Directory

Aaron S. Benjamin's directory photo.

Aaron S. Benjamin

Professor

Primary Affiliation

Biologically Informed Artificial Intelligence

Affiliations

Status Affiliate Faculty

Home Department of Psychology

Phone 333-6822

Email asbenjam@illinois.edu

Address

  • Biography

    Aaron Benjamin is a professor in the Department of Psychology and is a part-time faculty member in the Beckman Institute Biologically Informed Artificial Intelligence Group. His main areas of research interest are human memory, computational representations of knowledge, applications of basic principles of learning in training and eyewitness environments, and memory in elderly and pathological human populations.

    Education

    • B.A., Carnegie Mellon University

    • Ph.D., University of California, Los Angeles, 1998

  • Honors
    • 2017: Chair, Psychonomic Society 
    • 2017: Council of Scientific Society Presidents 
    • 2016-2017: James McKeen Cattell Sabbatical Award 
    • 2015-2018: Board of Scientific Affairs, American Psychological Association 
    • 2014-2015: Study in a Second Discipline Award 
    • Fellow, Association for Psychological Science
    • Fellow, Psychonomic Society
  • Research

    Research interests:

    • Human learning

    • Memory

    • Decision-making

    Every act of remembering involves more than just memory. Our research interests concern the host of cognitive processes that selectively search, evaluate, interpret, organize, revise, and prioritize memory stores. The goal of our research is to understand memory use in the larger context of skilled performance -- by specifying a minimal set of operations that operate in service of translating experience into memory, and vice-versa, and then exploring the flexibility of how these basic operations are used by the cognitive system as a whole. We believe that the remarkable flexibility of memory owes not to its inherent comprehensiveness nor to a particular wealth of operations that govern the encoding or retrieval of information, but rather to the subtle control processes that operate prior and subsequent to memory access.

  • 2024

    • Judgments of learning reflect the encoding of contexts, not items: evidence from a test of recognition exclusion Ünal, B. and Benjamin, A. S., 2024, In: Memory. 32, 1, p. 55-68 14 p.

    2023

    • Haven't I seen you before? Conceptual but not perceptual prior familiarity enhances face recognition memory Akan, M. and Benjamin, A. S., Aug 2023, In: Journal of Memory and Language. 131, 104433.
    • Improving Contact Tracing With Directed Recall Ünal, B. and Benjamin, A. S., 2023, (Accepted/In press) In: Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition.
    • Incorporating Functional Response Time Effects into a Signal Detection Theory Model Cho, S. J., Brown-Schmidt, S., Boeck, P. D., Naveiras, M., Yoon, S. O. and Benjamin, A., Sep 2023, In: Psychometrika. 88, 3, p. 1056-1086 31 p.
    • Lower memory specificity in individuals with dysphoria is not specific to autobiographical memory King, M. J., Courtenay, K., Christensen, B. K., Benjamin, A. S. and Girard, T. A., Mar 15 2023, In: Journal of Affective Disorders. 325, p. 542-549 8 p.
    • MEMCONS: How Contemporaneous Note-Taking Shapes Memory for Conversation Brown-Schmidt, S., Jaeger, C. B., Evans, M. J. and Benjamin, A. S., Apr 2023, In: Cognitive Science. 47, 4, e13271.
    • Metamnemonic predictions of lineup identification McKinley, G. L., Benjamin, A. S. and Gronlund, S. D., 2023, In: Memory. 31, 8, p. 1019-1038 20 p.
    • Strategic regulation of memory in dsyphoria: a quantity-accuracy profile analysis King, M. J., Girard, T. A., Benjamin, A. S. and Christensen, B. K., 2023, In: Memory. 31, 7, p. 948-961 14 p.
    • Using the internet “raises the bar” for precision in self-produced question answering Hamilton, K. A., Siler, J. and Benjamin, A. S., Jul 1 2023, In: Applied Cognitive Psychology. 37, 4, p. 721-735 15 p.

    2022

    • Comparing models of learning and relearning in large-scale cognitive training data sets Kumar, A., Benjamin, A. S., Heathcote, A. and Steyvers, M., Dec 2022, In: npj Science of Learning. 7, 1, 24.
    • Did you look that up? How retrieving from smartphones affects memory for source Siler, J., Hamilton, K. A. and Benjamin, A. S., Jul 1 2022, In: Applied Cognitive Psychology. 36, 4, p. 738-747 10 p.
    • Examining the generalizability of research findings from archival data Generalizability Tests Forecasting Collaboration, Jul 26 2022, In: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 119, 30, e2120377119.

    2021

    • A creative destruction approach to replication: Implicit work and sex morality across cultures Culture and Work Morality Forecasting Collaboration, Mar 2021, In: Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. 93, 104060.
    • Explaining Algorithm Aversion with Metacognitive Bandits Kumar, A., Patel, T., Benjamin, A. S. and Steyvers, M., 2021, p. 2780-2786. 7 p.
    • Memory Fidelity Reveals Qualitative Changes in Interactions Between Items in Visual Working Memory Lively, Z., Robinson, M. M. and Benjamin, A. S., Sep 2021, In: Psychological Science. 32, 9, p. 1426-1441 16 p.
    • Referential Form and Memory for the Discourse History Yoon, S. O., Benjamin, A. S. and Brown-Schmidt, S., Apr 2021, In: Cognitive Science. 45, 4, e12964.
    • The effect of lineup size on eyewitness identification Akan, M., Robinson, M. M., Mickes, L., Wixted, J. T. and Benjamin, A. S., Jun 1 2021, In: Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied. 27, 2, p. 369-392 24 p.
    • The Negative Reminding Effect: Reminding Impairs Memory for Contextual Information Tullis, J. G. and Benjamin, A. S., Dec 2021, In: Journal of Memory and Language. 121, 104284.

    2020

    • Is there a K in capacity? Assessing the structure of visual short-term memory Robinson, M. M., Benjamin, A. S. and Irwin, D. E., Sep 2020, In: Cognitive Psychology. 121, 101305.
    • Long-term inference and memory following retrieval practice Siler, J. and Benjamin, A. S., May 1 2020, In: Memory and Cognition. 48, 4, p. 645-654 10 p.
    • The role of retrieval during study: Evidence of reminding from overt rehearsal McKinley, G. L. and Benjamin, A. S., Oct 2020, In: Journal of Memory and Language. 114, 104128.
    • Word predictability blurs the lines between production and comprehension: Evidence from the production effect in memory Rommers, J., Dell, G. S. and Benjamin, A. S., May 2020, In: Cognition. 198, 104206.

    2019

    • A matter of priorities: High working memory enables (slightly) superior value-directed remembering Griffin, M. L., Benjamin, A. S., Sahakyan, L. and Stanley, S. E., Oct 2019, In: Journal of Memory and Language. 108, 104032.
    • A nonparametric technique for analysis of state-trace functions Benjamin, A. S., Griffin, M. L. and Douglas, J. A., Jun 2019, In: Journal of Mathematical Psychology. 90, p. 88-99 12 p.
    • Aging and recognition memory: A meta-analysis Fraundorf, S. H., Hourihan, K. L., Peters, R. A. and Benjamin, A. S., Apr 2019, In: Psychological bulletin. 145, 4, p. 339-371 33 p.
    • Editorial Benjamin, A. S., Feb 1 2019, In: Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning Memory and Cognition. 45, 2, p. 193-195 3 p.
    • Monitoring the ebb and flow of attention: Does controlling the onset of stimuli during encoding enhance memory? Patel, T. N., Steyvers, M. and Benjamin, A. S., May 15 2019, In: Memory and Cognition. 47, 4, p. 706-718 13 p.
    • Techniques for scaffolding retrieval practice: The costs and benefits of adaptive versus diminishing cues Fiechter, J. L. and Benjamin, A. S., Oct 1 2019, In: Psychonomic Bulletin and Review. 26, 5, p. 1666-1674 9 p.
    • The Human-Machine Extended Organism: New Roles and Responsibilities of Human Cognition in a Digital Ecology Hamilton, K. A. and Benjamin, A. S., Mar 2019, In: Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition. 8, 1, p. 40-45 6 p.
    • The joint contribution of participation and performance to learning functions: Exploring the effects of age in large-scale data sets Steyvers, M. and Benjamin, A. S., Aug 15 2019, In: Behavior Research Methods. 51, 4, p. 1531-1543 13 p.
    • The role of retrieval during study: Evidence of reminding from self-paced study time McKinley, G. L., Ross, B. H. and Benjamin, A. S., Jul 15 2019, In: Memory and Cognition. 47, 5, p. 877-892 16 p.

    2018

    • Diminishing-cues retrieval practice: A memory-enhancing technique that works when regular testing doesn’t Fiechter, J. L. and Benjamin, A. S., Oct 1 2018, In: Psychonomic Bulletin and Review. 25, 5, p. 1868-1876 9 p.
    • How We Remember Conversation: Implications in Legal Settings Brown-Schmidt, S. and Benjamin, A. S., Oct 1 2018, In: Policy Insights from the Behavioral and Brain Sciences. 5, 2, p. 187-194 8 p.
    • Making a Wiser Crowd: Benefits of Individual Metacognitive Control on Crowd Performance Bennett, S. T., Benjamin, A. S., Mistry, P. K. and Steyvers, M., Mar 2018, In: Computational Brain and Behavior. 1, 1, p. 90-99 10 p.
    • Testing enhances memory for context Akan, M., Stanley, S. E. and Benjamin, A. S., Dec 2018, In: Journal of Memory and Language. 103, p. 19-27 9 p.
    • The efficacy of learners' testing choices Tullis, J. G., Fiechter, J. L. and Benjamin, A. S., Apr 2018, In: Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning Memory and Cognition. 44, 4, p. 540-552 13 p.
    • The new science of eyewitness memory Gronlund, S. D. and Benjamin, A. S., 2018, Psychology of Learning and Motivation - Advances in Research and Theory. Federmeier, K. D. (ed.). Academic Press Inc., p. 241-284 44 p. (Psychology of Learning and Motivation - Advances in Research and Theory; vol. 69).

    2017

    • A Bayesian model of knowledge and metacognitive control: Applications to opt-in tasks Bennett, S. T., Benjamin, A. S. and Steyvers, M., 2017, CogSci 2017 - Proceedings of the 39th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society: Computational Foundations of Cognition. The Cognitive Science Society, p. 1623-1628 6 p. (CogSci 2017 - Proceedings of the 39th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society: Computational Foundations of Cognition).
    • Memory for conversation and the development of common ground McKinley, G. L., Brown-Schmidt, S. & Benjamin, A. S., Nov 1 2017, In: Memory and Cognition. 45, 8, p. 1281-1294 14 p.
    • The influences of valence and arousal on judgments of learning and on recall Hourihan, K. L., Fraundorf, S. H. and Benjamin, A. S., Jan 1 2017, In: Memory and Cognition. 45, 1, p. 121-136 16 p.
    • Updating metacognitive control in response to expected retention intervals Fiechter, J. L. and Benjamin, A. S., Apr 1 2017, In: Memory and Cognition. 45, 3, p. 347-361 15 p.
    • Using the Internet to access information inflates future use of the Internet to access other information Storm, B. C., Stone, S. M. and Benjamin, A. S., Jul 3 2017, In: Memory. 25, 6, p. 717-723 7 p.

    2016

    • Aging and associative recognition: A view from the DRYAD model of age-related memory deficits Benjamin, A. S., Feb 1 2016, In: Psychology and aging. 31, 1, p. 14-20 7 p.
    • Conflict and metacognitive control: the mismatch-monitoring hypothesis of how others’ knowledge states affect recall Fraundorf, S. H. and Benjamin, A. S., Sep 13 2016, In: Memory. 24, 8, p. 1108-1122 15 p.
    • Improvements in recall and food choices using a graphical method to deliver information of select nutrients Pratt, N. S., Ellison, B. D., Benjamin, A. S. and Nakamura, M. T., Jan 1 2016, In: Nutrition Research. 36, 1, p. 44-56 13 p.
    • Part and whole linguistic experience affect recognition memory for multiword sequences Jacobs, C. L., Dell, G. S., Benjamin, A. S. and Bannard, C., Apr 1 2016, In: Journal of Memory and Language. 87, p. 38-58 21 p.
    • That’s not what you said the first time: A theoretical account of the relationship between consistency and accuracy of recall Stanley, S. E. and Benjamin, A. S., Dec 1 2016, In: Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications. 1, 1, 14.
    • The historical context in conversation: Lexical differentiation and memory for the discourse history Yoon, S. O., Benjamin, A. S. and Brown-Schmidt, S., Sep 1 2016, In: Cognition. 154, p. 102-117 16 p.

    2015

    • Cue generation: How learners flexibly support future retrieval Tullis, J. G. and Benjamin, A. S., Aug 30 2015, In: Memory and Cognition. 43, 6, p. 922-938 17 p.
    • Cueing others’ memories Tullis, J. G. and Benjamin, A. S., May 15 2015, In: Memory and Cognition. 43, 4, p. 634-646 13 p.
    • Eyewitness Identification and the Accuracy of the Criminal Justice System Clark, S. E., Benjamin, A. S., Wixted, J. T., Mickes, L. and Gronlund, S. D., Oct 1 2015, In: Policy Insights from the Behavioral and Brain Sciences. 2, 1, p. 175-186 12 p.
    • Perspective-taking in comprehension, production, and memory: An individual differences approach Ryskin, R. A., Benjamin, A. S., Tullis, J. and Brown-Schmidt, S., Oct 1 2015, In: Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. 144, 5, p. 898-915 18 p.
    • Reduction in prosodic prominence predicts speakers' recall: implications for theories of prosody Fraundorf, S. H., Watson, D. G. and Benjamin, A. S., May 28 2015, In: Language, Cognition and Neuroscience. 30, 5, p. 606-619 14 p.
    • The Value of Standardized Testing: A Perspective From Cognitive Psychology Benjamin, A. S. and Pashler, H., Oct 1 2015, In: Policy Insights from the Behavioral and Brain Sciences. 2, 1, p. 13-23 11 p.

    2014

    • Knowing the crowd within: Metacognitive limits on combining multiple judgments Fraundorf, S. H. and Benjamin, A. S., Feb 2014, In: Journal of Memory and Language. 71, 1, p. 17-38 22 p.
    • Metacognition of multitasking: How well do we predict the costs of divided attention? Finley, J. R., Benjamin, A. S. and McCarley, J. S., Jun 2014, In: Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied. 20, 2, p. 158-165 8 p.
    • Remindings influence the interpretation of ambiguous stimuli Tullis, J. G., Braverman, M., Ross, B. H. and Benjamin, A. S., Feb 2014, In: Psychonomic Bulletin and Review. 21, 1, p. 107-113 7 p.
    • Retrieval speeds context fluctuation: Why semantic generation enhances later learning but hinders prior learning Divis, K. M. and Benjamin, A. S., Sep 1 2014, In: Memory and Cognition. 42, 7, p. 1049-1062 14 p.
    • Self-pacing study of faces of different races: metacognitive control over study does not eliminate the cross-race recognition effect Tullis, J. G., Benjamin, A. S. and Liu, X., Aug 1 2014, In: Memory and Cognition. 42, 6, p. 863-875 13 p.
    • State-based metacognition: How time of day affects the accuracy of metamemory Hourihan, K. L. and Benjamin, A. S., Jul 2014, In: Memory. 22, 5, p. 553-558 6 p.
    • The reminding effect: Presentation of associates enhances memory for related words in a list Tullis, J. G., Benjamin, A. S. and Ross, B. H., Aug 2014, In: Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. 143, 4, p. 1526-1540 15 p.
    • Time, space, and memory for order Fischer-Baum, S. and Benjamin, A. S., Oct 1 2014, In: Psychonomic Bulletin and Review. 21, 5, p. 1263-1271 9 p.

    2013

    • Criterion noise in ratings-based recognition: Evidence from the effects of response scale length on recognition accuracy Benjamin, A. S., Tullis, J. G. and Lee, J. H., Sep 2013, In: Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning Memory and Cognition. 39, 5, p. 1601-1608 8 p.
    • From desirable difficulties to inhibition: The research tradition of robert a. bjork Benjamin, A. S., 2013, In: American Journal of Psychology. 126, 2, p. 255-258 4 p.
    • Measurement of relative metamnemonic accuracy Benjamin, A. S. and Diaz, M., Jan 1 2013, Handbook of Metamemory and Memory. Taylor and Francis, p. 73-94 22 p.
    • Metacognition of the testing effect: Guiding learners to predict the benefits of retrieval Tullis, J. G., Finley, J. R. and Benjamin, A. S., 2013, In: Memory and Cognition. 41, 3, p. 429-442 14 p.
    • Older and wiser: Older adults' episodic word memory benefits from sentence study contexts Matzen, L. E. and Benjamin, A. S., Sep 2013, In: Psychology and aging. 28, 3, p. 754-767 14 p.
    • Same faces, different labels: Generating the cross-race effect in face memory with social category information Hourihan, K. L., Fraundorf, S. H. and Benjamin, A. S., Oct 2013, In: Memory and Cognition. 41, 7, p. 1021-1031 11 p.
    • What happened (and what did not): Discourse constraints on encoding of plausible alternatives Fraundorf, S. H., Benjamin, A. S. and Watson, D. G., Oct 2013, In: Journal of Memory and Language. 69, 3, p. 196-227 32 p.
    • Where is the criterion noise in recognition? (Almost) everyplace you look: comment on Kellen, Klauer, and Singmann (2012). Benjamin, A. S., Jul 2013, In: Psychological review. 120, 3, p. 720-726 7 p.

    2012

    • A cross-race effect in metamemory: Predictions of face recognition are more accurate for members of our own race Hourihan, K. L., Benjamin, A. S. and Liu, X., 2012, In: Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition. 1, 3, p. 158-162 5 p.
    • Adaptive and qualitative changes in encoding strategy with experience: Evidence from the test-expectancy paradigm Finley, J. R. and Benjamin, A. S., May 2012, In: Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning Memory and Cognition. 38, 3, p. 632-652 21 p.
    • Consequences of restudy choices in younger and older learners Tullis, J. G. and Benjamin, A. S., Aug 2012, In: Psychonomic Bulletin and Review. 19, 4, p. 743-749 7 p.
    • Tests of the DRYAD theory of the age-related deficit in memory for context: Not about context, and not about aging Benjamin, A. S., Diaz, M., Matzen, L. E. and Johnson, B., 2012, In: Psychology and aging. 27, 2, p. 418-428 11 p.
    • The Effectiveness of updating metacognitive knowledge in the elderly: Evidence from metamnemonic judgments of word frequency Tullis, J. G. and Benjamin, A. S., 2012, In: Psychology and aging. 27, 3, p. 683-690 8 p.
    • The effects of age on the strategic use of pitch accents in memory for discourse: A processing-resource account Fraundorf, S. H., Watson, D. G. and Benjamin, A. S., Mar 2012, In: Psychology and aging. 27, 1, p. 88-98 11 p.

    2011

    • Age differences in the use of beneficial and misleading cues in recall: With a comment on the measurement of between-group differences in accuracy Benjamin, A. S., Jan 2011, In: Experimental Aging Research. 37, 1, p. 63-75 13 p.
    • Benefits of accumulating versus diminishing cues in recall Finley, J. R., Benjamin, A. S., Hays, M. J., Bjork, R. A. and Kornell, N., May 2011, In: Journal of Memory and Language. 64, 4, p. 289-298 10 p.