Nominations
Papers nominated for our Memory Research Awards
The community nominates papers that mark milestones toward decoding a non-trivial memory from synaptic connectivity. Browse them all, or filter by topic.
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What makes a good nomination?
Our mission is guided by the Memory Decoding Challenge — the aspiration to decode a non-trivial memory from a static map of synaptic connectivity. Our annual Memory Research Awards honor papers that achieve key milestones toward that challenge. Strong nominations include:
Papers that demonstrate the decoding of simple functions (e.g. single-neuron visual receptive fields, simple binary behaviors) from synaptic connectivity.
Papers that reveal how memories are coded by tagging and manipulating memories at the cellular and synaptic levels.
Basic research papers exploring the structural and molecular changes underlying synaptic plasticity.
Other high-quality papers that represent key milestones toward decoding memories.
Anyone in the community may nominate a paper, including self-nominations. Browse all nominations below, filter by topic, and click any card for the key figure, a summary, and a link to the paper.
Behavioral time scale synaptic plasticity underlies CA1 place fields
Hippocampus View details
Synaptic architecture of a memory engram in the mouse hippocampus
Hippocampus View details
★ 2025 WinnerConnectome-constrained networks predict neural activity across the fly visual system
Dendritic integration & neuronal modeling View details
★ 2025 WinnerSystems consolidation reorganizes hippocampal engram circuitry
Hippocampus View details
★ 2025 WinnerFunctional connectomics reveals general wiring rule in mouse visual cortex
Visual receptive field learning View details
Structure and function of the hippocampal CA3 module
Hippocampus View details
Light-microscopy-based connectomic reconstruction of mammalian brain tissue
View details
★ 2025 WinnerBinary and analog variation of synapses between cortical pyramidal neurons
Correlations among synapses with shared history View details
Barcoding of episodic memories in the hippocampus of a food-caching bird
Hippocampus View details
Fear learning induces synaptic potentiation between engram neurons in the rat lateral amygdala
Fear memory in amygdala View details
A Drosophila computational brain model reveals sensorimotor processing
View details
★ 2023 Co-WinnerSynaptic correlates of associative fear memory in the lateral amygdala
Fear memory in amygdala View details
Visual physiology of the layer 4 cortical circuit in silico
Dendritic integration & neuronal modeling View details
Active dendrites enable strong but sparse inputs to determine orientation selectivity
Dendritic integration & neuronal modeling View details
Contribution of apical and basal dendrites to orientation encoding in mouse V1 L2/3 pyramidal neurons
Dendritic integration & neuronal modeling View details
★ 2019 WinnerControlling Visually Guided Behavior by Holographic Recalling of Cortical Ensembles
Neuronal ensembles View details
Photoactivatable CaMKII induces synaptic plasticity in single synapses
Molecular mechanisms of learning View details
Hippocampal LTP and contextual learning require surface diffusion of AMPA receptors
Molecular mechanisms of learning View details
Local protein synthesis is a ubiquitous feature of neuronal pre-and postsynaptic compartments
Molecular mechanisms of learning View details
Dense connectomic reconstruction in layer 4 of the somatosensory cortex
Correlations among synapses with shared history View details
★ 2019 WinnerNanoconnectomic upper bound on the variability of synaptic plasticity
Correlations among synapses with shared history View details
Kinetics of Endogenous CaMKII Required for Synaptic Plasticity Revealed by Optogenetic Kinase Inhibitor
Labeling & photo-erasure of synaptic ensemble View details
★ 2023 WinnerStepwise synaptic plasticity events drive the early phase of memory consolidation
Labeling & photo-erasure of synaptic ensemble View details
Optical inactivation of synaptic AMPA receptors erases fear memory
Labeling & photo-erasure of synaptic ensemble View details
Labelling and optical erasure of synaptic memory traces in the motor cortex
Labeling & photo-erasure of synaptic ensemble View details
Optogenetic reactivation of memory ensembles in the retrosplenial cortex induces systems consolidation
Memory consolidation View details
★ 2023 Co-WinnerSelective corticostriatal plasticity during acquisition of an auditory discrimination task
Learning in the striatum View details
Engram cells retain memory under retrograde amnesia
Hippocampus View details
Explicit memory creation during sleep demonstrates a causal role of place cells in navigation
Hippocampus View details
★ 2023 Co-WinnerInterregional synaptic maps among engram cells underlie memory formation
Hippocampus View details
The functional organization of excitatory synaptic input to place cells
Hippocampus View details
★ 2019 WinnerMemory formation in the absence of experience
Fear memory in amygdala View details
Engineering a memory with LTD and LTP
Fear memory in amygdala View details
Encoding of discriminative fear memory by input-specific LTP in the amygdala
Fear memory in amygdala View details
Synapse-specific representation of the identity of overlapping memory engrams
Fear memory in amygdala View details
★ 2019 WinnerLocally coordinated synaptic plasticity of visual cortex neurons in vivo
Visual receptive field learning View details
Spatiotemporal functional organization of excitatory synaptic inputs onto macaque V1 neurons
Visual receptive field learning View details
Synaptic organization of visual space in primary visual cortex
Visual receptive field learning View details
Orientation selectivity and the functional clustering of synaptic inputs in primary visual cortex
Visual receptive field learning View details
Cortical response selectivity derives from strength in numbers of synapses
Visual receptive field learning View details
Spatial connectivity matches direction selectivity in visual cortex
Visual receptive field learning View details
Ultrastructural comparison of dendritic spine morphology preserved with cryo and chemical fixation
Synaptic structure-function correlations View details
In vivo two-photon uncaging of glutamate revealing the structure–function relationships of dendritic spines in the neocortex of adult mice
Synaptic structure-function correlations View details
Whole-Neuron Synaptic Mapping Reveals Spatially Precise Excitatory/Inhibitory Balance Limiting Dendritic and Somatic Spiking
Synaptic structure-function correlations View details
★ 2023 WinnerStructure and function of a neocortical synapse
Synaptic structure-function correlations View detailsNo nominations in this category yet.
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