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Don Skinner

Instructional Assistant Professor of Psychology

I have the privilege to teach several undergraduate courses that explore complex topics such as cognition, personality, and lifespan development.

Research Interests

Memory – Younger and Older Adults; Distinctive Processing; Effects of Value, Importance, and Meaningfulness on Memory

Biography

I am a Cognitive Psychologist who is primarily interested in studying how memory changes with age. I earned my B.A. from North Carolina State University in 2015, an M.A. from the University of Alabama in Huntsville in 2017, and a Ph.D. at The University of Mississippi in 2022. I have taught several courses at the University of Mississippi over the years, including Introduction to Psychology, Developmental Psychology, Cognitive Psychology, and Psychology & Aging, and Personality. Areas of professional interest to me are in the fields of memory (both retrospective and prospective), cognitive aging, and metamemory. On a more personal note, I enjoy traveling, numismatics, reading, and trying new things.

Publications

Skinner, D. J., & Price, J. (2019). The roles of meaningfulness and prior knowledge in younger and older adults’ memory performance. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 1-10. doi:10.1002/acp.3552

Meaningfulness and prior knowledge can have differing effects on both metamemory and memory performance. Personally relevant information may be deemed more meaningful, which often can serve as a mediating factor in memory performance. Additionally, information that is congruent with prior knowledge has been shown to be judged as easier to remember and often is better remembered. Both of these effects are most pronounced in older adults. The current study aimed to examine the impact of meaningfulness and prior knowledge on age‐related differences in metamemory (i.e., judgments of learning) and memory performance (i.e., recall and recognition) by manipulating subjective a priori familiarity and personal relevance using age‐relevant study materials (i.e., a student loan application and a Medicare application). Recall metamemory and recall performance results indicate that older adults, but not younger adults, were able to utilize meaningfulness and prior knowledge to boost memory performance. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved)

Smith, R. E., & Skinner, D. J. (2019). Prospective Memory in Context: Methods, Findings, and Future Directions.

In J. Rummel and M. McDaniel (Eds.), Current Issues in Memory: Prospective Memory (pp. 1-18). London: Taylor Francis.

Courses Taught

Education

M.S. Psychology, University of Alabama in Huntsville (2017)

Ph.D. Psychology, The University of Mississippi (2022)