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Exploring the Cortical Substrates of Episodic Memory
(Project leaders: Dr. Limor Shtoots ,Dr. Rona Sheaffer, Shir Ben-Zvi, Ofer Hugeri)
* A key focus of our research has been mapping the contribution of the posterior parietal lobe (PPC) to episodic memory (Levy, 2012). In extensive neuropsychological studies employing voxel-based lesion-symptom mapping, we have assessed the effects of PPC lesions on performance in item recognition memory (Haramati et al., 2008) and cued recall of pair associate learning (Ben-Zvi et al., 2015). We are currently using similar methods to assess PPC involvement in associative recognition, and expanding our scope to characterizing the retrieval functions of other cortical areas implicated in recollective processes, such as lateral temporal lobes and medial prefrontal cortex.
In parallel, we have conducted electrophysiological studies to track to contributions of early and late retrieval processes to associative retrieval via cued recall and associative recognition (Tibon et al. 2012, 2014a,b,c,d). Our focus has been understanding how complexity of associations – across sensory modalities and conditions of semantic relatedness – dictates the processes by which we remember them.
These projects have been funded by the Israel Science Foundation and the German-Israeli Foundation for Scientific Research and Development.
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* What cognitive processes and brain subtracts support our abilities to recall information across different time periods? We attempt to answer this question by addressing individual differences, volumetric measures of the brain and the correlation between the two. This intriguing research is conducted in conjunction with our colleagues Irit Shapira-Lichter & Noga Oren from Beilinson Hospital and Noa Ofen from Wayne State University.
