Carolyn Rovee-Collier

Carolyn Rovee-Collier (April 7, 1942 – October 2, 2014) was a Professor of Psychology at Rutgers University. Born in Nashville, Tennessee, she was a pioneer and an internationally renowned expert in cognitive development. She was named one of the 10 most influential female graduates of Brown University.

Dr. Rovee-Collier grew up in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She graduated from Louisiana State University in 1962 with a bachelor's degree in psychology. She obtained her master's degree in 1964 and her Ph.D. in experimental child psychology from Brown University in 1966. She taught at Trenton University and then Rutgers university, where she was on the faculty for 43 years until her death on October 2, 2014, after a long struggle with multiple sclerosis and breast cancer, in her Stockton, New Jersey home.

Dr. Rovee-Collier was recognized as the founder of infant long-term memory research. Her research focused on learning and memory in pre-verbal infants. In her research, she used operant and deferred imitation procedures to study latent learning, and how memory retrieval affects future retention. Rovee-Collier had authored 200 articles and chapters and a 2001 book (with Hayne and Colombo), The development of implicit and explicit memory, and received recognition for her research accomplishments from various organizations.

Rovee-Collier received a 10-year NIMH MERIT award. Recipients of these awards are nominated by members of the National Institute of Mental Health, and made to investigators who have demonstrated superior competence and outstanding productivity in their research.

In 2003 she received the Howard Cosby Warren Medal —the most prestigious award in American psychology, according to the Federation of Associations in Behavioral & Brain Sciences. She also received a James McKeen Cattell Fellowship and a Distinguished Achievement Medal from the Graduate School of Brown University.