Anna Schapiro

Anna Schapiro

Postdoctoral Fellow, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School
Anna

I am interested in how we learn and represent information in our environment, especially structured information with temporal or semantic relationships that require integration over time. My research has explored the initial stages of acquiring such information as well as the offline consolidation processes that shape initial memory representations for longer term storage and use. I have found in fMRI experiments and in a patient case study that the hippocampus is involved in the rapid learning of novel temporal regularities. These findings are, on the surface, difficult to reconcile with the idea that the hippocampus specializes in memorizing the specifics of individual experiences, keeping related episodes separate to avoid interference. I have shown using a neural network model of the hippocampus, however, that these functions may coexist in separate anatomical pathways within the hippocampus. In my work on memory consolidation, I have found that sleep and offline replay benefit new semantic memories, with a particular focus on weaker memories -- those most in need of further processing. I am now developing a neural network model of learning and hippocampal-cortical interactions during sleep.

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