Hsiao-Wen Liao

Assistant Professor of Psychology

Education

Ph.D. (2017) Developmental Psychology University of Florida

Research Interests

autobiographical memory, episodic future thinking, adult development and aging, VR and NLP approaches to autobiographical memory

About

In an era in which many people can live well into their eighties or nineties, articulating pathways to a quality life becomes more critical than ever before. At the broadest sense, I am interested in identifying the affective, cognitive, and sociocultural processes that shape long and meaningful lives. My research addresses three broad questions: (1) What factors contribute to meaningful lives? (2) How do individual life experiences, particularly those that are personally significant and challenging, shape the pursuit of meaning across the adult life span in diverse contexts? (3) What emotional and cognitive gains and losses might be involved in the process of striving for meaningfulness? I address these questions from a functional approach to autobiographical memory and consider how developmental changes in motivation across the adult life span may be at play.

Selected Publications

• Liao, H.-W., Bluck, S., & Glück, J. (2021). Recalling youth: Control over reminiscence bump events predicts life satisfaction in midlife. Psychology and Aging, 36(2), 232–240.  
• Liao, H.-W., & DeLiema, M. (2021). Reimagining senior centers for purposeful aging: Perspectives of diverse older adults. Journal of Applied Gerontology.
• Sharma, S., Akerlund, H., Liao, H.-W, & Bluck, S. (2020). Life challenges and resilience: The role of perceived personality continuity. Aging and Mental Health.
• Liao, H.-W., Hommelhoff, S., & Carstensen, L. L. (2020). Time perceptions from seconds to lifetimes: How perceived time affects adult development. In A. Gutchess & A. K. Thomas (Eds.), Handbook of Cognitive Aging: A Life Course Perspective. Cambridge University Press.
• Giasson, H., Liao, H.-W., & Carstensen, L. L (2018). Counting down while time flies: Implications of age-related time acceleration for goal pursuit across adulthood. Current Opinion in Psychology, 26, 85-89.
• Bluck, S., & Liao, H.-W. (2013). I was therefore I am: Creating self-continuity through remembering our personal past. The International Journal of Reminiscence and Life Review, 1, 7-12.