“Computational and Experimental Studies of Forgetting in Amnesia and Aging”

Dr. Cowell’s work examines memory and visual perception in the human brain. Dr. Cowell plans to use her residency in the ISSR Scholars Program to expand on her current research investigating the mechanisms of memory loss caused by damage to the medial temporal lobe of the brain. Such damage can stem from a variety of causes, including stroke, Alzheimer’s disease, epilepsy, or normal aging. Cowell's proposed research will examine how recognition memory–e.g., recognizing that a face or an object is familiar–is affected both by brain damage and by normal aging.