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Interests

• cognitive control
• attention
• memory
• aging 

Faculty bio

Human cognition is characterized by a remarkable ability to quickly adapt to different tasks. This ability is primarily supported by cognitive control - a mechanism that allows us to focus on task-relevant information, while simultaneously ignoring task-irrelevant information.

The goal of my research is to understand the link between cognitive control and other cognitive functions. Specifically, my research focuses on how changes in cognitive control (e.g., across the lifespan) underlie changes in attention and memory.

To this end, my research uses behavioural and eye tracking techniques in both young and healthy older adults to examine several questions. These questions include how cognitive control: (a) influences memory encoding, (b) shapes the content of memory representations, and (c) regulates mnemonic interference. By studying how these processes change with age, we can start to understand how cognitive control shapes our knowledge.

Representative publications

Amer, T., Wynn, J.S. and Hasher, L. (2022). Cluttered memory representations shape cognition in old age. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 26, 255-267.

Amer, T., Ngo, K.W.J., Weeks, J.C. and Hasher, L. (2020). Spontaneous distractor reactivation with age: Evidence for bound target-distractor representations in memory. Psychological Science, 31, 1315-1324.

Amer, T., Giovanello, K.S., Nichol, D.R., Hasher, L. and Grady, C.L. (2019). Neural correlates of enhanced memory for meaningful associations with age. Cerebral Cortex, 29, 4568-4579.

Amer, T., Campbell, K.L. and Hasher, L. (2016). Cognitive control as a double-edged sword. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 20, 905-915.