Investigating and Improving the Neural Mechanisms of Episodic Memory and Communication for Naturalistic Narratives, A Cognitive Science Speaker Series Presentation
Speaker: Coraline Iordan, Ph.D.
Title: Investigating and Improving the Neural Mechanisms of Episodic Memory and Communication for Naturalistic Narratives
Short Bio: Dr. Iordan is an assistant professor of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Neuroscience, and Visual Science at the University of Rochester. She earned her undergraduate degree in Computer Science, Mathematics, and Cognitive Science from Williams College, followed by a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Stanford University and a postdoctoral fellowship at the Princeton University Neuroscience Institute. Today, her research aims to understand how the brain perceives, remembers, and communicates naturalistic stories and experiences. She is also a committed teacher, mentor, and advocate of science education and outreach.
Abstract: Our world unfolds in stories. There are stories we experience personally, stories we tell each other, and stories we tell ourselves. But how does our prior knowledge influence the way we remember the stories we experience? How do we use attention to select relevant information to remember from stories? How do we briefly summarize long and complicated stories in a few sentences? In this talk, I will discuss a series of ongoing studies that seek to elucidate how we perceive, remember, and communicate the complex narratives that we encounter when we experience the world naturally, such as when we watch a captivating movie or when we talk to our friends about our adventures. I will also explore a framework for investigating the causal link between how we remember and communicate naturalistic narratives and the neural mechanisms that support these tasks that leverages neural sculpting, a recent method I developed using machine learning, neuroimaging, and real-time neurofeedback to access and alter human subjective experience in vision and memory by directly modifying activity patterns in the brain in a non-invasive way.
ASL-English interpreters have been requested. Light refreshments will be provided.
Event Snapshot
When and Where
Who
Open to the Public
Interpreter Requested?
Yes