The sexual assault and child pornography conviction of former USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar. The child sex abuse scandal of Penn State football coach Jerry Sandusky. Hundreds of priests accused of sexual misconduct that took place over many years. These and other shocking cases — in addition to shattering public confidence in once-trusted officials and the institutions that employed them — raised the question in people’s minds: How well can anyone remember events that happened years, and even decades, earlier?
The journal Neuron recently chose its 12 best articles of 2014-15, including two from UC Davis teams engaged in the study of memory. The authors included two faculty members: Charan Ranganath, professor, and Brian Wiltgin, associate professor — both of the Department of Psychology and the Center for Neuroscience.
Why do we remember some events, places and things, but not others? Our brains prioritize rewarding memories over others, and reinforce them by replaying them when we are at rest, according to UC Davis research published in the journal Neuron.
An interdisciplinary research project at UC Davis is using music to access memories that on most days seem buried under years of living — and forgetting.
