Nanthia Suthana
Department of Neurosurgery
Duke University

Neural Dynamics of Navigation, Memory, and Flashbacks: From Real-World Brain Recordings to PTSD Treatment

How does the brain encode and retrieve spatial memories to guide navigation and shape our recollection of past experiences? In this talk, I will present findings from intracranial recordings in freely moving participants with implanted electrodes in key brain regions such as the hippocampus and amygdala, providing new insights into the neural dynamics of real-world navigation and memory. I will first discuss how the hippocampus integrates movement, spatial boundaries, and environmental cues to support memory-guided navigation, revealing how spatial and episodic memory systems interact to construct internal models of the world. I will then explore how similar neural mechanisms in the amygdala contribute to memory flashbacks in PTSD, offering a real-world perspective on how vivid, involuntary recollections emerge. Finally, I will discuss how this research led to the development of a novel treatment for PTSD, targeting maladaptive memory recall to improve patient outcomes.

A pizza lunch will be served. Please bring your own beverage.

We will also stream this seminar via Zoom.
For the link, please email: pennmindcore@sas.upenn.edu