Sean M. Lane

Assistant Professor

Cognitive Area

Co-Director, Office of Applied Cognition

214 Audubon Hall,
Department of Psychology,
Louisiana State University,
Baton Rouge, LA 70803
Phone:(225)-578-4098
fax:(225)-578-4125


slane@lsu.edu

Research Interests:

The general goal of my research program is to understand how memory and cognitive processes are deployed in complex real-world events. The source-monitoring framework motivates the vast majority of my research. Source memory concerns the origin of information and can be dissociated from memory for the information itself. For instance, someone can remember the "fact" that shark cartilage can be used to cure cancer, yet not remember whether they read that information in the National Enquirer or in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

One arena where the accuracy of source memory is particularly important is the justice system. Often witnesses to a crime are exposed to multiple sources of information (e.g., law enforcement personnel, other witnesses, the media) following a crime. One concern is whether witnesses are able to separate information they actually perceived at the time of the witnessed event from information acquired afterwards. My work concerns the factors that make it more or less likely that people will incorporate post-event information into their accounts of a witnessed event (eyewitness suggestibility).

My research is motivated by the belief that considering the complexity of real-world cognition can inform our understanding of basic mechanisms while providing needed applications. In addition to the areas noted above, I’ve also done research on 1) human factors and human-computer interaction, 2) autobiographical memory, and 3) retrieval and use of analogies. My research has been conducted in both academic and industrial settings.

For more information, go to the OAC web site

Selected Publications:

• Lane, S. M., Roussel, C.C., Villa, D., & Morita, S. (in press). Features and feedback: Enhancing metamnemonic knowledge at retrieval reduces source monitoring errors. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory & Cognition.

• Lane, S. M., Mathews, R. C., Sallas, B., Prattini, B. & Sun, R. (in press). Facilitating interactions of model and experience-based processes: Implications for type and flexibility of representation. Memory & Cognition.

• Lane, S. M., & Zaragoza, M. (in press). A little elaboration goes a long way: The role of generation in eyewitness suggestibility. Memory & Cognition.

• Sallas, B., Mathews, R. C., Lane, S. M., & Sun, R. (in press). Developing rich and quickly accessed knowledge of an artificial grammar. Memory & Cognition.

• Sallas, B., Lane, S. M., Mathews, R. C., Watkins, T. E., & Wiley-Patton, S. (2007). Putting generalizable knowledge in the hands of healthcare IT managers: An iterative assessment approach. Information Systems Management (special issue on healthcare and IT), 24, 43-57.

• Starns, J. J., Lane, S. M., Alonzo, J. D., & Roussel, C. C. (2007). Metamnemonic control over the discriminability of memory evidence: A signal-detection analysis of warning effects in the associative list paradigm. Journal of Memory & Language, 56, 592-607.

• Sallas, B., Mathews, R. C., Lane, S. M., & Sun, R. (2006). Synergy between memory and model-based processing: Integration facilitated by animation. Proceedings of the 28th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society, 709-714.

• Lane, S. M. (2006). Dividing attention during a witnessed event increases suggestibility. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 20, 199-212.

• Lane, S. M. & Schooler, J. S. (2004). Skimming the surface: The verbal overshadowing of analogical retrieval. Psychological Science, 15, 715-719.

• Lane, S. M. (2002). Remembrance of things past: Factors affecting the reliability of eyewitness memory. Michigan Defense Quarterly, 18 (3), 15-20.

• Lane, S. M., Mather, M., Villa, D., & Morita, S. (2001). How events are reviewed matters: Effects of varied focus on eyewitness suggestibility. Memory & Cognition, 29, 940-947.

• Zaragoza, M. S., & Lane, S. M. (1998). Processing resources and eyewitness suggestibility. Legal and Criminological Psychology, 3, 305-320.

• Lane, S. M., & Zaragoza, M. S. (1995). The recollective experience of cross-modality source confusions. Memory & Cognition, 23, 607-610.

   

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