The evolution of neural firing over the lifetime of memory

Our laboratory is interested in the neural underpinnings of memory. While neuroscientists broadly agree that changes at synapses are responsible for the acquisition of memory, we are just starting to understand what governs these changes and how they lead to changes in neural firing patterns. In particular, little is known about the neurobiological events that underlie forgetting, a complex process whose normal operation is critical for daily function. I believe there is a critical relationship between forgetting and continual learning, and that we can observe signatures of this using novel behavioral tasks and by recording neurons as memories develop and are forgotten.

We investigate how neurons fire as animals learn and how this activity evolves over the lifetime of spatial memories stored in the hippocampus. We use calcium and neurotransmitter imaging to examine neural activity and use computational approaches to understand the content of the messages being received and sent by neurons. These techniques let us understand memory at multiple scales: from populations and networks of neurons down to the input-output function of individual neurons. By combining these approaches with virtual reality tasks, we will better understand the neurobiological events that underlie memories and, ultimately, how memories are forgotten.