Welcome to the Olson Lab Website
The Olson lab does research on normal, abnormal, and supra-normal memory processes. We have several lines of research including: (1) the development of a unified account of the hippocampus in human memory; (2) discerning the mechanistic role of portions of the human parietal lobe in memory, and how this relates to other functions such as attention and spatial processing; and (3) uncovering the role of the anterior temporal lobes in semantic memory and social cognition, two very different, but mysteriously intertwined, functions. We are also interested in memory enhancement and neuro-rehabilitation though training regimes and interventions, such as the use of TMS and tDCS. Methods used include fMRI, TMS, neuropsychology, psychophysics, and eye tracking with an emphasis on converging methods.
One current project is concerned with understanding the mechanistic role of the parietal lobe in diverse forms of memory. Dr. Marian Berryhill is leading an fMRI study to investigate how the same neural regions of the parietal lobe participate in both working memory and episodic memory. |
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(Left) Areas commonly activated during STM and LTM. (Right) Areas active in LTM (red) or STM (green)
| Another project is aimed at understanding the functional role of the anterior temporal lobes in both memory and social cognition. Dr. Lars Ross is leading fMRI and tDCS experiments on this topic. Some tasks he uses to investigate this are theory of mind tasks (vingettes, Heider and Simmel clips), semantic tasks using words, and person memory. |
Heider and Simmel discovered in 1944 that certain movement patters of simple, abstract geometric shapes can evoke the perception of animacy. Viewers often attribute human-like cognitive processes like thoughts, intentions and beliefs to the shapes and form complex narratives based on the perceived interactions between them. As can be seen in the Figure, these types of animations evoke brain processes located along the entire length of the superior temporal sulcus (STS) and portions of the frontal lobes (IFG). |
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Movie compliment of Robert Schultz