Nicole Varga

Nicole Varga

Postdoctoral Researcher

To fully understand the building blocks of any complex behavior, it is important to delineate how knowledge is learned and remembered. Knowledge comprises the medium over which all our cognitive functions operate; it alters our perception, directs our attention, and enables derivation of new understandings about the world. My research assesses how we flexibly integrate related memories to support new knowledge formation. This work has shown that this flexible form of learning undergoes prolonged development between childhood and adulthood. Moreover, difficulties with memory integration are associated with poor academic outcomes in both children and adults. As such, my work seeks to identify the cognitive, neural, and experiential factors that promote integrative learning in children, adolescents, and adults, with the aim of developing interventions that may improve cognitive and academic outcomes.