2003 LECTURE SERIES

How Time Flies: The Molecular Architecture of Memory

Dr. Thomas J. Carew
Bren Professor and Chair, Department of Neurobiology and Behavior
University of California, Irvine
Tuesday, May 20

More than a century of experimental research, as well as our own personal experience, tells us that memories can persist from seconds and minutes to a lifetime. Dr. Carew discusses his intriguing and influential research using Aplysia, a sea animal from the California coast whose unique brain structure allows a close examination of the molecular machinery that creates memories, both fleeting and lasting.

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Opiates, Brownies, Sex and Cocaine: Seeking the Brain Signature for Desire

Dr. Anna Rose Childress
VA Addiction Treatment Research Center
University of Pennsylvania
January 29, 2003

For most of human history, desires that profoundly motivate our behavior have been the focus of poets, philosophers and therapists...but they have been elusive targets for scientists. Dr. Childress will show us how recent advances in brain imaging allow us to "see" into the brain during our most intimate "desire states." Understanding how the brain expresses and modulates desire will aid the development of treatments for the learned disorders of desire: the addictions.

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"Ah yes, I remember it well..."
Remembering, Forgetting and the Movie "Memento"

Dr. Stuart Zola
Director, Yerkes Primate Research Center
Emory University
March 19, 2003

Think you remember accurately the details from that party or business meeting several weeks ago? Think again! Did the movie "Memento" accurately depict someone with memory impairment? We'll find out tonight! Dr. Zola is a leading expert in the neuroscience of memory and how it is organized in the brain. He will discuss recent insights gained from research about memory distortion, memory impairment, and maintaining successful memory function as we age.

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