Dr Vanessa Loaiza

Department of Psychology

Senior Lecturer

v.loaiza@sheffield.ac.uk
+44 114 222 6556

Interdisciplinary Centre of the Social Sciences (ICOSS)

Full contact details

Dr Vanessa Loaiza
Department of Psychology
Interdisciplinary Centre of the Social Sciences (ICOSS)
219 Portobello
Sheffield
S1 4DP

Profile

I am a cognitive developmental psychologist. My research broadly concerns human memory across the adult lifespan. I am particularly interested in how we keep information in mind from moment to moment (working memory) and how that information is retrieved long after it has left our immediate awareness (long-term memory).

I use a range of behavioural paradigms and statistical/computational modelling methods to investigate questions concerning how factors like attention and prior knowledge influence working memory, how working memory processes impact retrieval from long-term memory, and how these processes vary in healthy older age.

I also am interested in individual differences in working memory, long-term memory, and higher-order cognition more broadly (such as intelligence and executive functions) and how we update information in memory, especially in a world full of misinformation. I am also passionate about open science and enjoy using Bayesian inference to address my research questions.

Qualifications

2007 - BA, Psychology - Loyola Marymount University, USA
2010 - MS, Cognitive Psychology - Colorado State University, USA
2012 - PhD, Cognitive Psychology - Colorado State University, USA

Research interests

Working Memory
Long-Term Memory
Cognitive Ageing
Memory updating
Meta-cognition
Cognitive modelling

I will be accepting applications for a PhD position starting October 2024.

Publications

Journal articles

Mao Chao C, Xu C, Loaiza V & Rose NS (2023) Are latent working memory items retrieved from long-term memory?. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 17470218231217723.
Loaiza VM, Cheung HW & Goldenhaus-Manning DT (2023) What you don’t know can’t hurt you: Retro-cues benefit working memory regardless of prior knowledge in long-term memory. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 1-12.
Kemp PL, Loaiza VM & Wahlheim CN (2023) Testing can enhance episodic memory updating in younger and older adults.. Psychology and Aging, 38(7), 656-669.
Holford D, Tognon G, Gladwell V, Murray K, Nicoll M, Knox A, McCloy R & Loaiza V (2023) Planning engagement with web resources to improve diet quality and break up sedentary time for home-working employees: A mixed methods study.. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 28(4), 224-238.
Roehr-Brackin K, Loaiza V & Pavlekovic R (2023) Language learning aptitude in older adults. Journal of the European Second Language Association, 7(1), 1-15.
Goldenhaus-Manning DT, Cooper NR & Loaiza VM (2023) Examining the role of attention during feature binding in visuospatial working memory. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 1-12.
Loaiza VM, Oftinger A-L & Camos V (2023) How does Working Memory Promote Traces in Episodic Memory?. Journal of Cognition, 6(1), 4.
Zuber S, Joly-Burra E, Mahy CEV, Loaiza V & Kliegel M (2023) Are facet-specific task trainings efficient in improving children’s executive functions and why (they might not be)? A multi-facet latent change score approach. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 227, 105602-105602.
Kemp PL, Loaiza VM & Wahlheim CN (2022) Fake news reminders and veracity labels differentially benefit memory and belief accuracy for news headlines. Scientific Reports, 12(1), 21829.
Loaiza VM & Souza AS (2022) The eyes don’t have it: Eye movements are unlikely to reflect refreshing in working memory. PLOS ONE, 17(7), e0271116-e0271116.
Loaiza VM & Lavilla ET (2021) Elaborative strategies contribute to the long-term benefits of time in working memory. Journal of Memory and Language, 117, 104205-104205.
Loaiza VM, Doherty C & Howlett P (2021) The long-term consequences of retrieval demands during working memory. Memory & Cognition, 49(1), 112-126.
Jarjat G, Ward G, Hot P, Portrat S & Loaiza VM (2021) Distinguishing the Impact of Age on Semantic and Nonsemantic Associations in Episodic Memory. The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, 76(4), 722-731.
Loaiza VM & Srokova S (2020) Semantic Relatedness Corrects the Age-Related Binding Deficit in Working Memory and Episodic Memory. The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, 75(9), 1841-1849.
Bartsch LM, Loaiza VM, Jäncke L, Oberauer K & Lewis-Peacock JA (2019) Dissociating refreshing and elaboration and their impacts on memory. NeuroImage, 199, 585-597.
Loaiza VM & Souza AS (2019) An age-related deficit in preserving the benefits of attention in working memory.. Psychology and Aging, 34(2), 282-293.
Loaiza VM & Halse SC (2019) Where working memory meets long-term memory: The interplay of list length and distractors on memory performance.. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 45(8), 1455-1472.
Loaiza VM & Souza AS (2018) Is refreshing in working memory impaired in older age? Evidence from the retro‐cue paradigm. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1424(1), 175-189.
Camos V, Johnson M, Loaiza V, Portrat S, Souza A & Vergauwe E (2018) What is attentional refreshing in working memory?. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1424(1), 19-32.
Loaiza VM & Borovanska BM (2018) Covert retrieval in working memory impacts the phenomenological characteristics remembered during episodic memory. Consciousness and Cognition, 57, 20-32.
Camos V, Lagner P & Loaiza VM (2017) Maintenance of item and order information in verbal working memory. Memory, 25(8), 953-968.
(2016) Corrigendum. Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 28(6), 770-771.
Loaiza VM, Rhodes MG, Camos V & McCabe DP (2015) Using the process dissociation procedure to estimate recollection and familiarity in working memory: An experimental and individual differences investigation. Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 27(7), 844-854.
Loaiza VM, Duperreault KA, Rhodes MG & McCabe DP (2015) Long-term semantic representations moderate the effect of attentional refreshing on episodic memory. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 22(1), 274-280.
Loaiza VM, Rhodes MG & Anglin J (2015) The Influence of Age-Related Differences in Prior Knowledge and Attentional Refreshing Opportunities on Episodic Memory. The Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 70(5), 729-736.
Lucidi A, Loaiza V, Camos V & Barrouillet P (2014) Assessing Working Memory Capacity Through Time-Constrained Elementary Activities. The Journal of General Psychology, 141(2), 98-112.
Loaiza VM & McCabe DP (2013) The influence of aging on attentional refreshing and articulatory rehearsal during working memory on later episodic memory performance. Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition, 20(4), 471-493.
Castel AD, Rhodes MG, McCabe DP, Soderstrom NC & Loaiza VM (2012) Rapid communication: The fate of being forgotten: Information that is initially forgotten is judged as less important. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 65(12), 2281-2287.
Loaiza VM & McCabe DP (2012) Temporal–contextual processing in working memory: Evidence from delayed cued recall and delayed free recall tests. Memory & Cognition, 40(2), 191-203.
Zuber S, Ihle A, Loaiza VM, Schnitzspahn KM, Stahl C, Phillips LH, Kaller CP & Kliegel M () Explaining age differences in working memory: The role of updating, inhibition, and shifting.. Psychology & Neuroscience, 12(2), 191-208.
Bartsch LM, Loaiza VM & Oberauer K () Does limited working memory capacity underlie age differences in associative long-term memory?. Psychology and Aging, 34(2), 268-281.
Loaiza VM & Camos V () The role of semantic representations in verbal working memory.. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 44(6), 863-881.
Loaiza VM & Camos V () Does Controlling for Temporal Parameters Change the Levels-of-Processing Effect in Working Memory?. Advances in Cognitive Psychology, 12(1), 2-9.
Loaiza VM, McCabe DP, Youngblood JL, Rose NS & Myerson J () The influence of levels of processing on recall from working memory and delayed recall tasks.. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 37(5), 1258-1263.

Grants: "Unraveling underlying working memory elements to address age-related decline" - PI, Experimental Psychology Society, £9782

Teaching activities

PSY2004 Developmental Psychology II
PSY331 Extended Essay in Psychology
PSY346 Research Project in Psychology
PSY6308 Computational Neuroscience II

Professional activities and memberships: I am an associate editor at Memory and a consulting editor at Journal of Cognition, Journal of Memory and Language, and Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition. I am an executive committee member of the European Society for Cognitive Psychology (ESCOP) and a fellow of the Psychonomic Society. I am also a member of the Experimental Psychology Society (EPS) and Women in Cognitive Science (WiCS). Within the psychology department, I am director of PGT recruitment.

PhD Opportunities

I am happy to receive applications for PhD study in my area of research.

We advertise PhD opportunities (Funded or Self-Funded) on FindAPhD.com

See PhD studentship opportunities with Vanessa Loaiza.

For further information, please see the department PhD Opportunities page.