Dean of the College and Psychology Program Present
Memories Lost, Memory’s Gain:
Remastering Forgetting & Retrieval Dynamics in the Brain
Thursday, November 13, 2014
Preston Theater
A lecture by Justin Hulbert, Princeton University
A familiar song comes on the radio. Does it bring back fond memories? If so, turn up the volume and reminisce. If it risks triggering less happy memories, perhaps it’s best to tune out and listen to something else for a while. My research aims to identify the various ways we can adaptively exert control over our ability to learn, remember, and forget in order to satisfy both near- and long-term memory goals. In this talk, I will describe techniques and related findings that suggest it is possible to dial down the associative memory system through cognitive control—inducing periods of amnesia in otherwise healthy individuals. Might it also be possible to upregulate the system to allow for enhanced learning? I will present my work exploring how study, testing, and sleep routines can be optimized to facilitate the neurobehavioral differentiation of competing memory traces. In so doing, I aim to lay down tracks towards a fuller understanding of how we can harness neurocognitive processes, adaptive computer algorithms, and the interface between them to more fully optimize human memory. Stay tuned.
For more information, call 845-758-7621, or e-mail [email protected].
Location: Preston Theater