Department of Psychology

Research Interests

Recipient Ontario Early Researcher Award (2008)

My research program involves developing an understanding of the cognitive processes, and brain regions, involved in memory and language. I am interested in knowing how we encode new information, how it is organized and represented in the brain, and how we reactivate the information during retrieval. I am particularly interested in how these change as people age. I evaluate the ability of young adults and seniors to carry out a memory task under conditions in which there is another on-going task competing for their attention. The amount and type of interference observed allows one to infer the cognitive resources and components required for the two tasks, and can provide insight into human memory processing. I also use neuroimaging (fMRI) to identify the brain regions and networks (using PLS) mediating memory processing; these are used to determine how the strategy and brain regions contributing to memory change as we age. A related research interest lies in understanding how different types of information (words, numbers, symbols, spatial layouts) are represented and organized in the brain, through the use of behavioural paradigms, fMRI, and neural network models. My other line of research examines the relationship between neuropsychological and neuroimaging methods of evaluation of language localization.

Click here if you are over the age of 60 years, and want to find out more about participating in Studies of Aging!
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Memory in Elderly Research at UW Featured in CTV-ProvinceWide, June 2005

Selected Publications

• Skinner, E., Fernandes, M.A., & Grady, C. (in press). Memory networks supporting retrieval effort and retrieval success under conditions of full and divided attention. Experimental Psychology.
• Skinner, E., & Fernandes, M.A. (in press). Illusory recollection in older adults and young under divided attention. Psychology & Aging
• Skinner, E., & Fernandes, M.A. (in press). Age-related changes in the use of study context to increase recollection Aging, Neuropsychology & Cognition
• Fernandes, M.A., & Guild, E. (in press). Process-specific interference effects during recognition of spatial patterns and words. Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology
• Fernandes, M.A. & Grady, C.  (2008).  Effect of divided attention on recall of related and unrelated words in young and old adults. Experimental Aging Research, 34, 297-322
• Fernandes, M.A., Ross, M., Wiegand, M., & Schryer, E. (2008). Are the memories of older adults positively biased? Psychology & Aging, 23, 297-306
• Tomaszczyk, J.C., Fernandes, M.A., & MacLeod, C.M. (2008).  Personal Relevance Modulates the Positivity Bias in Recall of Emotional Pictures in Older Adults. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 15,191-196.  
• Skinner, E., & Fernandes, M.A.  (2008).  General and Material-Specific Interference Effects of Divided Attention at Retrieval on Remembering and Knowing.  Acta Psychologica, 127, 211-221.
• Reinke, K., Fernandes, M.A., Schwindt, G., O’Craven, K., & Grady, C.  (2008).  Functional specificity of the visual word form area: general activation for words and symbols but specific network activation for words.  Brain & Language, 104, 180-189.
• Fernandes, M.A., Craik, F.I.M., Bialystok, E., & Kreuger, S. (2007).  Effect of bilingualism, aging, and semantic relatedness on memory under divided attention.  Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology, 61,128-141.
• Skinner, E. & Fernandes, M.A. (2007). Neural correlates of Remembering and Knowing at Retrieval: a Review of Neuroimaging and Patient Data. Neuropsychologia, 45, 2163-2179.  
• Fernandes, M.A., Pacurar, A., Moscovitch, M., & Grady, C.  (2006).  Neural correlates of auditory recognition under full and divided attention in young and old adults.  Neuropsychologia, 44, 2452-2464.
• Andres, A., & Fernandes, M.A. (2006). Effect of Short and Long Exposure Duration and Dual-Tasking on a Global-Local Task. Acta Psychologica, 122, 247-266.
• Fernandes, M. A., McAndrews, M. P., Smith, M. L., Logan, W., Crawley, A., & Mikulus, D. (2006). Comparing language lateralization determined by dichotic listening and fMRI activation in frontal and temporal lobes in children. Brain & Language, 96, 106-114.
• Fernandes, M. A., Moscovitch, M., Ziegler, M., & Grady, C.  (2005).  Brain regions associated with successful and unsuccessful retrieval of verbal episodic memory under divided attention.  Neuropsychologia, 43, 1115-1127.
• Fernandes, M. A., Davidson, P., Glisky, E., & Moscovitch, M. (2004).  Level of frontal and temporal lobe function and susceptibility to divided attention effects at retrieval in older adults.  Neuropsychology, 18 (3), 514-525.
• Fernandes, M. A., & Moscovitch, M. (2003). Interference effects from divided attention during retrieval in younger and older adults. Psychology and Aging, 18, 219-230.
• Fernandes, M. A., & Moscovitch, M. (2002). Factors modulating the effect of divided attention during retrieval of words. Memory and Cognition, 30, 731-744.
• Fernandes, M. A., & Moscovitch, M. (2000). Divided attention and memory: Evidence of substantial interference effects both at retrieval and encoding. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 129, 155-176.
• Fernandes, M. A., & Smith, M. L. (2000b). Comparing the fused dichotic words test and the intracarotid amobarbital procedure in children with epilepsy. Neuropsychologia, 38, 1216-1228.

BookChapters

Fernandes, M.A.(in press). New insights into the functional neuroanatomy of aging. In H. Aizenstein, M.A. Fernandes, & C.F. Reynolds, III (Eds.), Handbook of neuroimaging research in geriatric mental health Springer Publishing

Moscovitch, M., Fernandes, M.A., & Troyer, A. (2002). Working-with-memory and cognitive resources: A component process account of divided attention and memory: In M. Naveh-Benjamin, M. Moscovitch, & H.L. Roediger III (Eds.) Perspectives of human memory and cognitive aging: Essays in honour of Fergus Craik. Philadelphia: Psychology Press. pp. 171-207.

Student Project Information

3rd or 4th year students with an interest in the area of memory / divided attention / computer modeling / memory loss / aging / amazing memory/ or language should contact me to talk about possible future projects!