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After completing my PhD at the University of Sheffield in the U.K., I spent 5 years working with Dr. Michael Lamb at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development in Bethesda, Maryland.
I joined the faculty at 51本色 in 2001 and was promoted to professor in 2009. While at 51本色, my research has been funded through grants awarded from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC); the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC); the Canadian Foundation for Innovation; the Ontario Innovation Trust; the Ministry of Enterprise, Opportunity and Innovation; the Australian Research Council, and the Department of Justice.
I run the Child Memory Lab and enjoy working with graduate and undergraduate students, families in the community, doctors, nurses, social workers, lawyers, teachers and other professionals who work with children. I founded the BrainWorx summer camp to improve the diversity of children involved in STEM. I am regularly consulted by judges, attorneys, police services and social work agencies regarding proper interviewing practices with children.
I conduct basic and applied research using quantitative and qualitative methodologies. My research has educational, forensic, and wellbeing applications.
Educational
- How do children learn information from a variety of sources (e.g., the internet, peers, parents)?
- How does knowledge develop over time? Can children judge the credibility of online sources?
- When are children ready to learn about equity, diversity, and inclusivity? What are the cognitive reasoning processes used by children in EDI decisions?
- How can we use knowledge of child development to inform forensic interviewing practices? What are the characteristics of children’s allegations of sexual abuse?
- How are children questioned throughout legal proceedings?
- How are children “groomed” in sexual abuse cases?
- How do parents help children make sense of negative events through joint reminiscing?
- How does parent and child joint reminiscing help children learn about mental states?
- Can mindfulness be incorporated into the classroom? Can children with lower levels of executive function enjoy and benefit from mindfulness activities?
- University Research Professor, 2023-2024
- Premier’s Research Excellence Award (Ontario)
- Wayman Mullins Award for most downloaded article (Society for Police and Criminal Psychology)
- Associate Editor, Frontiers in Cognitive Development
- Editorial Board, Psychology, Public Policy, and Law
- Fogarty International Award, National Institutes of Health
The Child Memory Lab is always interested in hearing from motivated students interested in any of the following:
- Prospective MA or PhD students (in Developmental Psychology)
- Prospective undergraduate Honours Thesis students in Psychology or Health Sciences
- Prospective graduate comprehensive students
- Undergraduate Research Assistants (including but not limited to NSERC Undergraduate Summer Research Awardees, Faculty of Science USRAs, Indigenous applicants)
- Student Volunteers (undergraduate or senior high school)
Book Chapters
- Butterfield, K. M., Roberts, K.P., Feltis, L.E., & Kocovski, N. (2020). What is the Evidence in Evidence-Based Mindfulness Programs? Chapter in Advances in Child Development and Behavior, vol. 58, pages 189-203, San Diego, CA: Elsevier (Academic Press imprint). Benson, J.B., Series Editor
- Qi, H., & Roberts, K. P. (2019). Cultural Influences on the Development of Children’s Memory and Cognition. Chapter in Advances in Child Development and Behavior, vol. 56, San Diego, CA: Elsevier (Academic Press imprint). Benson, J.B., Series Editor
- Roberts, K.P. (2019). Hereditary Influences. Chapter in Shaffer, D.R., Kipp, K., Wood, E., Willoughby, T., Roberts, K.P., Gottardo, A., Krettenauer, T., Lee, J., & Newton, N. (2024). Developmental Psychology: Infancy and Childhood. (6th edition). Nelson, Toronto, Canada.
- Brubacher, S.P., Bala, N.C., Roberts, K., & Price, H. (2016). Investigative Interviewing of Witnesses and Victims in Canada (pp245-255). In D. Walsh. G.E. Oxburgh, A. Redlich, & T. Myklebust, (Eds.). International Developments and Practices in Investigative Interviewing and Interrogation, Volume I. Routledge, UK.
- Roberts, K.P., Drohan-Jennings, D., Brubacher, S.P. (2013). The developmental aspects of the young child in child maltreatment cases. In A. Giardino & R. Alexander (Eds.). Child maltreatment: A clinical guide and reference (4th Ed.). GW Medical Publishing, Inc. St. Louis, MO.
- Roberts, K.P., Brubacher, S.P., Price, H.L., & Powell, M.B. (2011). “Practice narratives”. (pp129-145). In Lamb, M.E., La Rooy, D., Katz, C., & Malloy, L. (2011). Children’s testimony: A Handbook of psychological research and forensic practice. Wiley-Blackwell.
- Evans, A.D., & Roberts, K.P. (2009). Children in an information society: The relations between source monitoring, mental-state understanding and knowledge acquisition in young children. (pp235-252). M. R. Kelley (Ed.) Applied Memory. Hauppage, NY: Nova Science Publishers.
- Roberts, K.P., & Evans, A.D. (2008). Protecting alleged victims of child abuse in adult-based judicial systems. In T. O’Neill & D. Zinga (Eds.). Children’s Rights: Theory, Policy, and Practice. (pp.195-215). University of Toronto Press: Toronto, Ontario.
Peer-reviewed Journal Articles
- Butterfield, K.M. & Roberts, K.P. (2021). The Role of executive function in children’s mindful experience Mindfulness. DOI:
- Roberts, K.P, Wood, K. & Wylie, B. (2021). Children’s ability to edit their memories when learning about the environment from credible and incredible websites. Cognitive Research DOI:
- D’Alessandro, A., Butterfield, K., Hanceroglu, L., & Roberts, K.P. (2021). Listen to the children: School students’ perspectives on a mindful intervention. Journal of Child & Family Studies DOI:
- Qi, H. & Roberts, K.P. (2021). The influence of culture on children’s immediate and delayed retrieval. British Journal of Developmental Psychology. doi:
- Earhart, R., Lakhani, N., & Roberts, K.P. (2021). Developmental trends in source and destination memory. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 202, 16. doi:
- Zhang, H. H., Roberts, K. P., & Teoh, Y. (2018). Children's recall and source monitoring of a repeated event using a timeline as an interview aid. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 176-187. doi:
- Qi, H., Zhang, H. H., Hanceroglu, L., Caggianiello, J., & Roberts, K. P. (2018). The influence of mindfulness on young adolescents' eyewitness memory and suggestibility. Applied Cognitive Psychology, doi:
- Brubacher, S. P., Earhart, R., Roberts, K. P., & Powell, M. B. (2018). Effects of label training and recall order on children's reports of a repeated event. Applied Cognitive Psychology, doi:
- Powell, M.B., Burrows, K. S., Brubacher, S.P., & Roberts, K.P. (2017). Prosecutors' Perceptions on Questioning Children about Repeated Abuse. Psychiatry Psychology, & Law, 24, 74-89. doi:
- Danby, M.C., Brubacher, S.P., Charmant, Powell M.B., & Roberts, K.P. (2017) Children’s reasoning about which episode of a repeated event is best remembered. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 31, 99-108. DOI:10.1002/acp.3306
- Roberts, K.P., Evans, A.E., & Duncanson, S. (2017). Binding an event to its source improves source monitoring. Developmental Psychology, 52, 2191-2201. doi:
- Roberts, K.P., Qi, H., & Zhang, H.H. (2017). Challenges Facing East Asian Immigrant Children in Sexual Abuse Cases. Canadian Psychology/Psychologie Canadienne, 57, 300-307. Special Issue on Immigrants and Refugees. doi:
- La Rooy, David,. Brubacher, S.P., Aromäki-Stratos, A., Cyr, M., Hershkowitz, I., Korkman, J., Myklebust, T., Naka, M., Peixoto, C.E., Roberts, K.P., Stewart, H. & Lamb, M.E. (2015). The NICHD Protocol: A review of an internationally-used evidence-based tool for training child forensic interviewers, Journal of Criminological Research, Policy, and Practice, 1, 76-89 dx.doi.org/10.1108/JCRPP-01-2015-0001.
- Roberts, K.P., Brubacher, S.P., Drohan-Jennings, D., Glisic, U., Friedman, W., & Powell, M.B. (2015). Developmental differences in the ability to provide temporal information associated with an instance of a repeated event. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 29, 407 – 417. doi:10.1002/acp.3118
- Brubacher, S.P., Malloy, L.C., Lamb, M.E., & Roberts, K.P. (in press). “How do interviewers and children discuss individual occurrences of alleged repeated abuse in forensic interviews?” Applied Cognitive Psychology.
- Brubacher, S.P., Roberts, K.P., & Obhi, S. (in press). “Gaze, goals and growing up: Effects on imitative grasping.” British Journal of Developmental Psychology.
- Brubacher, S.P., Roberts, K.P., & Powell, M.B. (2012). “Retrieval of episodic versus generic information: Does the order of recall affect the amount and accuracy of details reported by children about repeated events?” Developmental Psychology, 48, 111-122.
- Schneider, L., Price, H.L., Roberts, K.P., & Hedrick, A. (2011). “Children’s episodic and generic reports of alleged abuse.” Applied Cognitive Psychology, 25, 862-870.
- Drohan-Jennings, D. Roberts, K.P., & Powell, M.B. (2010). “Mental context reinstatement increases resistance to misleading suggestions”. Psychiatry, Psychology, & Law, 17, 594-606.
- Roberts, K.P., & Lamb, M.E. (2010). “Reality-monitoring characteristics in confirmed and doubtful allegations of abuse.” Applied Cognitive Psychology, 24, 1049-1079.
- Roberts, K.P., & Powell, M.B. (2007). “The roles of prior experience and the timing of misinformation on children’s event memories”. Child Development, 78, 1137-1152.
- PS275: Child Development
- PS375: Research in Developmental Psychology
- PS475: Seminar in Developmental Psychology
- PS490: Directed Studies
- PS499: Honours Thesis in Psychology
- PS675: Research Seminar in Developmental Psychology
- PS875: Advanced Seminar in Cognitive Development
Contact Info:
T: 548.889.3776
Office location: N2074B (Science Building)
Office hours: Varies each term; please check course syllabi or contact kroberts@wlu.ca
Lab website: yourchildmatters.ca