Title: Contribution of the Hippocampus to Mnemonic Precision in Visual Short-term Memory

Speaker: Weiwei Zhang Ph.D. (UC Riverside)

Dr. Zhang received his Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology from the University of Iowa. He joined faculty at the Department of Psychology at University of California, Riverside in 2012. The research program in Dr. Zhang’s laboratory focuses on attention, memory, and higher cognition using multiple Cognitive Neuroscience methods, including computational modeling, eye tracking, EEG, non-invasive brain stimulation, and fMRI. 

Time: September 19 2017 (Tue) 16:00-17:00

Venue: Room 1113 Kezhen Wang Building

To efficiently interact with exceedingly rich contents in natural vision, it is important for observers to retain precise memory representations that closely correspond to external stimuli in visual short-term memory (VSTM). The cognitive and neural mechanisms supporting precise VSTM representations have been the subject of considerable controversy in recent years. The internal noise hypothesis attributes mnemonic precision to variability of sustained neural activities that give rise to short-term retention. In contrast, we propose that VSTM storage and mnemonic precision are underlined by dissociable mechanisms. In this talk, I will summarize our recent findings that establish the contributions of the hippocampus to precision of visual memory representations using behavioral, non-invasive brain stimulation, medial temporal lobe lesion, and fMRI approaches.

Host PI: Dr. Huan Luo