#  Lionel Renaud 

Faculty Mentor: Edwin M. Robertson, B.M., D.Phil. 

Department of Neurology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center 

 

 

 



   ![renaud.jpg](/sites/g/files/omnuum5331/files/styles/hwp_4_5__480x600/public/bertarelli/files/renaud.jpg?itok=lTyJ8M6k) 

 



 





 

 **Project Summary**: The aim of this project is to improve our understanding of the neural principles governing memory interference. Memory interference can provide insights into how different types of memory interact and are organized within the human brain. Interference between memories is also responsible for much of the forgetting we experience on a daily basis, and so a better understanding of interference may provide novel strategies to ameliorate forgetting and improve retention.

 Here we will focus upon the interference caused by learning two different memory tasks in quick succession. When a motor skill and a declarative memory tasks are learnt in quick succession the subsequent motor skill recall is impaired. Based on previous work (BROWN/ROBERTSON, Off-line processing: reciprocal interactions between declarative and procedural memories, Journal of Neuroscience 26, 2007; COHEN/ROBERTSON, Preventing interference between different memory tasks, Nature Neuroscience 14, 2011), we hypothesize that this interaction involves the primary motor cortex (M1) and we propose to measure M1 connectivity. Using fMRI, we will investigate the resting-state functional connectivity of M1 after a motor skill learning task and compare how it is different depending on the presence of an interfering declarative memory task. Understanding the biological basis of interference between different memoires will provide insights into how memories are organized, and perhaps provide the mechanistic insight necessary to prevent interference, a type of forgetting, and so improve knowledge retention.



 

 

 





 

 

- ## Fellowships
    
     [Exchange Fellows](/fellowships/exchange-fellows)
- ## Fellowship Year
    
     [2013-2014](/fellowship-year/2013-2014)