Psychology 733
Cognitive Neuroscience of Memory
Fall 2003
In this course we will consider issues and data associated with many of the central
ideas in this field. Our readings and discussion will reach from decades-old
foundational papers to reports that are still in press.
Instructor: Brad Postle, 515 Psychology, 262-4330, postle@wisc.edu.
Office hours by appointment.
With the exception of time-sensitive emergencies, email is the most effective and
preferred way for you to contact me.
Format: Each week will be devoted to a particular theme, and to the discussion of
(at least) three papers. One will be either a revered part of the memory canon or a
particularly comprehensive review paper. This will provide context for the target
papers. Each week (at least) two students will give informal presentations of target
papers related to the theme. The presentation time itself will give us an opportunity to
discuss and assess in detail the theory, methods, results, and interpretation associated
with that particular paper. Following the presentations we will end the morning with an
attempt to synthesize what we've learned about this theme, and/or to articulate the
important outstanding questions associated with it. Note that everyone is expected to
have read all of a week's papers prior to class.
Readings will be available on course reserve in the departmental library
(Psychology 438), or for download in PDF format at the course Web page:
http://psych.wisc.edu/postlab/Psych733/Psychology733.htm
Due one week* after your presentation is a research paper on a memory topic of
your choice; please discuss your topic with me before getting started on it.
*two weeks for the brave souls who present on 10/29
Grading will be based on in-class participation and the paper.
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October 22
Introduction, neuroanatomy, overview
Canonical: Milner (1985). Memory and the human brain. In: How We Know (Shafto,
ed.), Harper & Row, San Francisco, pp.: 31-59.
Helpful Web sites for neuroanatomy include:
http://www.vh.org/Providers/Textbooks/BrainAnatomy/5Hemispheres.html
http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/kinser/Home1.html
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Peter Bandettini talk @ noon, Waisman Conf. room
October 29 Long-term memory: systems and principles
Canonical: Squire (1992). Memory and the hippocampus: A synthesis from findings
with rats, monkeys, and humans. Psychological Review, 99, 195-231.
Target: Nadel & Moscovitch (1997) Memory consolidation, retrograde amnesia and
the hippocampal complex. Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 7, 217-227. +
Viskontas, McAndrews, & Moscovitch (2000). Remote episodic memory deficits in
patients with unilateral temporal lobe epilepsy and excisions. Journal of
Neuroscience, 20, 5853-5857.
Presenter:___________________________
Target: Gaffan, D. (2002) Against memory systems. Philosophical Transactions of
the Royal Society of London, B, 357, 1111-1121.
November 5 Neuroimaging of LTM
Canonical: Brewer, J., et al., Making memories: brain activity that predicts how well
visual experience will be remembered. Science, 1998. 281: p. 1185-1187. +
Wagner, A.D., et al., Building memories: remembering and forgetting of verbal
experiences as predicted by brain activity. Science, 1998. 281: p. 1188-1191.
Target: Raye CL, Johnson MK, Mitchell KJ, Nolde SF, D'Esposito M (2000) fMRI
investigations of left and right PFC contributions to episodic remembering.
Psychobiology, 28: 197-206.
Presenter:___________________________
Target: McIntosh, A.R., Rajah, M.N., and Lobaugh, N.J. (2003). Functional
connectivity of the medial temporal lobe relates to learning and awareness. The
Journal of Neuroscience, 23, 6520-6528.
Presenter:___________________________
November 12 *No Class* Annual Meeting of the Society for Neuroscience
November 19 Long-term potentiation
Canonical: Hebb (1949) The Organization of Behavior. Science Editions, New
York. (excerpt: pp. 60-66) + Martinez & Derrick (1996). Long-term potentiation and
learning. Annual Review of Psychology, 47: 173-203.
(Seminal: Bliss and Lomo (1973). Long-lasting potentiation of synaptic transmission
in the dentate are of the anaesthetized rabbit following stimulation of the perforant
path. Journal of Physiology, 232: 331-356.)
November 19 Long-term potentiation (con’d)
Target: Eichenbaum (1996). Learning from LTP: a comment on recent attempts to
identify cellular and molecular mechanisms of memory. Learning & Memory, 3, 6173.
Presenter:___________________________
Target: Wittenberg GM. Tsien JZ. (2002). An emerging molecular and cellular
framework for memory processing by the hippocampus. Trends in Neurosciences,
25, 501-505 + Wittenberg GM. Sullivan MR. Tsien JZ. (2002). Synaptic reentry
reinforcement based network model for long-term memory consolidation.
Hippocampus. 12, 637-647.
Presenter:___________________________
November 26 Nondeclarative (implicit) memory
Canonical: Schacter, D.L. (1987). Implicit memory: history and current status.
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 13, 501-518.
Target: Postle & Corkin (1998). Impaired word-stem completion priming but intact
perceptual identification priming with novel words: evidence from the amnesic
patient H.M. Neuropsychologia, 36, 421-440.
Presenter:___________________________
Target: Henson RN. Goshen-Gottstein Y. Ganel T. Otten LJ. Quayle A. Rugg MD.
(2003). Electrophysiological and haemodynamic correlates of face perception,
recognition and priming, Cerebral Cortex, 13, 793-805.
Presenter:___________________________
December 3 Working memory and the frontal lobes
Canonical: Jacobsen, C.F. (1936). Studies of cerebral function in primates: I. The
functions of the frontal association areas in monkeys. Comparative Psychology
Monographs, 13, 3-60 + Fuster and Alexander (1971). Neuron activity related to
short-term memory. Science, 173, 652-654.
Target: Malmo, R.B. (1942). Interference factors in delayed response in monkeys
after removal of frontal lobes. Journal of Neurophysiology, 5, 295-308
Presenter_____________________
Target: Funahashi, Bruce, and Goldman-Rakic (1993). Dorsolateral prefrontal
lesions and oculomotor delayed-response performance: evidence for mnemonic
"scotomas". Journal of Neuroscience, 13, 1479-1497.
Presenter:_____________________
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Mickey Goldberg talk @ noon, 281 MSC
December 10 Human working memory
Canonical: Baddeley, A.D. (1992). Working Memory. Science, 255, 556-559.
Target: Postle, Druzgal, and D'Esposito (in press). Seeking the neural substrates of
visual working memory storage. Cortex.
Presenter:_____________________
Target: Bor, Duncan, Wiseman, and Owen (2003). Encoding strategies dissociate
prefrontal activity from working memory demand. Neuron, 37, 361-367.
Presenter:_____________________
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Where to take complaints about a Teaching Assistant or Course Instructor:
Occasionally a student may have a complaint about a T.A. or course instructor. If
that happens, you should feel free to discuss the matter directly with the T.A. or
instructor. If the complaint is about the T.A. and you do not feel comfortable discussing
it with him/her, you should discuss it with the course instructor. If you do not feel the
instructor has resolved the matter to your satisfaction, then you should speak to the
Psychology Undergraduate Advisor, Ms. Arlene Davenport (Room 428 Psychology) or
the Department Chair, Professor Janet Hyde (Room 238 Psychology). You should also
speak to either of these individuals if the complaint is about the instructor and you do not
feel comfortable discussing it directly with him/her.
If you believe the T.A. or course instructor has discriminated against you because
of your religion, race, gender, sexual orientation, or ethnic background, you also may
take your complaint to the Affirmative Action Office (Room 175 Bascom Hall). If your
complaint has to do with sexual harassment, you may also take your complaint to Ms.
Arlene Davenport, the Psychology Department sexual harassment contact person.