Melina R. Uncapher, PhD


Melina is now a postdoctoral fellow in the
Stanford Memory Lab

Phone: 650.724.9515
Fax : 650.725.5699
Email: melina.u"AT"stanford.edu


Please contact me for a more detailed CV.

Research interests

'Life is full of major and minor crises...and all kinds of characters. It is tied to places and events and histories. With all of these felt details, life etches itself into memory and personality. It's difficult to imagine anything more nourishing to the soul.'
                   - Thomas Moore

How does life etch itself into our brains? How do our brains form enduring memories of the rich tapestry of our experience? This, in essence, is the broad question I've been exploring and is the focus of my current research projects.  These projects employ functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate the following questions:

• How does selective attention modulate the neural correlates of the formation of such 'episodic' memories?
• How are multi-dimensional memories formed in the brain? Is it simply a result of the concurrent               encoding of the individual elements, or is it more than the sum of its parts?
• How do brain regions communicate with each other when we're retrieving episodic memories?
• How is an enduring memory formed in the brain? Is it different from the formation of memories lasting shorter periods of time?
• How do our brains lay down memories under conditions of distraction?

Recent press

        November 2006 - Scientific American
             Total recall:  Memory requires more than the
             sum of its parts

       November 2006 - University of California press release
             Memories: It's all in the packaging, scientists say

       November 2006 - Science Worlds
             Memories in a box
      
       May 2004 - Episode of Scientific American Frontiers
             Why Memories Last

       December 2003 - University of California press release
            Down syndrome study reveals possible method
            for detecting initial stages of Alzheimer's disease

Recent publications

Uncapher MR, and MD Rugg (in press) Selecting for memory? The influence of selective attention on the mnemonic binding of contextual information. Journal of Neuroscience.

Hutchinson JB*, Uncapher MR*, AD Wagner (in press) Posterior parietal cortex and episodic retrieval: Convergent and divergent effects of attention and memory. Learning & Memory. *first two authors contributed equally to this review

Uncapher MR, and AD Wagner (2009) Posterior parietal cortex and episodic encoding: Insights from fMRI subsequent memory effects and dual attention theory. Neurobiology of Learning and Memory. 91(2):139-154.

Park HK, Uncapher MR, and MD Rugg (2008) Effects of study task on the neural correlates of encoding operations supporting successful source memory. Learning & Memory. 15(6):417-425.

Rugg MD, Johnson JD, Park HK, Uncapher MR (2008) Encoding-retrieval overlap in human episodic memory: A functional neuroimaging perspective. Belleville S, Castellucci V, Lacaille JC, W Sossin (eds.), The Essence of Memory, Elsevier, pp 339-352.

Uncapher MR, and MD Rugg (2008) Fractionation of the component processes underlying successful episodic encoding: a combined fMRI and divided attention study. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience. 20(2):240-254.

Uncapher MR, Otten LJ and MD Rugg (2006) Episodic encoding is more than the sum of its parts: an fMRI investigation of multifeatural encoding. Neuron. 52(3):547-556.

Woodruff CC, Uncapher MR and MD Rugg (2006) Neural correlates of differential retrieval orientation: Sustained and item-related components. Neuropsychologia.  44(14):3000-3010.

Uncapher MR and MD Rugg (2005) Effects of divided attention on fMRI correlates of memory encoding. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience. 17(12):1923-1935.

Uncapher MR and MD Rugg (2005) Encoding and the durability of episodic memory: an fMRI study. Journal of Neuroscience. 25(31):7260-7267.

Woodruff CC, Johnson JD, Uncapher MR, Rugg MD. (2005) Content-specificity of the neural correlates of recollection. Neuropsychologia. 43(7):1022-1032.

Cahill LF, Uncapher MR, Kilpatrick L, Alkire MT, Turner J. (May-Jun 2004) Sex-related hemispheric lateralization of amygdala function in emotionally-influenced memory: an fMRI investigation. Learning and Memory. 11(3):261-266.

Haier RJ, Alkire MT, White NS, Uncapher MR, Lott IT, Head E, Cotman CW. (Dec 2003) Temporal cortex hyper-metabolism in Down syndrome prior to the onset of dementia. Neurology. 61(12):1673-1679.

Recent presentations

Uncapher MR, Wagner AD (2009, March) What does the posterior parietal cortex (PPC) tell us about episodic encoding? A meta-analysis of PPC subsequent memory effects. For: Cognitive Neuroscience Society, San Francisco, CA.

Hutchinson JB, Uncapher MR, Wagner AD (2009, March) Contributions of parietal cortex to attention and memory: Divergent processes of visual attention and episodic retrieval. For: Cognitive Neuroscience Society, San Francisco, CA.
 
Uncapher MR, Hutchinson JB, Wagner AD (2008, November) Attentional capture increases mnemonic capture: episodic encoding is modulated by the ventral parietal attention system. For: Society for Neuroscience, Washington, D.C.

Hutchinson JB, Uncapher MR, Bressler DW, Silver MA, Wagner AD (2008, November) Episodic memory retrieval and parietal cortex: relating memory to topographic maps of visuospatial attention and reflexive orienting. For: Society for Neuroscience, Washington, D.C.

Gottlieb LJ, Uncapher MR, Rugg MD (2008, November) Neural correlates of within- and across-modality contextual encoding. For: Society for Neuroscience, Washington, D.C.

Uncapher MR, Wagner AD (2008, September) Dual attention theory and encoding: Investigating the role of the parietal lobe in episodic encoding. For: Memory Disorders Research Society, Postdoctoral award talk. St. Louis, MO.

Uncapher MR, Hutchinson JB, Wagner AD (2008, August) From negative to positive: Harnessing the ventral attentional system to promote rather than detract from episodic encoding. For: 5th Annual Bay Area Memory Meeting. Davis, CA.

Hutchinson JB, Uncapher MR, Bressler DW, Silver MA, Wagner AD (2008, August) Parietal contributions to episodic memory retrieval and visuo-spatial attention. For: 5th Annual Bay Area Memory Meeting. Davis, CA.

Uncapher MR, Rugg MD (2007, November) Attentional modulation of the neural correlates of episodic encoding. For: Society for Neuroscience, San Diego, CA.

Uncapher MR, Smith APR, Woodruff CC, Rugg MD (2007, May) Changes in effective connectivity during differential retrieval orientation. For: Cognitive Neuroscience Society, New York, NY.

Uncapher MR, Rugg MD (2006, October) The nature of divided attention tasks affects fMRI correlates of episodic encoding. For: Society for Neuroscience, Atlanta, GA.

Uncapher MR, Rugg MD (2006, August) Modulations of the fMRI correlates of episodic encoding by divided attention depend on the nature of the secondary task. For: 3rd Bay Area Memory Meeting, Palo Alto, CA.

Park HK, Uncapher MR, Rugg MD (2006, August) Determinants of successful recollection - study task vs. study context. For: 3rd Bay Area Memory Meeting, Palo Alto, CA.

Uncapher MR, Otten LJ, Rugg MD (2006, April) Neural correlates of encoding multiple contextual attributes: an fMRI study. For: Cognitive Neuroscience Society, San Francisco, CA.

Uncapher MR, Otten LJ, Rugg MD (2006, March) Episodic encoding: more than the sum of its parts? An fMRI investigation of multifeatural encoding. For: Eighth Conference on the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, Irvine, CA.

Uncapher MR, Rugg MD, McReynolds J, Miller J, Alkire MT (2005, November) Rapid and repeatable pharmacological blockade of human emotional memory: an fMRI investigation. For: Society for Neuroscience, Washington, D.C.

Woodruff CC, Johnson J, Uncapher MR, Rugg MD (2005, November) Double-dissociation of fusiform activity in the recollection of words and pictures. For: Society for Neuroscience, Washington D.C.

Uncapher MR, Rugg MD (2005, April) Effects of study-test delay on the neural correlates of episodic encoding as indexed by fMRI. For: Cognitive Neuroscience Society, New York, NY.

Uncapher MR, Rugg MD (2004, October) Dual-task interference effects on neural correlates of episodic encoding. For: Society for Neuroscience, San Diego, CA.

Uncapher MR, Alkire M, Kilpatrick L, Turner J, Cahill L. (2004, April) Subsequent forgetting? Brain regions positively correlated with later failure to remember neutral and emotional pictures. For: Cognitive Neuroscience Society, San Francisco, CA.

Uncapher MR, Kilpatrick L, Turner J, Alkire M, Cahill L. (2003, November) Functional anatomy involved in failure to remember emotional material. For: Society for Neuroscience, New Orleans, LA.

Uncapher MR, Kilpatrick L, Turner J, Alkire M, Cahill L. (2003, November) Functional anatomy involved in failure to remember emotional material. For: Society for Neuroscience, New Orleans, LA.

Uncapher MR, Kilpatrick L, Alkire M, Turner J, Cahill L. (2003, October) Subsequent forgetting: Brain regions positively correlated with later failure to remember neutral and emotional pictures. For: 5th UC Irvine Society for Neuroscience Symposium, Irvine, CA.

Uncapher MR, Kilpatrick L, Turner J, Alkire M, Cahill L. (2003, June) Sex-related differences in encoding of emotionally influenced memory: a whole-brain functional analysis. NeuroImage. 19;2(S1):S22. For: Organization for Human Brain Mapping Conference, New York, NY.

Uncapher MR, Le SQ, Kinyamu R, Opole I, Fallon J. (2002, April) Hematopoetic stem cells may play a role in normal neurogenesis in the adult mammalian olfactory bulb. For: Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology Conference; Society: American Association of Anatomists, New Orleans, LA.

Le SQ, Uncapher MR, Kinyamu R, Opole I, Fallon J. (2002, April) The role of hematopoetic stem cells in normal neurogenesis in hippocampus of the adult rat brain. For: Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology Conference; Society: American Association of Anatomists, New Orleans, LA.