Rate My Professor Michael Scullin

Michael Scullin is Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at Baylor University, where he serves as director of the Sleep Neuroscience and Cognition Laboratory. He earned a B.S. from Furman University, a Ph.D. in the Behavior, Brain, and Cognition program at Washington University in St. Louis, and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Neurology and Sleep Medicine at Emory University School of Medicine. His research investigates how sleep physiology impacts memory, cognition, and health, with a particular emphasis on prospective memory—the use of memory to fulfill daily intentions—and the potential of technological solutions like reminder apps to address prospective memory difficulties in older adults and early stages of Alzheimer’s disease. Scullin’s translational work connects laboratory findings to real-world challenges in learning, cognition, well-being, and human flourishing across the adult lifespan. His projects are funded by the National Institute on Aging (R01AG082783), National Science Foundation (CAREER award), Templeton World Charity Foundation, and NIST.

Scullin has earned prestigious honors, including the 2026 Mary A. Carskadon Outstanding Student and Early Career Investigator Award from the Sleep Research Society, the Association for Psychological Science Rising Star designation (2017), and Baylor University’s inaugural Newsmaker of the Year (2017-2018). Notable publications include Benge and Scullin’s “A meta-analysis of technology use and cognitive aging” (Nature Human Behaviour, 2025); Scullin and Bliwise’s “Sleep, cognition, and aging: Integrating a half-century of multidisciplinary research” (Perspectives on Psychological Science, 2015); Scullin et al.’s “The Effects of Bedtime Writing on Difficulty Falling Asleep” (Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 2018); and Scullin et al.’s “Using smartphone technology to improve prospective memory functioning: A randomized controlled trial” (Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 2022). His research has achieved significant impact, with the 2018 to-do list study featured in major media outlets such as ABC’s Good Morning America, TIME, and BBC Radio, reaching nearly 1 billion people. Scullin contributes to the field through service on Sleep Research Society committees, as a columnist for Teaching Current Directions in Psychological Science, and as co-founder of the APA journal Translational Issues in Psychological Science. He teaches courses including Introduction to Neuroscience, Cognition, and Sleep.