Lab Director
John T. Wixted
Distinguished Professor of Psychology
University of California, San Diego
Overview
Our work spans the full arc of memory research: developing formal models of recognition and confidence, linking memory processes to activity in individual neurons in the human hippocampus, and applying memory science to improve the evaluation of eyewitness evidence in the legal system. A central goal is to integrate signal detection–based models of memory with empirical data from laboratory, neural, and field settings.
Core Research Themes
Formal Models of Recognition Memory
We develop signal detection–based models of memory strength, decision criteria, and confidence judgments, with applications ranging from controlled laboratory tasks to real-world settings.
Episodic Memory in the Human Hippocampus
We test predictions from neurocomputational models of episodic memory using single-unit recordings from epilepsy patients undergoing clinical monitoring — one of the few windows into human hippocampal activity at the level of individual neurons.
Memory Science and the Law
We study how memory operates in legal contexts: how lineups should be constructed, when eyewitness confidence is informative, when it can be misleading, and how exposure to post-event information can alter what people remember. We translate this research into practical guidance for judges, prosecutors, defense attorneys, and law enforcement.
Recent Work
1. Selected Talks, Media, and Public Scholarship
Invited Talk (2024).
Atkinson and Shiffrin’s (1968) influential model overshadowed their contemporary theory of human memory.
Annual meeting of the Society of Experimental Psychologists (Seattle).
TEDx talk (2025).
The new science of eyewitness memory.
Featured on TED.com and on TED's YouTube Channel.
Nature News (Mackenzie, 2026).
Memory on trial: the new science of when to trust eyewitness testimony.
Feature article covering my recent work on eyewitness memory.
2. Selected Publications
Learning and Memory: A Comprehensive Reference (3rd Ed., 2025).
Editor in Chief: John T. Wixted.
I. Computational & Theoretical Neuroscience; II. Neurobiology of Learning & Memory;
III. Systems Neuroscience; IV. Memory & Cognition
Tallman, C. W., Steinmetz, P. N., & Wixted, J. T. (2025).
Neuronal allocation and sparse coding of episodic memories in the human hippocampus.
Scientific Reports.
Mickes, L., Wilson, B. M., & Wixted, J. T. (2025).
The cognitive science of eyewitness memory.
Trends in Cognitive Sciences.
Yilmaz, A. S., Shen, K. J., & Wixted, J. T. (2025).
The science of human memory vs. the Federal Rules of Evidence.
Psychology, Public Policy, and Law.
Mickes, L., & Wixted, J. T. (2025).
When eyewitness memory reliably exonerates the wrongfully convicted.
Memory.
Affiliation
Department of Psychology
University of California, San Diego
