Marcia Johnson
The topics and questions about cognition and memory of interest include: (a) A component processes analysis of memory and cognition (e.g., What are the basic “processing units” of cognition and memory? How are these component processes organized into subsystems and combined within and across subsystems? How are they instantiated in brain activity? (b) Reality/source monitoring (e.g., How are individual features of experience bound together to create complex memories? How are the phenomenal representations of perception and thought (memories, imaginations, dreams, fantasies) alike and how are they different? How are they discriminated, and why are they sometimes confused? More generally, what is the relation between our attributions about the sources of memories, knowledge, and beliefs, and their actual origins? (c) The relation between emotion and cognition (e.g., How does emotion influence attention and memory and vice/versa? What is the role of emotion in memory distortions? (d) The “self” in cognition (Who is doing the perceiving and reflecting? How is the self represented, extended and reflected upon? How do we go about differentiating the self as the experiencer, the originator [agent], and a target [feature] of memories? (e) Changes in cognition associated with aging.