Grant: Canada Research Chairs

Poppenks research builds on his findings of functional distinctions between anterior and posterior hippocampus to explore how constructs of gist and detail memory, respectively, might explain the important contribution of these brain regions. This work could have utility in better clinical planning and patient support; and in the courtroom, where imperfect eyewitness memories are often the only available evidence. Poppenk will also use his new neuroimaging methods for tracking thought to measure memorys role in how we think. His work will help understand and mitigate causes of mind-wandering, and may reveal novel neural biomarkers for mental health disorders.