Jason C.K. Chan, Ph.D.
Jason Chan is Professor of Psychology at Iowa State University. He obtained his Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology from Washington University in St. Louis in 2007. His research interest is in the area of human memory, particularly as it applies to situations involving education and the law. He is fellow of the American Psychological Association, Assocation for Psychological Science, Midwestern Psychological Association, and the Psychonomic Society.
Dr. Chan is a core member of both the Cognitive Psychology Graduate Program and the Psychology and Law Research Group. To learn more about these research areas, click the links above.
Jason C.K. Chan, Ph.D.
Email Vitae ResearchGate
Jason Chan is Professor of Psychology at Iowa State University. He obtained his Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology from Washington University in St. Louis in 2007. His research interest is in the area of human memory, particularly as it applies to situations involving education and the law. He has served as an expert witness for several court cases involving potentially faulty eyewitness accounts. He is fellow of the American Psychological Association, Association for Psychological Science, Midwestern Psychological Association, and the Psychonomic Society.
Dr. Chan is a core member of the Cognitive Psychology Graduate Program and the Psychology and Law Research Group. To learn more about these research areas, click the links above.
Jason C.K. Chan, Ph.D.
Jason Chan is Professor of Psychology at Iowa State University. He obtained his Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology from Washington University in St. Louis in 2007. His research interest is in the area of human memory, particularly as it applies to situations involving education and the law. He has served as an expert witness for several court cases involving potentially faulty eyewitness accounts. He is fellow of the American Psychological Association, Association for Psychological Science, Midwestern Psychological Association, and the Psychonomic Society.
Dr. Chan is a core member of the Cognitive Psychology Graduate Program and the Psychology and Law Research Group. To learn more about these research areas, click the links above.
Research
We do research in human cognition and memory, and in particular its interaction with education and law.
One project aims to examine the efficacy of various memory interventions to promote student learning, especially in online environments.
One project aims to investigate the influence of academic dishonesty on assessment accuracy.
Another line of research focuses on how misleading information affects eyewitness memory accuracy. Previous research suggests that eyewitness memory accuracy declines with exposure to misleading information. Our research focuses on how recall affects an eyewitness’ susceptibility to subsequent misinformation.
Our research has been covered by major press outlets including The Conversation, Chicago Tribune, National Geographic, Scientific American, etc.
Publications
To download papers, click here
● Chan, J. C. K., & Davis, S. D., Yurtsever, A., Myers, S. J. (2024). The magnitude of the testing effect is independent of retrieval practice performance. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 10.1037/xge0001593.
● St. Hilaire, K. J., Chan, J. C. K., & Ahn, D. (2024). Guessing as a learning intervention: A meta-analytic review of the prequestion effect. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 31, 411-441. 10.3758/s13423-023-02353-8.
● Ahn, D., & Chan, J. C. K. (2024). Does testing potentiate new learning because it enables learners to use better strategies? Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 50, 435-457. 10.1037/xlm0001233.
● Chan, J. C. K., & Ahn, D. (2023). Reply to Newton: Missing the forest (correlation) for the trees (mean difference). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 120 (31), e2314007120 . 10.1073/pnas.2314007120
● Chan, J. C. K., & Ahn, D. (2023). Unproctored online exams provide meaningful assessment of student learning. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 120, e2302020120. 10.1073/pnas.2302020120.
● Davis, S. D., & Chan, J. C. K. (2023). Effortful tests and repeated metacognitive reflection enhance future learning. Educational Psychology Review, 35, 86 (2023). 10.1007/s10648-023-09803-8.
● O’Donnell, R., Chan, J. C. K., Foster, J. L., & Garry, M. (2023). Experimental and Meta-Analytic Evidence that Source Variability of Misinformation Does Not Increase Eyewitness Suggestibility Independently of Repetition of Misinformation. Frontiers in Psychology, 14, 1201674. 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1201674.
● Manley, K. D., Chan, J. C. K., & Wells, G. L. (2022) Improving face identification accuracy of mask-wearing individuals. Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications, 7: 27, 1-17.
● Ahn, D., & Chan, J. C. K. (2022). Does testing enhance new learning because it insulates against proactive interference? Memory & Cognition, 50, 1664-1682. 10.3758/s13421-022-01273-7.
● Chan, J. C. K.., O’Donnell, R., Manley, K. D. (2022). Warning weakens retrieval-enhanced suggestibility only when it is given shortly after misinformation: The critical importance of timing. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 28, 694-716. 10.1037/xap0000394
● Myers, S. J., Chan, J. C. K., Davis, S.D. (2021). Does expressive writing or an instructional intervention reduce the negative impacts of test anxiety in a college classroom? Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications, 6, Article 44. 10.1186/s41235-021-00309-x
● Chan, J. C. K., Manley, K. D., & Ahn, D. (2020). Does retrieval potentiate new learning when retrieval stops but new learning continues? Journal of Memory and Language, 115, in press.
● Manley, K. D., & Chan, J. C. K. (2019). Does retrieval enhance suggestibility because it increases perceived credibility of the postevent information? Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition, 8, 355-366.
● Manley, K. D., Chan, J. C. K., Wells, G. L. (2019) Do masked-face lineups facilitate eyewitness identification of a masked individual? Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 25, 396-409.
● LaPaglia, J. A., & Chan, J. C. K. (2019). Telling a good story: The effects of memory retrieval and context processing on eyewitness suggestibility. PLoS ONE, 14, e0212592
● Otgaar, H., Chan, J. C. K., Calado, B., & La Rooy, D. J. (2019). Immediate interviewing increases children's suggestibility in the short-term, but not in the long-term. Legal and Criminological Psychology, 24, 24-40.
● Chan, J. C. K., Meissner, C. A., & *Davis, S. D. (2018) Retrieval potentiates new learning: a theoretical and meta-analytic review. Psychological Bulletin, 144, 1111-1146.
● Chan, J. C. K., Manley, K. D., Davis, S. D., & Szpunar, K. K. (2018). Testing potentiates new learning across a retention interval and a lag: A strategy change perspective. Journal of Memory and Language, 102, 83-96.
● Szpunar, K. K., & Chan, J. C. K. (2017). Beyond communication: Episodic memory is key to the self in time. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 41, 43.
● Chan, J. C. K., Manley, K. D., & Lang, K. (2017). Retrieval-enhanced suggestibility: A retrospective and a new investigation. Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition, 3, 213-229.
● Davis, S. D., Chan, J. C. K., & Wilford, M. M. (2017). The dark side of interpolated testing: Frequent switching between retrieval and encoding impairs new learning. Journal of Applied Research on Memory and Cognition, 6, 434-441.
● Davis, S. D., & Chan, J. C. K. (2015). Studying on borrowed time: How does testing impair new learning? Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 41, 1841-1754.
● Chan, J. C. K., Erdman, M. R., & Davis, S. D. (2015). Retrieval induces forgetting, but only when nontested items compete for retrieval: implication for interference, inhibition, and context reinstatement. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 41, 1298-1315.
● LaPaglia, J. A., Wilford, M. M., Rivard, J. R., Chan, J. C. K., & Fisher, R. P. (2014). Misleading suggestions can alter later memory reports even following a Cognitive Interview. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 28, 1-9.
● Wilford, M. M., Chan, J. C. K., & Tuhn, S.J. (2014). Retrieval enhances eyewitness suggestibility to misinformation in free and cued recall. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 20, 81-93.
● Chan, J. C. K., & LaPaglia, J. A. (2013). Impairing existing declarative memory in humans by disrupting reconsolidation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 110(23), 9309–9313.
● LaPaglia, J. A., & Chan, J. C. K. (2013). Testing increases suggestibility for narrative-based misinformation but reduces suggestibility for question-based misinformation. Behavioral Sciences and the Law, 31, 593-606.
● Erdman, M. R., & Chan, J. C. K. (2013). Providing corrective feedback during retrieval practice does not increase retrieval-induced forgetting. Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 25, 692-703.
● LaPaglia, J. A., & Chan, J. C. K. (2012). Retrieval does not always enhance suggestibility: Testing can improve witness identification performance. Law and Human Behavior, 36, 478-487.
● Chan, J. C. K., Wilford, M. M., & Hughes, K. L. (2012). Retrieval can increase or decrease suggestibility depending on how memory is tested: The importance of source complexity. Journal of Memory and Language, 67, 78-85.
● Chan, J. C. K., & LaPaglia, J. A. (2011). The dark side of testing memory: Repeated retrieval can enhance eyewitness suggestibility. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 17, 418-432.
● Chan, J. C. K., & Langley, M. (2011). Paradoxical effects of testing: Retrieval enhances both accurate recall and suggestibility in eyewitnesses. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 37, 248-255.
● Thomas, A. K., Bulevich, J. B., & Chan, J. C. K. (2010). Testing promotes eyewitness accuracy with a warning -- Implications for retrieval enhanced suggestibility. Journal of Memory and Language, 63, 149-157.
● Weinstein, Y., McDermott, K. B., & Chan, J. C. K. (2010). True and false memories in the DRM paradigm on a forced choice test. Memory, 18, 375-384.
● Chan, J. C. K. (2010). Long-term effects of testing on the recall of nontested materials. Memory, 18, 49-57.
● Chan, J. C. K. (2009). When does retrieval induce forgetting and when does it induce facilitation? Implications for retrieval inhibition, testing effect, and text processing. Journal of Memory and Language, 61, 153-170.
● Chan, J. C. K., Thomas, A. K., & Bulevich, J. B. (2009). Recalling a witnessed event increases eyewitness suggestibility: The reversed testing effect. Psychological Science, 20, 66-73.
● Szpunar, K. K., Chan, J. C. K., & McDermott, K. B. (2009). Contextual processing in episodic future thought. Cerebral Cortex, 19, 1539-1548.
● Chan, J. C. K., & McDermott, K. B. (2007). The effects of frontal lobe functioning and age on veridical and false recall. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 14, 606-611.
● Chan, J. C. K., & McDermott, K. B. (2007). The testing effect in recognition memory: A dual process account. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 33, 431-437.
● McDermott, K. B., & Chan, J. C. K. (2006). Effects of repetition on memory for pragmatic inferences. Memory & Cognition, 34, 1273-1284.
● Chan, J. C. K., McDermott, K. B., & Roediger, H. L. (2006). Retrieval-induced facilitation: Initially nontested material can benefit from prior testing of related material. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 135, 553-571.
● Chan, J. C. K., & McDermott, K. B. (2006). Remembering pragmatic inferences. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 20, 633-639.
● Chan, J. C. K., McDermott, K. B., Watson, J. M., & Gallo, D. (2005). The importance of material-processing interactions in inducing false memories. Memory & Cognition, 33, 389-395.
● Lindsay, D. S., Allen, B. P., Chan, J. C. K., & Dahl, L. C. (2004). Eyewitness suggestibility and source similarity: Intrusions of details from one event into memory reports of another event. Journal of Memory and Language, 50, 96-111.
● Masson, M. E. J., Bub, D. N., Woodward, T. S., & Chan, J. C. K. (2003). Modulation of word-reading processes in task switching. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 132, 400-418.
● McDermott, K. B., & Chan, J. C. K. (2003). False memory. In J. H. Byrne (Ed.), Learning and Memory (pp. 145-147). New York: Macmillan.
Lab Members
Graduate Student
Rachel O'Donnell
Rachel holds a Bachelor's degree from Wilmington College and is now working on projects related to eyewitness memory.
Graduate Student
Zohara Assadipour
Zohara graduated from Iowa State University and is now working on projects related to memory and education.
Graduate Student
Asli Yurtsever
Asli holds a Master's degree from Koç University in Turkey and is now working on projects concerning cognitive control, memory, and bilingualism (with Dr. John Grundy).
Lab Alumni
Dahwi Ahn
Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Waterloo
Sara Davis
Assistant Professor, University of North Florida
Krista Manley
Senior UX Researcher, Procore
Jessica LaPaglia
Associate Professor, Morningside University
Miko Wilford
Associate Professor, Iowa State University
Moses Langley
Associate Professor, Minnesota State University Mankato
Matthew Erdman
IT Manager, Analytics, Trane Technologies
Research Opportunity
Dr. Chan’s Memory, Law, & Education lab welcomes motivated sophomores, juniors, and seniors to work as research assistants for both the fall and spring semesters. Our lab conducts research on human memory and its intersection with education and psych & law. Ongoing projects examine how to improve the accuracy of eyewitness testimony and eyewitness identification, how to improve students' ability to learn new information, especially in online settings. When we have research assistant openings, we advertise for these positions in the weekly PsyClone Bulletin emails. Our positions tend to be filled quickly (usually within two weeks) and we often advertise for Fall positions in mid-March and for Spring positions in mid-October.
Getting to the Lab
Our lab is located in Room 0017 in the basement floor of the Office & Laboratory Building. The O&L building is located between Physics and Gilman. You can access the building from its exterior entrance on Osborn Drive (shown below), or you can enter it from inside Physics or Gilman.