Peter A. Ornstein, Ph.D.
Peter A. Ornstein is the F. Stuart Chapin Distinguished Professor of Psychology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. A developmental psychologist, Dr. Ornstein's research concerns cognitive development, especially the development of young children's memory. Two of his programs of research focus on social factors – such as interactions with parents and teachers – that influence developmental changes in children’s abilities to remember. In the first of these programs, Dr. Ornstein is working with Dr. Jennifer Coffman to examine the ways in which teachers in the early elementary school years facilitate the emergence and refinement of children's deliberate memory strategies. This project entails longitudinal assessments of children’s mnemonic skills, as well as detailed observations in the classrooms of these children. In the second research program, Dr. Ornstein collaborates with Dr. Catherine Haden on a longitudinal study of the development of children’s memory over the first six years of life, focusing on transitions from early expressions of nonverbal memory to later uses of language to make reference to past experiences to still later facility in the deliberate deployment of strategies for remembering. Particular emphasis is placed on parent-child social interaction as it impacts children’s developing skills in talking about previously-experienced events. Moreover, in a third program of research, Dr. Ornstein works with Dr. Lynne Baker Ward (and previously with their late colleague, Dr. Betty Gordon) to examine the abilities of 3- to 7-year-olds to remember salient personal experiences – such visits to the doctor – over extended periods of time. These studies are designed to contribute to an understanding of the major factors (e.g., prior knowledge, stress) that influence children's memory performance and its development, but they also have implications for assessing the abilities of young children to provide accurate testimony in legal situations. Finally, Dr. Ornstein collaborates with Dr. Martha Cox and CDS faculty colleagues on an integrated multi-level longitudinal investigation of children’s cognitive, emotional, and social development, the Durham Child Health and Development Study.
Selected publications:
Grammer, J. K., Purtell, K. M., Coffman, J. L., & Ornstein, P. A. (in press). Relations between children’s metamemory and strategic performance: Time-varying covariates in early elementary school. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology.
Ornstein, P. A., Haden, C. A., & Coffman, J. L. (in press). Learning to remember: Mothers and teachers talking with children. In N. L. Stein & S. Raudenbush (Eds.), Developmental science goes to school. New York: Taylor & Francis
Ornstein, P. A., & Light L. L. (2010). Memory development across the lifespan. In W. F. Overton (Ed.), Biology, cognition and methods across the life-span. Volume 1 of the Handbook of life-span development (pp. 259-305), Editor-in-chief: R. M. Lerner. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Ornstein, P. A., Grammer, J. K., & Coffman, J. L. (2010). Teachers’ “mnemonic style” and the development of skilled memory. In H.S. Waters & W. Schneider (Eds.), Metacognition, strategy use, and instruction (pp. 23-53). New York: Guilford Publications.
Hedrick, A. M., Haden, C. A., & Ornstein, P. A. (2009). Elaborative talk during and after an event: Conversational style influences children’s remembering. Journal of Cognition and Development, 10, 188-209.
Coffman, J. L., Ornstein, P. A., McCall, L. E., & Curran, P. J. (2008). Linking teachers’ memory-relevant language and the development of children’s memory skills. Developmental Psychology, 44, 1640-1654
Ornstein, P. A., Baker-Ward, L., Gordon, B. N., Pelphrey, K. A., Tyler, C. S., & Gramzow, E. (2006). The influence of prior knowledge and repeated questioning on children’s long-term retention of the details of a pediatric examination. Developmental Psychology, 42, 332-344.
Ornstein, P. A., Haden, C. A., & Hedrick, A. M. (2004). Learning to remember: Social-communicative exchanges and the development of children’s memory skills. Developmental Review, 24, 374-395.
Peter A. Ornstein
Department of Psychology
CB# 3270, Davie Hall
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3270
(919) 962-4138
ornstein@unc.edu
