B.Sc. Dalhousie, Ph.D. Waterloo Assistant Professor

Office: SN3080

Phone: (709) 864-8771

Email: khourihan@mun.ca

Affiliations: Cognition

Research Interests

I am interested in memory in the broad sense, but my specific research interests focus on how much control we have over what we remember, and what we know about how we remember. This has resulted in my extensive study of intentional forgetting as a means of measuring how well we can select which information is more important to remember than other information (and which information gets learned regardless of our intention to forget it). I have examined how item distinctiveness and encoding context interact to improve memory. I am also interested in conceptual implicit memory as a measure of how our memory functions when we are not trying to control it.

Recently, I have been examining metamemory, or what we know about our own memory processes. What affects our ability to accurately predict what we will remember, and what we will forget? I am interested in examining how metamemory is affected by situational variables (like mood, or changes in alertness associated with different times of day) and by more stable cognitive variables (like working memory capacity or need for cognition). I have also been studying how metamnemonic accuracy is affected by different classes of stimuli, such as faces and emotional stimuli.

Selected Representative Publications

(bold indicates supervised student author)

Hourihan, K.L., & Taylor, T.L. (2026). It’s easier to forget what you want: Directed forgetting of chosen and unchosen words. Memory & Cognition. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13421-026-01855-9

MacMillan, M.B., Churchill, L.A., & Hourihan, K.L. (2026). Effects of valence and list composition on memory predictions, performance, and beliefs. Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology. https://dx.doi.org/10.1037/cep0000397

Hourihan, K.L., & Fawcett, J.M. (2024). It’s all about that case: Production and reading fluency. Experimental Psychology. [Editor’s Pick] https://doi.org/10.1027/1618-3169/a000615

Kavanagh, V.A.J., Hourihan, K.L., & Hockley, W. (2024). Does the Effect of Production Influence Memory for Background Context? Experimental Psychology. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1027/1618-3169/a000618

Hourihan, K.L. (2022). Source reinstatement in item method directed forgetting influences recognition strategies. Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/cep0000288

Hourihan, K.L. (2021). The influence of cue probability on item and source judgments in item method directed forgetting. Memory. https://doi.org/10.1080/09658211.2021.1967400

Hourihan, K.L. (2020). Misleading emotions: Judgments of learning overestimate recognition of negative and positive emotional images. Cognition and Emotion. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2019.1682972

Hourihan, K.L., & Churchill, L.A. (2020). Production of picture names improves picture recognition. Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/cep0000185

Hourihan, K.L., Fraundorf, S.H, & Benjamin, A.S. (2017). The influences of valence and arousal on recall and judgments of learning. Memory & Cognition. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13421-016-0646-3

Hourihan, K.L., & Bursey, E. (2017). A misleading feeling of happiness: Metamemory for positive and neutral emotional pictures. Memory.  https://doi.org/10.1080/09658211.2015.1122809

Doyle, M.E., & Hourihan, K.L. (2016). Metacognitive monitoring during category learning: How success affects future behaviour. Memory. https://doi.org/10.1080/09658211.2015.1086805

Hourihan, K.L., & Smith, A.R.S. (2016). Production does not improve memory for face-name associations. Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/cep0000091

Hourihan, K.L., Fraundorf, S.H., & Benjamin, A.S. (2013). Same faces, different labels: Generating the cross-race effect in face memory with social category information.  Memory & Cognition. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13421-013-0316-7

Hourihan, K.L., Benjamin, A.S., & Liu, X. (2012). A cross-race effect in metamemory: Predictions of face recognition are more accurate for members of our own race. Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1016/j.jarmac.2012.06.004

MacLeod, C.M., Gopie, N., Hourihan, K.L., Neary, K.R., & Ozubko, J.D. (2010). The production effect: Delineation of a phenomenon.  Journal of Experimental Psychology:  Learning, Memory, and Cognition. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/a0018785

Hourihan, K.L., Ozubko, J.D., & MacLeod, C.M. (2009). Directed forgetting of visual symbols: Evidence for nonverbal selective rehearsal. Memory & Cognition. https://doi.org/10.3758/MC.37.8.1059

Hourihan, K.L., & MacLeod, C.M. (2008). Directed forgetting meets the production effect: Distinctive material is resistant to directed forgetting. Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/1196-1961.62.4.242

Hourihan, K. L., & Taylor, T.L. (2006). Cease remembering: Control processes in directed forgetting. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/0096-1523.32.6.1354