Suparna Rajaram

Biography

©Jeanne Neville

Professor
Department of Psychology
State University of New York at Stony Brook

Department of Psychology
SUNY at Stony Brook, NY 11794-2500
Phone: (631) 632-7841

Fax: (631) 632-7876

e-mail: suparna(dot)rajaram(at)sunysb(dot)edu

Suparna Rajaram received her B.A. (1984) from Mt. Carmel College (Bangalore University, India) and M.A. (1986) from Bangalore University (India). She then moved to Purdue University where she received her M.S. in Cognitive Psychology (1988) and then to Rice University where she received her Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology (1991).  Rajaram then completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Cognitive Neuroscience at Temple University School of Medicine (1991-1993).  She joined Stony Brook University as an Assistant Professor of Psychology in 1993 and has held the position of Professor of Psychology since 2003.  

Rajaram’s research focuses on memory and amnesia in humans.  She is particularly interested in the differences between implicit and explicit memory, the distinction between episodic and semantic memory, and the contribution of perceptual and conceptual processes to memory and learning. On one hand, she examines the nature of conscious recollective experience associated with memory. On the other hand, she is deeply interested in the process by which people (with intact memory or with amnesia) acquire new knowledge even in the absence of an awareness of such learning. In addition to studying facilitatory processes in memory, Rajaram also studies the role of attention, and in particular of deselection processes, in modulating long-term memory. More recently, Rajaram has begun a program of research on collaborative memory, and more generally, on the social influences on memory.   Her research and professional activities have been funded by the National Institutes of Mental Health, the National Science Foundation, and the Russell Sage Foundation.

Rajaram is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association (APA, Division 3) and of the Association for Psychological Science (APS).  She has served as Chair (2008) and currently serves as Past Chair (2009) of the Governing Board of the Psychonomic Society (2008) and was previously Chair of the Publications Committee of the Society (2006-2007).  She is one of 3 co-founders and co-organizers of the Women in Cognitive Science group that is affiliated with the Psychonomic Society.  

Rajaram has served as Associate Editor of Psychological Science (2007-2008), Psychological Bulletin (2003-2005), and Memory & Cognition (1998-2001), and on the Editorial Boards of the Journal of Memory and Language (2001-2006) and the APA Dictionary of Psychology (2001-2005, published 2006). She is currently on the Editorial Boards of the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition and Memory & Cognition.