Frontal-hippocampal interactions in temporal memory formation

Our daily lives consist of a continuous stream of information and experiences. Although our memories of such experiences tend to be parsed into separate events (e.g., "what happened at the library"), we are still capable of linking those events together and remembering their chronology, thus preserving our subjective sense of continuity of time. The aim of the proposed research is to identify the brain mechanisms involved in deploying attention internally in order to link together disparate events into a seamless experience. In doing so, this work will offer key insights into the relationship between internally guided attention and memory, and how these processes change with both healthy and pathological aging. Given that both attention and memory for the order of events is often impaired with age, the proposed research will help move us closer to interventions designed to improve memory in healthy older adults and those with early Alzheimer's disease.