Dr. Sharman is a Lecturer in the area of cognition in the School of Psychology. She teaches at undergraduate and postgraduate levels and also supervises higher degree students. Dr. Sharman is an active researcher investigating autobiographical memory and memory errors.
Dr. Sharman investigates autobiographical memory and, in particular, how people can come to remember experiences that they never actually experienced. She is also interested in whether people can tell when someone is lying to them and whether people can remember important medical decisions that they have made recently. Her research contributes to theories about autobiographical memory and has real-world applications for the prevention of false memories.
Awards and prizes
• 2001 Royal Society of New Zealand Travel Award
• 2002 School of Psychology PhD Scholarship, Victoria University of Wellington
• 2005 Vice Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellowship, University of New South Wales
Memberships
Association for Psychological Science
Society for Applied Research in Memory and Cognition
Service to the University, discipline or community
• Ad hoc reviewer for scientific journals, such as Acta Psychologica, Applied Cognitive Psychology, Consciousness & Cognition, Memory, Memory & Cognition, Psychological Science, Psychonomic Bulletin & Review.
• Ad hoc reviewer for government-funded grant proposals from Dutch Social Science Research Council and Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
• Professional Advisory Board, Australian False Memory Association, appointed November 2006
• Organising committee, 4th International Conference on Memory (ICOM), Sydney 2006
Conferences
International Congress of Applied Psychology, Melbourne 2010. Mood and false memories for end-of-life treatment decisions.
New Zealand Psychological Society, Palmerston North 2009. Prevalence information and imagination contribute to the development of false beliefs.
Society for Applied Research in Memory and Cognition, Kyoto 2009. High and low prevalence information from different sources affects the development of false beliefs.
Society for Applied Research in Memory and Cognition, Kyoto 2009. Depression and retrieval-induced forgetting of emotional, autobiographical memories.
Australian Psychological Society, Hobart 2008. Changing end-of-life treatment decisions creates false memories.