Matthew W. Prull
Professor of Psychology, Chair of Psychology
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Maxey Hall 327
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509-527-5890
Professor of Psychology Matthew W. Prull grew up in San Jose, California, what he describes as a "sprawling world of computers, silicon and entrepreneurship." He became fascinated with psychology from a course in high school and quickly decided that his career would involve psychology in some way. As an undergraduate at San Jose State University, Prull found the research side of psychology fascinating, particularly in the realm of cognitive psychology that involved clever experiments that revealed how memory, perception and imagination worked. Prull earned his Ph.D. in cognitive psychology at Claremont Graduate University and then later specialized in cognitive neuroscience as a postdoctoral scholar at Stanford before arriving at Whitman in 1999.
Ph.D. Cognitive Psychology
Claremont Graduate University
1997
M.A. Psychology
Claremont Graduate University
1993
B.A. Psychology
San Jose State University
1991
Professor Prull's research interests focus on understanding adult age-related patterns of change and stability in mental abilities such as memory, language and the use of general knowledge. Much of his research is guided by dual-process conceptualizations of memory that distinguish between automatic and consciously-controlled memory processes. In addition, he is interested in false memory phenomena and what we are taught about the workings of memory across adulthood. Prull teaches courses in cognitive psychology, memory, and aging, as well as statistics, experimental psychology, and introductory psychology.