Director
Associate Director
Graduate Students Lab Technician
Undergraduate Students
Carolyn Rovee-Collier, Ph.D.
Carolyn Rovee-Collier received a Ph.D. (1966) in Psychology from
Brown University and is Professor II of Psychology, Rutgers University,
New Brunswick, NJ. Her current research focuses on learning and
long-term memory in 2- to 18-mo-olds. She is currently studying
how infants form relatively lasting memories about objects and events
that they merely see in their environment, how brief reminders can
perpetuate those memories for long periods, and how merely retrieving a
memory can prolong its retention.
Dr. Rovee-Collier has authored more than 200 articles and
chapters. Her 2001 book (with Harlene Hayne and Michael Colombo)
is entitled "The development of implicit and explicit memory" (John
Benjamins Publishing Co., Amsterdam /Philadelphia). She has held
a James Keen Cattell Fellowship, was elected to The Society of
Experimental Psychologists, received a Distinguished Achievement Medal
from the Graduate School of Brown University, and received an NIMH
MERIT grant (given only to the top 1-2% of researchers in this country)
and two consecutive NIMH Senior Research Scientist 5-yr Awards.
More recently, she was honored with the Distinguished Scientific
Contribution Award from the Society for Research in Child Psychology
(2001) and the highly coveted Howard Crosby Warren Medal from The
Society of Experimental Psychologists (2003).
Dr. Rovee-Collier has been President of the International
Society for Infant Studies, the International Society for Developmental
Psychobiology, and the Eastern Psychological Association. She
edited the journal Infant Behavior and Development
(’81-‘98) and (with Lewis. P. Lipsitt) Advances in Infancy
Research (vols. 3-12) and Progress in Infancy Research (vol. 1), which
she also founded. She has served on numerous editorial boards and
federal review panels.
Her graduate students have received the Outstanding Dissertation
Award from the International Society for Developmental Psychobiology
(1990, 2002, 2007) and the International Society for Infant Studies
(1996, 2002), an early career award from the American Psychological
Foundation (1997), and a Congressional Science Fellowship from the
Society for Research in Child Development (1993). Also on a
national level, her undergraduate honor students have won the
National Psi Chi /J.P. Guilford Undergraduate Research Award in 1993
and 1994 (first prize) and 2001 (3rd prize), and the National Psi Chi
Undergraduate Research Award in Cognitive Science in 2003 (first
prize). She is proud of all of her students, however,
whether they have won awards or not.
Telephone:
(office) 732-445-3364
(laboratory) 732-445-4819
(office fax) 732-445-2263
e-mail: rovee@rci.rutgers.edu
Married: George H. Collier, Professor Emeritus of Psychology, Rutgers University.
Education:
1962-1966 -- Ph.D., Sc.M., Brown University
1959-1962 -- B.A., Louisiana State University (Cum Laude)
Academic Experience:
Trenton State College (1965-1970)
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey (1970- )
(Current: Professor II, Rutgers, Department of Psychology)
Her research is discussed in texts on general psychology, child
and developmental psychology, life-span psychology conditioning and
learning, and memory and cognition (both animal and human). It
has been cited in popular magazines, including Life, Parents, Health
News, Child, American Health, American Baby, Baby, Parenting, Working
Mother, Omni, Geo, Science News, USA Today (including international
editions), La Recherche (Paris & Madrid editions), Familie
(France), the Boston Globe, and local newspapers. It also has
been featured on television (NKT-Japan, CBC-Canada, BBC-Great Britain
(Ch. 4), PBS, ABC, CBS, CNN, The Discovery Channel, and in radio
interviews in the USA, Canada, and Australia. A number of
articles from her laboratory are reprinted in books of readings.
------------------------------------------------------------
A CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF SELECTED PUBLICATIONS (of 202):
Rovee, C. K., & Rovee, D. T. (1969). Conjugate
reinforcement of infant exploratory behavior. Journal of
Experimental Child Psychology, 8, 33-39.
Rovee, C. K., & Fagen, J. W. (1976). Extended
conditioning and 24-hour retention in infants. Journal of
Experimental Child Psychology, 21, 1-11.
Fagen, J. W., Rovee, C. K., & Kaplan, M. G.
(1976). Psychophysical scaling of stimulus similarity in
3-month-old infants and adults. Journal of Experimental Child
Psychology, 22, 272-281.
Rovee-Collier, C., & Gekoski, M. J. (1979). The
economics of infancy: A review of conjugate reinforcement.
In H. W. Reese & L. P. Lipsitt (Eds.), Advances in child
development and behavior (Vol. 13, pp. 195-255). New York:
Academic.
Sullivan, M. W., Rovee-Collier, C., & Tynes, D. M.
(1979). A conditioning analysis of infant long-term memory.
Child Development, 50, 152-162.
Rovee-Collier, C., & Sullivan, M. W. (1980).
Organization of infant memory. Journal of Experimental
Psychology: Human Learning and Memory, 6, 798-807.
Rovee-Collier, C., Sullivan, M. W., Enright, M. K., Lucas, D.,
& Fagen, J. W. (1980). Reactivation of infant
memory. Science, 208, 1159-1161.
Fagen, J. W., & Rovee-Collier, C. (1983). Memory
retrieval: A time-locked process in infancy. Science, 222,
1349-1351.
Rovee-Collier, C., Griesler, P. C., & Earley, L. A.
(1985). Contextual determinants of retrieval in three-month-old
infants. Learning and Motivation, 16, 139-157.
Vander Linde, E., Morrongiello, B. A., & Rovee-Collier,
C. (1985). Determinants of retention in 8-week-old
infants. Developmental Psychology, 21, 601-613.
Rovee-Collier, C., & Hayne, H. (1987).
Reactivation of infant memory: Implications for cognitive
development. In H. W. Reese (Ed.), Advances in child development
and behavior (Vol. 20, pp. 185-238). New York: Academic.
Greco, C., Hayne, H., & Rovee-Collier, C.
(1990). Roles of function, reminding, and variability in
categorization by 3-month-old infants. Journal of Experimental
Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 16, 617-633.
Hayne, H., Rovee-Collier, C., & Borza, M.
(1991). Infant memory for place information. Memory &
Cognition, 19, 378-386.
Rovee-Collier, C., Borza, M. A., Adler, S. A., & Boller,
K. (1993). Infants' eyewitness testimony: Effects of
postevent information on a prior memory representation. Memory
& Cognition, 21, 267-279.
Rovee-Collier, C. (1995). Time windows in cognitive development. Developmental Psychology, 31, 147-169.
Rovee-Collier, C., & Boller, K. (1995). Current
theory and research on infant learning and memory: Application to early
intervention. Infants and Young Children, 7, 1-12.
Rovee-Collier, C. (1997). Dissociations in infant
memory: Rethinking the development of implicit and explicit
memory. Psychological Review, 104, 467-498.
Hartshorn, K., Rovee-Collier, C., Gerhardstein, P., Bhatt, R.
S., Klein, P. J., Aaron, F., Wondoloski, T. L., & Wurtzel, N.
(1998). Developmental changes in the specificity of memory over
the first year of life. Developmental Psychobiology, 33, 61-78.
Hartshorn, K., Rovee-Collier, C., Gerhardstein, P., Bhatt, R.
S., Wondoloski, T. L., Klein, P. J., Gilch, J., Wurtzel, N., &
Campos-de-Carvalho, M. (1998). The ontogeny of long-term
memory over the first year-and-a-half of life. Developmental
Psychobiology, 32, 69-89.
Gulya, M., Rovee-Collier, C., Galluccio, L., & Wilk,
A. (1998). Memory processing of a serial list by young
infants. Psychological Science, 9, 303-307.
Galluccio, L., & Rovee-Collier, C. (1999).
Reinstatement effects on retention at 3 months of age. Learning
and Motivation, 30, 296-316.
Hildreth, K., & Rovee-Collier, C. (1999).
Decreases in the response latency to priming over the first year of
life. Developmental Psychobiology, 35, 276-290.
Rovee-Collier, C. (1999). The development of infant
memory. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 8, 80-85.
Rovee-Collier, C., Hartshorn, K., & DiRubbo, M.
(1999). Long-term maintenance of infant memory.
Developmental Psychobiology, 35, 91-102.
Gerhardstein, P., Adler, S. A., & Rovee-Collier, C.
(2000). A dissociation in infants’ memory for stimulus
size: Evidence for the early development of multiple memory
systems. Developmental Psychobiology, 36, 123-135.
Hayne, H., Gross, J., Hildreth, K., & Rovee-Collier,
C. (2000). Repeated reminders increase the speed of memory
retrieval by 3-month-old infants. Developmental Science, 3,
312-318.
Rovee-Collier, C., & Hayne, H. (2000). Memory in
infancy and early childhood. In E. Tulving & F. I. M. Craik
(Eds.), The Oxford handbook of memory (pp. 267-282). New
York: Oxford University Press.
Barr, R., & Vieira, A., & Rovee-Collier, C.
(2001). Mediated imitation at 6 months of age: Remembering
by association. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 79,
229-252.
Sweeney, B., & Rovee-Collier, C. (2001). The
minimum duration of reactivation at 6 months: Latency of
retrieval and reforgetting. Infant Behavior and Development, 24,
259-280.
Rovee-Collier, C., Hayne, H., & Colombo, M.
(2001). The development of implicit and explicit
memory. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing
Co.
Hildreth, K. & Rovee-Collier, C. (2002).
Forgetting functions of reactivated memories over the first year of
life. Developmental Psychobiology, 41, 277-288.
Gulya, M., Rossi-George, A., & Rovee-Collier, C.
(2002). Dissipation of retroactive interference in human
infants. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal
Behavior Processes, 28, 151-162.
Rovee-Collier, C., & Barr, R. (2002). Infant
cognition. In H. Pashler (Series Ed.; J. Wixted, Vol. Ed.),
Stevens’ handbook of experimental psychology (3rd ed). Vol.
4: Methodology (pp. 693-791). New York: Wiley.
Hartshorn, K. (2003). Reinstatement maintains a
memory in human infants for 1-1/2 years. Developmental Psychobiology,
42, 269-282. (dissertation publication)
Hartshorn, K., & Rovee-Collier, C. (2003). Does
infant memory expression reflect age at encoding or age at
retrieval? Developmental Psychobiology, 42, 283-291.
Barr, R., Marrott, H., & Rovee-Collier, C.
(2003). The role of sensory preconditioning in memory retrieval
by preverbal infants. Learning and Behavior, 131, 111-123.
Bhatt, R.S., Wilk, A., & Hill, D.L., & Rovee-Collier, C.
(2004). Correlated attributes and categorization in the first half-year
of life. Developmental Psychobiology, 44, 103-115.
Learmonth, A. E., Lamberth, R., & Rovee-Collier, C.
(2004). Generalization of deferred imitation in the first year of
life. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 88, 297-318.
Campanella, J. L., & Rovee-Collier, C. (2005). Latent learning and deferred imitation at 3 months. Infancy, 7, 243–262.
Barr, R., Rovee-Collier, C., & Campanella, J.
(2005). Retrieval facilitates retrieval: Protracting
deferred imitation by 6-month-olds. Infancy, 7, 263–283.
Galluccio, L. (2005). Updating reactivated memories in infancy. I. Passive- and active-exposure effects. Developmental Psychobiology, 47, 1-17.
Galluccio, L., & Rovee-Collier, C. (2005). Updating reactivated memories in infancy. II. Time passage and repetition effects. Developmental Psychobiology, 47,18-30.
Learmonth, A. E., Lamberth, R., & Rovee-Collier, C. (2005). The social context of imitation in infancy. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 91, 297-314.
Hsu, V. C., Rovee-Collier, C., Hill, D. L., Grodkiewicz, J., & Joh, A. (2005). Effects of priming duration on retention over the first year-and-a-half of life. Developmental Psychobiology, 47, 43-54.
Hsu, V. C., & Rovee-Collier, C. (2006). Memory reactivation in the second year of life. Infant Behavior and Development, 29, 91-107.
Cuevas, K., Rovee-Collier, C., & Learmonth, A. E. (2006). Infants form associations between memory representations of stimuli that are absent. Psychological Science, 17, 543-549.
Hildreth-Bearce, K., & Rovee-Collier, C. (2006). Repeated reactivation increases memory accessibility in infants. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 93, 357-376.
Rovee-Collier, C., & Cuevas, K. (2008). Infant memory. In J. H. Byrne (Series Ed.; H. Roediger, Vol. Ed.), Learning and memory: A comprehensive reference. Vol. 2: Cognitive psychology. Oxford, UK: Elsevier.
Rovee-Collier, C., & Cuevas, K. (in press). The development of infant memory. In M. Courage & N. Cowan (Eds.), The development of memory in childhood. Hove East Sussex, UK: Psychology Press.
Rovee-Collier, C. (in press).
Development of infant memory. In M. A. Gernsbacher, R. Pew, &
L. Hough (Eds.), Psychology and the real world: Essays illustrating fundamental contributions to society. Washington, D.C.: Foundation for the Advancement of Behavioral and Brain Sciences.
Kimberly joined the Rutgers Early Learning Project in 2002, as a graduate student in the Behavioral Neuroscience graduate program in Psychology. She received a B.A. in Psychology from Randolph-Macon Woman’s College (Lynchburg, VA). For her undergraduate honor’s thesis, Kimberly examined the memory reports of preschoolers. For her Master’s thesis at Rutgers, she used a combination of the mobile game and the puppet imitation game and demonstrated that 6-month-olds can form enduring associations between memories of objects that had never appeared together and were not even physically present when they were associated. Currently, she is studying context-specific learning by 3-month-olds using the mobile game and serial learning using the puppet game with older infants.
Amanda joined the Rutgers Early Learning Project in 2006, as a Henry Rutgers undergraduate honor’s student. For her thesis, she worked with 9- and 12-month-olds examining the latency of responding following a minimum duration prime using the train game. She found that as infant age, their latency of responding corresponds to the length of the prime and when the memory as been forgotten. Currently, Amanda is the Lab Technician and oversees the daily routine and maintenance of the lab.
Vivian joined the Rutgers Early Learning Project lab in
August of 2001 as a research assistant. In 2002, she entered the
Behavioral Neuroscience graduate program at Rutgers. She is a
graduate of Northeastern University in Boston, MA, with a B.S. in
Psychology. As an undergraduate, she completed research for
an independent study at Boston University Medical School that involved
memory testing with middle-aged monkeys. At Rutgers, Vivian's
Master's thesis, entitled The effects of memory reactivation on
retention at 15 and 18 months of age, was with older infants using the
train game. Among other things, she found when infants age, they
require a briefer exposure to a reminder in order for it to be
effective. Vivian received her doctoral degree in May 2007 after
examining how long infants between 6 and 18 months remember the train
game when the training sessions are temporally separated and whether
giving them a second session at the end of the forgetting function will
prolong their future retention longer than when the second session
occurred 1 day after their first session. Currently, she is
studying interference effects using the train game with infants at 6
months.
Christiana is a graduate student in the Behavioral Neuroscience
program at Rutgers. She joined the Early Learning Project in 2004
after graduating from DePaul University in Chicago, where she completed
research on the development of manipulatory skills and hand-use
preference in infancy. Christiana’s Master’s thesis
research examines the extinction of memories that are formed with the
mobile and train games. She is currently working with infants
between the ages of 3- to 12-months.
Amy joined the Rutgers’ Early Learning Project as a
Research Assistant in 2005. Before that, she graduated with
honors from Ramapo College (Mahwah, NJ) and was a Research Assistant at
the Kessler Rehabilitation Institute (West Orange, NJ). In
2006, she entered the Behavioral Neuroscience graduate program at
Rutgers. Currently, Amy’s Master’s thesis research
examines the puppet-imitation game with 6-, 9-, and 12-month-olds to
find out what babies learn and remember about two objects that they
merely see together and whether they can use that information in new
situations. She is also using the puppet-imitation game to
examine how infants of different ages learn serial lists.