Date: Wednesday 1 December 2021 – 3:00pm-4:30pm
Title: Visual Perspectives in Memories for Events
Location: Online
Speaker: Peggy L. St. Jacques, PhD
Abstract:
Memories for events, including autobiographical experiences, can be retrieved from an own eyes perspective, how events are typically formed, or from an observer-like perspective in which the rememberer sees themselves in the memory. The ability to flexibly adopt multiple viewpoints during retrieval contributes to the dynamic and reconstructive nature of memory.
In this talk, I will discuss how shifting to novel visual perspectives during retrieval reshapes memories during immediate and subsequent retrieval, and present recent functional neuroimaging evidence regarding the key role of posterior parietal regions in supporting visual perspective abilities in long-term memory retrieval. I will end the talk by discussing whether memories can also be formed from multiple visual perspectives.
Bio:
Dr. Peggy L. St. Jacques is an Assistant Professor and Canada Research Chair in Cognitive Neuroscience in the Department of Psychology at the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada. She received her Honours BSc from the University of Toronto, where she first was inspired to pursue research in autobiographical memory. During her Ph.D. at Duke University, she gained expertise in functional neuroimaging studies of autobiographical memory.
Dr. St. Jacques then pursed postdoctoral training at Harvard University, where she used wearable camera technology to elicit autobiographical memories to investigate the neural mechanisms by which remembering updates memory with new information. She established her Memory for Events Lab initially at the University of Sussex in 2015, prior to moving back to Canada to join the University of Alberta in 2018. Her primary research focus is to understand the cognitive and neural mechanisms that support memory for events, including autobiographical experiences from one’s personal past and realistic experiences encoded in a more controlled setting. In particular, she is interested in how long-term representations of memory are modified via retrieval related mechanisms and the role of visual perspective. As an Indigenous scholar, Dr. St. Jacques also values equity, diversity, and inclusivity in science.