Charan Ranganath, Ph.D.

Dr. Charan Ranganath

Professor of Psychology

  • Core Faculty, Center for Neuroscience
  • Memory and Plasticity Program
  • Healthy Brain Aging Initiative

Cognitive Neuroscience of Memory

Research Summary

Our research involves the use of functional neuroimaging, scalp and intracranial electroencephalography, and studies of patients with focal brain damage to study the the neural basis of human memory and executive control. We have used these methods to investigate the functional organization of the prefrontal cortex and the medial temporal lobes-- two regions thought to play important roles in different memory processes. Additionally, we are interested in the role of brain oscillations in promoting learning and memory, and in memory dysfunction due to cerebrovascular disease and schizophrenia.

Select Publications

Diana, R.A., Yonelinas, A.P., & Ranganath, C. (2010). Medial Temporal Lobe Activity during Source Retrieval Reflects Information Type, not Memory Strength. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 22(8):1808-18.

Axmacher, N., Cohen, M.X., Fell, J., Haupt, S., Elger, C.E., Schlaepfer, T.E., Lenartz, D., Sturm, V., & Ranganath, C. (2010). Intracranial EEG correlates of expectancy and memory formation in the human hippocampus and nucleus accumbens. Neuron, 65, 541–549.

Khader, P., Jost, K., Ranganath, C., & Rosler, F. (2010). Theta and alpha oscillations during working-memory maintenance predict successful long-term memory encoding. Neuroscience Letters, 468(3):339-43.

Puri, A.M., Wojciulik, A., & Ranganath, C. (2009). Category Expectation Modulates Baseline and Stimulus-Evoked Activity in Human Inferotemporal Cortex. Brain Research, 1301, 89-99.

Hannula, D.E. & Ranganath, C. (2009). The Eyes Have It: Hippocampal Activity Predicts Expression of Memory in Eye Movements. Neuron, 63, 592–599.

Haskins, A.L., Yonelinas, A.P., & Ranganath, C. (2008). Perirhinal cortex supports unitization and familiarity-based recognition of novel associations. Neuron, 59(4): 554-60.

Diana, R.A., Yonelinas, A.P., & Ranganath, C. (2008). Familiarity-based source memory due to unitization at encoding: Testing a hypothesis derived from imaging data. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition,34(4):730-40.

Ranganath, C., Minzenberg, M., & Ragland, J.D. (2008). The Cognitive Neuroscience of Memory Function and Dysfunction in Schizophrenia. Biological Psychiatry, 64(1):18-25. 

Diana, R.A., Yonelinas, A.P., & Ranganath, C. (2008). High-resolution multi-voxel pattern analysis of category selectivity in parahippocampal cortex. Hippocampus, 18(6):536-41.

Hannula, D.E. & Ranganath, C. (2008). Medial Temporal Lobe Activity Predicts Successful Relational Binding in Working Memory. Journal of Neuroscience, 28(1):116-24.

Khader, P., Ranganath, C., Seemüller, A. & Rösler, F. (2007). Working-Memory Maintenance Contributes to Long-Term Memory Formation: Evidence from Slow Event-Related Brain Potentials. Cognitive, Affective, and Behavioral Neuroscience, 7(3):212-24.

Diana, R.A., Yonelinas, A.P., & Ranganath, C. (2007). Imaging recollection and familiarity in the medial temporal lobe: A three-component model. Trends in Cognitive Science, 11(9):379-86.

Eichenbaum, H., Yonelinas, A.P., & Ranganath, C. (2007). Medial temporal lobes and recognition memory. Annual Reviews in Neuroscience, 30:123-152.

Blumenfeld, R.S. & Ranganath, C. (2007). Prefrontal cortex and long-term memory encoding: An integrative review of findings from neuropsychology and neuroimaging. The Neuroscientist, 13(3): 280-91.

Murray, L.J. & Ranganath, C. (2007). Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex contributes to successful relational memory encoding. Journal of Neuroscience, 27(20):5515-22.

Affiliations

Neuroscience

Psychology