Centre of Experimental Medicine SAS
Topic
The role of inhibitory control in the regulation of long-term memory encoding and retrieval
PhD. program
Medical Neurosciences
Year of admission
2026
Name of the supervisor
Mgr. Martin Marko, PhD.
Contact:
Receiving school
Medical Faculty of Comenius University
Annotation
Inhibitory control belongs to a class of higher-order cognitive functions important for behavioral flexibility and is impaired in many neuropsychiatric conditions. Recent research has provided converging evidence that inhibition modulates fundamental memory processes, yet the underlying cognitive and neurobiological mechanisms of such involvement remain poorly understood. The aim of this dissertation is to systematically investigate the role of inhibitory control in the encoding and retrieval of information to/from long-term memory, and to elucidate the mechanisms through which this form of adaptive control is implemented in human cognition. The dissertation will be structured into two complementary parts. In the first part, we will implement a modified Associative–Dissociative Retrieval Task to determine whether and to what extent executive inhibition influences the depth of information encoding into long-term memory and the regulation of subsequent retrieval processes. In the second part of the dissertation, we plan to causally manipulate the neurocognitive processes underlying memory encoding and retrieval using non-invasive stimulation of peripheral nerves with weak electrical currents. The findings of this dissertation are expected to advance current understanding of the mechanisms through which inhibitory control shapes human declarative memory.