Kristi Multhaup

I joined the Psychology Department in Fall 1996, after completing postdoctoral research in aging at Washington University in St. Louis and at Duke University. 

My main research interest is in cognitive aging, particularly the mechanisms responsible for memory changes and, in some cases, the lack of memory changes in healthy older adults. Specialty areas include source memory (e.g., where did you learn information, a friend, a TV show, Facebook), autobiographical memory, and inhibitory control (e.g., what we use to name the color of ink in RED "black").

I also enjoy helping students develop research projects in aging that are not necessarily about cognition and projects in cognition that are not necessarily about aging. Examples include horses, like people, learning better with spaced than massed practice (Holcomb et al., 2022); collective memory in China & the U.S. (Yao et al., 2025); and working memory in Deaf-signing and hearing-nonsigning adults (McFayden et al., 2023a,b).

 In 2007, I was deeply honored to receive the Hunter-Hamilton Love of Teaching Award.

Teaching

• PSY 245 Psychology of Aging
• PSY 276 Cognitive Psychology
• PSY 292 Collective Memory
• PSY 304 Psychological Research: Memory
• PSY 319 Psychological Research: Adult Development
• PSY 377 Life Stories
• PSY 401 Issues in Psychology
• WRI 101 Science of Studying and Learning

Memberships & Associations

• Fellow of the American Psychological Association and its Divisions 2 (Teaching of Psychology), 3 (Experimental Psychology), and 20 (Adult Development & Aging)
• American Psychological Association Division 1 (General Psychology)
• Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science
• Council for Undergraduate Research
• Gerontological Society of America
• Phi Beta Kappa
• Fellow of the Psychonomic Society
• Sigma Xi
• Women in Cognitive Science
• American Association of University Women