APS Global Collaboration on COVID-19 > How Memory Makes it Harder to Fight COVID-19

How Memory Makes it Harder to Fight COVID-19

Register

September 8, 2022
3:00 – 4:00 PM ET (7:00 – 8:00 UTC)

This event is free and open to the general public. You can view the live stream by clicking here.

This panel takes a closer look at how our memories make it harder for traditional contact tracers to find infected people quickly and obtain accurate information from them. In the COVID-19 pandemic, digital contact tracing—an unobtrusive, vigilant, and accurate recorder of danger—should outperform traditional contact tracing on every measure. But it probably has delivered on only a fraction of its potential. Why? Some of the answers are to be found in psychological science. There will be plenty of time for questions from the audience.

The panel comes from multiple disciplines and areas of research and practice. Speakers:

  • Maryanne Garry, Psychology, The University of Waikato (New Zealand)
  • Lorraine Hope, Psychology, The University of Portsmouth (UK)
  • Tom Merritt, independent tech podcaster and co-host of the Daily Tech News Show (USA)
  • Marcel Salathé, Digital Epidemiology Lab, École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (Switzerland)

The APS Global Collaboration on COVID-19 convenes psychological scientists and other behavioral science experts to assess how our field has contributed to combating the COVID-19 pandemic and identify gaps in our understanding that should be addressed through new research. For this collaboration, APS has established working groups focusing on different areas of psychological science and how they pertain to COVID-19. These groups are comprised of leading experts in the field who are making recommendations to the science community, policymakers, and the public.