgetting, delay, and sleep. Memory, 20, 420-428.