Talk Title: Seeing Through Memory Systems

Abstract: How does memory shape our perception of the world around us? While the neural systems supporting high-level visual processing and memory are each relatively well understood, how they interact to give rise to memory-guided visual experience remains a fundamental question in cognitive neuroscience. In this talk, I will present a series of studies investigating how memory influences perception in the human brain and behavior, focusing on the process of naturalistic scene understanding. From a behavioral perspective, I will discuss recent work combining immersive virtual reality, in-headset eye-tracking, and computational modeling to reveal how memory shapes scene perception during active viewing (Mynick et al., 2024 Current Biology). At the neural level, I will introduce a novel model system for studying perceptual-mnemonic interactions at the anterior edge of high-level visual cortex (Steel et al., 2021, Nature Communications), as well as a perplexing bivalent neural code that mediates interactions between the hippocampus and cortex (Steel, Silson, et al., Nature Neuroscience). Together, these studies challenge prevailing theories of memory’s role in high-level visual processing and offer new insights into the neural and cognitive mechanisms underpinning memory-guided perception in real-world contexts.

Bio: Caroline is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Dartmouth Her research group uses cognitive and computational neuroscience approaches to investigate the neural mechanisms underlying memory, perception, and neurodiversity. She earned her PhD from the University of Cambridge as a Gates-Cambridge Scholar and NIH-Cambridge Fellow, and continued her postdoctoral work at the McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT with a fellowship from the Harvard Society of Fellows. Caroline's contributions to cognitive neuroscience have been recognized by awards including the Society for Neuroscience’s Janett Rosenberg Trubatch Young Investigator Award, the NARSAD Young Investigator Award (2015), the National Academy of Sciences Kavli Fellowship (2016), and the NSF CAREER Award (2022).

Webinar Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89002014229?pwd=bzZuZGh6cVhOSjJ6TlNZVHgrRnNaQT09

Followed by a reception with food and drink in 3^rd floor atrium