Brief Introduction
I am a Lecturer of Psychology at the Division of Social Sciences at Yale-NUS College. I earned my Ph.D. in Psychology from the National University of Singapore (NUS), after attaining a MA (with Distinction) in Music Psychology in Education from the University of Sheffield, and a B.Soc.Sci. (Hons.) degree in Psychology from NUS.
Concurrently, I hold a Licentiate Diploma (LTCL) with Distinction in Piano Performance from Trinity College London, a Licentiate Diploma (LLCM) with Distinction (Approved, Upper Level) in Piano Duet Performance from the London College of Music, and a Diploma of The Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (DipABRSM) in Violin Music Performance.
Research
My research bridges the fields of cognitive and educational psychology to develop, test, and translate interventions that improve higher order learning. Currently, my work focuses on how people can strategically learn from errors to flourish from failure. In particular, my pioneering research on the derring effect has demonstrated the learning benefits of deliberately committing and correcting errors in low-stakes contexts. More broadly, my ambition is to discover how we can best (re)design education to empower people with the skills to learn deeply, thereby promoting human flourishing.
My research has been published in journals such as Educational Psychologist, Educational Psychology Review, Journal of Educational Psychology, and Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. I have received the American Psychological Association (APA) Paul R. Pintrich Outstanding Dissertation Award, Association for Psychological Science (APS) Student Research Award, and Wang Gungwu Medal and Prize for Best Ph.D. Thesis in the Social Sciences and Humanities. My work has also been featured in the cover story of the APS Observer, New Scientist, and Psychology Today.
Teaching
As an educator, I aspire to bring learning to life, and Life to learning. I see it as part of my mission to excite students about ideas and concepts they encounter, and to challenge my students to think deeply and critically in their discovery and construction of knowledge. Through such processes, it is my hope that my students may make quantum leaps in their learning and forge ahead to pursue their higher purposes and meaning in life.
Teaching Areas
Yale-NUS College
Course Instructor of Record
- YSS3360 Lab in Applied Cognitive Psychology
- YSS4291 Contemporary Educational Psychology
- YSS4293 Psychology of Errors
Research Supervision
- YSS4102 Psychology Capstone Project
National University of Singapore
Course Instructor of Record
- MUA3209 Business for Musicians [Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music (YSTCM) module for Music & Society and Music, Collaboration & Production programmes] (Team Teaching: Research in the Arts)
- PL3281 Lab in Cognitive Psychology
- PL3281D Lab in Music Perception and Cognition
Research Supervision
- PL3231 Independent Research Project
- PL3551 Undergraduate Research Opportunity (UROP)
- PL4401 Honours Thesis
- PL4660 Independent Study
Programme Instructor
- Educational Psychology: Theories and Application for Learning and Teaching [School of Continuing and Lifelong Education (SCALE), Leaders of Tomorrow programme]
Course Tutor
- GEK1064/PLB1201 Psychology in Everyday Life
- PL2132 Research and Statistical Methods II
- PL3233 Cognitive Psychology
- PL3235 Social Psychology
- PL3238 Social Cognition
- PL3240 Group Dynamics
- PLS8002 Cultivating the Self
Research Interests
- Deliberate errors
- Learning from errors
- Higher order learning
- Cognitive psychology in education
Publications
ARTICLES IN JOURNALS
- (*Corresponding author)
- Yap, J. B. K., & Wong, S. S. H.* (2024). Deliberately making and correcting errors in mathematical problem-solving practice improves procedural transfer to more complex problems. Journal of Educational Psychology. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000850
- Wong, S. S. H., Lim, K. Y. L., & Lim, S. W. H.* (2023). To ask better questions, teach: Learning-by-teaching enhances research question generation more than retrieval practice and concept-mapping. Journal of Educational Psychology, 115(6), 798–812. https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000802
- Wong, S. S. H.*, & Lim, S. W. H.* (2023). Take notes, not photos: Mind-wandering mediates the impact of note-taking strategies on video-recorded lecture learning performance. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 29(1), 124–135. https://doi.org/10.1037/xap0000375
- Wong, S. S. H.* (2023). Deliberate erring improves far transfer of learning more than errorless elaboration and spotting and correcting others' errors. Educational Psychology Review, 35(1), Article 16. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-023-09739-z
- Wong, S. S. H.*, & Lim, S. W. H. (2022). Deliberate errors promote meaningful learning. Journal of Educational Psychology, 114(8), 1817–1831. https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000720
- Wong, S. S. H.*, & Lim, S. W. H. (2022). The derring effect: Deliberate errors enhance learning. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 151(1), 25–40. https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0001072
- Wong, S. S. H.*, & Lim, S. W. H.* (2022). A mind-wandering account of the testing effect: Does context variation matter? Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 29(1), 220–229. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-021-01989-8
- Lim, K. Y. L., Wong, S. S. H., & Lim, S. W. H.* (2021). The "silent teacher": Learning by teaching via writing a verbatim teaching script. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 35(6), 1492–1501. https://doi.org/10.1002/acp.3881
- Wong, S. S. H.*, Chen, S., & Lim, S. W. H.* (2021). Learning melodic musical intervals: To block or to interleave? Psychology of Music, 49(4), 1027–1046. https://doi.org/10.1177/0305735620922595
- Wong, S. S. H.*, Low, A. C. M., Kang, S. H. K., & Lim, S. W. H.* (2020). Learning music composers' styles: To block or to interleave? Journal of Research in Music Education, 68(2), 156–174. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022429420908312
- Wong, S. S. H.*, & Lim, S. W. H.* (2019). From JOLs to JOLs+: Directing learners' attention in retrieval practice to boost integrative argumentation. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 25(4), 543–557. https://doi.org/10.1037/xap0000225
- Wong, S. S. H., Ng, G. J. P., Tempel, T., & Lim, S. W. H.* (2019). Retrieval practice enhances analogical problem solving. Journal of Experimental Education, 87(1), 128–138. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220973.2017.1409185
- Wong, S. S. H.*, & Lim, S. W. H. (2019). Prevention–Permission–Promotion: A review of approaches to errors in learning. Educational Psychologist, 54(1), 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1080/00461520.2018.1501693
- Wong, S. S. H.*, & Lim, S. W. H. (2017). Mental imagery boosts music compositional creativity. PLoS ONE, 12(3), Article e0174009. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0174009
- Wong, S. S. H., Lim, S. W. H.*, & Quinlan, K. M. (2016). Integrity in and beyond contemporary higher education: What does it mean to university students? Frontiers in Psychology: Educational Psychology, 7, Article 1094. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01094
SHORTER ARTICLES/COMMENTS IN JOURNAL
-
Lee, L. N.^, Wong, S. S. H.^, & Lim, S. W. H.* (2015). Empowering psychology teaching assistants through a symposium. CDTL Brief, 18(1), 2–12. (^Both authors contributed equally to this work)
CONFERENCE PAPERS
- Wong, S. S. H. (2022, November 17–20). The derring effect: Deliberate errors improve learning and transfer [Poster presentation]. 63rd Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society, Boston, MA, USA.
- Wong, S. S. H., & Lim, S. W. H. (2020, June 1–September 1). The derring effect: Deliberate errors enhance learning [Poster presentation]. Association for Psychological Science (APS) Poster Showcase.
- Wong, S. S. H., & Lim, S. W. H. (2020, May 21–24). The derring effect: Deliberate errors enhance learning [Paper presentation]. 32nd Association for Psychological Science (APS) Annual Convention, Chicago, IL, USA. (Conference cancelled)
- Wong, S. S. H., & Lim, S. W. H. (2020). The cognitive science of music education [Oral presentation cancelled]. 7th International Conference on New Music Concepts, Treviso, Italy.
- Tan, N. J. H.^, Wong, S. S. H.^, & Lim, S. W. H. (2013). What we move to moves us: Biological rhythmicity predicts musical preferences. In M. Knauff, M. Pauen, N. Sebanz, & I. Wachsmuth (Eds.), Proceedings of the 35th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society (p. 4025). Austin, TX: Cognitive Science Society. (^Both authors contributed equally to this work)
PAPERS FOR SEMINAR, PUBLIC TALK, LECTURE
- Wong, S. S. H. (2020, February 18). The derring effect: Deliberate errors enhance learning. Speaker at Department of Psychology Brownbag Seminar series, National University of Singapore.
- Wong, S. S. H. (2019, October 10). Dispelling the creativity myth: Insights from cognitive science. Invited Speaker at the inaugural Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) Research Division Lunchtime Seminar Series, National University of Singapore.
- Wong, S. S. H. (2019, October 8). Educational psychology: Theories and application for learning and teaching. Invited Speaker/Instructor at the Leaders of Tomorrow programme, School of Continuing and Lifelong Education (SCALE), National University of Singapore.
THESES/DISSERTATIONS
- Wong, S. H. S. (2020). From prevention to promotion: Learning from deliberate errors (Doctoral dissertation). National University of Singapore, Singapore.
- Wong, S. H. S. (2015). The carnival of the imagined animals: Mental imagery and young children's music compositional creativity (Unpublished master's dissertation). University of Sheffield, Sheffield.
- Wong, S. H. S. (2013). Mortality salience and delay of gratification: Integrating terror management and self-regulatory perspectives (Unpublished honours thesis). National University of Singapore, Singapore.
- 黄诗慧 (2010). <与外国品牌文化接触在多大程度上会模糊中国人的文化身份认同?>, 《华侨中学双文化优秀论文文集(下册)》,(新加坡:华侨中学),页364–375.
OTHERS
Other Information
Education
- Ph.D., Department of Psychology, National University of Singapore, 2020
- MA (Dist.) (Music Psychology in Education), The University of Sheffield, 2015
- B.Soc.Sci. (Hons.) (Psychology), Department of Psychology and University Scholars Programme, National University of Singapore, 2013
Appointments
- Lecturer, Division of Social Sciences (Psychology), Yale-NUS College, 2023–present
- Lecturer (joint appointment), Department of Psychology, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, National University of Singapore, 2023
- Instructor, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, National University of Singapore, 2017–2023
- Teaching Assistant, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, National University of Singapore, 2013–2016
- Research Assistant, Center for Leadership and Cultural Intelligence, Nanyang Business School, Nanyang Technological University, 2009
Awards, Scholarships, and Honours
Research
- APA Paul R. Pintrich Outstanding Dissertation Award, American Psychological Association, Division 15 (Educational Psychology), 2023
- Wang Gungwu Medal and Prize (Best Ph.D. Thesis in the Social Sciences and Humanities), National University of Singapore, 2021
- APS Student Research Award, Association for Psychological Science, 2020
- SPS Research Excellence Award (Postgraduate Category), Singapore Psychological Society, 2020
- SPS Best Undergraduate Group Research Award, Singapore Psychological Society, 2013
Research Mentorship
Teaching
- Faculty Teaching Excellence Award (FTEA) [AY2020–21], Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, National University of Singapore, 2022
- Graduate Students' Teaching Award (GSTA) Honour Roll, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, National University of Singapore, 2018
- Graduate Students' Teaching Award (GSTA) [Semester 1 AY2017–18], Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, National University of Singapore, 2018
- Graduate Students' Teaching Award (GSTA) [Semester 2 AY2016–17], Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, National University of Singapore, 2017
- Graduate Students' Teaching Award (GSTA) [Semester 1 AY2016–17], Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, National University of Singapore, 2017
Others
- Stephen Lim Outstanding Young Graduand Award (OYGA), 2018
- Stephen Lim Sustained Critical Thinking Award (SCTA), 2013
- Dean's List, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, National University of Singapore, 2012–2013
- University Scholars Programme (USP), National University of Singapore, 2009–2013
- Prime Minister’s Book Prize (Pre-University Section), 2009
- MOE Humanities Scholarship and Programme, Hwa Chong Institution, 2007–2008
- MOE Bicultural Studies Programme Scholarship, Nanyang Girls' High School and Hwa Chong Institution, 2005–2008
- Bilingual Book Prize (Integrated Programme), Nanyang Girls' High School, 2005
- MOE Gifted Education Programme, 2000–2006
Professional Qualifications
- Licentiate Diploma of the London College of Music (LLCM) in Piano Duet Performance (Approved, Upper Level; with Distinction), 2019
- Licentiate Diploma of Trinity College London (LTCL) in Recital in Piano (with Distinction), 2013
- Associate Diploma of Trinity College London (ATCL) in Recital in Piano (with Distinction), 2009
- Diploma of The Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (DipABRSM) in Violin Music Performance, 2007
- Grade 8 in Theory of Music, The Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music, 2005
Service
Professional
Ad Hoc Reviewer
- Applied Cognitive Psychology
- Behavior Research Methods
- British Journal of Educational Psychology
- Computers & Education
- Consciousness and Cognition
- Educational Psychologist
- Educational Psychology Review
- Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition
- Journal of Educational Psychology
- Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition
- Language Learning
- Memory & Cognition
- Psychological Research
Departmental
- Departmental Ethics Review Committee Member, Department of Psychology, National University of Singapore, 2022–2023
- Webpage Coordinator, Department of Psychology, National University of Singapore, 2019–2023
- Co-Chair, NUS Psychology Teaching Assistant Symposium 2017, 10 August 2017
- Research Publicity Coordinator, Department of Psychology, National University of Singapore, 2016–2019
- Senior student volunteer, FASS Forward to the Exams, 25 October 2016
- Volunteer, NUS Psychology Graduation Celebration 2015, 14 July 2015
- Secretariat, Inaugural NUS Psychology Teaching Assistant Symposium 2014, 25 February 2014
Grant Support
- Yale-NUS College Staff Travel and Research Grant, 2023–2025, S$10,000 (Principal Investigator)
- Yale-NUS College Special Pocket Research Grant, "Applying Psychological Science to Enhance Learning", 2023–2024, S$1,500 (Principal Investigator)
- FASS Staff Research Support Scheme (SRSS), 2021–2022, S$7,800 (Co-Principal Investigator)
- FASS Staff Research Support Scheme (SRSS), 2019–2020, S$8,000 (Co-Principal Investigator)
- NUS Psychology Teaching and Research Support, 2018–2019, S$1,400 (Principal Investigator)
Professional Affiliations
- American Psychological Association (APA)
- Association for Psychological Science (APS)
- Psychonomic Society
Co-Curricular Activities and Achievements
- President, NUS Symphony Orchestra, 2010–2011
- Concertmaster and Section Leader, NUS Symphony Orchestra, 2009–2011
- Concertmaster, Hwa Chong Institution String Ensemble, 2007–2008
- Concertmaster and Student Conductor, Nanyang Girls' High School String Ensemble, 2004–2006
Personal Development
- Certification of Completion in "Chinese Seal Engraving (Level 2)" course, Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, 2022
- Certification of Completion in "Chinese Seal Engraving (Level 1)" course, Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, 2022
- Certification of Completion in "Introduction to Japanese Pastel Nagomi Art" course, Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, 2019
- Certification of Completion in "Techniques in Watercolour" course, Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, 2017
- Certification of Completion in "Basic Japanese Language" course, Ikoma Language School, 2009