Research

I am Edwin Robertson, Professor of Brain & Cognitive sciences here in the School of Psychology & Neuroscience. My research involves establishing the mechanisms and consequences of offline memory processing, which is the process responsible for memories continuing to be modified in the hours, days and weeks after their formation. Across these studies, I use a combination of behavioural analysis, brain imaging and brain stimulation (i.e., Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation; TMS).

Currently my work focuses on three broad areas. (1) Interactions between different types of knowledge (action vs. words): my experiments have established that knowledge systems that operate independently during learning interact offline. (2) Identifying the control mechanisms of offline processing: my work has provided converging cognitive and physiological evidence for an inhibitory system preventing the development of offline enhancements during wakefulness. (3) Determining the function of offline processing: specifically its potential contribution to generalizable knowledge through the identification of recurring patterns in our environment, which enables us to create grammar, concepts, categories, and the transfer of skills across diverse situations.

Biography

Prior to my current position I held a number of faculty positions at Harvard Medical School, was a graduate and a medical student at the University of Oxford, and prior to that, was an undergraduate at the University of Cambridge.