Over the past quarter century, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has had an outsize influence in shaping our understanding of the human brain and mind. In this talk, Ester will review novel analytical techniques that allow researchers to move beyond overall changes in signal strength and instead ask whether fMRI activation patterns encode information about experimental variables. Specifically, Ester will discuss recent imaging work designed to visualize, quantify, and track the contents of working memory by applying image reconstruction techniques to non-invasive neuroimaging data (EEG and fMRI). These experiments have yielded several new insights into long-standing controversies and motivate new ways of thinking about how the brain integrates, maintains, and manipulates information to support flexible thought and decision making. 

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