Neuroengineering & Medicine Seminar. Episodic Memory: A Stimulating Conversation

Joel Voss, PhD

Event Date

Location
Kemper Hall, Rm. 1003, UC Davis Campus. Registration link: https://tinyurl.com/NeuroengOct22

JOEL VOSS, PH.D.

Professor, Department of Neurology

University of Chicago

Host: Charan Ranganath, PhD, cranganath@ucdavis.edu 

This event has both in-person and remote options. Please follow the safety precautions in effect at the time of the event (link).

Registration link: 

https://tinyurl.com/NeuroengOct22

Abstract

I will discuss my laboratory’s efforts to influence episodic memory abilities supported by the distributed network of the human hippocampus. We developed hippocampal indirectly targeted stimulation (HITS) as an attempt to affect hippocampal function using conventional noninvasive-stimulation tools that can reach cortical locations of a distributed hippocampal network, but not the hippocampus directly. Surprisingly, HITS has proven a useful tool for selectively modulating activity of the hippocampus and its network, and thereby testing theories of the network organization of episodic memory. Even more surprisingly, HITS has been associated with enhanced memory performance in a variety of experiments and is being pursued as an intervention for neurologic memory impairments. I will discuss an emerging knowledge of principles of hippocampal neuromodulation using network-targeting approaches spanning noninvasive and invasive/intracranial stimulation.

Bio

Dr. Voss received his PhD from Northwestern University in Chicago, IL, Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program, and then became a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Psychology at Northwestern University in Evanston, IL. He was a Beckman Postdoctoral Fellow at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Dr. Voss did his training with Ken Paller at Northwestern University and with Neal Cohen at University of Illinois. After his Assistant Professor and Associate Professor positions at Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine, he is now a Professor at University of Chicago, in the Department of Neurology.

Dr. Voss received many honors and awards, including the Young Investigator Award from the Cognitive Neuroscience Society and the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) from The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). He is a Fellow (elected) of the Association for Psychological Science, Full Member (elected) of Sigma Xi, and an Elected Member of the Memory Disorders Research Society, among others.