Maureen Ritchey • UCLA Department of Psychology

October 10, 2025

moattari

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

Associate Professor
Primary Area: Cognitive Psychology
Email: mritchey@ucla.edu

Research and Teaching Interests:

My lab studies the cognitive and neural processes supporting human episodic memory. Episodic memories influence the way we make plans and decisions, interact with others, and understand and reflect on our past. And yet, episodic memories are selective and, at times, imprecise. Why do we remember some events vividly, while others fade or change over time?

In the MemoLab, we investigate the mechanisms of memory with a variety of cognitive neuroscience methods, including functional MRI, brain stimulation, eye-tracking, and computational modeling.

Some of our key questions include: How does the hippocampus interact with cortical networks to support memory reconstruction? How do we use social and conceptual priors to make predictions about events, and does this affect what we store in memory? How can we change or control what we remember about an event?

For more information and a complete list of publications, visit my lab website at www.thememolab.org.

Biography:

Maureen Ritchey received her Ph.D. in Psychology and Neuroscience from Duke University, followed by postdoctoral training at the University of California, Davis. Before joining UCLA, she was on the faculty at Boston College for several years. Dr. Ritchey’s laboratory investigates the cognitive and neural underpinnings of episodic memory, taking a multi-methodological approach to understanding how we encode and reconstruct the details of complex events. This research has been supported by a CAREER award from the National Science Foundation and grants from the National Institute of Mental Health and the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation.

Representative Publications:

Ritchey, M., & Cooper, R.A. (2020). Deconstructing the posterior medial episodic network. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 24(6), 451-465.

Cooper, R.A., & Ritchey, M. (2019). Cortico-hippocampal network connections support the multidimensional quality of episodic memory. eLife, 8:e45591.

Kurkela, K.A., & Ritchey, M. (2024). Intrinsic functional connectivity among memory networks does not predict individual differences in narrative recall. Imaging Neuroscience, 2, 1-17.

Cooper, R.A. & Ritchey, M. (2020). Progression from feature-specific brain activity to hippocampal binding during episodic encoding. Journal of Neuroscience, 40(8), 1701-1709.

Ladyka-Wojcik, N., Schmidt, H., Cooper, R.A., & Ritchey, M. (2025). Neural signatures of recollection are sensitive to memory quality and specific event features. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 37(10), 1757-1773.

Cooper, R.A., & Ritchey, M. (2022). Patterns of episodic content and specificity predicting subjective memory vividness. Memory & Cognition, 50(8), 1629-1643.

Brooks, P.P., Hennings, A.C., Guzman, B., Kim, M., Norman, K.A., & Ritchey, M. (pre-print under review). Eye movements reveal the cognitive dynamics supporting successful memory suppression. PsyArXiv, https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/mdrh4_v1.

Yonelinas, A.P. & Ritchey, M. (2015). The slow forgetting of emotional episodic memories: An emotional binding account. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 19(5), 259-267.

Ritchey, M., Wang, S.-F., Yonelinas, A.P., & Ranganath, C. (2019). Dissociable medial temporal lobe pathways for encoding emotional item and context information. Neuropsychologia, 124, 66-78.