Speaker: Dr. Xiaoqing Hu,University of Texas at Austin, Department of Psychology
Venue: Wang Kezhen Building, 1115
Date: Wednesday, June 24, 2015
Time: 16:00:00
Speaker's Background:
Dr. Xiaoqing Hu is currently a post-doc researcher at the Department of Psychology, University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Hu obtained his Ph.D. in 2014, from Department of Psychology, Northwestern University, with an emphasis on Brain Behavior and Cognition. His research interests include social cognition, learning and memory, morality. His research is funded by the APA Dissertation Research Award, the Kellogg School of Management, and the Graduate Research Grant from Northwestern University. He has published over 20 peer-review research papers in Science, Psychological Science, Social Cognitive Affective Neuroscience, Cognitive Affective Behavioral Neuroscience, Psychophysiology, Brain Research, etc.
Introduction:
Can we gain access to someone's sleep to change their memories and beliefs? Recent research from cognitive neuroscience suggests this is no longer a fantasy, and I will present research on sleep and off-line memory processing to answer this intriguing question.
Although it is widely acknowledged that sleep can stabilize and strengthen recent learning and memories, until recently researchers start to directly manipulate off-line memory processing during sleep. So far evidence suggests that during sleep, people can either (i) boost desirable memories and (ii) get over painful memories. I will also present new findings that during sleep, people can even weaken their long-lasting attitudes and beliefs, such as implicit racial biases and gender stereotypes. Implications and future directions are discussed.
Written by: Zhang Jiang
Source: PKU Lecture Hall
