Ayala Allon

Post doc

Neural correlates for long-term memory formation during reading

Ayala S. Allon & Roy Luria

The overreaching goal of this project is to develop online systems that can monitor and then improve students’ ability to learn while reading academic materials.

One of the key aspects of learning is the ability to retrieve the encoded information from long-term memory (LTM). In the context of academic learning, students are regularly tested on what they have learned, and often understanding the current material is dependent upon successful retrieval of the old information and assimilating all the ‘pieces’ into a coherent and accessible LTM representations. Whereas previous studies concentrated on finding neural correlates of attention lapses during the encoding phase that impede the formation of accessible LTM representation of the new information, the current investigation will focus on identifying online neural correlates of attention lapses during the encoding phase that impede reading comprehension of the new material. The basic approach is to ‘reverse-engineer’ the brain correlates that precede a forgotten information relative to remembered information. We will use two main neural markers during the encoding phase – the alpha power of the EEG and the sustained frontal positivity of the ERP- that were previously found to be related to later successful remembering.