MIKO M. WILFORD
Associate Professor
I am a tenured Associate Professor at Iowa State University. I am interested in applying what we know about social-cognitive phenomena to the improvement of real world procedures, particularly law and education. To this end, I am the P.I. of the Psycho-Legal Experiments and Applications (PLEA) Lab, and my most significant current project (funded by an NSF CAREER grant) is the development of computer-simulation software with which to study plea decision-making. This software can be customized at researcher.pleajustice.org.
TEACHING
Psychology & Law (Fall 2023 and Spring 2024)
CURRENT PROJECTS
Programs of Study
PLEA DECISION-MAKING
What leads an innocent person to plead guilty?
EYEWITNESS MEMORY
How do well-intentioned witnesses contribute to wrongful convictions?
TASK-SWITCHING
A dark side to interpolated testing?
LECTURER FLUENCY
How do "good" lecturers impact student learning?
PSYCHOLOGY, CRIME AND LAW
Wilford, M. M., & Bornstein, B. H. (2023). The disappearing trial: How social scientists can help save the jury from extinction. Psychology, Crime and Law, 29(1), 1-24. https://doi.org/10.1080/1068316X.2021.1984482
JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY: APPLIED
Wilford, M. M., Zimmerman, D., Yan, S., & Sutherland, K. T. (2021). Innocence in the shadow of COVID-19: Plea decision making during a pandemic [Psychological Factors in Responding to COVID-19 Special Issue]. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 27(4), 739-750. https://doi.org/10.1002/acp.3724
LAW AND HUMAN BEHAVIOR
Wilford, M. M., Sutherland, K. T., Gonzales, J. E., & Rabinovich, M. (2021). Guilt status influences plea outcomes beyond the shadow-of-the-trial in an interactive simulation of legal procedures. Law and Human Behavior, 45(4), 271-286. https://doi.org/10.1037/lhb0000450
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE
Wilford, M. M., Wells, G. L., & Frazier, A. (2021). Plea-bargaining law: The impact of innocence, trial penalty, and conviction probability on plea outcomes. American Journal of Criminal Justice, 46(3), 554-575. https://www.doi.org/10.1007/s12103-020-09564-y
APPLIED COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY
Wilford, M. M., Kurpad, N., Platt, M.* & Weinstein-Jones, Y. (2020). Lecturer fluency can impact students' judgments of learning and actual learning performance. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 34(6), 1444-1456. https://doi.org/10.1002/acp.3724
LAW AND HUMAN BEHAVIOR
Smith, A. M., Wilford, M. M., Wells, G. L., & Quigley-McBride, A. (2019). Mistaken eyewitness identification rates increase when either witnessing or testing conditions get worse. Law and Human Behavior. 43(4). https://doi.org/10.1037/lhb0000334
PSYCHOLOGY, PUBLIC POLICY, AND LAW
Wilford, M. M., & Redlich, A. D. (2018). Deciphering the guilty plea: Where research can inform policy [Introduction to the special section on Guilty Pleas]. Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, 24(2), 145-146. https://doi.org/10.1037/law0000169
PSYCHOLOGY, PUBLIC POLICY AND LAW
Wilford, M. M., & Wells, G. L. (2018). Bluffed by the dealer: Distinguishing false pleas from false confessions [Special section on Guilty Pleas]. Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, 24(2), 158-170. https://doi.org/10.1037/law0000165
PSYCHOLOGY, CRIME AND LAW
Wilford, M. M., Van Horn, M. C.,* Penrod, S. D., & Greathouse, S. M. (2018). Not separate but equal? The impact of multiple-defendant trials on juror decision-making. Psychology, Crime and Law, 24(1), 14-37. https://www.doi.org/10.1080/1068316X.2017.1351969
PSYCHOLOGY, PUBLIC POLICY, AND LAW
Redlich, A. D., Wilford, M. M., & Bushway, S. (2017). Understanding guilty pleas through the lens of social science [Special anniversary issue]. Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, 23(4), 458-471. https://doi.org/10.1037/law0000142
JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY: APPLIED
Wilford, M. M., Chan, J. C. K., & Tuhn, S. J.* (2014). Retrieval enhances eyewitness suggestibility to misinformation in free and cued recall. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 28(1), 81-93. https://www.doi.org/10.1037/xap0000001
PSYCHONOMIC BULLETIN AND REVIEW
Carpenter, S. K., Wilford, M. M., Kornell, N., & Mullaney, K. M. (2013). Appearances can be deceiving: Instructor fluency increases perception of learning without increasing actual learning. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 20, 1350-1356. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-013-0442-z
JOURNAL OF APPLIED RESEARCH IN MEMORY AND COGNITION
Wells, G. L., Wilford, M. M., & Smalarz, L. (2013). Forensic science testing: The forensic filler-control method for controlling contextual bias, estimating error rates, and calibrating analysts' reports. Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition, 2(1), 53-55. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jarmac.2013.01.004
JOURNAL OF MEMORY AND LANGUAGE
Chan, J. C. K., Wilford, M. M., & Hughes, K. L.* (2012). Retrieval can increase or decrease suggestibility depending on how memory is tested: The importance of source complexity. Journal of Memory and Language, 67(1), 78-85. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2012.02.006
PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE
Wilford, M. M., & Wells, G. L. (2010). Does facial processing prioritize change detection? Change-blindness illustrates costs and benefits of holistic processing. Psychological Science, 21(11), 1611-1615. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797610385952
EDUCATION
PH.D., IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY
August 2012 - July 2014
I have a Ph.D. in Social Psychology, and I was co-advised by Dr. Gary L. Wells (in the Social Psychology program) and Dr. Jason C. K. Chan (in the Cognitive Psychology program). I was supported by a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. My dissertation was entitled, "Bluffed by the dealer: Distinguishing false pleas from false confessions".
M.A., IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY
August 2009Â - May 2012
I have a Master's degree in Psychology and I was co-advised by Dr. Gary L. Wells (in the Social Psychology program) and Dr. Jason C. K. Chan (in the Cognitive Psychology program). I was supported by a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. My thesis was entitled, "Let's make a deal: Exploring plea acceptance rates in the guilty and the innocent".
B.S. & B.A., IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY
August 2005 - May 2009
I have a B.S. is in Psychology and a B.A. in Political Science. I also earned a Minor in Applied Statistics and graduated Magna Cum Laude. IÂ completed an Honors thesis under the advisement of Michelle L. Stock and Meg Gerrard entitled, "Changing binge-drinking cognitions: The impact of mode of processing, comparison targets and past behavior".
"It is better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer"