Projects

During sleep, memories that were created during wake are reactivated and strengthened. Using targeted memory reactivation, we can bias sleep processing to selectively enhance memory. For this project, however, the object is to do the opposite. We aim to weaken specific memories by establishing and strengthening inhibitory circuits, with the goal of using this technique to reduce the impact of maladaptive memories in psychiatric disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Research on memory reactivation has focused on specific, isolated memories. However, real-life memories do not exist in isolation; they interact with one another. Memories are embedded in contexts with elaborate spatiotemporal and semantic features. Given that context plays a pivotal role in the organization of memories, we hypothesize that it is involved in consolidation processes during sleep as well. Using EEG and functional MRI, we aim to reveal the role of naturalistic contexts in memory reactivation during sleep.

Novel methods for targeting consolidation have been instrumental to our growing understanding of sleep’s contribution to memory. We aim to advance the methods for monitoring and controlling the cognitive contents of sleep, with the goal of contributing to basic science and setting the ground for scalable interventions to improve wellbeing in clinical and healthy populations. Our lab develops methods for selective reactivation at home using wearables and uses machine learning to monitor reactivation during sleep leveraging EEG and fMRI data.