Characterising the neural mechanisms of human memory at high resolution

Our past experiences are captured in autobiographical memories that serve to sustain our sense of self, enable independent living and prolong survival. Despite their clear importance and the devastation wreaked when this capacity is compromised, the neural implementation of autobiographical memories has eluded detailed scrutiny. My goal is to understand precisely how autobiographical memories are built, how they are re-constructed during recollection and how these memory representations change over time. My aim is to identify the mechanisms involved in these processes and thereby establish a theoretically enriched account of their breakdown in pathology. This endeavour will be enabled by cutting-edge, multi-modal technology that includes a new wearable MEG system and ultra-high-resolution MRI. The ventromedial prefrontal cortex and hippocampus are heavily implicated in autobiographical memory. I will test a novel hierarchical model that specifies their distinct roles and how they interact to produce the seamless encoding and recollection of our lived experiences. Overall, this new extension of my work will expose autobiographical memories as never before, revealing the millisecond temporal dynamics, and the laminar-specific and hippocampal subfield processing that supports their evolution from the point of inception, through initial sleep cycles and then over longer timescales.