Welcome to the Computational Memory and Perception Lab, directed by Dr. Rosie Cowell in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

We are interested in the neural and cognitive mechanisms of visual perception and memory in the human brain. We also investigate how these functions are disrupted by aging or by brain damage in the ventral visual stream and medial temporal lobe. We use computational models, fMRI and behavioral studies in humans. Our research asks questions such as: What are the neural mechanisms of visual pattern completion? Does recollection require the hippocampus, or can it be mediated by other parts of the brain? How does interference cause forgetting, and does this change with age?

We have also developed novel methods for fMRI analysis, for example using Bayesian hierarchical modeling. Our goal is to develop a mathematical technique that can characterize the neural-level responses that give rise to the voxel tuning functions observed in early visual areas using fMRI.
© Cowell Lab 2022, University of Massachuetts, Amherst.
Lab Schedule Spring 2022 - here
computational Memory and Perception Lab