Agenda per la visita de la Prof. Charlotte Bonardi, Desembre de 2024.
Professor Charlotte Bonardi's visit agenda on December 2024.
An Associative Account Of Recognition Memory.
Charlotte Bonardi
University of Nottingham
Recognition memory is a fundamental component of human cognition, and widely studied in both animals and man. Yet theories of recognition are typically grounded in human work: they define recognition phenomenologically, and measure it using subjective verbal judgements. This makes it theoretically and empirically challenging to study recognition in animals – despite it being clear that animals can recognise. Since the same principles of associative learning apply across all vertebrates and invertebrates, we adopt a theoretical account of recognition phrased in terms of Wagner's (1981) SOP model of associative learning (Robinson & Bonardi, 2015). This account explains recognition in terms of associative learning principles, and evidence from both rodents and humans will be presented that supports this approach. This theoretical account is agnostic to the neural substrates underlying recognition – yet can be used in translational work for example, exploring the neural mechanisms underlying the decline of recognition with age and in dementia. The extent to which this associative conception of recognition might relate to the human conception of recognition memory will also be explored.