Kara Moore, Ph.D.

Research Interests

My research interest is in attention and memory-based errors and how those errors can be devastating in high-stakes contexts. My research has focused on defining and preventing attention and memory errors in legal settings. I have two major lines of research: (1) the role of memory and attention in person searches (e.g., missing and wanted persons), and (2) the role of meta-cognitive strategies in preventing false memories and erroneous identifications, and the development of meta-cognitive strategies in childhood.  

In the first domain, I conduct simulated searches for missing and wanted people to examine the role of memory and attention in searching for people. I have found that attentional failures cause most people to fail at these person search tasks, and face recognition failures play a smaller, but meaningful role. This work has been funded by the American Psychology and Law Society at the undergraduate, graduate, and faculty levels.  

In the second domain, I examine the role of meta-cognition in preventing eyewitness memory errors in adults and children. Broadly, I have found that meta-cognition contributes to avoiding false memories, but that erroneous meta-cognitive beliefs are common and contribute to eyewitness memory fallibility. This work has been funded by the National Science Foundation. My current NSF grant focuses on harnessing virtual reality, eye tracking, and other physiological measures to answer critical questions about the role of meta-cognition in eyewitness identification and confidence. 

I am interested in collaborating with other scholars on topics within and beyond the legal field.  

Opportunities For Students

As the Director of the CALM lab, I provide training opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students to gain a variety of research skills in the domain of cognitive psychology. I value playing a role in others’ professional development! I mentor graduate and undergraduate students with interests that overlap some of my primary research interests. 

I am reviewing doctoral applications for admittance in the Fall of 2024.  

More information about getting involved in the lab and my mentorship style can be found on the CALM lab website under Get Involved.   

Education

B.A., University of Texas at Arlington, 2012

Ph.D., University of Arkansas, 2017

Selected Publications

All lab publications can be found on ResearchGate

Key: *undergraduate mentee, +graduate mentee, 1^st shared first authorship

^1stBaldassari, M.J., ^1stMoore, K.N., Hyman, I.R, Hope, L., Mah, E. & Lindsay, D.S. (Stage 2 Registered Report, 2023). The Effect of Pre-Crime Instructions on Eyewitness Identification. Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications, Pre-print: https://osf.io/8kbqu/

Moore, K. N., Lampinen, J. M., *Adams, E. J., & +Nesmith, B.L. (2022). Prior Experience with Target Encounter Affects Attention Allocation and Prospective Memory Performance. Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications. 10.1186/s41235-022-00385-7

Moore, K. N., Lampinen, J. M., +Nesmith, B.L., Bridges, A.J., & Gallo, D.A. (2022) Feedback and Recollection Rejection Instructions Improve Children’s Memory Accuracy. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 221. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2022.105434

*Saraqini, D., +Nesmith, B.L., *Stear, C. & *Rath, H.J. Moore, K.N. (Stage 2 Registered Report, 2022). The effects of empathy on search efforts for missing persons. Applied Cognitive Psychology. Pre-print: https://osf.io/rfgq2/

Moore, K. N. & Lampinen, J. M. (2019). The role of attention and memory in the search for missing persons. Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition, 8(2), 189–201. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jarmac.2019.01.005

Moore, K. N., Lampinen, J. M., Gallo, D. A, *Adams, E. J., & Bridges, A. J. (2018). Children’s Use of Memory Editing Strategies to Reject Source Misinformation. Child Development, 89(1), 219–234. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12716

 

Graduate Students

Chenxin Yu
Dara Zwemer