Chris Fiacconi
Associate Professor
College of Social and Applied Human Sciences, Department of Psychology, Neuroscience and Applied Cognitive Science
Research Areas
- Neuroscience and Applied Cognitive Sciences
- Learning and memory
- Attention
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 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
forthcoming
Dollois, M.A., Jamieson, R.K., & Fiacconi, C.M. (in revision). Modelling sequential dependencies in recognition memory decisions. Journal of Memory & Language.
Fiacconi, C.M. & Dollois, M.A. (in revision). A signal detection analysis of memory screening. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition.
Laursen, S.J., Powers, E., Undorf, M., & Fiacconi, C.M. (in revision). On the importance of performance-based cues in metacognitive monitoring. Memory & Cognition.
published
Kazatchkova, A., Elkins, S.J., Al-Aidroos, N., & Fiacconi C.M. (2026). The benefits of choice for self-regulated learning: Learner control enhances recognition memory. Journal of Memory & Language, 151, 104800.
Churey, K.R., & Fiacconi, C.M. (2026). Reminding and false memory: A double-edged sword. Memory & Cognition.
Laursen, S.J., & Fiacconi, C.M. (2026). Becoming fluent overnight: Long-lasting effects of perceptual learning on metamemory. Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology, 80(1), 35–47.
Churey, K.R., Laursen, S.J., & Fiacconi, C.M. (2025). Do metacognitive judgments impair relational encoding? Metacognition & Learning, 20(1), 1.
Dollois, M.A., & Fiacconi, C.M. (2025). Sequential dependencies in recognition memory are decision-based. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 78(11), 2403-2418.
Dollois, M.A., Fenske, M.J., & Fiacconi, C.M. (2025). Information perseveration in recognition memory: examining the scope of sequential dependencies. Memory & Cognition, 53(2), 517-535.
Dimarco, D., Laursen, S.J., Churey, K.R., & Fiacconi, C.M. (2025). Examining the influence of list composition on the mnemonic benefit of errorful generation. Memory, 33(2), 145-156.
Faitakis, M., McLachlan, K., Fiacconi, C.M., Flannigan, K., Temple, V., Mela, M., Cook, J., Unsworth, K., & Pei, J. (2025). Criminal legal system contact in fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD): Experiences and support needs. International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, 101, 102106.
Fiacconi, C.M. (2024). On the confidence-accuracy relationship in memory: Inferential, direct access, or indirect access? Metacognition & Learning, 19(3), 1029-1034.
Laursen, S.J., & Fiacconi, C.M. (2024). Probing the influence of perceptual (dis)fluency on metacognitive judgments. Memory & Cognition, 52(6), 1275-1298.
Laursen, S.J., Farrell, B., & Fiacconi, C.M. (2024). On the costs and benefits of restudying: exploring the list-strength effect in self-guided learning. Memory, 32(2), 197-222.
Laursen, S.J., Sluka, D. & Fiacconi, C.M. (2024). Examining adaptations in study time allocation and re-study selection as a function of expected test format. Metacognition & Learning, 19(2), 421-462.
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, 77(5), 1068-1092.
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. Developemental Psychobiology, 64:e22277
Fiacconi, C.M. (2022). Re-examining the sources of variance in recognition confidence: A reply to Kantner & Dobbins (2019). Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 29(6), 2247-2253.
Dollois, M.A., Poore-Buchhaupt, C. & Fiacconi, C.M. (2022). Another look at the contribution of motoric fluency to metacognitive monitoring. Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology, 76(4), 251-269.
Laursen, S.J., & Fiacconi, C.M. (2022). Constraints on the use of the memorizing effort heuristic. Metacognition & Learning, 17(1), 1-51.
Laursen, S.J., & Fiacconi, C.M. (2021). Examining the effect of list composition on monitoring and control processes in metamemory. Memory & Cognition, 49(3), 498-517.
Mitton, E.E., & Fiacconi, C.M. (2020). Learning from (test) experience: testing without feedback promotes metacognitive sensitivity to near-perfect recognition memory. Zeitschrift fur Psychologie.
Fiacconi, C.M., & Dollois, M.A. (2020). Does Word Frequency Influence Judgments of Learning (JOLs)? A Meta-Analytic Review. Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology, 74(4), 346–353.
Fiacconi, C.M., Cali, J., 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, 82, 593–606.
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.
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.
Clancy E. M., Fiacconi, C.M., Fenske, M.J. (2019). Response inhibition immediately elicits negative affect and devalues associated stimuli: evidence from facial electromyography. Progress in Brain Research, 247, 169-191
Fiacconi, C.M., Kouptsova, J.E., & Kӧhler, 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. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0135902
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)