Dr. William J. Hoyer

Professor

Education

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West Virginia University, PhD. Experiemental Psychology

Research Interest

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The overall goal of my research is to understand how individuals gain and retain knowledge. In particular, my research is focused on 1) cognitive control and understanding the factors that affect choice or use of effective strategies during learning, and 2) age-related differences and understanding the factors that constrain and facilitate effective cognitive functioning in different aged adults. For example, recently completed and ongoing studies carried out with students and colleagues in the Adult Cognition Lab (insert link) examine the factors that affect the efficiency of strategic and associative processes during skill learning in younger and older adults, similarities and differences between associative memory and skill learning in younger and older adults, and age-related differences in the use of recollection and familiarity processes in memory and skill learning.

Representative Publications

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Cerella, J., Onyper, S. V., & Hoyer, W. J. (2006). The associative-memory basis of cognitive skill learning: Adult age differences. Psychology and Aging, 21, 483-498.

Hoyer, W. J., & Verhaeghen, P. (2006). Memory aging. In J. E. Birren and K. W. Schaie (Eds.), Handbook of the psychology of aging (sixth edition, pp. 209-232). San Diego: Elsevier.

Onyper, S. V., Hoyer, W. J., & Cerella, J. (2006). Determinants of retrieval solutions during cognitive skill training: Source confusions. Memory & Cognition, 34, 538-549.

Howard, M. W., Bessette-Symons, B., Zhang, Y., & Hoyer, W. J. (2006). Aging selectively impairs recollection memory for pictures: Evidence from modeling and ROC curves. Psychology and Aging, 21, 96-106.

Hoyer, W. J., Stawski, R., Wasylyshyn, C., & Verhaeghen, P. (2004). Adult age and digit-symbol performance: A meta-analysis. Psychology and Aging, 19, 211-214.

Hoyer, W. J., Cerella, J., & Onyper, S. (2003). Item learning in cognitive skill training: Effects of item difficulty. Memory & Cognition, 31, 1260-1270.