Simona Ghetti

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Simona Ghetti
Alma materUniversità di Padova; University of California, Davis
Occupation(s)Professor, University of California, Davis

Simona Ghetti is Professor of Psychology at the University of California, Davis, where she is affiliated with the University of California Davis Center for Mind and Brain. She is known for her research on the development of episodic memory, reconstructive memory, and metamemory in youth, with a specific focus on individuals who have had traumatic experiences.

Contents

Ghetti was the recipient of multiple awards commending her work, including the Early Career Research Achievement Award from the Society for Research in Child Development in 2007, the Boyd McCandless Early Career Award from the American Psychological Association (Division 7, Developmental Psychology) in 2009, [1] and the Distinguished Scientific Award for Early Career Contribution to Psychology from the American Psychological Association in 2010. [2]

Ghetti co-edited, with Anna Mestitz, a volume titled Victim-Offender Mediation with Youth Offenders in Europe: An Overview and Comparison of 15 Countries. [3] This volume provides a cross-cultural perspective on the process of victim-offender mediation, also called restorative justice conferencing, [4] which provides victims with opportunities to meet with their offenders in safe and structured settings. [5] Ghetti co-edited the volume Origins and Development of Recollection: Perspectives from Psychology and Neuroscience with Patricia Bauer. This book summarizes research on the development of the ability to recollect or recall personal events, which provides the basis for developing a sense of life history or autobiographical memory. [6]

Biography

Simona Ghetti received her B.S. degree in Psychology (Summa Cum Laude) at the Università di Padova, Italy in 1995. She attended graduate school at the University of California, Davis where she obtained her Ph.D. in psychology in 2002. Upon graduation, Ghetti worked as a researcher at the National Research Council, Bologna, Italy. She returned to University of California Davis as a faculty member in 2005 and was promoted to Full Professor in 2013.

Ghetti's research has been supported through grants from the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation. [7] [8] She was recipient of a 21st Century Science Initiative Award from the James F. McDonnell Foundation (2010), [9] and a Science of Prospection Scholar Award through the University of Pennsylvania and the John Templeton Foundation (2014). [10]

Research

Simona Ghetti uses behavioral and neuroimaging methods to study the development of memory in children. Her lab has conducted numerous studies of neural basis of the development episodic memory, with a specific focus on the hippocampus. [11] [12] [13] Ghetti is perhaps best known for her research on early memories of traumatic events, which has implications for the eyewitness testimony as well as clinical implications. [14] [15] In one of her collaborative studies indicating the negative effects of long-term memories of childhood sexual abuse, victims who had more accurate memories were more likely to experience post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). [16]

Representative Publications

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Index of psychology articles</span>

Psychology is an academic and applied discipline involving the scientific study of human mental functions and behavior. Occasionally, in addition or opposition to employing the scientific method, it also relies on symbolic interpretation and critical analysis, although these traditions have tended to be less pronounced than in other social sciences, such as sociology. Psychologists study phenomena such as perception, cognition, emotion, personality, behavior, and interpersonal relationships. Some, especially depth psychologists, also study the unconscious mind.

Repressed memory is an inability to recall autobiographical information, usually of a traumatic or stressful nature. The concept originated in psychoanalytic theory where repression is defined as a protective mechanism that excludes memory of painful experiences from consciousness. Repressed memory is a controversial concept, particularly in legal contexts where it has been used to impugn individuals unfairly and inaccurately, leading to substantial harm. At the same time, an American Psychological Association working group indicated that while "most people who were sexually abused as children remember all or part of what happened to them, it is possible for memories of abuse that have been forgotten for a long time to be remembered". Although Sigmund Freud later revised his theory, he initially held that memories of childhood sexual trauma were often repressed yet the traumas unconsciously influenced behavior and emotional responding.

Susan A. Clancy is a cognitive psychologist and Associate professor in Consumer behaviour at INCAE as well as a Post-Doctoral Fellow at Harvard University. She is best known for her controversial work on repressed and recovered memories in her books Abducted and The Trauma Myth.

Recovered-memory therapy (RMT) is a catch-all term for a controversial and scientifically discredited form of psychotherapy that critics say utilizes one or more unproven therapeutic techniques to purportedly help patients recall previously forgotten memories. Proponents of recovered memory therapy claim, contrary to evidence that traumatic memories can be buried in the subconscious and thereby affect current behavior, and that these memories can be recovered through the use of RMT techniques. RMT is not recommended by mainstream ethical and professional mental health associations.

In psychology, a false memory is a phenomenon where someone recalls something that did not happen or recalls it differently from the way it actually happened. Suggestibility, activation of associated information, the incorporation of misinformation, and source misattribution have been suggested to be several mechanisms underlying a variety of types of false memory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nora Newcombe</span>

Nora S. Newcombe is the Laura H. Carnell Professor of Psychology and the James H. Glackin Distinguished Faculty Fellow at Temple University. She is a Canadian-American researcher in cognitive development, cognitive psychology and cognitive science, and expert on the development of spatial thinking and reasoning and episodic memory. She was the principal investigator of the Spatial Intelligence and Learning Center (2006-2018), one of six Science of Learning Centers funded by the National Science Foundation.

Katherine Nelson was an American developmental psychologist, and professor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Melanie Killen</span> American psychologist

Melanie Killen is a developmental psychologist and Professor of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology, and Professor of Psychology (Affiliate) at the University of Maryland, and Honorary Professor of Psychology at the University of Kent, Canterbury, UK. She is supported by funding from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), and the National Science Foundation (NSF) for her research. In 2008, she was awarded Distinguished Scholar-Teacher by the Provost's office at the University of Maryland. She is the Director of the Social and Moral Development Lab at the University of Maryland.

Childhood amnesia, also called infantile amnesia, is the inability of adults to retrieve episodic memories before the age of two to four years, as well as the period before the age of ten of which some older adults retain fewer memories than might otherwise be expected given the passage of time. The development of a cognitive self is also thought by some to have an effect on encoding and storing early memories.

Gail S. Goodman is an American psychologist, known as one of the first in her field to study children's roles in the legal system, specifically children's eyewitness testimony pertaining to the Sixth Amendment. Her awards for her contributions to research, writing, and teaching include the American Psychological Association Award for Distinguished Contributions to Psychology in the Public Interest in 2017. Her involvement includes being cited in United States Supreme Court cases, which is rare for psychologists.

Memory implantation is a technique used in cognitive psychology to investigate human memory. In memory implantation studies researchers make people believe that they remember an event that actually never happened. The false memories that have been successfully implanted in people's memories include remembering being lost in a mall as a child, taking a hot air balloon ride, and putting slime in a teacher's desk in primary school.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kenneth A. Dodge</span> American academic

Kenneth Dodge is the William McDougall Distinguished Professor of Public Policy and Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at Duke University. He is also the founding and past director of the Duke University Center for Child and Family Policy and founder of Family Connects International.

Sandra Trehub is a Canadian psychologist recognized for her research in the field of music psychology. She holds the position of Professor Emeritus at the University of Toronto.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patricia Bauer</span> Canadian psychologist and academic

Patricia J. Bauer is Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Psychology at Emory University. She is known for her research in the field of cognitive development, with a specific focus on how children develop their earliest memories and how their memory is influenced by parents, peers, and the environment around them. Her research has explored the phenomenon of childhood amnesia and how social, cognitive, and neural changes relate to the development of autobiographical memory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Karen Saywitz</span> American psychologist

Karen Jill Saywitz was an American psychologist, author, and educator. She worked as a developmental and clinical psychologist and professor at the UCLA School of Medicine and Department of Psychiatry and Development. For more than 20 years Saywitz taught child development and was director of several mental health programs for families. She also developed "non-leading" techniques for interviewing child witnesses and victims, based on cognitive and developmental psychology principles. She died of cancer in 2018.

Daphne Blunt Bugental was a psychologist known for her research on parent-child relationships, infant and child maltreatment, and family violence. At the time of her death, she was Professor Emerita of Psychology at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Lisa Feigenson is Professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Johns Hopkins University and co-director of the Johns Hopkins University Laboratory for Child Development. Feigenson is known for her research on the development of numerical abilities, working memory, and early learning. She has served on the editorial board of Cognition and the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Apryl A. Alexander</span> American clinical and forensic psychologist (born 1983)

Apryl A. Alexander is an American clinical and forensic psychologist who is an associate professor at the University of Denver. Alexander directs students at the Denver Forensic Institute for Research, Service and Training, and engages in clinical psychology practice. She is co-founder of the University of Denver's Prison Arts Initiative where incarcerated individuals engage in a therapeutic, educational arts curricula.

Jodi Anne Quas is an applied developmental psychologist who is known for her work on how maltreatment and abuse affect memory development and children's ability to give eyewitness testimony after experiencing trauma. She holds the position of Professor of Psychological Science and Nursing Science at the University of California, Irvine School of Social Ecology.

Lynn S. Liben is developmental psychologist known for her research on effects of gender and racial stereotypes on child development. Liben is an Evan Pugh University Professor of Psychology, Human Development and Family Studies, and Education at Pennsylvania State University.

References

  1. ↑ "Boyd McCandless Award". APA. Retrieved 2017-11-29.
  2. ↑ "APA Distinguished Scientific Awards for an Early Career Contribution to Psychology". APA. Retrieved 2017-11-29.
  3. ↑ Mestitz, Anna; Ghetti, Simona (2006-01-16). Victim-Offender Mediation with Youth Offenders in Europe: An Overview and Comparison of 15 Countries. Springer Science & Business Media. ISBN   9781402038792.
  4. ↑ Suzuki, Masahiro; Wood, William (2018). "Is restorative justice conferencing appropriate for youth offenders?". Criminology & Criminal Justice. 18 (4): 450–467. doi:10.1177/1748895817722188. hdl: 10072/369918 . S2CID   55835742.
  5. ↑ "Victim-Offender Mediation | National Institute of Justice". National Institute of Justice. Retrieved 2017-11-29.
  6. ↑ Origins and development of recollection : perspectives from psychology and neuroscience. Ghetti, Simona., Bauer, Patricia J. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2011. ISBN   978-0195340792. OCLC   744297057.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  7. ↑ "NSF Award Search: Award#0241125 - False-memory rejection: The role of the memorability-based strategy". www.nsf.gov. Retrieved 2017-11-29.
  8. ↑ "NSF Award Search: Award#0843428 - Development of Uncertainty Monitoring During the Preschool Years". www.nsf.gov. Retrieved 2017-11-29.
  9. ↑ "McDonnell Foundation Announces 2010 Grants for The 21st Century Science Initiative Awards" (PDF).
  10. ↑ "Researchers | Prospective Psychology". www.prospectivepsych.org. Retrieved 2017-11-29.
  11. ↑ DeMaster, Dana M.; Ghetti, Simona (2013-06-01). "Developmental differences in hippocampal and cortical contributions to episodic retrieval". Cortex. 49 (6): 1482–1493. doi:10.1016/j.cortex.2012.08.004. PMID   22981810. S2CID   33664328.
  12. ↑ DeMaster, Dana; Pathman, Thanujeni; Lee, Joshua K.; Ghetti, Simona (2014-11-01). "Structural Development of the Hippocampus and Episodic Memory: Developmental Differences Along the Anterior/Posterior Axis". Cerebral Cortex. 24 (11): 3036–3045. doi: 10.1093/cercor/bht160 . ISSN   1047-3211. PMID   23800722.
  13. ↑ Ghetti, Simona; Bunge, Silvia A. (2012). "Neural changes underlying the development of episodic memory during middle childhood". Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience. 2 (4): 381–395. doi:10.1016/j.dcn.2012.05.002. PMC   3545705 . PMID   22770728.
  14. ↑ Goodman, Gail S.; Ghetti, Simona; Quas, Jodi A.; Edelstein, Robin S.; Alexander, Kristen Weede; Redlich, Allison D.; Cordon, Ingrid M.; Jones, David P.H. (2003-03-01). "A Prospective Study of Memory for Child Sexual Abuse: New Findings Relevant to the Repressed-Memory Controversy". Psychological Science. 14 (2): 113–118. doi:10.1111/1467-9280.01428. ISSN   0956-7976. PMID   12661671. S2CID   9110623.
  15. ↑ B., Myers, John E. (2007). Myers on evidence in child, domestic and elder abuse cases, 2007 cumulative supplement : successor edition to Evidence in child abuse and neglect cases, 3rd ed. New York, NY: Aspen Pub. ISBN   978-0735567030. OCLC   229140462.
  16. ↑ Alexander, Kristen Weede; Quas, Jodi A.; Goodman, Gail S.; Ghetti, Simona; Edelstein, Robin S.; Redlich, Allison D.; Cordon, Ingrid M.; Jones, David P.H. (2005-01-01). "Traumatic Impact Predicts Long-Term Memory for Documented Child Sexual Abuse". Psychological Science. 16 (1): 33–40. doi:10.1111/j.0956-7976.2005.00777.x. ISSN   0956-7976. PMID   15660849. S2CID   8750819.
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