Processing and Understanding of Early Remembering: origins and neural correlates of autobiographical memory beyond Infantile amneSia

Objective

PUERIS (“for children”) aims to provide the first multimodal neuroimaging investigation of autobiographical memory (AM) development during early childhood (ages 4, 6, 8), providing unprecedented insights into structural and functional neural underpinnings of AM ontogeny. AM, the ability to re-experience events of our life, is essential for maintaining personal identity across time, but remains limited in early childhood. Although the scarcity of AMs at this age is commonly attributed to immature neural networks involved in memory encoding, consolidation, and retrieval, no neuroimaging study has directly examined AM in children younger than 8. Building on my previous experience in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in adults and the complementary expertise of my supervisors in the neural bases of AM and longitudinal neuroimaging of young children, PUERIS will: 1) Identify how the hippocampal–prefrontal network supports AM retrieval in children aged 4, 6, and 8 using structural and functional MRI; 2) Assess longitudinal neural changes underlying memory consolidation from one week to one year in 6-year-old children; 3) Capture the real-time encoding and retrieval of AMs in a naturalistic museum setting using portable functional near-infrared spectroscopy. The project will be implemented at Sapienza University of Rome (Beneficiary Institution) and the University of Maryland (Outgoing Phase Institution). The training provided by my supervisors, together with the scientific and transferable skills offered by the fellowship, will be essential to achieving the objectives of this project. Beyond advancing fundamental science, PUERIS will foster social and relational factors that support strategic memory behaviors, particularly the capacity to learn how to learn, through targeted outreach. Ultimately, PUERIS will enable me to establish my independent research group and create a long-term impact by disseminating my expertise within academic and non-academic contexts.