2001 LECTURE SERIES

Making Connections: Memory in the Brain and Spinal Cord

Dr. Oswald Steward
Reeve-Irvine Research Center
University of California, Irvine
May 23, 2001

The question of how function can be restored after brain or spinal cord injury is the subject of intense research and great public interest. The key lies in understanding nerve cell "memory"-- the vital connections that are formed during nervous system development and modified by experience. Dr. Steward, who holds the Reeve-Irvine Chair in Spinal Cord Injury Research at UCI, is internationally recognized for his research on the cellular and molecular basis of nerve cell growth.

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Wild Minds: What Animals Really Think

Dr. Marc D. Hauser
Department of Psychology
Harvard University
March 27, 2001

Dr. Hauser's influential research aims at understanding how the minds of human and nonhuman animals evolved. By studying monkeys and apes both in the wild and in captivity, as well as human infants, Hauser's work has unlocked some of the mysteries of what organisms without language think. He is the acclaimed author of Wild Minds: What Animals Really Think and is widely recognized as one of the world's leading investigators of animal cognition.

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Why Did Episodic Memory Evolve?

Dr. Endel Tulving
Rotman Research Institute
University of Toronto
January 31, 2001

There are many forms of memory, but episodic memory is the only one that allows us to remember our personal past experiences. As far as is known, only human beings have episodic memory. All other species appear to do perfectly well without it. Dr. Tulving, one of the world's most distinguished cognitive neuroscientists, offers thoughts on why this unique form of memory evolved in humans.

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