Memory across multiple timescales

Some memories last for a lifetime and others last only a few hours. For example, one typically remembers travel to an exotic country for many years, but Monday’s lunch menu for only a couple of days.

My team aims to better understand how some memories last and how the brain achieves this. When learning, we change the connections between the main elements of our brain - the neurons. This process can last for different amounts of time, as if each connection could choose to listen to one of multiple clocks that all tick at different rates: fractions of seconds, hours, years. My hypothesis is that the imbrication of these clocks helps memories to last. We will also study how the content of memories can influence their duration.