Morgan Barense

@barense
744 Followers
335 Following
20 Posts
Cognitive neuroscientist interested in memory and perception. Professor and Canada Research Chair at the University of Toronto.
LAB WEBSITEhttps://barense.psych.utoronto.ca
GOOGLE SCHOLARhttps://scholar.google.ca/citations?hl=en&user=dn_AfzkAAAAJ
Morgan BarenseJan 6, 2023
Mariam AlyDec 20, 2022

Has the concept of systems consolidation outlived its usefulness? Should we talk about memory system *reorganization* rather than *consolidation*?

Intriguing argument by Moscovitch & Gilboa

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9720899/

Has the concept of systems consolidation outlived its usefulness? Identification and evaluation of premises underlying systems consolidation

Systems consolidation has mostly been treated as a neural construct defined by the time-dependent change in memory representation from the hippocampus (HPC) to other structures, primarily the neocortex. Here, we identify and evaluate the explicit and ...

PubMed Central (PMC)
Morgan BarenseDec 23, 2022
Mariam AlyDec 21, 2022

How do we balance paying attention to the external world around us vs. our internal thoughts and memories?

The hippocampus shows differential coupling with the cholinergic basal forebrain and the dorsal attention network for externally cued vs. memory-guided attention.

So proud of grad student Craig Poskanzer for leading this project!

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.12.20.521285v1

Morgan BarenseDec 20, 2022
Mark Baxter 🏳️‍🌈💉🧂Dec 19, 2022
Our study showing long-term changes in synaptic ultrastructure after exposure to general anesthesia in infancy is (finally) out in full form: https://www.cell.com/iscience/fulltext/S2589-0042(22)01958-7
Show threadMorgan BarenseDec 16, 2022
@Natalie @honey Our thinking with this second point is that the over-general memories often observed in depression might be a coping/protective strategy.
Show threadMorgan BarenseDec 16, 2022
@Natalie @honey This is a super interesting question! We are doing some work in depression. Some ideas here are that (1) exposure to these high quality cues from positive memories might help not with cognitive distortions, and (2) perhaps this reactivation of life events could serve as exposure therapy for anxiety-inducing episodes (we haven't addressed this one yet, and obv need to make sure that we are doing it in a safe way).
Show threadMorgan BarenseDec 16, 2022
@fips @jpeelle Thanks for sharing this classic paper! It really highlights the importance of cue quality in eliciting responses. I think there is so much potential here with smartphones - not only in terms of measuring memory, but also for improving it!
Morgan BarenseDec 16, 2022
@CV0001 @honey Healthy, community-dwelling older adults. Although in Expt 2 a small subset failed the MoCA. They benefited, too!
Show threadMorgan BarenseDec 16, 2022

@alexh Thanks! Yes, Facebook prompts review of photos based on temporal anniversaries, but this could be *so much* better if it were done in a way that considers the trajectory of memory consolidation. After a year when you get the prompt, the details are gone!

With HippoCamera are trying to shore up the memories early with repeated replay while the details are still available. And the guided recorded process encourages deep encoding at the outset, so the memory is stronger in the first place.

Show threadMorgan BarenseDec 15, 2022
@JudithSchomaker @honey
Absolutely - we want to share it! Please send me a DM or an email.
Show threadMorgan BarenseDec 15, 2022

Finally, with fMRI we showed that replaying memory cues increased the differentiation of activity patterns in the hippocampus, and that the degree of hippocampal differentiation was associated with greater episodic recall.

Stay tuned for more HippoCamera research! We’re running lots of studies to see whether and how HippoCamera can benefit other populations. More about the project here: https://hippocamera.com/.

Please get in touch if you’d like to use HippoCamera in your own research! (4/4)

HippoCamera

Preserving Lasting Memories For Life Events