Valentina Krenz
@valentinakrenz.bsky.social
Postdoctoral Researcher at Boston College studying the transformation of experiences into episodic and semantic memory
Reposted by Valentina Krenz
How does the brain replay memories during sleep?
Excited to share our new preprint, the outcome of an extensive effort led by Johannes Niediek, showing that reactivation of human concept neurons reflects memory content rather than event sequence.
Excited to share our new preprint, the outcome of an extensive effort led by Johannes Niediek, showing that reactivation of human concept neurons reflects memory content rather than event sequence.
Episodic memory consolidation by reactivation of human concept neurons during sleep reflects contents, not sequence of events https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.01.10.698827v1
January 13, 2026 at 9:13 AM
How does the brain replay memories during sleep?
Excited to share our new preprint, the outcome of an extensive effort led by Johannes Niediek, showing that reactivation of human concept neurons reflects memory content rather than event sequence.
Excited to share our new preprint, the outcome of an extensive effort led by Johannes Niediek, showing that reactivation of human concept neurons reflects memory content rather than event sequence.
Reposted by Valentina Krenz
When psychologists mislead us as.ft.com/r/ef98fc45-6...
When psychologists mislead us
[FREE TO READ] From Piltdown Man to the Stanford prison experiment, many famous scientific discoveries have been exposed as hoaxes or distortions
as.ft.com
January 14, 2026 at 7:25 AM
When psychologists mislead us as.ft.com/r/ef98fc45-6...
Reposted by Valentina Krenz
A new community-driven lab handbook for reducing conflict and creating more positive and equitable work environments gets strong support from a survey of 200 researchers.
buff.ly/K7CGFLV
buff.ly/K7CGFLV
January 14, 2026 at 11:02 AM
A new community-driven lab handbook for reducing conflict and creating more positive and equitable work environments gets strong support from a survey of 200 researchers.
buff.ly/K7CGFLV
buff.ly/K7CGFLV
Reposted by Valentina Krenz
Save the date for ICOM-7 (aka the Memory Olympics)
January 12, 2026 at 9:08 PM
Save the date for ICOM-7 (aka the Memory Olympics)
Reposted by Valentina Krenz
With some trepidation, I'm putting this out into the world:
gershmanlab.com/textbook.html
It's a textbook called Computational Foundations of Cognitive Neuroscience, which I wrote for my class.
My hope is that this will be a living document, continuously improved as I get feedback.
gershmanlab.com/textbook.html
It's a textbook called Computational Foundations of Cognitive Neuroscience, which I wrote for my class.
My hope is that this will be a living document, continuously improved as I get feedback.
January 9, 2026 at 1:27 AM
With some trepidation, I'm putting this out into the world:
gershmanlab.com/textbook.html
It's a textbook called Computational Foundations of Cognitive Neuroscience, which I wrote for my class.
My hope is that this will be a living document, continuously improved as I get feedback.
gershmanlab.com/textbook.html
It's a textbook called Computational Foundations of Cognitive Neuroscience, which I wrote for my class.
My hope is that this will be a living document, continuously improved as I get feedback.
Reposted by Valentina Krenz
Fresh off the press from all-star post-doc Blake Elliott: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
We show that the HPC supports coincidence detection across VTA and lPFC in service of novelty-evoked invigoration. Stay-tuned for how these circuits are altered in psychosis risk.
We show that the HPC supports coincidence detection across VTA and lPFC in service of novelty-evoked invigoration. Stay-tuned for how these circuits are altered in psychosis risk.
PNAS
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a peer reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) - an authoritative source of high-impact, original research that broadly spans...
www.pnas.org
January 7, 2026 at 2:00 AM
Fresh off the press from all-star post-doc Blake Elliott: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
We show that the HPC supports coincidence detection across VTA and lPFC in service of novelty-evoked invigoration. Stay-tuned for how these circuits are altered in psychosis risk.
We show that the HPC supports coincidence detection across VTA and lPFC in service of novelty-evoked invigoration. Stay-tuned for how these circuits are altered in psychosis risk.
Reposted by Valentina Krenz
(1/5)
🧵Our new preprint shows how the brain develops to transform how kids, teens & adults represent & navigate their world: shifting from local, moment-to-moment memories in childhood to integrated, global cognitive maps in adulthood 🧠
Paper: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
🧵Our new preprint shows how the brain develops to transform how kids, teens & adults represent & navigate their world: shifting from local, moment-to-moment memories in childhood to integrated, global cognitive maps in adulthood 🧠
Paper: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
December 16, 2025 at 4:32 PM
(1/5)
🧵Our new preprint shows how the brain develops to transform how kids, teens & adults represent & navigate their world: shifting from local, moment-to-moment memories in childhood to integrated, global cognitive maps in adulthood 🧠
Paper: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
🧵Our new preprint shows how the brain develops to transform how kids, teens & adults represent & navigate their world: shifting from local, moment-to-moment memories in childhood to integrated, global cognitive maps in adulthood 🧠
Paper: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Reposted by Valentina Krenz
PhD student Nina Curko and I wrote a short article about the superpowers of memory! Now published in Frontiers for Young Minds: kids.frontiersin.org/articles/10....
Traveling Through Space and Time With our Memories
A person wearing headphones and a red hoodie walks through an airport with a suitcase, gazing at a boarding gate sign marked C7 with a French flag. Thought bubbles depict the Eiffel Tower and a map of...
kids.frontiersin.org
October 13, 2025 at 1:36 PM
PhD student Nina Curko and I wrote a short article about the superpowers of memory! Now published in Frontiers for Young Minds: kids.frontiersin.org/articles/10....
Reposted by Valentina Krenz
Thrilled to see this paper out! It's the culmination of a project begun in the depths of the pandemic with Sabrina Karjack and @zoengo.bsky.social . We continue our exploration of how children generalize when their episodic memory is not yet mature.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
The dependence of children’s generalization on episodic memory varies with age and level of abstraction - Nature Communications
Children’s ability to generalize from episodic memories varies by both age and the level of abstraction. Here, the authors show that lower level generalization increasingly depends on episodic memory with age, whereas higher level generalization shows no such relationship.
www.nature.com
October 7, 2025 at 1:47 PM
Thrilled to see this paper out! It's the culmination of a project begun in the depths of the pandemic with Sabrina Karjack and @zoengo.bsky.social . We continue our exploration of how children generalize when their episodic memory is not yet mature.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Valentina Krenz
New preprint alert!
Cognitive maps are flexible, dynamic, (re)constructed representations
#psychscisky #neuroskyence #cognition #philsky 🧪
Cognitive maps are flexible, dynamic, (re)constructed representations
#psychscisky #neuroskyence #cognition #philsky 🧪
OSF
osf.io
November 26, 2025 at 6:11 PM
New preprint alert!
Cognitive maps are flexible, dynamic, (re)constructed representations
#psychscisky #neuroskyence #cognition #philsky 🧪
Cognitive maps are flexible, dynamic, (re)constructed representations
#psychscisky #neuroskyence #cognition #philsky 🧪
Reposted by Valentina Krenz
How does cortisol tune brain networks to form strong emotional memories? Excited to share new work led by amazing former RA Flory Huang w collabs Rajita Sinha and @toddc.bsky.social #neuroskyence www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Dynamic brain mechanisms supporting salient memories under cortisol
The stress-related hormone cortisol alters dynamic brain networks predicting memory and arousal to promote emotional memories.
www.science.org
December 11, 2025 at 4:42 PM
How does cortisol tune brain networks to form strong emotional memories? Excited to share new work led by amazing former RA Flory Huang w collabs Rajita Sinha and @toddc.bsky.social #neuroskyence www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by Valentina Krenz
Our new paper is out! Valentina Krenz et al show that the amygdala response during the initial encounter of an emotional event boosts subsequent remembering through a more precise reinstatement of the event representation during subsequent encounters 💡
www.jneurosci.org/content/45/1...
www.jneurosci.org/content/45/1...
April 9, 2025 at 6:28 AM
Our new paper is out! Valentina Krenz et al show that the amygdala response during the initial encounter of an emotional event boosts subsequent remembering through a more precise reinstatement of the event representation during subsequent encounters 💡
www.jneurosci.org/content/45/1...
www.jneurosci.org/content/45/1...
Reposted by Valentina Krenz
🚀 Big milestone for Antonia Lilja! Her first first-author paper in her PhD is now online🔥 Findings show that #stress enhances #memory for preceding neutral events—but only if the stressor itself is well remembered. No cueing effects found. Check it out!
learnmem.cshlp.org/content/31/1...
learnmem.cshlp.org/content/31/1...
Stress enhances memory for previously encoded events depending on stressor recall
Peer-reviewed scientific journal publishing basic neuroscience research in the areas of neuronal plasticity, learning and memory
learnmem.cshlp.org
February 3, 2025 at 9:45 AM
🚀 Big milestone for Antonia Lilja! Her first first-author paper in her PhD is now online🔥 Findings show that #stress enhances #memory for preceding neutral events—but only if the stressor itself is well remembered. No cueing effects found. Check it out!
learnmem.cshlp.org/content/31/1...
learnmem.cshlp.org/content/31/1...
Reposted by Valentina Krenz
New publication from our lab! 👀
We found that memory enhancement from PEs depends on the brain's neural state: theta/alpha activity & pre-error reactivation are key. TMS over the superior parietal cortex altered response bias but not PE-related memory effects 💡
👉 www.jneurosci.org/content/45/3...
We found that memory enhancement from PEs depends on the brain's neural state: theta/alpha activity & pre-error reactivation are key. TMS over the superior parietal cortex altered response bias but not PE-related memory effects 💡
👉 www.jneurosci.org/content/45/3...
Prediction Error-Related Memory Enhancement Depends on the Neural State Surrounding the Prediction Error Event
Prediction errors (PEs) can enhance memory for preceding events. While such PE-related memory enhancements are critical for understanding adaptive memory, their underlying mechanisms are not fully und...
www.jneurosci.org
September 11, 2025 at 8:05 AM
New publication from our lab! 👀
We found that memory enhancement from PEs depends on the brain's neural state: theta/alpha activity & pre-error reactivation are key. TMS over the superior parietal cortex altered response bias but not PE-related memory effects 💡
👉 www.jneurosci.org/content/45/3...
We found that memory enhancement from PEs depends on the brain's neural state: theta/alpha activity & pre-error reactivation are key. TMS over the superior parietal cortex altered response bias but not PE-related memory effects 💡
👉 www.jneurosci.org/content/45/3...