Miko Wilford is an Assistant Professor in Psychology at UMass Lowell.

Miko M. Wilford

Associate Professor

College
College of Fine Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Department
Psychology
Phone
(978) 934-3975
Office
Coburn - 850 Broadway Street
Email
Miko_Wilford@uml.edu
Links

Expertise

Psychology and Law, Eyewitness Memory, Plea-Bargaining, Repeated Testing, Decision-Making Biases

Research Interests

Psychology & Law: Plea-Bargaining; Eyewitness Memory; Psychology & Education: Lecturer Fluency; Task-Switching

Miko's research interests lie under the umbrellas of human memory and judgment and decision-making. She is particularly interested in the impact of cognitive psychological phenomena on real-world contexts such as law and education. More specifically, her research poses questions such as: How do innocent people choose to accept or reject a plea deal? What is the impact of a dynamic lecturer on students' perceptions of learning? Does repeated questioning have an impact on witnesses' susceptibility to false or misleading information? Miko hopes that her research can help to answer some of these questions and improve relevant procedures in the real-world.

Education

  • Ph D: Psychology, (2014), Iowa State University - Ames, IA
    Dissertation/Thesis Title: Bluffed by the dealer: Distinguishing false pleas from false confessions
  • MS: Psychology, (2012), Iowa State University - Ames, IA
    Dissertation/Thesis Title: Let's make a deal: Exploring plea acceptance rates in the guilty and the innocent
  • BA: Political Science, (2009), Iowa State University - Ames, IA
  • BS: Psychology, (2009), Iowa State University - Ames, IA
    Supporting Area: Applied Statistics

Biosketch

Miko earned a B.A. and B.S. in Political Science and Psychology (respectively). She then earned her Masters & Ph.D. in Psychology at Iowa State University with the support of a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship.

Selected Awards and Honors

  • Rising Star (2020), Scholarship/Research - Association for Psychological Science
  • Dissertation Award, 2nd place ($750) (2015), Scholarship/Research - American Psychology-Law Society (AP-LS)
  • Pre-Conference Workshop Grant (2015), Scholarship/Research - American Psychology-Law Society (AP-LS)
  • Lloyd Avant Scholars Award for Outstanding Achievement in Cognitive Psychology ($100) (2014), Scholarship/Research - Department of Psychology, Iowa State University
  • Legal Research Award ($150) (2014), Scholarship/Research - American Psychology-Law Society (AP-LS)
  • Best Early Career Psychonomic Society Poster Finalist (2013), Scholarship/Research - American Psychological Association (APA) Division 3
  • Research Excellence Award (2013), Scholarship/Research - Department of Psychology, Iowa State University
  • Outstanding Student Paper ($150) (2012), Scholarship/Research - American Psychology-Law Society (AP-LS)
  • American Psychology-Law Society Travel Award ($500) (2011), Scholarship/Research - American Psychology-Law Society (AP-LS)
  • Alvhh Lauer Award ($400) (2009), Scholarship/Research - Department of Psychology, Iowa State University
  • Rhodes Scholarship Region 14 Finalist (2008), Scholarship/Research - The Rhodes Trust

Selected Publications

  • Wilford, M., Wells, G.L. (Iowa State University) (2018). Bluffed by the Dealer: Distinguishing False Pleas from False Confessions. Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, 24(2) 158-170.
  • Wilford, M., Redlich, A.D. (George Mason University) (2018). Deciphering the Guilty Plea: Where Research Can Inform Policy. Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, 24(2) 145-146.
  • Wilford, M., Van Horn, M.C. (Eyerly Ball), Penrod, S.D. (John Jay College of Criminal Justice), Greathouse, S.M. (RAND Corporation) (2018). Not Separate but Equal? The Impact of Multiple-defendant Trials on Juror Decision-making. Psychology, Crime and Law, 24(1) 14-37.
  • Davis, S.D. (Iowa State University), Chan, J.C. (Iowa State University), Wilford, M. (2017). The Dark Side of Interpolated Testing: Frequent Switching between Retrieval and Encoding Impairs New Learning. Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition, 6(4) 434-441.
  • Wilford, M., Redlich, A.D. (George Mason University), Bushway, S. (University at Albany-SUNY) (2017). Understanding Guilty Pleas through the Lens of Social Science. Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, 23(4) 458-471.
  • LaPaglia, J., Wilford, M., Rivard, J., Chan, J., Fisher, R. (2014). Misleading Suggestions can Alter Later Memory Reports even following a Cognitive Interview. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 28 1-9.
  • Wilford, M., Chan, J., Tuhn, S. (2014). Retrieval Enhances Eyewitness Suggestibility to Misinformation in Free and Cued Recall. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 28 81-93.
  • Carpenter, S., Wilford, M., Kornell, N., Mullaney, K. (2013). Appearances can be Deceiving: Instructor Fluency Increases Perception of Learning without Increasing Actual Learning. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 20 1350-1356.
  • Wilford, M., Wells, G.L. (Iowa State University) (2013). Eyewitness System Variables: Revisiting the System-variable Concept and the Transfer of System Variables to the Legal System (pp. 1-29). American Psychological Association
  • Wells, G., Wilford, M., Smalarz, L. (2013). Forensic Science Testing: The Forensic Filler-control Method for Controlling Contextual Bias, Estimating Error Rates, and Calibrating Analysts' Reports. Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition, 2 53-55.
  • Chan, J., Wilford, M., Hughes, K. (2012). Retrieval can Increase or Decrease Suggestibility Depending on how Memory is Tested: The Importance of Source Complexity. Journal of Memory and Language, 67 78-85.
  • Wilford, M., Wells, G. (2010). Does Facial Processing Prioritize Change Detection? Changeblindness Illustrates Costs and Benefits of Holistic Processing. Psychological Science, 21 1611-1615.

Selected Presentations

  • Advances in suspect identification: Decision making and evidence gathering - Association for Psychological Science, May 2017 - Boston, MA
  • Past reflections and future performance: Can reflections on past learning improve future learning? - Association for Psychological Science, May 2017 - Boston, MA
  • Why do eyewitnesses identify innocent suspects?: The present/absent criteria discrepancy hypothesis. - American Psychology-Law Society, March 2017 - Seattle, WA
  • “What a horrible photo!”: Improving eyewitness accuracy with additional lineup photos? - American Psychology-Law Society, March 2017 - Seattle, WA
  • Ignorance to power: Plea-bargaining’s unknown domination of the justice system - “Next Generation of Guilty Plea Research” Research Coordination Network, October 2016 - Arlington, VA
  • Let’s make a deal: Developing an experimental plea- bargaining paradigm - Mid-Atlantic Law and Society Association, October 2015 - New York, NY
  • Let’s make a deal: Developing an experimental plea- bargaining paradigm - "Understanding Guilty Pleas" Research Coordination Network, June 2015 - Albany, NY
  • Bluffed by the dealer: Distinguishing false pleas from false confessions - American Psychology-Law Society, March 2015 - San Diego, CA
  • Bluffed by the dealer: Distinguishing false pleas from false confessions - American Psychology-Law Society, March 2015 - San Diego, CA
  • Let’s make a deal: The impact of individual differences on plea decisions - Psychonomic Society, November 2014 - Long Beach, CA
  • Let’s Make a Deal: Varying plea discount and conviction probability to get a deal. - American Psychology-Law Society, March 2014 - New Orleans, LA
  • The misleading effects of fluency on learning - Psychonomic Society, November 2013 - Toronto, Canada
  • The effects of multiple defendants on juror decision making - American Psychological Association, July 2013 - Honolulu, HI
  • Let's Make a Deal: Plea bargaining and its impact on American justice - Invited Talks, July 2013 - Cambridge, England
  • Memory & Decision-Making: Using social psychology to improve real-life problems - Invited Talks, June 2013 - Giessen, Germany
  • The memorial benefits of the Cognitive Interview come with a cost of enhanced suggestibility. - American Psychology-Law Society, March 2013 - Portland, OR
  • When ecphory fails in a lineup task: Eyewitnesses shift to identifying the innocent - American Psychology-Law Society, March 2013 - Portland, OR
  • Does facial processing prioritize change detection? Event-related brain potentials reveal task differences in the N170 - Psychonomic Society, November 2012 - Minneapolis, MN
  • Let’s Make a Deal: Exploring willingness to accept a plea bargain when innocent or guilty. - American Psychology-Law Society, March 2012 - San Juan, Puerto Rico
  • Who said what? Testing may cause confusion of what but not who - Society for Applied Research in Memory and Cognition, June 2011 - New York, NY
  • When Ecphory Fails: “No one pops out at me but, I choose number four.” - American Psychology-Law Society, March 2011 - Miami, FL
  • Object versus face perception causes different types of change blindness: Detecting versus localizing change. - Object Perception, Attention, Memory, November 2010 - St. Louis, MO
  • Can the effect of pre-admonition suggestions be corrected with an implied admission? - Association for Psychological Science, May 2010 - Chicago, IL
  • Immediate recall increases eyewitness suggestibility to misinformation: Finding of retrieval-enhanced suggestibility - Association for Psychological Science, May 2010 - Boston, MA
  • Change blindness for faces vs. houses: A qualitative difference with implications for eyewitnesses. - American Psychology-Law Society, March 2010 - Vancouver, Canada
  • What are the effects of testing on eyewitness’ susceptibility to subsequent central and peripheral misinformation? - American Psychology-Law Society, March 2010 - Vancouver, Canada
  • College students’ perceptions of being “exempt” from the negative consequences of binge drinking: Absent-exempt thinking and alcohol poisoning - Society for Personality and Social Psychology, January 2010 - Las Vegas, NV
  • The effects of recall on eyewitness suggestibility to central and peripheral misinformation - Association for Psychological Science, May 2009 - San Francisco, CA
  • Inaccuracies in facial recognition: Examining facial processing methods - American Psychology-Law Society, March 2009 - San Antonio, TX
  • Changing binge-drinking cognitions: The impact of mode of processing, comparison targets, and past behavior - Society for Personality and Social Psychology, February 2009 - Tampa, FL

Selected Contracts, Fellowships, Grants and Sponsored Research

  • CAREER: A system of pleas: Using a role-playing simulation to test plea decision models (2019), Grant - National Science Foundation
    Wilford, M.M.
  • Graduate Research Fellowship (2011), Fellowship - National Science Foundation
    Wilford, M.
  • Campbell-Borgen International Travel Award (), Grant - Department of Psychology, Iowa State University
    Wilford, M.
  • The effects of single- versus multiple-defendant cases on juror decision-making (2011), Grant - Psi Chi Graduate Research Grant
    Wilford, M., Greathouse, S., Penrod, S.
  • Changing binge-drinking conditions: The impact of mode of processing, comparison targets, & past behavior (2008), Grant - Psi Chi Summer Research Grant
    Wilford, M., Stock, M.
  • Absent-exempt thinking about alcohol poisoning (), Grant - Stewart Grant, Honors Program, Iowa State University
    Wilford, M., Stock, M., Gerrard, M.
  • Absent-exempt thinking about alcohol poisoning (), Grant - University Honors Grant, Iowa State University, Ames, IA
    Wilford, M., Stock, M., Gerrard, M.