18 April 2023
09:30 - 11:00 AM
4KD503
Alexander Barnett (Toronto)

Hippocampal-cortical interactions during event boundaries support retention of complex narrative events

Abstract: According to most memory theories, encoding involves continuous communication between the hippocampus and neocortex leaving the temporal dynamics of hippocampal-neocortical interactions overlooked. Recent work has shown that we perceive events in our lives as dynamic, with distinct starting and stopping points known as event boundaries that are critical for memory formation. Our objective was to determine how functional connectivity (FC) between the hippocampus and neocortical regions during the encoding of naturalistic events related to subsequent retrieval of those events. Participants encoded and recalled two cartoon movies during fMRI scanning. Higher FC between the hippocampus and the posterior medial network (PMN) at an event's offset related to subsequent recall of that event. Furthermore, hippocampal-PMN offset connectivity also predicted the degree to which events could be recalled in detail after a 2-day delay. These data demonstrate that the relationship between memory encoding and hippocampal-neocortical interaction is dynamic and biased towards boundaries.


Biosketch: Dr. Barnett completed his B.Sc., M.A. and Ph.D. at the University of Toronto. Before returning to UofT as faculty, Dr. Barnett was a Postdoctoral Scholar at the University of California, at Davis. Dr. Barnett’s research incorporates elements of systems neuroscience, cognitive psychology, and clinical neuropsychology in creative ways to expand our understanding of episodic memory. His research explores how neocortical networks in the brain interact with the hippocampus to support the formation, retrieval, and transformation of episodic memories. He is interested in applying this knowledge to examine how alterations in network communication impact memory in populations with memory impairment.

 

Links:

Website: www.thebarnettlab.com     

Twitter: @abarnettPhD

Google scholar: https://scholar.google.ca/citations?user=VBJeuAkAAAAJ&hl=en

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