This directory lists researchers whose published work on human memory is frequently relevant to memory issues that arise in court, including eyewitness identification, suggestibility and false memory, children’s memory, memory under stress and trauma, and investigative interviewing. It also lists practicing forensic professionals, including neuropsychologists, psychologists, and psychiatrists, whose clinical and forensic work bears on memory, such as cognitive capacity, dementia, brain injury, and traumatic memory. Each entry gives the person’s highest degree, academic affiliation or practice, principal research or practice areas, and, where one could be confirmed, a public professional web page; links labeled “self-published” go to the practitioner’s own or practice website, whose content the author has not evaluated. Inclusion is not an endorsement of any particular opinion, and the listing says nothing about any person’s availability or about any opinion he or she may hold in a particular case. Dr. Simpson, the author, receives no compensation or referral fee from any of the experts listed. Affiliations, titles, and practices change; anyone seeking to consult a listed expert should confirm current information with that person directly.
Eyewitness Memory and Identification
Erin Kendall Braun, PhD — Memory scientist and consultant, FathomCo, New York City. Practice areas: eyewitness memory and identification; memory accuracy and reliability; memory distortion and the misinformation effect. Practice website (self-published)
Alan D. Castel, PhD — Professor, Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles. Research: human memory and attention; selective memory for important information and metacognition; cognitive aging; applied memory, including eyewitness memory. Faculty page
Brian L. Cutler, PhD — Program Director, Media Psychology, School of Psychology, Fielding Graduate University; Ontario Tech University (Faculty of Social Science and Humanities) also lists him as a professor. Research: eyewitness memory and mistaken identification; interrogation and confessions; wrongful conviction.
Scott C. Fraser, PhD — Forensic psychologist in independent practice. Practice areas: eyewitness memory and identification; children as witnesses; perception and memory, including night vision and drug effects on memory.
James M. Lampinen, PhD — Distinguished Professor of Psychological Science, University of Arkansas; Law and Memory Processes Lab. Research: eyewitness memory; prospective person memory; face perception; false memory and jury decision making. Lab page
Steven D. Penrod, PhD, JD — Distinguished Professor of Psychology, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York. Research: eyewitness reliability and lineup procedures; the relationship between eyewitness confidence and accuracy; effects of expert testimony; jury decision making. Faculty page
Kathy Pezdek, PhD — Professor Emerita of Psychology, Claremont Graduate University. Research: eyewitness memory and identification; autobiographical memory; suggestibility of memory; memory and comprehension. Faculty page
Daniel Reisberg, PhD — Patricia and Clifford Lunneborg Professor of Psychology, Emeritus, Reed College. Research: perception and cognition; eyewitness memory and identification; the intersection of psychology and law. Faculty page
David F. Ross, PhD — Professor and UC Foundation Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Research: eyewitness memory in children and adults; lineup procedures; memory of older eyewitnesses.
Nancy K. Steblay, PhD — Professor Emeritus of Psychology, Augsburg University. Research: reliability of eyewitness identification; eyewitness evidence and lineup procedures; courtroom evidence, including alibis, inadmissible evidence, and pretrial publicity. Faculty page
Gary L. Wells, PhD — Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Department of Psychology, Iowa State University. Research: reliability of eyewitness identification; lineup structure and procedures; development of eyewitness confidence; bias in forensic judgments. Faculty page
John T. Wixted, PhD — Distinguished Professor of Psychology, University of California, San Diego. Research: episodic and recognition memory; signal detection models of memory; the hippocampus and memory; reliability of eyewitness memory. Faculty page
Suggestibility and False Memory
Iris Blandón-Gitlin, PhD — Professor of Psychology, California State University, Fullerton. Research: formation of true and false memories; distinguishing true from false accounts; memory for faces; evaluation of evidence obtained through coercive interviewing. Faculty page
Charles J. Brainerd, PhD — Professor, Cornell University; Director, Memory and Neuroscience Lab. Research: false memory and fuzzy-trace theory; reliability of memory in legal settings; memory development; eyewitness identification. Lab page
Elizabeth F. Loftus, PhD — Distinguished Professor of Psychology; Criminology, Law and Society; and Law, University of California, Irvine. Research: human memory; the misinformation effect and false memory; eyewitness testimony; psychology and law. Faculty page
Valerie F. Reyna, PhD — Lois and Melvin Tukman Professor of Human Development, Cornell University. Research: false memory and fuzzy-trace theory; judgment and decision making; memory in aging and cognitive impairment; legal applications of memory research. Faculty page
Deryn Strange, PhD — Professor, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York. Research: distortion of memory for traumatic events; false autobiographical and collective memories; legal implications of memory distortion. Faculty page
Children’s Memory and Child Witnesses
Mitchell L. Eisen, PhD — Professor of Psychology and Director of the Forensic Psychology Graduate Program, California State University, Los Angeles. Research: eyewitness memory and suggestibility; show-up and lineup procedures; memory and suggestibility in maltreated children; juror decision making. Faculty page
Bradley D. McAuliff, PhD, JD — Professor of Psychology, California State University, Northridge. Research: accuracy of children’s reports; child witness testimony; lineup administration; evaluation of scientific evidence by jurors and legal professionals. Faculty page
Trauma, Stress, and Memory
David M. Diamond, PhD — Professor, Department of Psychology, University of South Florida. Research: stress and memory, including animal models; traumatic memory processing and PTSD; prospective memory failures, including forgetting a child in a vehicle. Faculty page
Richard J. McNally, PhD — Professor, Department of Psychology, Harvard University. Research: memory for trauma; recovered and false memories of childhood trauma; cognitive features of PTSD and anxiety disorders. Faculty page
Roy H. Lubit, MD, PhD — Forensic psychiatrist in private practice, New York, New York. Practice areas: forensic psychiatry; emotional trauma and PTSD; traumatic memory; traumatic brain injury. Practice website (self-published)
Investigative Interviewing
Christian A. Meissner, PhD — Professor and Associate Department Chair, Department of Psychology, Iowa State University. Research: investigative and forensic interviewing; interrogation and deception detection; face recognition; legal decision making. Faculty page
Jennifer Steel, PhD — Licensed clinical psychologist in independent consulting practice. Practice areas: investigative interviewing; coerced and false confessions; memory and cognitive bias in investigations. Practice website (self-published)
Forensic Practitioners and Clinical Experts
Alexandra Davis, PsyD — Clinical neuropsychologist, Dr. Alex Davis Lifespan Concierge Neuropsychology (Assessment and Consulting PLLC), Melbourne and Cocoa Beach, Florida. Practice areas: forensic neuropsychology; memory disorders and dementia; cognitive and decisional capacity; traumatic brain injury. Practice website (self-published)
Sarah J. Getz, PhD — Clinical neuropsychologist, BrainTrust and Wellness. Practice areas: decision-making capacity; dementia and mild cognitive impairment; cognitive aging and memory; cognitive vulnerability to financial exploitation.
Judy Ho, PhD, ABPP, ABPdN — Clinical and forensic neuropsychologist; faculty member, Psychology Division, Graduate School of Education and Psychology, Pepperdine University. Practice areas: forensic neuropsychology; neuropsychological evaluation of cognition; dementia; traumatic brain injury. Faculty page
Marc Janoson, PhD — Forensic psychologist, Manhasset Psychology PC, Manhasset, New York. Practice areas: forensic psychology; forensic neuropsychology; eyewitness testimony. Practice website (self-published)
Dale E. Panzer, MD — Psychiatrist, board certified in psychiatry and in brain injury medicine, in private practice, West Conshohocken, Pennsylvania. Practice areas: forensic psychiatry; testamentary and cognitive capacity; dementia and cognitive impairment; brain injury. Practice website (self-published)
Shelley Peery, PhD — Neuropsychologist; Founder and Executive Director, San Francisco Neuropsychology PC, San Francisco, California. Practice areas: clinical and forensic neuropsychology; traumatic brain injury; neurodegenerative conditions; cross-cultural neuropsychological assessment. Practice page (self-published)
Stacey Wood, PhD, ABPP — Molly Mason Jones Professor of Psychology, Scripps College, and Director, Neuropsychology of Decision-Making Lab; forensic neuropsychology practice in the Los Angeles area, California. Practice areas: forensic neuropsychology and geropsychology; decisional and testamentary capacity; dementia and decision making; elder financial exploitation. Practice website (self-published)
This paper is for educational purposes only and is not legal advice. The author is a psychologist, not an attorney; summaries of law are general and must be verified against current authority or with a licensed attorney.
Related topic papers: Memory Expert Testimony · Introduction to Memory in the Courtroom · Eyewitness Memory