Our research area involves explicit and implicit memory with a particular focus on explicit recognition judgments; that is, the decision that someone or something was an element of an earlier personal experience. The nature and number of processes involved in recognition memory is currently under debate. Using such methods as 1) statistical modeling of behavioral data, 2) examination of recognition in patients with focal brain damage and 3) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) of healthy participants during various recognition tasks, we are beginning understand the complex processes which allow us to situate current experiences into our own unique personal pasts.
 
 

1.
The contribution of frontopolar cortex and parietal regions to memory judgments.  We are currently examining the role these regions play when one's expectations about memory are violated.
  2.
Influence of feedback and instruction upon recognition response criteria. Behaviorally, we have found that providing subjects with inaccurate feedback during memory errors heavily affects their recognition judgments. These findings will likely serve as a vehicle for future neuroimaging studies and especially important given that clinical populations often show disturbance in criterion placement.
  3.
The role of response or decision learning in studies of repetition priming. Our recent data suggest that repetition priming is not exclusively determined by implicit, non-associative factors. We have demonstrated that a major portion of the neural activity reductions seen in functional imaging studies may be attributable to learning the outcomes of prior instances and recent research using MTL amnesics suggests fundamental differences in their priming responses.