Chris Fiacconi

Education

• 2007 B.Sc. Psychology (University of Western Ontario)
• 2012 Ph.D. Psychology (McMaster University)
• 2012-2016 Post-doctoral Fellow (Brain and Mind Institute, University of Western Ontario)

Research

My research program is centered on understanding basic cognitive processes in humans that allow us to encode new information and later retrieve this information from memory. It is now well-known that these processes are not infallible, and are prone to error. I am particularly interested in the processes that lead to such errors, and how they relate to the monitoring, assessment, and regulation of learning.

My research focuses on the basic cognitive processes that support remembering and how they interface with metacognitive processes during both encoding and retrieval. A core tenet of this research program is that a complete theoretical account of learning and memory cannot be achieved without consideration of how mnemonic processes are shaped by the goals, strategies, experiences, and expectations that learners bring to the learning environment.

Current theoretical models of memory have little to say about these factors, focusing instead on the proximal mechanics of encoding and retrieval. An alternative perspective endorsed here is that memory is learner-centered. Learners encode information in a unique and personal way, shaped by their goals and current needs. Similarly, retrieval involves strategic curation of content from memory to fit the task at hand.

By this view, what is stored in memory and later retrieved reflects the learner’s attempt to meet the demands of the learning environment. Drawing on this perspective, my long-term goal is to develop an integrated model of human memory that captures the role of these critical metacognitive factors by incorporating this learner-centered approach into extant theoretical accounts of encoding and retrieval.

At the applied level, this work aims to leverage these theoretical insights to develop effective self-regulated learning tools to enhance learner performance, as well as new tools to mitigate false memory and the influence of misinformation.

Publications

Journal Articles

Churey, K.R., Laursen, S.J., & Fiacconi, C.M. (2025). Do metacognitive judgments impair relational encoding? Metacognition & Learning.

Laursen, S.J., & Fiacconi, C.M. (2025). Becoming fluent overnight: Long-lasting effects of perceptual learning on metamemory. Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology.

Dollois, M.A., & Fiacconi, C.M. (2025). Sequential dependencies in recognition memory are decision-based. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology.

Dimarco, D., Laursen, S.J., Churey, K.R., & Fiacconi, C.M. (2024). Examining the influence of list composition on the mnemonic benefit of errorful generation. Memory.

Fiacconi, C.M. (2024). On the confidence-accuracy relationship in memory: Inferential, direct access, or indirect access? Metacognition & Learning.

Dollois, M.A., Fenske, M.J., & Fiacconi, C.M. (2024). Information perseveration in recognition memory: examining the scope of sequential dependencies. Memory & Cognition.

Laursen, S. J., & Fiacconi, C. M. (2024). Probing the effect of perceptual (dis)fluency on metacognitive judgments. Memory & Cognition.

Laursen, S. J., Sluka, D., & Fiacconi, C. M. (2024). Examining adaptations in study time allocation and restudy selection as a function of expected test format. Metacognition and Learning. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11409-024-09373-2

Laursen, S. J., Farrell, B. C. T., & Fiacconi, C. M. (2024). On the cost and benefits of restudying: Exploring the list strength effect in self-guided learning. Memory, 32(2), 197 – 222.

Laursen, S.J., Wammes, J.D, & Fiacconi, C.M. (2024). Examining the effect of expected test format and test difficulty on the frequency and mnemonic costs of mind wandering. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology.

Constantin, K.L., Moline, R.L., Pillai-Riddell, R., Spence, J.R., Fiacconi, C.M., Lupo-Flewelling, K., & McMurtry, C.M. (2022). Parent and child self- and co-regulation during pediatric venipuncture: exploring heart rate variability and the effects of a mindfulness intervention. Developmental Psychobiology.

Fiacconi, C.M. (2022). Re-examining the sources of variance in recognition confidence: A reply to Kantner & Dobbins (2019). Psychonomic Bulletin & Review.

Dollois, M.A., Poore-Buchhaupt, C.J., & Fiacconi, C.M. (2022). Another look at the contribution of motoric fluency to metacognitive monitoring. Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology.

Laursen, S.J., & Fiacconi, C.M. (2022). Constraints on the use of the memorizing effort heuristic. Metacognition & Learning.

Laursen, S.J., & Fiacconi, C.M. (2021). Examining the effect of list composition on monitoring and control processes in metamemory. Memory & Cognition. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13421-020-01107-4

Fiacconi, C.M., & Dollois, M.A. (2020). Does word frequency influence judgments of learning (JOLs)? A meta-analytic review. Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1037/cep0000206

Mitton, E.E., & Fiacconi C.M. (2020). Learning from (test) experience: testing without feedback promotes metacognitive sensitivity to near-perfect recognition performance. Zeitschrift fuer Psychologie, 228(4), 264-277. https://doi.org/10.1027/2151-2604/a000424

Fiacconi, C.M., Cali, J.N., Lupianez, J., & Milliken, B. (2020). Coordinating the interaction between past and present: visual working memory for feature bindings overwritten by subsequent action to matching features. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13414-019-01880-8

Fiacconi, C.M, Mitton, E.E., Laursen, S.J., & Skinner, J. (2020). Isolating the contribution of perceptual fluency to judgments of learning (JOLs): evidence for reactivity in measuring the influence of fluency. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition, 46, 926-944. https://doi.org/10.1037/xlm0000766

Plater, L., Giammarco, M., Fiacconi, C.M., & Al-Aidroos, N. (2020). No role for activated long-term memory in attentional control settings. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 149, 209-221. https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0000642

Clancy E. M., Fiacconi, C.M., Fenske, M.J. (2019). Response inhibition immediately elicits negative affect and devalues associated stimuli: evidence from facial electromyography. Brain Research.

Fiacconi, C.M., Kouptsova, J.E., & Köhler, S. (2017). A role for visceral feedback and interoception in feelings-of-knowing. Consciousness & Cognition, 53, 70-80.

Fiacconi, C.M., & Owen, A.M. (2016). Using facial electromyography to detect preserved emotional processing in the vegetative state: A proof-of-principle study. Clinical Neurophysiology, 127, 3000-3006.

Fiacconi, C.M., Peter, E.L., Owais, S., & Köhler, S. (2016). Knowing by heart: visceral autonomic feedback shapes recognition memory judgments. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 145, 559-572.

Fiacconi, C.M., Dekraker, J., Kӧhler, S. (2015). Psychophysiological evidence for the role of emotion in adaptive memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 144, 925-933.

Fiacconi, C.M., Owen, A.M. (2015). Using psychophysiological measures to examine the temporal profile of verbal humor elicitation. PLoS ONE. 10(9): e0135902.

Cali, J., Fiacconi, C.M., & Milliken, B. (2015). A response-binding effect in visual short-term memory. Visual Cognition, 23, 489-515.

Fiacconi, C.M., Barkley, V., Duke, D., Finger, E.C., Rosenbaum, R.S., Carson, N., Gilboa, A., & Köhler, S. (2014). Nature and extent of person recognition impairments associated with Capgras Syndrome in Lewy Body Dementia. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 8, 726.

Duke, D., Fiacconi, C.M., & Köhler, S. (2014). Parallel effects of perceptual fluency and positive affect on familiarity-based recognition memory for faces. Frontiers in Psychology, 5, 328.

Fiacconi, C.M., & Milliken, B. (2013). Visual memory for feature bindings: the disruptive effects of responding to new perceptual input. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 66, 1572-1600.

Fiacconi, C.M., Harvey, E.C., Sekuler, A.B., & Bennett, P.J. (2013). The influence of aging on audio-visual temporal order judgments. Experimental Aging Research, 39, 179-193.

Fiacconi, C.M., & Milliken, B. (2012). Contingency Blindness: location-identity binding mismatches obscure awareness of spatial contingencies and produce profound interference in visual working memory. Memory & Cognition, 40, 932-945.

Fiacconi, C.M., & Milliken, B. (2011). On the role of attention in generating explicit awareness of contingent relations: evidence from spatial priming. Consciousness & Cognition, 20, 1433-1451.

Vaquero, J.M.M., Fiacconi, C.M., & Milliken, B. (2010). Attention, awareness of contingencies, and control in spatial localization: a qualitative difference approach. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance, 36, 1342-1357.

Jansen, P.A., Fiacconi, C.M., & Gibson, L.C. (2010). A computational vector-map model of neonate saccades: modeling the externality effect through refraction periods. Vision Research, 50, 2551-2558.

Book Chapters

Martin, C.B., Fiacconi, C.M., & Kӧhler, S. (2015). Déjà vu: A window into understanding the cognitive neuroscience of familiarity. In Duarte, A., Barense, M., & Addis, D.R. (Eds.), Handbook on the Cognitive Neuroscience of Memory. Wiley-Blackwell.

Milliken, B., & Fiacconi, C.M. (2014). Event integration, awareness, and short-term remembering. In D.S. Lindsay, C.M. Kelley, & A.P. Yonelinas (Eds.) Remembering: Attributions, Processes, and Control in Human Memory. New York: Psychology Press.

Teaching

Winter 2017 - PSYC 2650 (Cognitive Psychology)

Fall 2017 - PSYC 3290 (Conducting Statistical Analyses in Psychology)

Winter 2018 - PSYC 2650 (Cognitive Psychology); PSYC 3290 (Conducting Statistical Analyses in Psychology)

Fall 2018 - PSYC 3290 (Conducting Statistical Analyses in Psychology); PSYC 6940 (Discrete Variable Research Design & Statistics)

Winter 2019 - PSYC 2650 (Cognitive Psychology); PSYC 6790 (Memory & Cognition)

Fall 2019 - PSYC 3290 (Conducting Statistical Analyses in Psychology); PSYC 6940 (Discrete Variable Research Design & Statistics)

Winter 2020 - PSYC 6780 (Foundations in Cognitive Science)

Fall 2020 - PSYC 3290 (Conducting Statistical Analyses in Psychology)

Winter 2021 - PSYC 2650 (Cognitive Psychology); PSYC 6790 (Memory & Cognition)

Fall 2021 - PSYC 3290 (Conducting Statistical Analyses in Psychology); PSYC 6940 (Discrete Variable Research Design & Statistics)

Winter 2022 - PSYC 6780 (Foundations in Cognitive Science)

Fall 2022 - PSYC 3290 (Conducting Statistical Analyses in Psychology)

Winter 2023 - PSYC 2650 (Cognitive Psychology); PSYC 6790 (Memory & Cognition)

Fall 2024 - PSYC 3290 (Conducting Statistical Analyses in Psychology)

Winter 2025 - PSYC 2650 (Cognitive Psychology); PSYC 6790 (Memory & Cognition)

Fall 2025 - PSYC 3290 (Conducting Statistical Analyses in Psychology); PSYC 6940 (Discrete Variable Research Design & Statistics)