Nicole Long

Assistant Professor, University of Virginia

niclong (at) virginia (dot) edu

Research Interests

My research aims to understand how we use strategic, goal directed processes to store and retrieve memories. By using a combination of recording techniques including scalp EEG and fMRI, along with multiple data analytic techniques, I answer questions about how global brain states and organizational strategies underlie our ability to successfully form and retrieve memories.

Selected Publications

Long, N. M. And Kuhl, B. A. (2018). Bottom-up and top-down factors differentially influence stimulus representations across large-scale attentional networks. Journal of Neuroscience, 38 (10), 2495-2504

Long, N. M., Sperling, M. R., Worrell, G. A., Davis, K. A., Lucas, T. H., Lega, B. C., Jobst, B. C., Sheth, S. A., Zaghloul, K., Stein, J. M., Das, S. R., Gorniak, R. and Kahana, M. J. (2017) Contextually mediated spontaneous retrieval is specific to the hippocampus. Current Biology. 27, 1-6

Long, N. M. and Kahana, M. J. (2017) Modulation of task demands suggests that semantic processing interferes with the formation of episodic associations. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory & Cognition. 43, 167-176

Long, N. M., Lee, H. and Kuhl, B.A. (2016) Hippocampal mismatch signals are modulated by the strength of neural predictions and their similarity to outcomes. Journal of Neuroscience, 36 (50), 12677-12687

Long, N. M. and Kahana, M. J. (2015) Successful memory formation is driven by contextual encoding in the core memory network. NeuroImage 119, 332-337, doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2015.06.073

Long, N. M., Danoff, M. S., and Kahana, M. J. (2015) Recall dynamics reveal the retrieval of emotional context. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review 22(5), 1328-1333

Long, N. M., Burke, J. F., and Kahana, M. J. (2014) Subsequent memory effects in intracranial and scalp EEG. NeuroImage, 84, 488-494.

Long, N.M., Öztekin, I., Badre, D. (2010) Separable prefrontal cortex contributions to free recall. Journal of Neuroscience, 30, 10967-10976.

Academic Positions and Education

Assistant Professor

University of Virginia

2019 - Present

Post-doctoral research associate

University of Oregon

Advisor: Brice Kuhl

2015 - 2018


Ph.D., Psychology

University of Pennsylvania

Advisor: Michael Kahana

2010 - 2015


Lab Manager

Brown University

Advisor: David Badre

2008 - 2010


B.A., Psychology with Honors, Summa Cum Laude

New York University

Advisor: Lila Davachi

2005 - 2008