Our lab examines how people learn versus how people think they learn. Leveraging both basic and applied research methodologies, we are particularly interested in identifying procedures that promote long-term learning and foster metacognitive sophistication to optimize self-regulated learning—that is, learning that is initiated and managed by the learner. Our research informs contemporary theories of learning and memory, and our lab seeks to serve as a nexus between the science of learning and real-world educational practices.

Are you Interested in joining the lab as an undergraduate or graduate student? Please get in touch with Dr. Soderstrom at nicholas.soderstrom@montana.edu.

Principal Investigator

Dr. Nick Soderstrom

Assistant Professor

Department of Psychology

nicholas.soderstrom@montana.edu

406-994-3816

Select Representative Publications

Wei, Y., Soderstrom, N. C., & Meade, M. L. (2026). Making judgments of learning (JOLs) for oneself versus others: A review and proposed model. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 33(1), paper 14. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-025-02816-0

Wei, Y., Meade, M. L., & Soderstrom, N. C. (2025). Collaborative review enhances note-taking, especially after a longer delay, but does not boost test performance. Memory, 33(10), 1293-1305. https://doi.org/10.1080/09658211.2025.2573272

Soderstrom, N. C., & Bjork, E. L. (2023). Pretesting enhances learning in the classroom. Educational Psychology Review, 35(3), 88. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10648-023-09805-6

Soderstrom, N. C., Kerr, T. K., & Bjork, R. A. (2016). The critical importance of retrieval—and spacing—for learning. Psychological Science, 27(2), 223-230. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0956797615617778

Soderstrom, N. C., & Bjork, R. A. (2015). Learning versus performance: An integrative review. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 10(2), 176-199. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1745691615569000

Soderstrom, N. C., Clark, C. T., Halamish, V., & Bjork, E. L. (2015). Judgments of learning as Memory modifiers. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 41(2), 553-558. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0038388

Soderstrom, N. C., & Bjork, R. A. (2014). Testing facilitates the regulation of subsequent study time. Journal of Memory and Language, 73, 99-115. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2014.03.003

McCabe, D. P., & Soderstrom, N. C. (2011). Recollection-based metamemory judgments are more accurate than those based on confidence: Judgments of Remembering and Knowing (JORKs). Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 140(4), 605-621. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0024014

Soderstrom, N. C., & McCabe, D. P. (2011). The interplay between value and relatedness as bases for metacognitive monitoring and control: Evidence for agenda-based monitoring. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 37(5), 1236-1242. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0023548

Soderstrom, N. C., & McCabe, D. P. (2011). Are survival processing memory advantages based on ancestral priorities? Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 18(3), 564-569. http://dx.doi.org/10.3758/s13423-011-0060-6