The impact of rehearsal on the constructive demands of autobiographical memories
Supervisor: Dr. Signy Sheldon
I am Mathilde Rioux, a U2 undergraduate honours student in psychology. This year, I had the pleasure to work at the Sheldon Memory Lab with Lauri Gurguryan, a PhD student in experimental psychology. My project investigated how retrieving an autobiographical memory multiple times changes how the brain supports remembering that memory. Our results demonstrated reduced activity as a result of rehearsal in the bilateral anterior hippocampi – a structure in the brain that is known to critically support memory construction. These findings suggest that repeatedly retrieving a memory can change the constructive demands of memory retrieval and alter how the brain supports retrieving those memories. Our study was presented at a conference this May and I am currently working with Lauri and Dr. Sheldon to write a manuscript summarizing our findings.