Rate My Professor Jenni Redifer

Dr. Jenni L. Redifer serves as Associate Provost for Research and Professor of Psychology at Western Kentucky University, where she is affiliated with the Department of Psychology in the College of Education and Behavioral Sciences and directs the Attention and Memory Lab. She obtained her Ph.D. in Educational Psychology from the University of Florida in 2012, with a dissertation titled "Working Memory Capacity and Extraneous Cognitive Load during Strategy Instruction." Her M.A. in Educational Psychology from the same institution came in 2009, with a thesis on "Emotion Regulation as a Predictor of Academic Performance among Maltreated Children." Redifer also holds B.A. degrees in Psychology (2003) and Sociology (2002) from Mesa State College, now Colorado Mesa University. She began her academic career at Western Kentucky University as Assistant Professor of Psychology in August 2012, was promoted to Associate Professor in July 2018, and has held the position of Assistant to the Dean for Research since Fall 2017. Earlier roles include Laboratory Manager in the Cognitive Psychology Laboratory at the University of Florida from 2009 to 2012, along with various research assistant positions there from 2006 to 2012.

Redifer's research specializations encompass cognitive psychology, working memory capacity and its influence on retrieval from long-term memory, cognitive load during learning, neuromyths and psychological misconceptions, retrieval practice, self-efficacy, metacognition, and creative thinking, with applications to student learning and achievement. Key publications include "Self-efficacy and performance feedback: Impacts on cognitive load during creative thinking" (Learning & Instruction, 2021), "Investigating the testing effect: Retrieval as a characteristic of effective study strategies" (Learning & Instruction, 2018), "Characteristics of effective study strategies" (Learning & Instruction, 2018), "Prevalence of learning styles in educational psychology and introduction to education textbooks: A content analysis" (Psychology Learning & Teaching, 2019), and "Implicit theories, working memory, and cognitive load: Impacts on creative thinking" (SAGE Open, 2019). Her contributions have earned awards such as the American Psychological Association Division 15 Dissertation Award (2012), University of Florida Graduate Student Teaching Award (2010), Western Kentucky University College of Education and Behavioral Sciences Faculty Excellence Awards for Research (2014), Public Service (2018), and Service (2021), and the University Faculty Award for Service (2021). Redifer holds committee roles including elected member of the APA Board of Educational Affairs (2023-present), chair of WKU's Quick Turn Around Grant Committee (2015-present) and CEBS REACH Week Committee (2017-present), and serves as Review Editor for Cognition and reviewer for journals like Journal of Educational Psychology, Learning & Instruction, and Frontiers in Psychology.