Tanjeem Azad

Supervisors

Drs. Stephen Lindsay & C.A.E. Brimacombe

Research interests

My research interests are in false memories.  In particular, my focus is on understanding the cognitive processes involved in false memories as well as the impact such memories may have within the realm of eyewitness testimony.  For my MSc. thesis, I examined howmisinformation delivered by a co-witness influence one’s source memory for a witnessed event.  Source memory (or source monitoring) refers to the processes involved in identifying the origin of a memory, in this case whether or not misinformation was witnessed or learned from a co-witness.  I was particularly interested in studying the subjective experiences accompanying reports of source memory - that is, whether a person who reports an erroneous detail that was actually seen by a co-witness also experiences an illusory recollection (e.g., having a memory for a detail that was never witnessed) or an illusory belief (e.g., having no memory of the detail but being certain that it was witnessed).  I am continuing this line of research with the aim of exploring factors that modulate subjective experiences.  Other research that I am currently pursuing with another graduate student examines the role of fatigue in the misinformation effect.

Representative publications

Bodner, G. E., Musch, E., & Azad, T. (2009). Reevaluating the potency of the memory conformity effect. Memory & Cognition, 37, 1069-1076

Gunter, R. W., Bodner, G. E., & Azad, T. (2007). Generation and mnemonic encoding induce a mirror effect in the DRM paradigm. Memory & Cognition, 35, 1083-1092.

Bland, B. H., Jackson, J., Derie-Gillespie, D., Azad, T., Rickhi, A., & Abriam, J. (2006). Amplitude, frequency, and phase analysis of hippocampal theta during sensorimotor processing in a jump avoidance task. Hippocampus, 16, 673-681.

Representative presentations

Azad, T. Lindsay, D.S., & Brimacombe, C.A.E. (2009). Examining the memory conformity effect: Do people falsely “remember,” “know,” or “guess” unseen details they learned from another person during co-witness discussion? Paper presented at the 8th annual Society for Applied Research in Memory & Cognition, Kyoto, Japan.

Azad, T. Lindsay, D. S., & Brimacombe, C. A. E. (2009). Using source judgments and the remember/know/guess paradigm to study memory conformity among collaborative pairs. Paper presented at the 11th annual NorthWest Cognition and Memory.

Azad, T. Bodner, G. E., & Musch, E. (2008). On the potency of memory conformity effects: Is seeing not believing? Paper presented at the 10th annual NOWCAM.

Recent awards

• Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC): Canada Graduate Scholarship
• University of Victoria President’s Research Award
• Jason Lang Undergraduate Scholarship
• University of Calgary Undergraduate Competitive Award