Grants and Contributions:
Grant or Award spanning more than one fiscal year. (2017-2018 to 2022-2023)
Our life hinges on our ability to encode new information in order to adapt our behavior to an ever changing environment. Although our long-term memory (LTM) allows us to encode and store a virtually infinite amount of information, our ability to encode new information into long-term memory varies not only across individuals but also from moment to moment within individuals. Is there any way to monitor this fluctuation of memory encoding ability in real time? And if so, could we utilize this information to increase the efficacy and efficiency of memory encoding? Recently, I have demonstrated that we can monitor this fluctuation in real time and make learning more efficient based on electroencephalograms (EEGs) recorded during learning. In this proposal, I will further advance this novel and impactful approach by pursuing the following three goals. First, I will examine the nature of voluntary control on memory encoding and its side effects. Second, I will generalize the EEG-based memory monitoring and intervention to various kinds of learning. Third, I will refine the EEG-based memory monitoring and intervention to maximize the benefit in learning. These studies will not only contribute to the theories of memory control and memory encoding but also lead to a wide range of possibilities for real-life applications of EEG-based memory monitoring and intervention.