Ira Hyman, Ph.D., is currently a professor of psychology at Western Washington University in Bellingham, Washington. His research is focused on human memory including traumatic memories, false childhood memories, autobiographical memory, memory in social context, and memory for phobia onset. Some of his most influential studies are: "Did you see the unicycling clown? Inattentional blindness while walking and talking on a cell phone", "Errors in autobiographical memories", "Individual differences and the creation of false childhood memories", "The role of mental imagery in the creation of false childhood memories" and "False memories of childhood experiences". Education He next attended Florida State University where he graduated with a Master of Arts in Cognitive and Developmental Psychology in 1989, and acquired his Ph.D. in the same subject in 1990. Following graduation Hyman began working as a Research Assistant Professor for The Institute for the Learning Sciences at Northwestern University, and released his first publication: "Memorabeatlia: A naturalistic study of long-term memory" with his colleague D.C Rubin, about the memory and recollection of well-known song lyrics. Between 1991 and 1995 Hyman was an assistant professor at the Psychology Department in the Western Washington University and began his publications in earnest, including his first solo publication, "Multiple approaches to remembering: Comment on Edwards, Middleton, and Potter". This was also the time period during which Hyman first collaborated with Ulric Neisser. Between 1995 and 2000 Hyman worked as an associate professor at Western Washington University, and became a professor in 2000. He published articles in thirteen journals and has contributed chapters to nine books. He also co-edited the book "Memory Observed: Remembering in Natural Contexts" with Ulric Neisser in 2000. False childhood memories There is considerable debate currently over whether or not 'recovered' childhood memories in adulthood can be considered accurate; Hyman's experiments on Childhood Memories demonstrated that there are reasons to doubt the authenticity of these recovered memories. False memory stories In a 1990 study with Troy H. Husband and F. James Billings, Hyman found that when given misleading information, college-students will create a fictitious memory of their childhood. In this study, called "False Memories of Childhood Experiences" Hyman and his colleagues sent questionnaires to the parents of psychology students, asking them to describe meaningful events in their children's life, such as getting lost, losing a pet, or taking a family vacation. The child (now a college-student) was then asked to recall several of the