Michigan State University Department of Psychology

Faculty

Kimberly Fenn
Assistant Professor

Ph.D. The University of Chicago 2006

Masters The University of Chicago 2000

Bachelors The University of Delaware 1997

Primary Program: Cognition and Cognitive Neuroscience

289B Psychology

(517) 432-6258

kfenn@msu.edu

Related Research Websites

	description
Sleep and Learning Lab	The Sleep and Learning Lab investigates the acquisition and consolidation of complex skills and episodic memory. A primary focus of the lab is on memory consolidation, the processing of memory after initial acquisition. This processing can serve to change memory, often strengthening and stabilizing memory, and increasing resistance to forgetting. We approach this question from several different perspectives, with a special emphasis on the role of sleep in consolidating memory. While we do not understand much about the biological and psychological functions of sleep, there is growing evidence that sleep plays a role in the process of memory consolidation. The lab uses basic behavioral paradigms as well as implementing polysomnography during sleep and using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).

description

Sleep and Learning Lab

The Sleep and Learning Lab investigates the acquisition and consolidation of complex skills and episodic memory. A primary focus of the lab is on memory consolidation, the processing of memory after initial acquisition. This processing can serve to change memory, often strengthening and stabilizing memory, and increasing resistance to forgetting. We approach this question from several different perspectives, with a special emphasis on the role of sleep in consolidating memory. While we do not understand much about the biological and psychological functions of sleep, there is growing evidence that sleep plays a role in the process of memory consolidation. The lab uses basic behavioral paradigms as well as implementing polysomnography during sleep and using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).

Research Publications

		Title
	2011	Individual differences in working memory capacity predict sleep-dependent memory consolidation
	2011	Where less is heard than meets the ear: Change deafness in a telephone conversation
	2010	Consolidating the effects of waking and sleep on motor-sequence learning
	2010	Simple stimuli, simple strategies
	2009	Reduced false memory after sleep
	2008	Perceptual learning of Cantonese lexical tones by tonal and non-tonal language speakers
	2008	Margoliash, D., & Fenn, K. M. (2008). Sleep and Memory Consolidation in Audition. In A. I. Basbaum & A. Kaneko & G. M. Shepherd & G. Westheimer (Eds.), The Senses: A comprehensive reference (Vol. Vol 3 Audition, pp. 895-912). San Diego: Academic Press.
	2007	Complex acoustic pattern learning in humans and songbirds
	2007	Effects of training on the acoustic-phonetic representation of synthetic speech
	2003	Consolidation during sleep of perceptual learning of spoken language

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