Inaugural Lecture of Professor Jonathan Lee

Join Professor Jonathan Lee for his Inaugural Lecture, hosted at the University of Birmingham's Edgbaston Campus  in the Aston Webb Building Main Lecture Theatre, Block C (R7 on the Campus Map) on Wednesday 19 March 2025.

This is a hybrid event: you can register for virtual access via Zoom here: https://bham-ac-uk.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_OPKgbcaYQWC5pMKqsCBzzA

'Breaking and rebuilding memories'

Many of us come to realise that our memories are not infallible nor unchanging. That memories can improve, weaken and change in content is well-established. However the underlying psychological and neurobiological mechanisms have been rather less well understood. In this lecture, I will introduce the concept of memory reconsolidation, which I'll argue is a core process that underpins memory change. This leads to the surprising implication that to update our memories, they may have to be broken apart first. We will encounter simple fear memories in rodents, conscious (if simple) memories in humans, and I'll share how a trip to Peru with Paddington Bear convinced me (and still does) that all of this has some relevance to our everyday lives.

Jonathan undertook all of his academic training at the University of Cambridge, starting with a BA in Natural Sciences, specialising in Neuroscience. During this time, he had his first exposure to human participant research, conducting a Part II project on rather esoteric learning theory with Anthony Dickinson and Mike Aitken. Jonathan remained in the Department of Experimental Psychology (as it then was), completing PhD and postdoctoral projects, both with Barry Everitt (FRS & Honorary Professor at the University of Birmingham), with a focus first on rodent models of fear memory and then drug addiction. After a couple of years as a non-tenured Departmental Lecturer and Fellow/Senior Tutor at Murray Edwards College, he moved to Birmingham. Here in Birmingham, Jonathan has closed the circle in my funded research.

Everyone is welcome to this event, and all are invited to join Jonathan after the lecture for refreshments in the Lapworth Museum.