Another Major Award for Roddy Roediger '69
Henry L. (Roddy) Roediger III, of Washington and Lee’s Class of 1969, was honored with another major award when the Association for Psychological Science (APS) gave him its 2012 William James Fellow Award during the APS annual convention in May.
Roddy, the James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor of Psychology at Washington University in St. Louis, is internationally recognized for his research on human memory.
In its announcement of the award, the APS wrote: “His original and creative experimental observations and theoretical ideas have profoundly influenced what is now known and believed about some of the most enduring problems that have faced explorers of memory ever since Hermann Ebbinghaus’ pioneering work in the 19th century. These problems can be encapsulated in the question, ‘What is memory?’ “
Roddy is perhaps best known for his work on the development of false memories, erroneous memories that people misperceive as being accurate. He developed a laboratory method at Washington University that studies false memory under strict experimental conditions. Roddy’s award address at the APS convention was titled “The Surprising Power of Retrieval Practice in Improving Retention: From the Lab to the Classroom.”
He previously won the Society of Experimental Psychologists’ highest honor, the Howard Crosby Warren Medal.
Roddy is co-author, with Barry H. Kantowitz of the University of Michigan, and his W&L mentor, David G. Elmes, professor emeritus of psychology at W&L, of “Research Methods in Psychology,” which recently entered its ninth edition.
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