PhDone!
Successfully defended my dissertation as of June 9th, 2022! I am beyond grateful for all of my friends and family who not only supported me through the last 6 years, but showed up to my defense to cheer me on. It was such an incredible and proud moment to share my work with everyone. If you’re interested in learning more, check out my abstract (below) and the slides from my defense presentation.
Individual Differences in Memory Functions and Their Relation to Hippocampal Connectivity
The hippocampus plays an important role in many aspects of learning and memory. It is most known for its role in episodic memory and spatial navigation, though it has also been shown to contribute to other processes like prioritizing memory for motivationally salient information and connecting related memories to form generalized knowledge. How can a single structure support different types of learning? As the hippocampus does not work in isolation to support memory, one proposal is that it may form connections with different brain regions to support different functions of memory. Recent work has shown how stable, trait-like connections can be leveraged to predict individual behavior. Thus, the present dissertation aims to explore 1) how different hippocampal connections relate to different memory processes, and 2) whether intrinsic hippocampal connections can be linked to individual memory performance. In three empirical chapters, I demonstrate how distinct hippocampal connections are associated with different functions of memory, including reward motivated learning, generalization and memory specificity. Moreover, I show how anterior and posterior hippocampus form distinct connections that may further support different aspects of memory. Finally, the dissertation demonstrates how stable, trait-like hippocampal connections can be linked to individual behavior. Together, these findings provide insight into the different functions of hippocampal connectivity and the utility of intrinsic connections in understanding individual memory abilities.
