Feindel Brain and Mind Seminar Series: Memory Consolidation in the Mind and Brain
The Feindel Brain and Mind Seminar Series will advance the vision of Dr. William Feindel (1918–2014), Former Director of the Neuro (1972–1984), to constantly bridge the clinical and research realms. The talks will highlight the latest advances and discoveries in neuropsychology, cognitive neuroscience, and neuroimaging.
Speakers will include scientists from across The Neuro, as well as colleagues and collaborators locally and from around the world. The series is intended to provide a virtual forum for scientists and trainees to continue to foster interdisciplinary exchanges on the mechanisms, diagnosis and treatment of brain and cognitive disorders.
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Memory Consolidation in the Mind and Brain
Abstract: What happens in the mind and brain when new experiences are stored for the long term? Alexa Tompary’s research investigates how episodic memories are transformed over the course of systems-level consolidation, a phenomenon in which new memory traces are distributed across cortical regions over weeks, months, or even years. In this talk, she will present behavioral and neuroimaging studies that examine the psychological changes that memories undergo as they age and the neural computations that occur after learning to promote their long-term storage. Her findings suggest that, over time, changes in the neural reinstatement of episodic memories are linked to changes in their behavioral integration. She will also describe a new set of experiments that explore the relationship between memory consolidation and mind-wandering during states of awake rest after learning. Tompary proposes that spontaneous thought and memory replay are not independent processes but rather complementary functions.
Alexa Tompary
Assistant Professor, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Drexel University
Alexa Tompary is cognitive neuroscientist interested in the neural computations that underpin memory. She earned earned her PhD in psychology at New York University and completed postdoctoral training at the University of Pennsylvania. Now, she leads the Memory and Concepts (MAC) lab in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Drexel University. Her team uses cognitive neuroscience approaches to study the relationship between episodic memory and concept knowledge, aiming to further our understanding how our prior knowledge impacts how we learn new information and how the brain stores, organizes, and transforms memories according to our future needs.