Susan Benear, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow, New York University
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I am a cognitive neuroscientist who studies learning and memory from a developmental perspective. I am currently a postdoc working with Dr. Catherine Hartley at New York University. I earned my B.A. in Psychology from Penn State University and my Ph.D. in Psychology from Temple University, where I was jointly mentored by Drs. Nora Newcombe and Ingrid Olson.
My research focuses on memory and reinforcement learning across development, which I examine using behavioral and neuroimaging techniques (fMRI, MEG), as well as computational modeling. I am interested in how children perceive and remember complex events, how children's memory systems prioritize generalization vs. specificity depending on contextual features, and how children and teens use memory to guide their decisions.
Selected Research Projects
Free recall of complex events improves dramatically in early childhood and lags recognition memory
This study was a follow-up to my previous research on event cognition, aiming to examine children's ability to freely, verbally recall complex events, such as a television episode. We found that, even in children whose event memory was quite robust according to probed measures, their free recall performance was well below that of adults. Free recall detail was often at floor for children below age 5.5 years. Verbal ability was a strong predictor of free recall, suggesting development of both mnemonic and linguistic capabilities contributes to free recall ability.
Neural representational patterns supporting reward-motivated memory shift across adolescence
Neural representational patterns supporting reward-motivated memory shift across adolescence
In this study, we examined how reward-associated memories are represented in the brain via pattern similarity analyses of fMRI data in 8-25-year-olds. We found reward information during encoding in VTC and in changes from encoding to retrieval in aHC in all participants. Adults’ memory benefitted from stability of aHC representations, while younger participants benefitted from representational drift and reward-related activation in VTA. Our findings demonstrate that reward modulates neural memory representations, and these patterns change with age.
Exposure to novelty in the real world improves autobiographical and episodic memory in teens and adults
Exposure to novelty in the real world improves autobiographical and episodic memory in teens and adults
In this ongoing project, we are investigating how novelty exposure in the real world influences memory in 12-25-year-olds using GPS tracking and prompting them to complete tasks on their smartphones 3 times weekly for 3 months. So far, we've found that participants have more positive memories for their own experiences on days higher in novelty, and that their memory for images in a lab-based task is protected from forgetting over time if the image was learned on a day high in novelty. We also see that memory recall and mood are influenced by mental health.
About Me
I grew up in Oklahoma and Texas and have lived in Pennsylvania, Spain, Tennessee, and New York. My interests outside of science include cooking and baking, running, playing piano, reading novels, singing karaoke, knitting, and dining at my favorite spots around the city with friends. My husband and I have dozens of plants and two cats named Kahlua and Fizz!
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