TEACHING
My primary teaching interests include psychology & the law, human memory, social cognition, and psychology & film.
RESEARCH
I am a social/cognitive psychologist focusing primarily on human memory and suggestion. Much of my past work revolves around: memory distortion in legal contexts (e.g., eyewitness errors), other causes of wrongful convictions (e.g., false confessions), autobiographical memory, memory for news and political events, stereotypes and other social influences on memory and decision making. I am also interested in the psychology of cinema and the unique ways film affects cognition, perception, and emotion in audiences.
Note: I am accepting new graduate students interested in researching psychology and film, to begin in Fall of 2024.
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
Frenda, S. J., Berkowitz, S. R., Loftus, E. F., & Fenn, K. M. (2016). Sleep deprivation and false confessions. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 113, 2047-2050.
Frenda, S. J., Patihis, L., Loftus, E. F., Lewis, H. C.*, & Fenn, K. M. (2014). Sleep deprivation and false memories. Psychological Science, 25, 1674-1681.
Patihis, L., Frenda, S. J., LePort, A. K. R., Petersen, N., Nichols, R. M., Stark, C. E. L., McGaugh, J. L., & Loftus, E. F. (2013). False memories in highly superior autobiographical memory individuals. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 10, 20947–20952.
Frenda, S. J., Knowles, E. D., Saletan, W., & Loftus, E. F. (2013). False memories of fabricated political events. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 49, 280-286.
Frenda, S. J., Nichols, R. M., & Loftus, E. F. (2011). Current issues and advances in misinformation research. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 20, 20-23.