Roberto Cabeza

About

Roberto Cabeza is a Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at Duke University, holding appointments since 2007. His laboratory investigates the neural correlates of memory and cognition in both young and older adults using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). His research focuses on distinguishing the neural processes involved in various episodic memory functions, such as encoding versus retrieval, item versus source memory, recall versus recognition, true versus false memory, and emotional versus nonemotional memory. He is particularly interested in the roles of the prefrontal cortex and medial temporal lobe subregions and their interactions in these processes. Additionally, Cabeza explores the similarities and differences between the neural bases of episodic memory and other cognitive functions, including working, semantic, implicit, and procedural memory, as well as attention and perception. His work aims to understand how brain regions are shared across different cognitive functions. A significant aspect of his research involves examining the effects of healthy and pathological aging on memory and cognition, linking age-related changes in specific brain regions to different memory processes and identifying common age-related activity changes across various functions, such as increased bilaterality associated with functional compensation.

Research topics

• Computer Science
• Psychology
• Cognitive psychology
• Neuroscience
• Artificial Intelligence
• Political Science
• Linguistics
• Gerontology
• Medicine
• Cognitive science

Selected publications

• A framework for concepts of reserve and resilience in aging

  Neurobiology of Aging · 2022 · 346 citations

  DOI

• Visual and Semantic Representations Predict Subsequent Memory in Perceptual and Conceptual Memory Tests

  Cerebral Cortex · 2020 · 64 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding

  It is generally assumed that the encoding of a single event generates multiple memory representations, which contribute differently to subsequent episodic memory. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and representational similarity analysis to examine how visual and semantic representations predicted subsequent memory for single item encoding (e.g., seeing an orange). Three levels of visual representations corresponding to early, middle, and late visual processing stages were bas…

  DOI

• The visual and semantic features that predict object memory: Concept property norms for 1,000 object images

  Memory & Cognition · 2021 · 54 citations

  Humans have a remarkable fidelity for visual long-term memory, and yet the composition of these memories is a longstanding debate in cognitive psychology. While much of the work on long-term memory has focused on processes associated with successful encoding and retrieval, more recent work on visual object recognition has developed a focus on the memorability of specific visual stimuli. Such work is engendering a view of object representation as a hierarchical movement from low-level visual repr…

  DOI

• Insight predicts subsequent memory via cortical representational change and hippocampal activity

  Nature Communications · 2025-05-09 · 11 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  The neural mechanisms driving creative problem-solving, including representational change and its relation to memory, still remain largely unknown. We focus on the creative process of insight, wherein rapid knowledge reorganization and integration-termed representational change-yield solutions that evoke suddenness, certainty, positive emotion, and enduring memory. We posit that this process is associated with stronger shifts in activation patterns within brain regions housing solution-relevant…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Semantic Dimensions Support the Cortical Representation of Object Memorability

  Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience · 2025-01-01 · 4 citations

  articleOpen access

  Recent work in vision sciences contends that objects carry an intrinsic property called memorability that describes the likelihood that an object can be successfully encoded and later retrieved from memory. It has been shown that object memorability is supported by semantic information, but the neural correlates of this relationship are largely unexplored. The present study explores these premises and asks whether neural correlates of object memorability can be accounted for by semantic dimensio…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• NIH Grant R01AG034580

  NIH · $1.5M · 2015

• NIH Grant R01AG019731

  NIH · $4.6M · 2018

• NIH Grant R01AG023770

  NIH · $1.5M · 2010

Frequent coauthors

• Simon W. Davis

  Duke University

  192 shared

• Sarah H. Lisanby

  160 shared

• Angel V. Peterchev

  Duke University

  149 shared

• Lysianne Beynel

  Duke University

  149 shared

• Susan Hilbig

  Duke University

  149 shared

• Bruce Luber

  National Institute of Mental Health

  146 shared

• Wesley Lim

  Texas A&M University

  134 shared

• Greg Appelbaum

  Duke University

  130 shared

Awards & honors

• Duke Science & Society Affiliate (2014 - Present)
• Duke Population Research Institute Research Scholar of DuPRI…
• Duke Institute for Brain Sciences Member (2008 - Present)
• Center for Cognitive Neuroscience Member (2001 - Present)
• NIH Effects of Healthy Aging and Mild Cognitive Impairment o…

Similar researchers at Duke University

• Rick Hoyleh-70
• Steven R. Asherh-59
• Timothy J. Straumanh-56