Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Joseph Steinmetz, Dean of Liberal Arts and Sciences, developed an interest in the field of neuroscience as an undergraduate at Indiana University. That interest has remained strong since then. Steinmetz will give a lecture entitled “How is the Brain Involved in Learning and Memory?” at noon today in the Ecumenical Christian Ministries Center.
“What we’re interested in is how neurons inside the brain change during learning and memory,” Steinmetz said. “And I think one of the biggest things that have come out of the field the last several years is that the brain doesn’t have one memory system, one learning system. It has many.”
Steinmetz’s research focuses on two kinds of memory: procedural and declarative. Procedural memory is learning and remembering procedures and motor skills, and declarative memory is associated with remembering facts.
pullquote
I think the whole area of the brain is becoming more and more of an issue for people as they look at learning and memory.
-Thad Holcombe, director of University Forums
Over the past 10 years much of his work has been concentrated on clinical populations to better understand disorders like autism, fetal alcohol syndrome and schizophrenia. Steinmetz said his speech would look at the history of the field of neuroscience and also where it could go in the future. But Steinmetz said that the people who develop learning skills earlier are at an advantage.
“The younger that you participate and go through learning, the easier it is to learn things,” he said. “And that’s because the brain is still changing in young people.”
Steinmetz’s speech is part of the ECM’s University Forums, which features guest speakers Wednesdays throughout the semester. Thad Holcombe, director of University Forums, said the purpose of the weekly forums had changed over the years.
“The original goal was for faculty to present topics of research to faculty, and it has evolved and still continues to do that, but now they try to speak more to the students,” Holcombe said.
Holcombe said Steinmetz was chosen because of his reputation in the field of neuroscience,
“I think the whole area of the brain is becoming more and more of an issue for people as they look at learning and memory,” Holcombe said. “He’s going to be great.”
The forums are free and open to the public. Steinmentz’s lecture will last about an hour.
—edited by Luke Morris
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