Andy DeSoto

1,573 reputation

216

bio	website	andydesoto.com
	location	St. Louis, MO
	age	26
visits	member for	1 year, 4 months
	seen	Dec 31 '12 at 23:49
stats	profile views	40

I'm a Cognitive Psychology Ph.D. student at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, where I received my M.A. in 2011. I research human memory, with an emphasis on false memory as well as the application of cognitive psychology principles to human learning, memory, and education. I received my B.S. from the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia.

You can also follow me on Twitter (@kadesoto).

	1,573 reputation	bio	website	andydesoto.com	visits	member for	1 year, 4 months
216 badges		location	St. Louis, MO		seen	Dec 31 '12 at 23:49

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28 Comments

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Apr 4	comment	Effect of words highlighting on reading comprehension Yes, that's the article!
Apr 3	comment	Effect of words highlighting on reading comprehension Just curious, can you give me a little background about this question? What makes you ask it? I've never heard of any research addressing the topic.
Apr 2	comment	Are there any cognitive test (or test suites) available on the iPad? Thanks for the answer, Dan, welcome to the site! Interested to be hearing more about this!
Apr 1	comment	Is it called something when I can't remember the word I want to say, but I can remember its first letter? Great answer. This is the foundational paper for the topic in the cognitive psychology literature: Brown, R. & McNeill, D. (1966). The "tip of the tongue" phenomenon. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 5, 325-337.
Mar 29	comment	What are the major structures of the medial temporal lobe? Thanks so much! This is an awesome answer!
Mar 29	comment	Is it possible to quantify cognitive bias? Unfortunately I'm afraid it's really going to vary from discipline to discipline. For basic research, this was the most atheoretical topic I could come up with. I knew bias and similar measures are used whenever numerically-based probability judgments come into play (in the field of personality psychology, for instance). It's tougher for more qualitative areas, though.
Mar 29	comment	Summary of meta-analytic correlations between self- and other-report measures I've taken a course with Vazire, that SOKA model is definitely something to look into.
Mar 29	comment	What is the current “accepted” science behind dream interpretation? Added a few more scientific reasons for why we may sleep and dream. (I may or may not be studying for an exam at the same time.)
Mar 27	comment	What is the current “accepted” science behind dream interpretation? (That came off a little snarky, but folks here in the cognitive science area are going to be a little less than convinced by Freudian theories. I bet a psychoanalysis community would be interested in this debate.)
Mar 27	comment	Encoding of abstract concepts in memory I don't necessarily endorse the service offered on this site, but I found this description online -- it's one way these memory experts think: memoryconsulting.com/pridmore.htm
Mar 27	comment	What is the current “accepted” science behind dream interpretation? Unfortunately, my answer has to disregard theories that are not supported by modern-day empirical research and further scientific replication.
Mar 16	comment	Are there any cognitive test (or test suites) available on the iPad? Not all cognitive tests involve RT, though. Standard laboratory memory tests would be just fine if administered on a tablet (assuming you wouldn't want to look at latency data later, although the times would be much higher and therefore more proportionally accurate anyway).
Mar 14	comment	Can response time be incorporated into signal detection theory? Curious, how do you know about this work? I've been interested in this paper for a while now.
Mar 6	comment	Is it a good idea to play an instrument while studying? If so, what are the benefits? Alpha, some research on mind wandering might come into play here. There are two competing theories about when and why the mind wanders. In the late 2000's, Kane and McVay posited that the mind wandered when it didn't have enough central resources to complete the primary task -- not so much in support of that idea. Smallwood and Schooler, however, suggest that the mind wanders when there's an excess of resources beyond the primary task. This leftover attention could enable non-distracting behaviors that could possibly facilitate the primary task.
Mar 2	comment	Does any evidence show that Smartphone users have poorer memory? (Sorry for the short answer, I was in a bit of a hurry.)
Feb 23	comment	When is higher confidence predictive of less accuracy? Thanks! I'll have to think about this a bit more. I'm familiar with the Dunning-Kruger effect, but I hadn't yet made the connection between those findings and a confidence-accuracy correlation. Thanks.
Feb 23	comment	When is higher confidence predictive of less accuracy? Hi Steven, I'm actually curious about the negative relationship, not the zero one (i.e., as is in the last sentence up there). I will link some studies, but Ben's link is one example of no relationship between confidence and accuracy.
Feb 23	comment	Are spaced flashcards effective for learning? Nice answer. I like the statement that "rehearsal and retrieval before you forget an item strengthens the memory" and expand a little bit on this in my answer, though. There are interesting reasons why we might not want to talk about "memory strength," however, which is a discussion for another day!
Feb 22	comment	What is the term for when too many choices results in inability to decide? My guess is that it has something to do with the application of equal weights to all attributes/options, even when some are irrelevant. Whether a digital camera has a huge sensor or a miniscule sensor should be such a big factor that it outweighs whether the camera finish is glossy or matte black, but I think people have a difficult time rationally weighing these things. Likely, heuristically driven decision making probably assigns weights much more efficiently -- hence, the value of going with your gut!
Feb 16	comment	Are there any laws of memory? That's a good answer! Although why wouldn't psychologists search for laws of memory? My Google Scholar search shows that the topic has definitely gotten some attention...