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Rebekah Smith

Chair and Professor of Psychology

Dr. R. Smith is a Cognitive Psychologist who specializes in Human Memory in young and older adults, particularly Prospective Memory and False Memory.

Research Interests

Dr. Smith’s research focuses on prospective memory (remembering to perform an action in the future) in both young and older adults. Dr. Smith examines false memory (remembering that something happened when it did not) as well as memory correction and improvement. Dr. Smith also studies the effects of distinctive processing on memory.

Biography

Dr. Smith is a Cognitive Psychologist and has served as Chair of the Psychology Department at the University of Mississippi since 2016. Prior to joining the faculty at the University of Mississippi she was a tenured professor and chair of the department of Psychology at the University of Texas San Antonio. Dr. Smith received her PhD in Cognitive Psychology from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 1999. She completed postdoctoral training at Georgia Institute of Technology and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Dr. Smith’s work is centered around understanding prospective memory (remembering to perform an action in the future), false memory (remembering that something happened when it did not), and distinctive processing and memory. She has received funding for her research from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) – National Institute on Aging, NIH- National Institute of Mental Health and the Australian National research Council.

Publications

Smith, R. E., & Hunt, R. R. (2020). When do pictures reduce false memory?. Memory & Cognition, 48, 623-644.

Smith, R. E., Hunt, R. R., & Murray, A. E. (2017). Prospective memory in context: Moving through a familiar space. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 43(2), 189.

Smith, R. E., Hunt, R. R., & Dunlap, K. R. (2015). Why do pictures, but not visual words, reduce older adults’ false memories?. Psychology and aging, 30(3), 647.

Smith, R. E., & Bayen, U. J. (2004). A multinomial model of event-based prospective memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 30(4), 756.

Smith, R. E. (2003). The cost of remembering to remember in event-based prospective memory: investigating the capacity demands of delayed intention performance. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 29(3), 347.

Courses Taught

Education

M.A. Psychology, University of North Carolina at Greensbo (1993)

B.S. Mathematics, Tulane University of Louisiana (1998)

Ph.D. Psychology, University of North Carolina at Greensbo (1999)