My current Research program
My current research focus aims at understanding the synergy of working memory and long-term memory and how information is transferred from one system to the other. To conduct this research, I employ a multifaceted approach, including behavioral experiments, age-comparative approaches as well as neuroscientific methods to test theory-driven hypotheses.
Long-term working memory: leveraging prior knowledge to bypass working memory limitations
SNF Project grant
This 4-year project is aimed to understand how specifically contributions from episodic LTM modulate the storage, maintenance, and retrieval of information in WM and thereby bypass its limitations.
PhD student: Ana Rodriguez
Collaborator: Peter Shepherdson
Age differences in the interplay between working memory and long-term memory
URPP Dynamics of Healthy Aging Project
Across various projects we aim to understand whether there is a distinction between the contributions of episodic and semantic memory to WM. We capitalize on findings from (1) cognitive aging showing that older adults benefit from the semantic relatedness of memoranda in WM but show a specific detriment in episodic LTM for bindings - but also (2) findings from cognitive development.
PhD student: Joscha Dutli
Collaborators: Vanessa Loaiza, Eda Mizrak, Mareike Altgassen
Strategies in working and long-term Memory
It is assumed that the ability to maintain information in working memory relies on cognitive control processes such as refreshing, rehearsal, or elaboration. Yet, the beneficial effect of these processes on working memory performance is under debate.
We conduct behavioral as well as EEG and fMRI-studies to investigate the above control processes and their influence on memory.
MSc. student: Hiroyasu Mishima
Collaborators: Evie Vergauwe, Klaus Oberauer, Alessandra Souza
