Memory and Emotion #431
July 21, 2017
This week we look at how our brains process memory and emotion. We talk to Michael Yassa, Associate Professor in the Departments of Neurobiology and Behavior, and Neurology at UC Irvine, about how our brains discriminate similar memories from each other and the conditions that compromise that ability. And we speak with James McGaugh, Research Fellow and Founding Chair of the Department of Neurobiology and Behavior and Founding Director of the Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory at the University of California Irvine, about the pathways that allow emotional experience to strengthen memories and the potential ways we may be able to blunt their vividness for people suffering from PTSD.
Guests:
- Michael Yassa
- James McGaugh
Guest Bios
Michael Yassa
Michael Yassa is an Associate Professor at UC Irvine in the Departments of Neurobiology and Behavior, and Neurology. He is also the Director of the Center for Neurobiology of Learning and Memory. His laboratory is interested in how the brain learns and remembers information, and how learning and memory mechanisms are altered in aging and neuropsychiatric disease.
James McGaugh
James McGaugh is a Research Professor and Founding Chair of the Department of Neurobiology and Behavior and Founding Director of the Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory at the University of California Irvine. His research investigates brain systems that regulate the formation of lasting memories. He is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a Foreign Member of the Brazilian and Mexican academies of science.
