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Education

• Ph.D., Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
• Postdoctoral Fellow, Dartmouth College

Research Interests

• Cellular and circuit mechanisms of long-term memory
• Spatial navigation and limbic system networks
• Behavioral (in-vivo) neurophysiology
• Hippocampal and cortical interactions and coding of object memory

Research Description

Research in our lab focuses on a number of related projects seeking to understand the brain circuits and cellular mechanisms that support long-term memory in mammals. The work follows an overarching hypothesis that individual significant experiences or events are organized in the nervous system as memories about items or objects and the spatial location or context where they were experienced. Fundamental to the organization of such event memories is the integration of parallel streams of information within the hippocampus or the broader hippocampal formation. One project explores the contribution of specific cortical regions to memory for objects and context, and how the consolidation of these memories is enhanced by novel experience. Another project maps neurons within regions of the memory circuit, by examining the behavioral correlates of their firing properties. Another project examines the degree to which neurons coding spatial location and directional heading, guide spatial problem solving. A final project examines SK-type potassium channel influence on behavior and behaviorally-triggered synaptic plasticity in young healthy animals and in a pharmacological model of schizophrenia-like behavior. Taken together, these projects will provide novel insights into memory organization and how neurophysiological representations of memory attributes guide memory retrieval and problem solving.

Recent Publications

• Cohen SJ, Cinalli Jr DA, Ásgeirsdóttir HN, Hindman B, Barenholtz E and  Stackman Jr RW  (2022). Mice recognize 3D objects from recalled 2D pictures, support for picture-object equivalence.  Scientific Reports,  12(1): 4184.  DOI:  .
• Cinalli Jr DA, Cohen SJ, Guthrie K and  Stackman Jr RW  (2020). Object recognition memory: Distinct yet complementary roles of the mouse CA1 and perirhinal cortex.  Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience,  13: 527543.   doi/10.3389/fnmol.2020.527543.
• Szatmari E, Moran C, Cohen SJ, Jacob A, Parra-Bueno P, Kamasawa N, Guerrero-Given D, Klein M,  Stackman Jr RW, and Yasuda R (2020) ADAP1/Centaurin-α1 negatively regulates dendritic spine function and memory formation in the hippocampus.  eNeuro,   Nov 2: ENEURO.0111-20.2020.  doi/10.1523/ENEURO.0111-20.2020. Online ahead of print.
• Ásgeirsdóttir HN, Cohen SJ and  Stackman Jr RW  (2020). Object and place information processing by CA1 hippocampal neurons of C57BL/6J mice. Journal of Neurophysiology,    123(3): 1247-1264. 
• Zhang G, Cinalli Jr DA and  Stackman Jr RW  (2017). Effect of a hallucinogenic serotonin 5-HT2A receptor agonist on visually-guided hippocampal-dependent spatial cognition in C57BL/6J mice.  Hippocampus,  27(5):  558-569.  
• Stackman Jr RW,  Cohen SJ, Lora JC and Rios LM (2016). Temporary inactivation reveals that the CA1 region of the dorsal hippocampus plays an equivalent role in the retrieval of long-term object memory and spatial memory.  Neurobiology of   Learning and Memory,  133:  118-128.  
• Zhang G, Cinalli Jr DA, Cohen SJ, Knapp KD, Rios LM, Martinez-Hernandez J, Lujan R and  Stackman Jr RW  (2016). Examination of the hippocampal contribution to serotonin 5-HT2A receptor-mediated facilitation of object memory in C57B/6J mice. Neuropharmacology,    109: 332-340. 
• Cohen SJ and  Stackman Jr RW  (2015). Assessing rodent hippocampal involvement in the novel object recognition task. A review.  Behavioural Brain Research,  285:  105-117.  
• Cohen SJ, Munchow A, Rios LM, Zhang G, Ásgeirsdóttir HN and  Stackman Jr RW  (2013). The rodent hippocampus is essential for non-spatial object memory.  Current Biology.  23:  1685-1690.  
• Stackman Jr RW,  Lora JC and Williams SB (2012). Directional responding of C57BL/6J mice in the Morris water maze is influenced by visual and vestibular cues and is dependent upon the anterior thalamic nuclei.  Journal of Neuroscience.  32(30):  10211-10225.  

Scholarly Activites

BobLab 2019 (l-r): Brittany Crafton; Claire Rice, PhD; Brandon Hindman, MA; RWS, Sarah Cohen, Ph.D.; David Cinalli, PhD; Goksu Oz