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Overview
Affiliations
AffiliationRoom numberTelephone
Professor in the Department of PsychologyRH006+44 (0) 191 33 43257
Director of the Institute of Advanced StudyCH00643257 / 44684
Fellow of the Wolfson Research Institute for Health and Wellbeing 43257 / 40121

Biography

I have research interests in the way in which different contexts affect learning and memory, and the mechanisms involved. Recently this has involved focusing on the way in which contexts influence memory, and using this as a way of developing an animal model of episodic memory. Other interests include the way in which reward outcomes affect learning (for example, do we learn quicker for larger rewards than small rewards and do rewards drive learning faster than punishment)and the way in which social context affects learning and memory. In addition I have a keen interest in the role of the cholinergic cells of the basal forebrain in learning and memory. These cells are intricately linked to the memory loss in Alzheimer's disease, and I have shown they may also be involved in other types of amnesia (such as medial temporal lobe amnesia).

Research interests

  • Cognitive Neuroscience of Learning and Memory
  • Animal Models of Episodic Memory
  • Role of the Cholinergic Basal Forebrain in Learning and Memory
  • Learning and its relation to reward outcomes
  • The ways in which social context modulate learning and memory

Esteem Indicators

  • 2017: Member of European Brain and Behaviour Society Executive Committee:
  • 2016: Associate Editor for Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews:
  • 2016: Reviewing Editor for Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience:
  • 2015: Member of NC3Rs CRACK IT Solutions Funding Panel:
  • 2013: Member of NC3Rs studentship panel:
  • 0000: Associate Editor for Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience (Learning & Memory Section):

Media Contacts

Available for media contact about:

  • Biological and Biomedical Sciences: Learning and Memory
  • Neuroscience: Learning and Memory
  • Psychology: Learning and Memory
  • Memory and brain function: Learning and Memory

Publications

Chapter in book

  • Easton, Alexander, Barros, Marilia & Lever, Colin (2020). Acetylcholine and Spontaneous Recognition Memory in Rodents and Primates. In Behavioral Pharmacology of the Cholinergic System. Shoaib, Mohammed & Tanya Wallace Springer. 45: 29-45.
  • Easton, A & Eacott, M.J. (2008). A new working definition of episodic memory: replacing 'when' with 'which'. In Handbook of Episodic Memory. Dere, E, Easton, A, Nadel, L & Huston, JP Amsterdam: Elsevier. 185-196.
  • Emery, N.J. & Easton, A. (2005). What is social cognitive neuroscience (SCN)? In The Cognitive Neuroscience of Social Behaviour. Easton, A. & Emery, N.J. Hove: Psychology Press. 1-16.
  • Easton, A. (2005). Behavioural flexibility, social learning and the frontal cortex. In The Cognitive Neuroscience of Social Behaviour. Easton, A. & Emery, N.J. Hove: Psychology Press. 59-79.
  • Parker, A. & Easton, A. (2004). Cross-modal memory in primates: The neural basis of learning about the multisensory properties of objects and events. In The Handbook of Multisensory Processes. Calvert, G., Spence, C. & Stein, B.E. London: MIT Press. 333-342.
  • Parker, A., Easton, A. & Gaffan, D. (2002). Memory encoding in the primate brain: The role of the basal forebrain. In The Cognitive Neuroscience of Memory: Encoding and Retrieval. Parker, A., Wilding, E.L. & Bussey, T.J. Hove: Psychology Press. 151-172.
  • Easton, A., Parker, A. & Gaffan, D. (2002). Memory encoding and retrieval: The nature of interactions between the primate frontal lobe and posterior cortex. In The Cogntive Neuroscience of Memory: Encoding and Retrieval. Parker, A., Wilding, E.L. & Bussey, T.J. Hove: Psychology Press. 173-196.
  • Easton, A. & Gaffan, D. (2000). Amygdala and the memory of reward: the importance of fibres of passage from the basal forebrain. In The Amygdala: A Functional Analysis. Aggleton, J.P. Oxford: OUP. 569-586.

Edited book

  • Dere, E, Easton, A, Nadel, L & Huston, JP (2008). Handbook of Episodic Memory. Handbook of Behavioural Neuroscience. Amsterdam: Elsevier.
  • Easton, A. & Emery, N.J. (2005). The Cognitive Neuroscience of Social Behaviour. Hove: Psychology Press.

Journal Article

Supervision students