School of Psychology PhD student Ben Griffiths was awarded a prize for best poster at the ‘Cutting EEG’ conference in Glasgow last month.
The conference focused on cutting edge electroencephalography (EEG) methodologies and analyses, drawing in attendees from across Europe.
Ben, a PhD student in the Memory and Oscillations group led by Dr Simon Hanslmayr, was awarded a prize for his recent work investigating rhythmic brain activity during memory formation. To date, research has identified two ‘brain signatures’ associated with memory formation: i) synchronised brain activity in the medial temporal lobe (an area known to be essential for memory), and ii) desynchronised brain activity in sensory brain regions (where information about the world around us can be processed). Until now, it had remained unclear whether these two signatures represent two unique approaches to memory formation, or reflect two aspects of a single memory formation process. In his poster, Ben demonstrates that synchronised activity in the hippocampus and desynchronised activity in the neocortex are intertwined during memory formation, suggesting that these two signatures reflect two aspects of the same process of memory formation.