Education

2009 Scripps College, B.A.
2011 University of Michigan, M.S.
2014 University of Michigan, Ph.D.

Courses Taught

Fundamentals of Biopsychology and Learning
Statistics and Experimental Methods I  
Behavioral Neuroscience
Memory and Executive Functioning
Your Brain on Art and Athletics

Career Specialties

Sara Festini specializes in cognitive psychology and cognitive neuroscience.

Professional and Community Activities*

Festini's research focuses primarily on human memory, executive control, and cognitive aging. Several research projects have investigated people’s ability to prioritize information in working memory by following “directed forgetting” instructions. She is also interested in whether certain lifestyle characteristics, such as day-to-day levels of busyness, are associated with mental function. One recent publication reported favorable associations between busyness and cognitive abilities in middle-aged and older adults, with the strongest relationship observed for episodic memory. Festini has also studied name learning, motor learning, dual-task interference, the influence of emotion on cognition, cerebellar connectivity in Parkinson’s patients, as well as how cognitive processes, brain structure and brain function vary across the adult lifespan.

Selected Publications:

Festini, S. B. (2022). Busyness, Mental Engagement, and Stress: Relationships to Neurocognitive Aging and Behavior. Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience, 14:980599. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnagi.2022.980599

Orban, S. A., Festini, S. B., Yuen, E. K. & Friedman, L. M. (2022). Verbal Memory Interference in Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: A Meta-Analytic Review. Journal of Attention Disorders, 26, 1549-1562. https://doi.org/10.1177/10870547221085515

Festini, S. B., & Katz, B. (2021). A Frontal Account of False Alarms. Journal of Cognitive

Neuroscience. https://doi.org/10.1162/jocn_a_01683

Jantz, T. K., Festini, S. B., Reuter-Lorenz, P. A. (2021). Failing to forget? Evidence for both
Impaired and preserved working memory control in older adults. Aging, Neuropsychology, & Cognition. https://doi.org/10.1080/13825585.2020.1839012

Festini, S. B. (2020). Directed forgetting instructions decrease proactive interference within
working memory below that of a baseline encode-only condition. Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 32(8), 734-746. https://doi.org/10.1080/20445911.2020.1822850

McDonough, I. M., Festini, S. B., & Wood, M. M. (2020). Risk for Alzheimer’s Disease: A review
of long-term episodic memory encoding and retrieval fMRI studies. Ageing Research Reviews, 62. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.arr.2020.101133

Festini, S. B., Hertzog, C., McDonough, I. M., Park, D. C. (2019). What makes us busy? Predictors of perceived busyness across the adult lifespan. The Journal of General Psychology, 146, 111-133. https://doi.org/10.1080/00221309.2018.1540396

Festini, S. B., & Reuter-Lorenz, P. A. (2017). Rehearsal of to-be-remembered items is unnecessary to perform directed forgetting within working memory: Support for an active control mechanism. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 43, 94-108. https://doi.org/10.1037/xlm0000308

Park, D. C., & Festini, S. B. (2017). The middle-aged brain: A cognitive neuroscience perspective. In Roberto Cabeza, Lars Nyberg, and Denise C. Park (Eds.), The Cognitive Neuroscience of Aging: Linking Cognitive and Cerebral Aging, 2nd edition. New York: Oxford University Press.

Park, D. C., & Festini, S. B. (2016). Theories of memory and aging: A look at the past and a glimpse of the future. Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences. https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/gbw066

Hartley, A. A., Maquestiaux, F., Festini, S. B., Frazier, K., & Krimmer, P. (2016). Backward compatibility effects in younger and older adults. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 78, 1337-1350. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13414-016-1113-8

Festini, S. B., McDonough, I. M., Park, D. C. (2016). The busier the better: Greater busyness is associated with better cognition. Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience, 8:98. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnagi.2016.00098

Reuter-Lorenz, P. A., Festini, S. B., & Jantz, T. (2016). Executive functions and neurocognitive aging. In K. Warner Schaie & Sherry L. Willis (Eds.) Handbook of the Psychology of Aging (8th edition). New York: Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-411469-2.00013-3

Festini, S. B., Preston, S. D., Reuter-Lorenz, P. A., & Seidler, R. D. (2016). Emotion and reward are dissociable from error during motor learning. Experimental Brain Research, 234, 1385-1394. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-015-4542-z

Festini, S. B., Bernard, J. A., Kwak, Y., Peltier, S., Bohnen, N. I., Muller, M. L. T. M., Dayalu, P., & Seidler, R. D. (2015). Altered cerebellar connectivity in Parkinson’s patients ON and OFF L-DOPA medication. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 9:214. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2015.00214

Festini, S. B., & Reuter-Lorenz, P. A. (2015). Dysexecutive amnesia. In James D. Wright (Ed.), International Encyclopedia of Social & Behavioral Sciences, 2nd edition, Vol 6. (pp. 718-724.) Oxford: Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-097086-8.51029-0

Festini, S. B., & Reuter-Lorenz, P. A. (2014). Cognitive control of familiarity: Directed forgetting reduces proactive interference in working memory. Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience, 14, 78-89. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13415-013-0231-1

Festini, S. B., & Reuter-Lorenz, P. A. (2013). The short- and long-term consequences of directed forgetting in a working memory task. Memory, 21, 763-777. https://doi.org/10.1080/09658211.2012.754900

Festini, S. B., Hartley, A. A., Tauber, S. K., & Rhodes, M. G. (2013). Assigned value improves memory of proper names. Memory, 21, 657-667.

https://doi.org/10.1080/09658211.2012.747613

Honors and Awards

National Science Foundation $277,536 Grant, 2024
Outstanding Undergraduate Research Mentor Award, University of Tampa, 2020
Aging Mind Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship, Center for Vital Longevity, University of Texas at Dallas, 2015-2017
Rackham Dissertation Fellowship, University of Michigan, 2014
Psychology Department Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor Award, University of Michigan, 2013
National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Honorable Mention, 2010, 2011
Barbara A. Oleshansky Memorial Fund Award, University of Michigan, 2011
Margaret Siler Faust Best Psychology Senior Thesis Award, Scripps College, 2009
Phi Beta Kappa, Scripps College, 2009
Summa Cum Laude, Scripps College, 2009