Mark McDaniel

Mark McDaniel

Director of the Center for Integrative Research on Cognition, Learning, and Education (CIRCLE)
​Research Scientist
Professor Emeritus of Psychological & Brain Sciences
PhD, University of Colorado - Boulder
MS, University of Colorado - Boulder
BS, Oberlin College
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    contact info:

    mailing address:

    • Washington University
    • CB 1125
    • One Brookings Drive
    • St. Louis, MO 63130-4899
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    ​Professor McDaniel is the principal investigator in the Memory and Complex Learning Laboratory. He has two main research interests: prospective memory and education.

    McDaniel conducts research in the general area of human learning and memory. His most significant lines of work encompass several areas: prospective memory, encoding processes in enhancing memory, retrieval processes and mnemonic effects of retrieval, functional and intervening concept learning, and aging and memory. One unifying theme in this research is the investigation of factors and processes that lead to memory and learning failures. In much of this work, he has extended his theories and investigations to educationally relevant paradigms.

    Selected Publications

    Anderson, F. T., & McDaniel, M. A. (2021).  Restudying with the quiz in hand: When correct-answer feedback is no better than minimal feedback.  Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition. Advanced online publication. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jarmac.2020.10.004 (PDF)

    McDaniel, M. A., Einstein, G. O., & Een, E. (2021). Training college students to use learningstrategies: A framework and pilot course. Psychology Learning & Teaching.  https://doi.org/10.1177/1475725721989489 (PDF)

    Frey, R. F., McDaniel, M. A., Bunce, D. M., Cahill, M. J., & Perry, M. D. (2020). Using students’ concept-building tendencies to better characterize average-performing student learning and problem-solving approaches in general chemistry. CBE—Life Sciences Education. 19:ar42 DOI:10.1187/cbe.19-11-0240 (PDF)

    McDaniel, M. A., & Einstein, G. O. (2020).  Training learning strategies to promote self-regulation and transfer: The knowledge, belief, commitment, and planning framework. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 15, 1363-1381. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691620920723 (PDF)

    Miyatsu, T., & McDaniel, M. A. (2019). Adding the keyword mnemonic to retrieval practice: A potent combination for foreign language vocabulary learning?  Memory & Cognition, 47, 1328-1343. (PDF)

    Anderson, F. T., & McDaniel, M. A. (2019). Retrieval in prospective memory: Multiple processes or just delay? Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology. Advance online publication. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1747021819845622.

    Cejudo, A. B., McDaniel, M. A., & Bajo, M. T. (2019). Event versus activity-based cues and motivation in school-related prospective memory tasks.  PLoS ONE 14(4):e0215845. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0215845

    Miyatsu, T., Gouravajhala, R., Nosofsky, R. M., & McDaniel, M. A. (2019). Feature highlighting enhances learning of a complex natural science category. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 45, 1-16.

    Nosofsky, R. M., Sanders, C. A., Zhu, X, & McDaniel, M. A. (2019). Model-guided search in optimal natural-science-category training exemplars: A work in progress.  Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 26, 48-76.

    McDaniel, M. A., Cahill, M. J., Frey, R. F., Rauch, M., Doele, J., Ruvolo, D., & Daschbach, M. M. (2018). Individual differences in learning exemplars versus abstracting rules: Associations with exam performance in college science. Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition, 7, 241-251. (PDF)

    Anderson, F. T., Rummel, J., & McDaniel, M. A. (2018).  Proceeding with care for successful prospective memory: Do we delay ongoing responding or actively monitor for cues? Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 44, 1036-1050.

    Mark A. McDaniel, Robert M. Nosofsky and Craig A. Sanders. (2018) Tests of an Exemplar-Memory Model of Classification Learning in a High-Dimensional Natural-Science Category Domain. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General 2018, Vol. 147, No. 3, 328–353

    Mark A. McDaniel, Michael J. Cahill, and Julie M. Bugg. (2016) The Curious Case of Orthographic Distinctiveness: Disruption of Categorical Processing. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, Vol. 42, No. 1, 104–113