Psychology Department
Zachary Buchin
Job Title
Visiting Assistant Professor of Psychology
Department Director of Student Research
Pronouns
he/him/his
Research interests
Cognitive Psychology: Human Memory; Attention; Testing Effects; Metacognition.
Educational Psychology: Learning Strategies; Retrieval Practice; Prior Knowledge.
My research on human memory is broadly focused on applying cognitive principles to educational practice. I am particularly interested in retrieval-based learning and the testing effect, in which retrieval practice (e.g., recall, flashcards, practice questions, etc.) benefits later memory to a greater degree than more typical study-based strategies (e.g., restudying, rereading, copying, etc.). Specifically, my research examines: (1) how these memory modifying effects of retrieval are affected by divided attention/distraction; (2) the generalizability of retrieval-based learning across educationally-relevant factors (e.g., task complexity and prior knowledge); and (3) the indirect effects of testing on learning (e.g., taking a practice test on A will enhance the benefits from later restudy of A as well as later initial study of new material B).
Teaching interests
Professor Buchin teaches courses in Neuroscience: Mind & Behavior, Cognitive Psychology, Attention and Memory, and Sensation and Perception.
Publications
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
Buchin, Z. L., & Mulligan, N. W. (in press). Does processing level at retrieval moderate the testing effect: Evidence of an asymmetry between study-based encoding and retrieval-based encoding. Memory. https://doi.org/10.1080/09658211.2025.2536142
Buchin, Z. L., & Mulligan, N. W. (2025). Prior knowledge and new learning: An experimental study of domain-specific knowledge. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 31(2), 84–98. https://doi.org/10.1037/xap0000520
Mulligan, N. W., & Buchin, Z. L. (2025). Attention and the forward testing effect. Memory & Cognition, 53, 1433-1448. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13421-024-01661-1
Mulligan, N. W., Buchin, Z. L., & Powers, A. (2023). Transitive inference and the testing effect: Retrieval practice impairs transitive inference. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 76(10), 2356-2370. https://doi.org/10.1177/17470218231156732
Buchin, Z. L., & Mulligan, N. W. (2023). Retrieval-based learning and prior knowledge. Journal of Educational Psychology, 115(1), 22-35. https://doi.org/10.1037/edu000073
Mulligan, N. W., Buchin, Z. L., & Zhang. A. L. (2022). The testing effect with free recall: Organization, attention, and order effects. Journal of Memory and Language, 125, 104333. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2022.104333
Mulligan, N. W., Buchin, Z. L., & West, J. T. (2022). Attention, the testing effect, and retrieval-induced forgetting: Distraction dissociates the positive and negative effects of retrieval on subsequent memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 48(12), 1905-1922. https://doi.org/10.1037/xlm0001097
Su, N., Buchin, Z. L., & Mulligan, N. W. (2020). Levels of retrieval and the testing effect. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 47(4), 652-670. https://doi.org/10.1037/xlm0000962
Buchin, Z. L. & Mulligan, N. W. (2019). Divided attention and the encoding effects of retrieval. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 72(10), 2474-2494. https://doi.org/10.1177/1747021819847141
Buchin, Z. L., & Mulligan, N. W. (2017). The testing effect under divided attention. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 43(12), 1934-1947. https://doi.org/10.1037/xlm0000427
Additional media
Academic credentials
B.S., James Madison University; M.A; Ph.D., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Bailey Hall, 3rd Floor
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