In the Tarder-Stoll Memory Lab, we study how memories for everyday experiences are optimized across their lifespan to guide adaptive behaviour, from the factors that influence encoding, to changes during consolidation, to the processes that enable flexible retrieval.
How do we form memories for experiences that matter?
We cannot remember everything we experience. This poses a challenge for our memory system: how do we determine which experiences to prioritize in memory? We examine how behaviourally relevant events, such as reward, prediction error, and other salient experiences, enhance memory encoding, along with the cognitive and neural mechanisms supporting this prioritization.
How do memories change over time?
After encoding, memories continue to transform over time in the process of memory consolidation. We are curious about how this transformation occurs and how it might optimize the contents of memory to support adaptive and efficient behaviour. For example, how does consolidation allow us to extract structure embedded in complex experiences to prepare for flexible future behaviour?
How do we flexibly use memories to guide behaviour?
Memory is adaptive because it allows us to use the past to inform predictions about the future. We study how memory supports anticipation of upcoming events, the neural mechanisms underlying this process, and how predictions shape ongoing behaviour. We are particularly interested in how these predictions are influenced by salient events at encoding and how they transform over time.
Methodological approach
We take a broad and integrative approach, combining behavioural studies, neuroimaging techniques (fMRI and MEG), eye tracking, and sophisticated computational tools, to understand how memories are represented in the mind and the brain to support adaptive behaviour.
Tarder Stoll Lab 