My research focuses on
understanding how the brain supports human memory. One
overarching question that drives my research is why some
experiences are fated to be remembered while other
experiences are fated to be forgotten. My goals are to
investigate in the brain how new memories are formed, how
we evaluate our own learning, and how people differ in
their learning. One line of my research focuses on how
people evaluate the success of the their learning.
Predicting how well information was learned, known in
psychology as judgments-of-learning (JOL), is an important
part of successful learning because it allows us to judge
whether we've studied enough or need to review more. People
who are more accurate in predicting their learning are
better learners and are also better students. Whereas
extensive research is being conducted on the neural systems
that support learning itself, little is known about the
neural underpinnings of JOLs or the subjective evaluations of learning. In the first
study of neural mechanisms underlying JOLs, my colleagues
and I identified a region in ventramedial prefrontal cortex
(VMPFC) that was engaged when participants made predictions
that their learning was successful. Individual differences
in VMPFC recruitment was related to differences in JOL
accuracy: Individuals who made accurate predictions showed
greater VMPFC recruitment than individuals who made less
accurate predictions. Understanding JOLs may be useful in
helping people become better learners. There is still much
that we do not know about JOLs, and this topic will prove
to be an exciting area of research. I am motivated to
further our understanding of the neural basis of JOLs,
different strategies in forming JOLs, various factors that
lead to accurate JOL predictions, and how people use their
JOLs to guide learning. My second line of research focuses
on exploring how individuals differ in their learning. I am
interested in delineating individual differences in
learning strategy from individual differences in cognitive
abilities. The goal is to explore these individual
differences both within the population of healthy young
adults and across the life-span from development to aging.
Kao, Y.-C., Preston, A. R.,
& Gabrieli, J. D. E. (manuscript in preparation).
Preparing to remember: Retrieval mode and prefrontal
cortex.
Kao, Y.-C., Anderson, T. D., & Gabrieli, J. D. E.
(manuscript in preparation). Examining different strategies
underlying encoding predictions: an fMRI study on the role
of prefrontal cortex in judgments-of-learning.
Ofen, N., Kao, Y.-C., Sokol-Hessner, P., & Gabrieli, J.
D. E. (submitted). Neural Development of Long-Term Memory
Encoding.
Nichols, E. A., Kao, Y.-C, Verfaellie, M., & Gabrieli,
J. D. E. (2006). Working memory and long-term memory for
faces: Evidence from fMRI and global amnesia for
involvement of the medial temporal lobes. Hippocampus,
16(7): 604-616. [medline abstract]
Kao, Y.-C., Davis, E. S., & Gabrieli, J. D. E. (2005).
Neural correlates of actual and predicted memory formation.
Nature Neuroscience, 12(8): 1776-1783. [medline abstract]
