Maria Carolina Gonzalez
Life Sciences
Maria Carolina Gonzalez holds a degree in biotechnology from the Universidad Nacional de Quilmes and a doctorate in physiological sciences from the School of Medicine of the Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina. She moved to Brazil to pursue her postdoctoral research at the Memory Research Laboratory at the Brain Institute of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte.
Intrigued by the complex science of memory, Maria Carolina is working to expand research in this field. Her project investigates the role of experiences in forming new memories in animals. Currently based in Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, Maria Carolina is a researcher at the Santos Dumont Institute. She misses rowing in Argentina but has replaced the sport with long walks along Natal’s seafront. She also plays soccer and tennis and likes to cook for friends at home whenever possible.
Projects
Most memories are acquired by recalling old information that helps to put them into context. However, most of what we know about how memories are formed in the brain comes from studies that look at how animals learn a single task, without considering other experiences that the animals may have had. This project aims to investigate how prior knowledge affects the learning of new information and the brain’s ability to connect new memories to existing ones to create knowledge schemas.
