A unified model of memory and perception

A collaboration between SISSA’s Physics and Neuroscience groups has shed new light on how memories are stored and retrieved in the brain, unifying decades of behavioral and theoretical research. The study, led by professors Sebastian Goldt and Mathew E. Diamond and first-authored by Francesca Schönsberg (now at the École Normale Supérieure), has just been published in Neuron.

Perceptual memory – our ability to extract, store, and use information from the sensory world – has long intrigued scientists. Yet the field remains fragmented: researchers often build separate models around specific tasks. The SISSA team set out to bridge these gaps by developing a single framework capable of explaining diverse forms of perceptual memory.