Topic: memory encoding

It has long been established that the hippocampus plays a crucial role for episodic memory. As opposed to the modular approach, now it is generally assumed that being a complex structure, the HC performs multiplex interconnected functions, whose hierarchical organization provides basis for the higher cognitive functions such as semantics-based encoding and retrieval. However, the «where, when and how» properties of distinct memory aspects within and outside the HC are still under debate. Here we used a visual associative memory task as a probe to test the hypothesis about the differential invo

A central problem in neuroscience is to understand how areas in the brain communicate. Inputs to brain areas largely influence the intrinsic dynamics of each region, which shapes ongoing computations. Hence, characterizing how inputs drive different population responses is key to understanding how brain circuits are controlled to generate different behaviors. To this end, we developed an inter-areal patterned microstimulation (uStim) protocol that allowed us to finely manipulate the activity of a neural population in one brain area while simultaneously recording the activity of a second popula

Visual knowledge obtained from our lifelong experience of the world plays a critical role in our ability to build short-term memories. We propose a mechanistic explanation of how working memory (WM) representations are built from the latent representations of visual knowledge and can then be reconstructed. The proposed model, Memory for Latent Representations (MLR), features a variational autoencoder with an architecture that corresponds broadly to the human visual system and an activation-based binding pool of neurons that binds items’ attributes to tokenized representations. The simulation r

There is a surprising consistency in the images we remember and forget – across observers, certain images are intrinsically more memorable than others in spite of our diverse individual experiences. The perception of images at different memorability levels also results in stereotyped patterns in visual and mnemonic regions in the brain, regardless of an individual’s actual memory for that item. In this talk, Dr. Bainbridge will discuss our current neuroscientific understanding of how memorability is represented in patterns in the brain, potentially serving as a signal for how stimulus informat

The hippocampus plays a central role in memory processing. In order to avoid deleterious interference between stored and ongoing experience, theoretical considerations require a separation between phases of memory encoding and recall within the same neural circuit, putatively controlled by hippocampal theta oscillations [1]. However, the neural mechanisms subserving this separation remain unknown. Classical models either remain moot about these mechanisms [2], or assume purpose-built neuromodulatory interactions that are in conflict with biologically realistic timescales of synaptic modulation