Suzanna Penningroth
Clinical Associate Professor
Ph.D. University of Illinois at Chicago, 1995
Contact Information
Email: s.penningroth@wsu.edu
Office: Johnson Tower 313
Phone: (509) 335-8946
Website: Cognition and Memory Lab
Classes Taught
- Psychology 210: Psychology as a Science (Critical Thinking in Psychology)
- Psychology 311: Statistics in Psychology
- Psychology 312: Research Methods in Psychology
- Psychology 384: Sensation and Perception
- Psychology 490: Cognition and Memory
Research Interests
- Prospective memory (remembering to perform intentions): Lifespan development
- Prospective memory: Cognitive and motivational variables
- Aging and memory
- Automatic and controlled processing in real-world retrospective and prospective memory
- Memory improvement
My main research focus is on prospective memory (PM), remembering to perform intentions. One specific area I’m interested in is lifespan development of PM (i.e., PM in children, young adults, and older adults). I am also interested in cognitive and motivational variables (e.g., goals) that affect PM. Recently, I’ve begun investigating improving memory performance—for both PM and memory for past material. Future research plans include testing whether some PM strategies work as well in children as they do in young adults
Representative Publications:
Penningroth, S.L., *Andrade, A.M.G., & *Sensibaugh, T. K., (in press). Memory. In R. Summers (Ed.), Developmental Psychology: How the Mind Grows and Changes over a Lifetime. Santa Barbara, CA: Greenwood.
Penningroth, S.L., *Sensibaugh, T. K., & *Andrade, A.M.G., (in press). Memory change in old age. In R. Summers (Ed.), Developmental Psychology: How the Mind Grows and Changes over a Lifetime. Santa Barbara, CA: Greenwood.
McCrea, S. M., Penningroth, S. L., & Radakovich, M. P. (2015). Implementation intentions forge a strong cue-response link and boost prospective memory performance. Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 27, 12-26.
Penningroth, S. L., & Scott, W. D. (2013). Task importance effects on prospective memory strategy use, Applied Cognitive Psychology, 27, 655-662.
Penningroth, S. L., & Scott, W. D. (2013). Prospective memory tasks related to goals and concerns are rated as more important by both young and older adults, European Journal of Ageing, 10, 211-221.
Penningroth, S. L., Bartsch, K., & *McMahan, E. A. (2012). Motivational Influences are Important for Understanding Prospective Memory Performance in Children. In D. M Hendrix and O. Holcolm (Eds.), Psychology of Memory (pp. 255 – 274). Hauppauge, NY: Nova Science Publishers, Inc.
Penningroth, S. L., Graf, P., & Gray, J. M. (2012). The effect of a working memory load on the intention-superiority effect: Examining features of automaticity, Applied Cognitive Psychology, 26, 441 – 450.
Penningroth, S. L., & Scott, W. D. (2012). Age-related differences in reported goals: Testing predictions from selection, optimization, and compensation theory and socioemotional selectivity theory, International Journal of Aging and Human Development, 74, 87 – 111.
Penningroth, S. L., Scott, W. D., & Freuen, M. (2011). Social motivation in prospective memory: Higher importance ratings and reported performance rates for social tasks, Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology, 65, 3 – 11.
Penningroth, S. L. (2011). When does the intention-superiority effect occur? Activation patterns before and after task completion, and moderating variables, Journal of Cognitive Psychology (formerly European Journal of Cognitive Psychology) 23, 140 – 156.
Penningroth, S. L., & Scott, W. D. (2007). A Motivational-Cognitive Model of Prospective Memory: The Influence of Goal Relevance. In F. Columbus (Ed.), Psychology of Motivation (pp.115 – 128). Hauppauge, NY: Nova Science Publishers, Inc.
