Dasa Zeithamova-Demircan, Ph.D., is an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Oregon. Her research focuses on how we build complex knowledge representations—such as schemas, cognitive maps or concepts—from simple learning experiences. Stacking memories as building blocks, we form knowledge that transcend direct experience, allowing us to use the memory for the past to guide behavior in the future. She is especially interested how the hippocampus—a brain structure critical for memory for individual events in our lives—interacts with the prefrontal cortex and other memory systems to support the flexible use of experience. Her primary research tools include computer-based experiments, formal models of behavior, and advanced functional MRI methods.
https://cognem.uoregon.edu