When aging or neurological diseases compromise one’s memories, people often say that it is as if the person “is no longer there.” This irreplaceable role of memory in defining one's identity and behavior makes it particularly important to clarify how the content of our memory, such as its quantity, quality, and subjective value, is represented and processed to support diverse mental functions. Furthermore, as memory provides an important window into the functions of the brain, understanding the mechanisms of memory scaffolds our further understanding of more complex mental phenomena, such as affect, decision-making, and mental health. Towards this goal, the ICON lab investigates human memory and cognition across different timescales (e.g., from seconds to days), under different contexts (e.g., emotional states), and in different individuals (e.g., young vs. old, healthy vs. clinical). In particular, we use diverse methods such as mathematical modeling, crowdsourcing, fMRI, (i)EEG, eye-tracking, brain stimulation, and translational approaches to study the following elements of memory, as well as their neurobiological underpinnings.
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Despite large individual differences in memory performance, people remember certain things with overwhelming consistency. This paradoxical phenomenon, in part, is driven by our prior associative knowledge. People are more likely and fluent to recall things that share a wide connection with other stuff, just like how a Web search engine would pull out information from the internet. An important area of research in the lab is to understand what drives the consistency in memory likelihood across people, and how they change as a function of age and clinical conditions.
Representative work: Xie, W., Bainbridge, W. A., Inati, S., Baker, C. I., & Zaghloul, K. A. (2020). Memorability of words in arbitrary verbal associations modulates memory retrieval in the anterior temporal lobe. Nature Human Behaviour, 4(9), 937-948. PDF.
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While some of our memories are vivid and precise, others are foggy and fuzzy. Why do our memories vary in the degree of quality? Our work shows that the medial temporal lobe is essential for memory quality even at the scale of a few seconds. These findings offer a parsimonious explanation for altered short- and long-term memory quality under emotional contexts and in aging/clinical populations.
Representative work: Xie, W., Chapeton, J.I., Bhasin, S., Zawora, C., Wittig, J.H., Inati, S.K., Zhang, W., Zaghloul, K.A. (2023). The medial temporal lobe supports the quality of visual short-term memory representation. Nature Human Behaviour. Advanced online version. PDF.
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Trying to remember something is not always easy. When given a choice, people often would rather perform a more strenuous physical task — or even receive an electrical shock — in exchange for skipping a memory task. How does the human brain compare the value of remembering relative to other non-memory alternatives? Is remembering intrinsically effortful? Will memory-related effort increase as we age? Our recent research has tried to tackle these questions in both younger and older adults.
Representative work: Xie, W., & Zhang, W. (2023). Effortfulness of Visual Working Memory: Gauged by Physical Exertion. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. Advanced online version. PDF.