Learning to Learn – How the Brain Creates Memory

NEW YORK - Nov. 30, 2016 - PRLog -- The brain's hippocampus has several functions, but it is best known for its role in memory. A brain needs the hippocampus to store past memories and to form new ones. Three distinguished experts from the areas of neurophysiology, psychology and cognitive biology will provide insight on how the hippocampus mediates memory formation at the German Center for Research and Innovation New York on December 5, 2016.

When we learn facts or store memories about episodes in our lives, one particular brain structure plays a very important role: the hippocampus. This structure is especially important for helping us create complex associative memories. The hippocampus uses information that is detected and made available by different sensory systems. What we hear, see, touch, taste, smell are all used by the hippocampus to create complex and vivid memories.

Prof. Denise Manahan-Vaughan holds a professorship in neuroscience and is head of the Department of Neurophysiology within the Medical Faculty of the Ruhr University Bochum, Germany. Her research focuses on understanding the mechanisms that enable long-term memory storage within brain cells, and especially within our primary memory structure: the hippocampus. Prof. Dr. Raymond Kesner is professor emeritus in the Department of Psychology at the University of Utah. His major research interests are in the theoretical and applied aspects associated with the neurobiological basis of learning and memory in both animals and humans. Prof. Lucia Jacobs is professor in the Department of Psychology and the Helen Wills Institute of Neuroscience at the University of California, Berkeley. Her research focuses on the ecology and evolution of navigating choices: how animals make choices about what and where to eat, how to navigate and map new terrains, and how to integrate diverse sources of information to make adaptive decisions in uncertain environments.

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