Arne Ekstrom

Director, Cognition & Neural Systems Graduate Program
Professor, Cognition & Neural Systems
Professor, Evelyn McKnight Brain Institute
Ekstrom Headshot

Psychology 217D (office)
Psychology 215 A-C, 251, & 270 (labs)

Research Interests: 

  • Spatial navigation as a fundamental aspect of everyday life, yet something that declines in Alzheimer’s disease and other neurological conditions like stroke.
  • Employment of techniques like high-resolution functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), encephalography (EEG), and patient work to understand the neural mechanisms underlying spatial memories.
  • Inter-disciplinary research with  foundations in computer science (via virtual reality and neural networks), geographical science, cognitive science, linguistics, neurology, neurosurgery, and others.

Updated: 07/05/22

Selected Publications: 

  • Kyle C.T., Stokes J.D., Lieberman J., Hassan A.S., Ekstrom A.D.  (2015).  Successful retrieval of competing spatial environments in humans involves hippocampal pattern separation mechanisms.  eLife.  27, e10499.  PMID: 26613414.
  • Arnold AE., Iaria G., and Ekstrom A.D. (2016).  Mental simulation of routes during navigation involves adaptive temporal compression.  Cognition.  157: 14-23.  PMID: 27568586.
  • Vass L.K., Copara M.S., Seyal M. Shahlie, K., Tomaszewski-Farias S., Shen P., Ekstrom A.D.  (2016).  Oscillations go the distance: Low frequency human hippocampal oscillations code spatial distance in the absence of sensory cues during teleportation.  Neuron.  89: 1-7.  PMID: 26924436.
  • Ekstrom A.D., Huffman D., and Starrett M.J. (in press).  Interacting networks of brain regions underlie human spatial navigation: A review and novel synthesis of the literature.  Journal of Neurophysiology.

 

Courses Taught:

  • PSY 404 - Spatial Navigation: The Neural & Computational Foundations (2024)
  • PSY 506 - Neural Computation & Mammalian Cognition (2021) 
  • PSY 595A - CNS Colloquium (2024)

*Year listed indicates when this individual last taught the specified course.

Updated: 11/13/23