Gonadal hormones such as estradiol have a powerful effect on neuronal plasticity, particularly in the hippocampus, a region crucial for memory consolidation and spatial cognition. Previous in vitro work has found that estradiol triggers second messenger cascades, driving synaptic plasticity in the hippocampus. In particular, estradiol has been found to drive a pronounced proliferation of dendritic spines, the primary sites of excitatory synaptic connections.

Nicole Alea Albada is a developmental psychologist specializing in adult development and aging. She is an Associate Teaching Professor in the UCSB’s Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, and the Director of Education and Outreach for the Center for Aging and Longevity Studies. Drawing from her decades-long research on how life experiences relate to psychosocial wellbeing among older adults, experience teaching undergraduates about aging and longevity, and her outreach efforts aimed to serve the broader older adult community, Dr.

The Neuroscience of Attachment

“Meliorism” stresses the feasibility of improving human judgment—and has been the driving philosophical force behind subjective-probability forecasting tournaments over the last 40 years. This talk focuses on what we have learned: (a) about spotting talent (superforecasting), cultivating talent (training), developing teams (coaching), and designing crowd-aggregation algorithms; (b) about aleatory-uncertainty boundary conditions on Meliorism. I also offer an uncharacteristically bold forecast for the next 40 years.

While Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is predominantly diagnosed late in life, research suggests that brain changes associated with this disorder occur decades before. The goal of the Velazquez Lab at Arizona State University's Neurodegenerative Disease Research Center is to identify the early events that trigger the progression of AD. Dr. Velazquez will first present his team’s recent discovery of a newly identified protein, the retinoblastoma binding protein 7 (Rbbp7), and its role against tau acetylation, an early pathological event in AD

Understanding morality is central to understanding human behavior, cognition, and culture. Narratives, one of the oldest forms of human expression, frequently convey moral themes that resonate with audiences across time and location. This talk delves into moral representations, exploring their essence, methods for identification, and practical applications. First, I will define moral representations as the ways in which moral principles, values, and conflicts are depicted in textual and audio-visual narratives, and encoded in the brain.