Timothy Ricker

I enjoy teaching students to think about the brain as a computer and to think about life as a series of probabilistic events. In practice, this means I teach courses related to cognition and statistics.

I am interested in how visual sensation becomes a robust working memory and in understanding forgetting, particularly in relation to multitasking impacts on working memory performance. I use behavioral experimentation, laboratory & online data collection, mathematical process modeling, and Bayesian estimation to explore questions related to basic theory and practical application.

Citations listed below are presented in a standardized, modified format for display purposes only. They do not necessarily reflect the preferred style and conventions of the faculty member or discipline.

Ricker, Timothy J., Souza, Alessandra S., and Vergauwe, Evie. Feature identity determines representation structure in working memory, 2925-2940. Iss. 152 Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 2023. (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0001427)
Cotton, Kelly, and Ricker, Timothy J.. Is there a role of creativity in the relationship between working memory consolidation and long-term memory?, 1550–1565. Vol. 85 Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 2023. (DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/s13414-022-02598-w)
Cotton, Kelly, Sandry, Joshua, and Ricker, Timothy J.. Secondary task engagement drives the McCabe effect in long-term memory, online ahead of print. Memory & Cognition, 2023. (DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/s13421-023-01450-2)
Cotton, Kelly, Sandry, Joshua, and Ricker, Timothy J.. The effects of mind-wandering, cognitive load, and task engagement on working memory performance in remote online experiments, 271-284. Vol. 70 Experimental Psychology, 2023. (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1027/1618-3169/a000599)
Ricker, Timothy J., and Vergauwe, Evie. Boundary conditions for observing cognitive load effects in visual working memory, 1-17. Memory, & Cognition, 2022. (DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/s13421-022-01320-3)
Mui, Michelle, Ruben, Ray M., Ricker, Timothy J., Dobryakova, Ekaterina, and Sandry, Joshua. Ex-gaussian analysis of simple response time and the relationship with brain morphometry in multiple sclerosis, 103890. Vol. 63 Multiple Sclerosis and Related Disorders, 2022. (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.msard.2022.103890)
Cotton, Kelly, and Ricker, Timothy J.. Examining the relationship between working memory consolidation and long-term memory consolidation, 1-24. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 2022. (DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-022-02084-2 )
Sandry, Joshua, and Ricker, Timothy J.. Motor speed does not impact the drift rate: A computational HDDM approach to differentiate cognitive and motor speed, 66. Vol. 7 Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications, 2022. (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s41235-022-00412-7)
Hebert, Karen, and Ricker, Timothy. Reliability of the Emotional Experiences in Activities of Daily Living Scale, 153944922210852. OTJR: Occupation, Participation and Health, 2022. (DOI: 10.1177/15394492221085288)
Cotton, Kelly, and Ricker, Timothy J.. Working memory consolidation improves long-term memory recognition., 208 - 219. Vol. 47 Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition, 2021. (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037/xlm0000954)
Sandry, Joshua, and Ricker, Timothy J.. Prioritization within visual working memory reflects a flexible focus of attention., 2985-3004. Vol. 82, Iss. 6 Attention, perception & psychophysics, 2020. (DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/s13414-020-02049-4)
Ricker, Timothy J., and Vergauwe, Evie. Consistent Failure to Produce a Cognitive Load Effect in Visual Working Memory Using a Standard Dual-Task Procedure., 15. Vol. 3, Iss. 1 Journal of cognition, 2020. (DOI: https://doi.org/10.5334/joc.108)
Sandry, Joshua, Zuppichini, M D., and Ricker, Timothy J.. Attentional flexibility and prioritization improves long-term memory., 103104. Vol. 208 Acta psychologica, 2020. (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2020.103104)
Ricker, Timothy J., Sandry, J, Vergauwe, E, and Cowan, N. Do familiar memory items decay?, 60-76. Vol. 46, Iss. 1 Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition, 2020. (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037/xlm0000719)
Vergauwe, E, Ricker, Timothy, Langerock, N, and Cowan, N. What do people typically do between list items? The nature of attention-based mnemonic activities depends on task context., 779-794. Vol. 45, Iss. 5 Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition, 2019. (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037/xlm0000625)
Ricker, Timothy, and Sandry, J. The relationship between masking and short-term consolidation during recall from visual working memory., 91-101. Vol. 1424, Iss. 1 Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 2018. (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/nyas.13641)
Ricker, Timothy, Nieuwenstein, M R., Bayliss, D M., and Barrouillet, P. Working memory consolidation: insights from studies on attention and working memory., 8-18. Vol. 1424, Iss. 1 Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 2018. (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/nyas.13633)
Ricker, Timothy J., and Cowan, Nelson. Cognitive load as a measure of capture of the focus of attention. In Cognitive Load Measurement and Application: A Theoretical Framework for Meaningful Research and Practice, editors R. Zheng. New York, NY: Routledge, 2018.
Parshina, Olga, Obied, Rita, Che, Elizabeth S., Ricker, Timothy J., and Brooks, Patricia J.. SRT and ASRT: Similar tasks tapping distinct learning mechanisms?, 2202-2207. Vol. 36 Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, 2018.
Ricker, Timothy, and Hardman, K O.. The nature of short-term consolidation in visual working memory., 1551-1573. Vol. 146, Iss. 11 Journal of experimental psychology. General, 2017. (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0000346)
Ricker, Timothy, Thiele, J E., Swagman, A R., and Rouder, J N.. Recognition Decisions From Visual Working Memory Are Mediated by Continuous Latent Strengths., 1510-1532. Vol. 41, Iss. 6 Cognitive science, 2017. (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/cogs.12436)
Hardman, K O., Vergauwe, E, and Ricker, Timothy. Categorical working memory representations are used in delayed estimation of continuous colors., 30-54. Vol. 43, Iss. 1 Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance, 2017. (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037/xhp0000290)
Ricker, Timothy, Vergauwe, E, and Cowan, N. Decay theory of immediate memory: From Brown (1958) to today (2014)., 1969-95. Vol. 69, Iss. 10 Quarterly journal of experimental psychology (2006), 2016. (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/17470218.2014.914546)
Ricker, Timothy, Vergauwe, E, Hinrichs, G A., Blume, C L., and Cowan, N. No recovery of memory when cognitive load is decreased., 872-880. Vol. 41, Iss. 3 Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition, 2015. (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037/xlm0000084)
Ricker, Timothy J.. The role of short-term consolidation in memory persistence, 259–279. Vol. 2 AIMS Neuroscience, 2015. (DOI: https://doi.org/10.3934/Neuroscience.2015.4.259)
Cowan, N, Ricker, Timothy, Clark, K M., Hinrichs, G A., and Glass, B A.. Knowledge cannot explain the developmental growth of working memory capacity., 132-45. Vol. 18, Iss. 1 Developmental science, 2015. (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.12197)
Ricker, Timothy, Spiegel, L R., and Cowan, N. Time-based loss in visual short-term memory is from trace decay, not temporal distinctiveness., 1510-23. Vol. 40, Iss. 6 Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition, 2014. (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037/xlm0000018)
Ricker, Timothy, and Cowan, N. Differences between presentation methods in working memory procedures: a matter of working memory consolidation., 417-28. Vol. 40, Iss. 2 Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition, 2014. (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037/a0034301)
Cowan, N, AuBuchon, A M., Gilchrist, A L., Ricker, Timothy, and Saults, J S.. Age differences in visual working memory capacity: not based on encoding limitations., 1066-74. Vol. 14, Iss. 5 Developmental science, 2011. (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-7687.2011.01060.x)
Ricker, Timothy, Cowan, Nelson, and Hebert, Karen. Forgetting from Working Memory Feature by Feature. In PsycEXTRA Dataset. American Psychological Association (APA), 2011. (DOI: 10.1037/e520602012-363)
Ricker, Timothy, and Cowan, N. Loss of visual working memory within seconds: the combined use of refreshable and non-refreshable features., 1355-68. Vol. 36, Iss. 6 Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition, 2010. (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037/a0020356)
Ricker, Timothy, Cowan, N, and Morey, C C.. Visual working memory is disrupted by covert verbal retrieval., 516-21. Vol. 17, Iss. 4 Psychonomic bulletin & review, 2010. (DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/PBR.17.4.516)
Ricker, Timothy, AuBuchon, A M., and Cowan, N. Working memory., 573-585. Vol. 1, Iss. 4 Wiley interdisciplinary reviews. Cognitive science, 2010. (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/wcs.50)

Hebert, Karen R., and Ricker, Timothy J., Cooking Span: A complex span task focused on cognitive abilities in daily living. Presented at the Annual Convention of the Psychonomic Society, New York, NY, USA. (November 2024)
Ricker, Timothy J., and Sandry, Joshua, Drift diffusion modeling to clarify prioritization effects in working memory. Presented at the Annual Convention of the Psychonomic Society, New York, NY, USA. (November 2024)
Quiñones, Dillon A., Sandry, Joshua, and Ricker, Timothy J., Working memory creation: Encoding resource vs. short-term consolidation. Presented at the Annual Convention of the Psychonomic Society, New York, NY, USA. (November 2024)
Quiñones, Dillon A., Sandry, Joshua, and Ricker, Timothy J., Working memory consolidation: Global effects of inter-item free time support the encoding resource model. Presented at the Eastern South Dakota Research Symposium, Sioux Falls, SD, USA. (June 2024)
Ricker, Timothy J., and McCray, Megan, Subjective difficulty predicts working memory performance while dual tasking better than objective factors. Presented at the Annual Convention of the Psychonomic Society, San Francisco, CA, USA. (November 2023)
Cotton, Kelly, Sandry, Joshua, and Ricker, Timothy, Working Memory Task Engagement and the Case of the McCabe Effect. Presented at the Virtual Working Memory Symposium, Virtual Meeting. (June 2023)
Ricker, Timothy J., Souza, Alessandra S., and Vergauwe, Evie, Feature Identity Drives Representation Format within Visual Working Memory. Presented at the Annual Convention of the Psychonomic Society, Boston, MA, USA. (November 2022)
Cotton, Kelly, and Ricker, Timothy J., How does stress affect working memory consolidation?. Presented at the Annual Convention of the Psychonomic Society, Boston, MA, USA. (November 2022)
Cotton, Kelly, and Ricker, Timothy J., How does mind-wandering influence working memory performance across cognitive load and environmental conditions?. Presented at the Virtual Working Memory Symposium, Virtual Meeting. (June 2022)
Cotton, Kelly, Sandry, Joshua, and Ricker, Timothy J., Mind-wandering and cognitive load effects on working memory performance across experimental contexts. Presented at the 93rd Annual Meeting of the Eastern Psychological Association, New York, NY, USA. (March 2022)
Ricker, Timothy J., and Vergauwe, Evie, Orientation and color are remembered using fundamentally different types of representation in working memory. Presented at the Annual Convention of the Psychonomic Society, Virtual Meeting. (November 2021)
Cotton, Kelly, and Ricker, Timothy J., The effect of mind-wandering and cognitive load on working memory performance in online and in-person experiments. Presented at the Annual Convention of the Psychonomic Society, Virtual Meeting. (November 2021)
McCray, Megan M., Cotton, Kelly, and Ricker, Timothy J., Working memory performance: Is subjective measurement a better predictor than cognitive load?. Presented at the Annual Convention of the Psychonomic Society, Virtual Meeting. (November 2021)
Cotton, Kelly, and Ricker, Timothy J., How do mind-wandering, cognitive load, and environment affect working memory?. Presented at the Annual Harvard Women in Psychology: Trends in Psychology Summit, Virtual Meeting. (November 2021)
McCray, Megan M., Cotton, Kelly, and Ricker, Timothy J., Predicting working memory performance: Is perceived workload a better predictor than cognitive load?. Presented at the Annual Harvard Women in Psychology: Trends in Psychology Summit, Virtual Meeting. (November 2021)
Ricker, Timothy J., Computational models of fine-detail and categorical information in visual working memory: Unified or separable representations?. Presented at the Distributed Working Memory Series, Virtual Meeting. (November 2021)
Cotton, Kelly, and Ricker, Timothy J., Consolidating a lasting memory: The role of creativity in the relationship between working memory and long-term memory. Presented at the Virtual Working Memory Symposium (July 2021)
Ricker, Timothy J., and Vergauwe, Evie, Cognitive load effects are not driven by attentional availability. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society, Virtual Meeting. (November 2020)
Cotton, Kelly, and Ricker, Timothy J., The role of creativity in the relationship between working memory consolidation and long-term memory. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society, Virtual Meeting. (November 2020)
Ricker, Timothy J., Exploring how visual masking disrupts working memory recall. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. (November 2019)
Cotton, Kelly, and Ricker, Timothy J., Working memory consolidation improves long-term recognition in words and non-words. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. (November 2019)
Vergauwe, Evie, Ricker, Timothy J., Langerock, Naomi, and Cowan, Nelson, Consolidation and/or refreshing: What do people typically do between list items?. Presented at the 3rd Jean Piaget Conference, Geneva, Switzerland. (June 2018)
Kimberly, Uittenhove, Ricker, Timothy J., Cowan, Nelson, and Vergauwe, Evie, Sternberg memory scanning 50 years later: A new comparison between item and order retrieval rate. Presented at the 3rd Jean Piaget Conference, Geneva, Switzerland. (June 2018)
Aguayo, S, Caminneci, A, DeMaio, E, Garcia, V, Zapata, P, Ricker, Timothy J., and Sandry, Joshua, Distinctiveness of encoding does not explain flexibility within the focus of attention. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Easter Psychological Association, Philadelphia, PA, USA. (March 2018)
Ricker, Timothy J., and Vergauwe, Evie, Can attention-based maintenance be used in visual working memory?. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. (November 2017)
Vergauwe, Evie, and Ricker, Timothy J., Forgetting and the mechanisms that counteract forgetting in working memory. Presented at the 20th Conference of the European Society for Cognitive Psychology, Potsdam, Germany. (September 2017)
Ricker, Timothy J., Does masking influence short-term consolidation?. Presented at the The Crossroads of Attention in Working Memory: Consolidation, Refreshing, & Removal, Hotel Bains D’Ovronnaz, Valais, Switzerland. (July 2017)
Ricker, Timothy J., A basic theoretical overview of short-term consolidation. Presented at the The Crossroads of Attention in Working Memory: Consolidation, Refreshing, & Removal, Hotel Bains D’Ovronnaz, Valais, Switzerland. (June 2017)
Zuppichini, Mark, Zlochevsky, N, Vilanova, N, Ricker, Timothy J., and Sandry, Joshua, Adjusting working memory’s focus of attention influences long-term memory retention. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. (November 2016)
Parshina, Olga A., Ricker, Timothy J., Che, Elizabeth S., Obeid, Rita, and Brooks, Patricia J., Relationships between statistical learning, sentence processing, and working memory. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. (November 2016)
Ricker, Timothy J., Short-term consolidation of continuous visual working memory. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. (November 2016)
Langerock, Naomi, Vergauwe, Evie, Hardman, Kyle O., Ricker, Timothy J., and Cowan, Nelson, The nature of refreshing: mere reactivation or semantic elaboration as well?. Presented at the VIIIth European Working Memory Symposium, Liège, Belgium. (September 2016)
Vergauwe, Evie, Ricker, Timothy, Langerock, Naomi, and Cowan, Nelson, What do people typically do between list items?. Presented at the Parcevall Hall Meeting, Skipton, North Yorkshire, United Kingdom. (June 2016)
Ricker, Timothy J., Short-term consolidation: A process separable from encoding and refreshing. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society, Chicago, IL, USA. (November 2015)
Hardman, Kyle O., Vergauwe, Evie, and Ricker, Timothy J., Testing the absolute validity of mathematical models used in working memory. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society, Chicago, IL, USA. (November 2015)
Ricker, Timothy J., Vergauwe, Evie, and Rouder, Jeffery, Continuous information in short-term memory is not affected by attention-based maintenance or processing. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society, Long Beach, California, USA. (November 2014)
Ricker, Timothy, and Cowan, Nelson, Presentation method influences time-based forgetting through working memory consolidation. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (November 2013)
Valle-Inclan, Fernando, Lee, Eun-Young, Li, Dawei, Cowan, Nelson, Ricker, Timothy J., and Hackley, Steve A., Cortical thickness correlates of working memory capacity in healthy younger and older adults and in Parkinson’s disease. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Psychophysical Research, Florence, Italy. (September 2013)
Ricker, Timothy J., and Cowan, Nelson, Presentation style influences time-based forgetting in working memory. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society, Minneapolis, MN, USA. (November 2012)
Ricker, Timothy J., Cowan, Nelson, and Hebert, Karen R., Time-based forgetting from working memory, feature-by-feature. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society, Seattle, WA, USA. (November 2011)
Ricker, Timothy J., and Cowan, Nelson, Forgetting from visual working memory: Time and attention both matter. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society, St. Louis, MO, USA. (November 2010)

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