About the Memory Theme
Research
Memory Theme Members
Annual Report
2009 Annual Report (extracts)
The Theme sponsored four main activities. These focused on the theme this
year was “Neural Mechanisms of Attention”
Visitors/Seminars
The theme will sponsor a lecture in December by Dr. Tirin Moore from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute & the Department of Neurobiology at Stanford University. The title of his talk is Neural Mechanisms and Control of Visual Attention. The abstract of the talk is below:
Postgraduate Student Research
The Theme funded a student mini-conference and dinner. A report from the student coordinator is attached.
Postgraduate Student Travel
The Theme funded student travel for 10 students to a number of national and international conferences.
Matlab Programming Class
Matlab has become a favourite programming language in the Sciences. The Theme paid Dr. Jonas Rose, an expert Matlab programmer, to teach a course in the Matlab programming language. This course was well subscribed by both students and faculty.
2008 Annual Report (extracts)
The Theme sponsored three main activities. These focused on the theme of “The Neuroscience of Memory”
Visitors/Seminars
The theme sponsored a lecture in June by Dr Mark Baxter from The Department of Experimental Psychology, Oxford University with the title “New insights into the cognitive functions of the basal forebrain cholinergic system from studies in macaque monkeys. A second lecture was presented in June by Professor Toshiya Matsushima of The Department of Biology, Hakkaido University on “Ecology meets neuroscience: rationality of profitability-based choices in the domestic chick. We have confirmed a visit in February by Dr Kate Jeffery from the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience at University College, London. She will present a seminar on “Grid cells and spatial memory”. These cells have created a stir in the spatial memory literature over the last 3 years and Dr Jeffery has published several important papers describing their properties. Dr Jeffery has also co-developed new data acquisition techniques and will be able to provide technical advice to the several memory researchers at Otago who conduct single unit studies.
Postgraduate Student Research
The Theme funded a student mini-conference (a report from the student coordinator is attached). This year an effort was made to update the student mailing list. This appears to have been successful as 10 of the 12 students were attending for the first time. The Theme funded student travel for 8 students to a number of national and international conferences.
2007 Annual Report (extracts)
The Theme sponsored three main activities. Two of these focused on the theme of autobiographical memory.
Visitors/Seminars
We sponsored a series of lectures by Professor Richard McNally from Harvard
on Recovered memory and Memory and PTSD. These talks were well attended
and Professor McNally received good media coverage through the ODT and
an interview on “Nine to Noon with Kathryn Ryan”. A second set of lectures
by Prof. Martin Conway from Leeds has been held over due to travel/timetable
problems
Postgraduate Student Research
The Theme funded a student mini-conference. This provided a great opportunity for postgraduate students conducting memory-related research to meet together. The presentations were held at the Psychology Department on Friday 17 May with several new faces making themselves known. In total eleven students presented their work. The diversity in the research being conducted by the postgraduate students who attended the symposium illustrates the breadth and high quality of memory-related research being conducted at the University of Otago. Following these presentations, the attendees had dinner together.
The Theme funded or part-funded student travel for 13 students to a number of national and international conferences. These included the International Brain Research Organisation conference in Melbourne, the Applied Behaviour Analysis Conference in Sydney and the Australasian Winter Conference on Brain Research in Queenstown.
2006 Annual Report (extracts)
The Theme sponsored two main activities, namely a three day symposium,
and the research activities of our postgraduate students.
Symposium
The symposium, "Memory on Trial: The Role of Memory in the Courtroom" was held on 29 Nov – 1 Dec. The symposium was organised by Dr Rachel Zajac, a Theme member and an expert on memory in legal contexts. The symposium featured 13 high profile researchers from New Zealand and overseas, including Professor Jackie McMurtrie, one of the directors of the US Innocence Project. Topics include "False confessions", "Is eyewitness confidence related to eyewitness accuracy?", "How do discussions among witnesses impact on accuracy?", "False memories" and "Wrongful convictions in the New Zealand law context". The symposium culminated in a student poster session showcasing undergraduate and postgraduate research in the forensic memory field. There were over 90 symposium delegates, including lawyers, social workers, police detectives, and policy-makers, as well as academic staff and students from the Law and Psychology faculties, and interested members of the general public. Invited speakers described cutting edge research areas and methodologies in their particular fields of forensic memory research, thereby benefiting Otago research programmes while staff and student presentations increased international recognition of applied memory research at Otago.
The symposium was also an ideal forum in which to plan the formation of New Zealand’s first Innocence Project, a joint venture between Victoria University and Otago University which involves several Otago University academic staff (Dr Rachel Zajac, Professor Harlene Hayne, Dr Deryn Strange, and Professor Mark Henaghan). The Innocence Project was recently officially launched, and aims to use research findings in the field of forensic psychology to investigate possible cases of wrongful conviction in the New Zealand legal system.
Postgraduate Student Research
The Theme funded a separate student mini-conference and students also met with international visitors during the symposium. The Theme funded student travel to a number of national and international conferences. By coordinating requests for support with the Neuroscience Theme, we were able to provide some assistance to all applicants.
Other
It is pleasing to note that the Theme was reported in an article in North & South (February 2006, pp 72 - 84) which featured "the cutting edge of research" into memory in New Zealand. The article featured the work of several Theme members, and explicitly noted the role of the Theme in linking researchers across disciplines. This article drew considerable popular attention to the work of the Theme.
2005 Annual Report (extracts)
The Theme sponsored two main activities: We hosted two international visitors and we supported the research activities of our postgraduate students. The organising committee met periodically and input and feedback from Theme members was sought by email.
Visitors
The Theme hosted two international visitors who are high profile researchers in the area of emotion and memory. The first visitor was Associate Professor Gal Richter-Levin from the University of Haifa (Israel). Professor Richter-Levin was at Otago for three days in October. He presented two seminars which were well attended and followed by questions and discussion. He also met individually with interested staff and students. The second visitor was Professor Eric Eich from the University of British Columbia (Canada). Professor Eich was at Otago for four days in November. He presented two seminars which were well attended and followed by questions and discussion. He also met individually with interested staff and students.
Postgraduate Student Research
The Theme funded a student mini-conference (a report from the student coordinator is attached), and students met with the international visitors as noted above. The Theme funded student travel to a number of national and international conferences; by coordinating requests for support with the Neuroscience Theme, we were able to provide some assistance to all applicants. As the budget was thought to be fully committed (see below), the Theme did not provide funding for any extra summer bursaries this year.
Other
It is pleasing to note that the Theme was reported in an article in North & South (February 2006, pp 72 - 84) which featured "the cutting edge of research" into memory in New Zealand. The article featured the work of several Theme members, and explicitly noted the role of the Theme in linking researchers across disciplines. This article drew considerable popular attention to the work of the Theme.
2004 Annual Report (extracts)
In 2004, the Theme sponsored two main activities: We held a 2-day symposium on Episodic Memory and we supported the research activities of our postgraduate students. The organising committee met periodically and discussions and feedback from Theme members was sought by email.
Symposium
The Theme held a 2-day symposium on December 9-10. The topic of the symposium was Episodic Memory. The three international speakers were Professor Endel Tulving, Professor Hans Markowitsch, and Professor Nicola Clayton. Each of these speakers are internationally recognised leaders in the field. We were particularly fortunate to host Professor Tulving who is recognised as the grandfather of episodic memory research. Because of his advanced age, Professor Tulving’s international visits are becoming increasing few and far between. Each presentation was followed by extensive discussion and lively debate. In addition to formal presentations by these speakers, the postgraduate students also held a poster session highlighting local work on episodic memory.
Postgraduate Student Research
The Theme funded a student mini-conference (a report from the student coordinator is attached), and students presented posters during an afternoon session in the Theme symposium (see above). The students also hosted a lunch for the speakers during the Theme symposium. The Theme funded student travel to a number of national and international conferences; by coordinating requests for support with the Neuroscience Theme, we were able to provide some assistance to all applicants. As the budget was fully committed, the Theme was not able to provide funding for any extra summer bursaries this year.
2003 Annual Report (extracts)
The main goals of the Memory Theme are to enhance memory research excellence and facilitate postgraduate education. The objectives of the Theme for 2003 remained similar to those of previous years, namely:
- maintaining an environment to support internationally recognised research
- increasing opportunities for communication and collaboration between Theme members
- increasing international awareness of memory research at the University of Otago
- encouraging the development of high-quality memory research and its publication in the international literature
- supporting the needs of postgraduates for local, national, and international research contact
A specific objective of the Theme in 2003 was to bring to the University of Otago researchers that are internationally recognised in the field of working memory, which is a key area that touches many of the research programs at Otago.
The main activities of the theme were hosting visiting international speakers, and supporting the research activities of our postgraduate students. The organising committee met occasionally, and as usual discussions and feedback from Theme members was sought by email.
Due to a late cancellation we had fewer visitors than usual. We were fortunate, however, to be able to host Professor Jonathan Schooler, Dr Lubica Benuskova and Professor Maria Brandimonte, all of whom gave seminars (or participated in symposia) and met with interested students. In addition, Dr Marian Petre & Dr Sally Fincher ran a half day workshop for students based on the doctoral consortia that they have presented in Europe and North America.
With respect to supporting postgraduate students, the Theme funded a student mini-conference (a report from the student coordinator is attached) and funded student travel to conferences. The Theme also made a contribution to the Experimental Psychology Conference EPC’04 (that will be run here at Otago) to cover registration costs for student helpers to attend the conference. In addition to the summer bursaries directly funded by the Research Committee, the Theme also funded a bursary (at the same rate), and was thus able to accommodate all bursary requests made in 2003.