Research Focus

My research is focused broadly on the organization and neural substrates supporting human memory.  Through the use of parallel and converging cognitive neuroscience methodologies, my research seeks to better understand how the brain stores new information, maintains information in mind, and retrieves previously stored memories.  My research has contributed to the emerging consensus that the hippocampus, an area of the brain that has long been implicated in supporting memory for information held in long-term memory, also contributes to memory performance for recently studied information (Olsen et. al., Journal of Neuroscience, 2009).   My current research is centered on the proposal that the hippocampus enables memory by forming associations among disparate elements presented across space and time, and further, by performing the comparison of stored memory representations with current perceptual input (Olsen et. al., Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 2012).   It is my hope that, ultimately, through careful study of the hippocampus and the cortical systems supporting memory, my research will enable better understanding and treatment of memory impairments associated with healthy aging, brain damage, and psychiatric illness. 

Select Publications

• Olsen RK, Carr VA, Daugherty AM, La Joie R, Amaral RSC, Amunts K, Augustinack JC, Bakker A, Bender AR, Berron D, Boccardi M, Bocchetta M, Burggren AC, Chakravarty MM, Chételat G, de Flores R, DeKraker J, Ding SL, Geerlings MI, Huang Y, Insausti R, Johnson EG, Kanel P, Kedo O, Kennedy KM, Keresztes A, Lee JK, Lindenberger U, Mueller SG, Mulligan EM, Ofen N, Palombo DJ, Pasquini L, Pluta J, Raz N, Rodrigue KM, Schlichting ML, Lee Shing Y, Stark CEL, Steve TA, Suthana NA, Wang L, Werkle-Bergner M, Yushkevich PA, Yu Q, Wisse LEM. (2019). Progress update from the hippocampal subfields group.. Alzheimer's & dementia (Amsterdam, Netherlands), 11, 439-449.
• Robin J, Olsen RK. (2019). Scenes facilitate associative memory and integration.. Learning & memory (Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.), 26, 252-261.
• Robin J, Rai Y, Valli M, Olsen RK. (2019). Category specificity in the medial temporal lobe: A systematic review.. Hippocampus, 29, 313-339.
• Olsen RK, Yeung LK, Noly-Gandon A, D'Angelo MC, Kacollja A, Smith VM, Ryan JD, Barense MD. (2017). Human anterolateral entorhinal cortex volumes are associated with cognitive decline in aging prior to clinical diagnosis. Neurobiology of aging, 57, 195-205.

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Curriculum Vitae

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