Abteilung Prächirurgische Epilepsiediagnostik – EpilepsiezentrumKlinik für Neurochirurgie

Spatial Memory Lab

The Spatial Memory Lab at the Epilepsy Center Freiburg identifies fundamental neural mechanisms underlying spatial navigation and episodic memory in the human brain.
We target three main questions:

(1) Which neuronal mechanisms underlie spatial navigation in human medial temporal lobe?
(2) How do brain oscillations support human spatial navigation?
(3) How do neural representations of space support episodic memory in the human brain?

To solve these questions, we perform state-of-the-art intracranial EEG recordings from the human brain while participants complete various cognitive tasks. Understanding the neural foundations of spatial navigation will not only reveal important insights into the physiological processes of the human brain, but will also provide important answers to the question how spatial disorientation may emerge in various neurological and psychiatric diseases including Alzheimer's disease.

Our key publications include:

(1) Chen et al., Current Biology, 2018: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30318350.
(2) Kunz et al., Science, 2015: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26494756.
(3) Miller et al., Science, 2013: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24288336.
(4) Jacobs et al., Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 2010: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19400683. (5) Caplan et al., Journal of Neuroscience, 2003: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12805312.

The Spatial Memory Lab collaborates with research groups from the United States, the United Kingdom, China, and Germany:

Prof. Dr. Michael Kahana
University of Pennsylvania

Prof. Dr. Joshua Jacobs
Columbia University in the City of New York

Prof. Dr. Nikolai Axmacher
Ruhr University Bochum

Prof. Dr. Liang Wang
Chinese Academy of Sciences

Prof. Dr. Gabriel Kreiman
Harvard University

Prof. Dr. Hugo Spiers
University College London