I'm a professor of cognitive and developmental psychology and I study human memory. Whenever I find myself in conversation with folks and what I study comes up, the conversation always turns to this: "Can you help me with my memory? It's awful! I give the same response each time: Our memories are not actually awful -- but our culture does constantly put us into positions that stress our systems. Our memories were not designed to be perfect recorders of experience, taking "minutes" of our lives like digital devices. Instead, our memories were designed to help us anticipate and plan, connect with others, and give us a sense of belonging to our communities in the form of a self-concept and identity. In an upper-division undergraduate Cognitive Psychology course students studied this perspective and much more. They then took their newfound realizations and created something useful, in the way of guides to help others understand their memories, and to make them work for, rather than against, themselves. 

In each section below you will find thoughtfully created and creatively presented guides. If you find a guide that may suite your needs, we hope you will try it out! While we have not empirically tested the effectiveness of these projects, the recommendations are grounded in empirical literature and they should work. If you try one out and have feedback for us (either positive or constructive) please share it with me -- Prf. K. -- using the email address at the bottom of this page. 

Thanks for visiting our site, and "happy memory-making!" to you. 

-- Prf. Erica Kleinknecht 

Spring, 2025