Name: Elyse J. Carlson

Ph.D. Dissertation Proposal Meeting

Date: Friday, April 12th, 2024

Time: 1:00pm EST

Zoom Meeting Link: click here

Dissertation Chair/Advisor:

Mark Wheeler, Ph.D. — School of Psychology, Georgia Institute of Technology

Dissertation Committee Members:

Anna Ivanova, Ph.D. (Georgia Institute of Technology)

Scott Moffat, Ph.D. (Georgia Institute of Technology)

Sashank Varma, Ph.D. (Georgia Institute of Technology)

Kristine Wilckens, Ph.D. (University of Pittsburgh)

Title: Is There Evidence for a Neural Accumulation to Boundary Mechanism in Episodic Memory Retrieval?

Abstract: Episodic memory is the conscious and subjective recollection of life events, which are anchored in time and place. These memories are foundational not only to the subjective human experience, but also to cognition and behavior. One way to conceptualize episodic memory retrieval is through an accumulation-to-boundary framework, which has been used to describe the decision-making process across a variety of tasks. For example, when making a perceptual decision, environmental stimuli provide evidence towards one choice, or against another choice. When sufficient evidence for one alternative over another has been reached, a conscious decision is made, or a memory retrieved. While accumulation-like effects of memory retrieval have been modelled behaviorally, there is a paucity of research examining whether this effect is also observed in functional MRI paradigms. Thus, it remains unclear if the neural mechanisms of retrieving episodic memories are similar to those previously observed during perceptual decision-making. The goal of this research is to begin to elucidate this unresolved question by using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to measure changes in blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) responses over time during an episodic memory retrieval task. BOLD time series data will be used to evaluate if there is an accumulation-to-boundary mechanism for memory retrieval, and whether these accumulator regions of interest are in stimulus-preferential perceptual areas, or memory specific regions of the brain.