Enhancing learning with non-invasive brain stimulation of deep brain structures

Project Background

The human brain has a fascinating ability to form new memories. These new memories undergo consolidation, the process by which the newly acquired memories become more robust and are stored for the long-term. There is now consistent evidence that the hippocampus, a deep brain structure, plays a critical role in this consolidation process. Specifically, hippocampal patterns associated with the encoding of a new task are thought the be re-activated offline, i.e., during periods of rest between learning episodes. Hippocampal replay was initially reported in rodents but recent advances in multivariate analyses of neuroimaging data have revealed hippocampal reactivations in the human brain. Importantly, whether and how hippocampal reactivations can be directly modulated with non-invasive interventions and, in turn, influence memory consolidation in humans remains unknown. Addressing this knowledge gap is of the utmost importance, as modulating memory with such non-invasive interventions has tremendous clinical implications. The goal of this research project is therefore to test whether transcranial electrical temporal interference stimulation (TIS) - a new non-invasive brain stimulation techniques that allows to reach deep brain regions - can be used in humans to modulate hippocampal reactivations and in turn influence memory retention.

In summary, this project will employ state-of-the-art non-invasive brain stimulation techniques to examine the following intriguing question with clinical, educational and fundamental implications: Can hippocampal reactivations be directly modulated with non-invasive experimental interventions in order to influence memory consolidation in humans?

Student Role

In the Sleep and Motor Memory Lab at the University of Utah, it is our ambition to provide the students with a wide range of research-related activities. Our goal is not only to showcase what the life of a researcher looks like in the laboratory, but also to train the students to become researchers. We therefore believe that our students should be involved in all parts of the research project. Specifically, after being introduced to the relevant concepts related to the project (literature reading), students will be involved in the discussion for the development of the study design (behavioral and TIS design) as well as in the piloting of the newly developed design. After this initial phase, the students will be involved in the recruitment of study participants and the collection of both the behavioral and application of TIS. Last, the students will be trained to perform behavioral analyses in order to present preliminary results related to their internship at the OUR summer symposium. We also would like our students to be fully part of the daily activities of the research team and will encourage them to attend our weekly lab meetings and journal reading discussions.

Student Learning Outcomes and Benefits

This undergraduate research opportunity will provide a student with extensive experience in human subjects research in the domain of neuroscience. Specifically, the student will:

• Receive training in research ethics and good clinical practices in human subjects research.

• Learn how to interact with scientific collaborators and research participants

• Learn the foundations of scripting in software commonly used for data processing and statistical analyses (e.g., MATLAB).

• Learn basic principles of behavioral data analyses (performance speed and accuracy on memory tasks)

• Learn basic principles of fMRI approaches.

• Learn basic principles of fMRI analytical approaches.

• Gain experience with project/results presentations and scientific writing.

These outcomes and experiences offer an ideal mix of research domain-general skills (i.e., ethics, scripting, writing, presentation) and domain-specific skills (i.e., acquisition and analyses of behavioral and brain imaging data). This will ultimately provide the student with an excellent foundation to pursue graduate training and/or a career in science, and in cognitive neuroscience in particular.

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Summer 2025 Projects

Genevieve Albouy

Associate Professor

Health

Health, Kinesiology, and Recreation

It is my goal to provide the students in the program with an overview of what a career in research entails and to accompany them in their paths to become good researchers. I pay particular attention and provide the necessary support to my mentees for them to develop critical thinking, scientific rigor and transparency. In this process, I also hope to transfer to the students my motivation, energy and enthusiasm to study the Human Brain which I am so passionate about.

Specific mentoring activities that will be offered are:

One-on-one meetings to discuss the students' individual development plan (research/career goals and how to reach them)
Direct supervision and training for the acquisition and analyses of behavioral and brain imaging data
Direct supervision for the development of writing and presentation skills (scientific abstract and poster presentation)
Integration in a research team including students from different backgrounds and at different levels of their academic careers