Jihyun Cha, Ph.D.! Jihyun Cha successfully defended her dissertation on the 23rd of July.

Jihyun's dissertation examined the subsequent memory effect in fMRI, focusing how estimating how much of that effect can be explained by knowing the items that subjects are studying. Turns out, that by modelling item effects in the behavioral findings using Linear Mixed Effects modelling, Jihyun was able to identify bilateral parahippocampal regions that would have been missed in the standard approach. That said, the typical subsequent memory map appears to reflect cognitive operations that cannot be explained by simply knowing the average memorability of study items. Instead, the way each subject uniquely interacts with the items appears to be key.