Research in the Human Memory Lab investigates the behavioral and neural mechanisms of acquisition, formation, and long-term retention of memory, and how memory systems interact to shape human experience, behavior, and future decisions.

Memories are dynamic in nature, and as such can be edited or even erased following long-term consolidation. Tapping into this phenomenon, termed re-consolidation, offers unique opportunities both to explore the basic principles that underlie long-term memory mechanisms, and to develop clinical applications for rewriting unwanted memories (such as traumas), attenuating tormenting thoughts (obsessions), and relearning of maladaptive behaviors (such as addictions).

We investigate how reinforcement learning principles interact with declarative memory systems, how music affect memory, and how the brain forms narratives. To examine interactions among memory systems, we are developing fMRI analysis techniques that aim at illuminating interactions among predefined anatomical structures in the human brain, and how these interactions correspond to memory performance and age-related degenerative processes.