Dr Emma Ward

Personal website: Memory, Cognition, & Aging

Google Scholar

My research surrounds human memory and cognitive aging. I am particularly interested in the relationship between explicit (e.g., recognition) and implicit (e.g., priming) memory, and the effect of aging on these forms of memory.  

I am also interested in factors that affect memory processing, including incidental versus intentional encoding, attention, processing style, context reinstatement, and temporal expectation. I primarily use experimental behavioural methods to address mechanistic questions about the operations of memory, but have recently begun to employ EEG in collaboration with colleagues in the department to examine the neural basis of the beneficial effect of rhythm on memory.

Enquiries from potential PhD or MSc by research applicants who wish to undertake research in one of these areas are welcome.

Current and recent projects:

• Effects of rhythmic encoding on recognition memory, and interactions with factors including aging and spatial attention (EEG project in collaboration with Dr Alexander Jones and Dr Jon Silas, Middlesex)
• Residency at the Science Museum: Explicit and implicit memory across the lifespan (in collaboration with UCL and the University of Plymouth). This is a large-scale project designed to map changes in explicit and implicit memory across the lifespan and examine the effects of attention and processing style
• Context reinstatement effects on item and associative memory (in collaboration with City University, London, and the University of Warwick)
• Effects of music-mood matching on memory in aging (in collaboration with Dr Fabia Franco, Middlesex)
• Aging, wellbeing, and cognition (e.g., frailty assessment, geriatric depression, dementia [in humans and other species])

Other roles:

UoA4 REF Working Group, Middlesex Uiversity

Department Leadership Team: Director of Research Funding, Psychology Department, Middlesex University

External Examiner, Second Year BSc Psychology, UCL, 2019-2022

Member of the Experimental Psychology Society (EPS)

Member of the European Cognitive Aging Society (EUCAS)

Specialist journal reviewer: Psychology and Aging; Memory; Journal of Alzheimer's disease; Memory and Cognition; Frontiers in Psychology; Journal of Memory and Language; Nature Scientific Reports

Associate Editor, Frontiers in Cognition

Peer reviewed journal articles:

Ward, E.V. (2021). Age and processing effects on perceptual and conceptual priming. Stage 1 Registered Report, Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology.

Jones, A. J., Silas, J., & Ward, E.V. (2020). How does temporal structure improve memory? Stage 1 Registered Report, Cortex.

Ward, E.V., Berry, C.J., Shanks, D.R., Moller, P.L., Czsiser, E.L. (2020). Aging predicts parallel decline in explicit and implicit memory: A lifespan study. Psychological Science, 39, 1071-1083. 

Ward, E.V., Isac, A., Donnelley, M., Van Puyvelde, M., & Franco, F. (2020).  Memory improvement as a function of mood-matching music. Acta Psychologica, 212,103216. 

Jones, A.J., & Ward, E.V. (2019). Rhythmic temporal structure at encoding enhances recognition memory. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 1-14

Sutton, J.L., Gould, R.L., Coulson, M.C., Ward, E.V., Butler, A.M., Smith, M., Lavell, G., Rosa, A., Langridge, M., & Howard, R.J. (2019). Multi-component frailty assessment tools for older people with functional mental illness: A systematic review. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 67, 1085-1095

Ward, E.V., & Shanks, D.R. (2019). Implicit Memory and Cognitive Aging. Oxford Research Encyclopaedia. Oxford University Press.

Ward, E.V. (2018). Reduced recognition and priming in older relative to young adults for incidental and intentional information. Consciousness and Cognition, 57, 62-73.

Tunvirachaisakul, C., Gould, R.L., Coulson, M.C., Ward, E.V., Reynolds, G. Gathercole, R.L., Grocott, H., Supasitthumrong, T., Tunvirachaisakul, A., Kimona, K. Howard, R.L. (2017). Predictors of treatment outcome in depression in later life: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Affective Disorders, 227, 164-182.

Berry, C.J., Ward, E.V., & Shanks, D.R. (2017). Does study duration have opposite effects on recognition and repetition priming? Journal of Memory and Language, 97, 154-174.

Ward, E.V., Maylor, E.A.M., Poirier, M., Korko, M., & Ruud, J.C.M. (2016). A benefit of context reinstatement to memory in aging: The role of familiarity processes. Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition, 24.

Ward, E.V., & Dhami, M.K. (2016). Editorial: The aging decision-maker: Advances in understanding the impact of cognitive change on decision-making. Frontiers in Cognition, 7, 1622.

Sutton, J.L., Gould, R.L., Daley, S., Coulson, M.C., Ward, E.V., Butler, A.M., Nunn, S.P., & Howard, R.J. (2016). Psychometric properties of multicomponent tools to assess frailty in older adults: A systematic review. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 29, 16-55.

Liu, K., Gould, R., Coulson, M.C., Ward, E.V., & Howard, R.J. (2016). Tests of pattern separation and pattern completion in humans – a systematic review. Hippocampus, 26, 705-717.

Ward, E.V., de Mornay Davies, P., & Politimou, N. (2015). Greater priming for previously distracting information in young than older adults when suppression is ruled out. Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition, 22, 1-19.

Ward, E.V., Berry, C.J., & Shanks, D.R. (2013). Age effects on explicit and implicit memory. Frontiers in Cognition, 4, 639.

Ward, E.V., & Berry, C.J., & Shanks, D.R. (2013). An effect of age on implicit memory that is not due to explicit contamination: Implications for single and multiple-systems theories. Psychology and Aging, 28, 429-442.

Conference Presentations:

Szymczak, J.K., Ward, E.V. Csiszer, E.L., & Jones, A.J. (2019). Temporal and Spatial expectancy improve recognition memory. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the British Association for Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Cambridge, September.

Mangiacotti, A., Cipriani, G., Ward, E.V., Franco, F., Biasutti, M. (2019). The Music Cognitive Test: A new music-based cognitive test. Talk presented at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference, July.

Ward, E.V., Berry, C.J., & Shanks, D.R. (2019). Explicit and implicit memory in aging: Effects of attention and processing style. Poster presented at the 5^th International Conference on Cognitive Aging, Zurich, April. (winner of the Presidential Poster Award)

Jones, A.J., & Ward, E.V. (2019). Rhythmic temporal structure at encoding enhances recognition memory. Poster presented at the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Neuroscience Society, San Francisco, March.

Jones, A.J., & Ward, E.V. (2018). Rhythmic encoding improves recognition memory. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the British Association for Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Glasgow, September.

Franco, F., Ward, E.V., Mangiacotti, A. (2018). Memory improvement in aging as a function of mood-matching music. Poster presented at the Music, Selves, and Societies workshop, Faculty of Music, Cambridge University, June.

Ward, E.V. (2017). Memory matters: Aspects of preservation and enhancement. Invited talk at the University of the Third Age (U3A), October.

Ward, E.V. (2017). How does context reinstatement facilitate memory in ageing? Invited talk at the University of Warwick, January.

Ward, E.V. (2016). Where did I see that? Age difference in source memory and response bias lead to differential retrieval of previously task irrelevant information. Poster presented at the 6^th International Conference on Memory, Budapest, July

Ruud, J.C., & Ward, E.V. (2015). How does context reinstatement facilitate memory in ageing? Poster presented at the BPS General Annual Conference, Liverpool, May

Ward, E.V., de Mornay Davies, P., Politimou, N. (2014). Ageing and implicit memory: A benefit of distraction? Poster presented at the Cognitive Aging Conference, Atlanta, April.

Ward, E. V. (2012). Is implicit memory impaired in normal ageing? Talk presented at the General York Memory Meeting, University of York, December.

Shanks, D. R., Ward, E. V., & Berry, C. J. (2012). The utility of the explicit/implicit distinction for understanding age-related decline in learning and memory. Invited presentation at the Symposium on Lifespan Perspectives on Implicit and Explicit Learning, Université Libre de Bruxelles, September.

Ward, E.V. (2012). The organisation of memory: Effects of age on explicit and implicit memory. Invited talk at the Memory Research Unit, City University, June.

Ward, E.V., & Shanks, D.R. (2012). An age effect on implicit memory that is not due to explicit contamination. Poster presented at the UCL Neuroscience Symposium, June.

Ward, E. V., & Shanks, D. R. (2012). An age effect on implicit memory that is not due to explicit contamination. Poster presented at the Cognitive Aging Conference 2012, Atlanta, April.

Ward, E. V., & Shanks, D. R. (2012). The relationship between explicit and implicit memory in normal aging. Talk presented at the EPS London Meeting, UCL, January.

Ward, E. V., & Shanks, D. R. (2011). An examination of the dissociation of explicit and implicit memory in normal aging. Talk presented at the BPS Cognitive Section Conference, Keele University, September.

Ward, E. V., & Shanks, D. R. (2011). Can recognition and priming be dissociated in normal aging and delayed testing when measured concurrently? Talk presented at the 5^th International Conference on Memory (ICOM5), University of York, July-August.

Publication Feed