Understanding the underlying mechanisms by which stress disrupts working memory will inform future efforts to develop new treatment strategies for stress-related psychiatric conditions.
As a Rita Allen Foundation Scholar, Dr. Liston will receive $500,000 over the next five years to research a form of short-term memory called working memory. This is a cognitive process in the brain that allows humans to temporarily remember and manipulate information, even while being immersed in another activity. Through studies in mice, Dr. Liston seeks to understand the ways in which circuits in the part of the brain that is responsible for high-level thinking and behavior, called the prefrontal cortex, support working memory and how those processes are disrupted by stress-related psychiatric conditions.
For more information:
http://news.weill.cornell.edu/news/2017/06/dr-conor-liston-named-rita-allen-foundation-scholar