G. Elliott Wimmer
Max Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing
Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging
10-12 Russell Square
London, WC1B 5EH
e.wimmer (at) ucl.ac.uk
CV (pdf - with full-text links to papers)
Positions and degrees
Research Associate, 2017-present, Max Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing, University College London
Post-doctoral researcher, 2016-2017, Department of Psychology, Stanford University
Post-doctoral researcher, 2013-2015, Department of Systems Neuroscience, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf
Ph.D., 2012, Psychology, Columbia University
B.A., 2005, Cognitive Science, University of California, Berkeley
News
- With Yunzhe Liu at the Max Planck UCL Centre, we have a new preprint out on my first MEG investigation of sequenceness (replay) in humans (bioRxiv 2019). We find the memory decisions are based on rapid compressed replay of original experiences.
- From my work with Christian Büchel, we published a paper on the role of the OFC in learning predictions of distant states in Nature Communications (2019).
- From my work with Russ Poldrack funded by the DFG, we published a paper on the effects of temporal spacing on reward learning in the Journal of Neuroscience. In addition to multivariate fMRI results, we find that "spaced" training establishes longer-lasting value associations, while typical "massed" single-session learning is related to working memory capacity.
Research
- My research is focused on the cognitive and neural systems underlying learning and decision making.
- Currently, I am based with Prof. Ray Dolan at the Max Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing.
- At Stanford University with Prof. Russ Poldrack, I began work supported by the German research foundation (DFG) to investigate the influence of temporal spacing on the cognitive and neural systems supporting feedback learning.
- Previously, I was a post-doctoral researcher with Prof. Christian Büchel at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf in Hamburg, Germany.
- My doctoral research was conducted in the Psychology Department of Columbia University with Prof. Daphna Shohamy.
Recent publications
Wimmer, G.E., Büchel, C. (2019). Learning of distant state predictions by the orbitofrontal cortex in humans. Nature Communications, 10:2554.
Braun, E.K., Wimmer, G.E., Shohamy, D. (2018). Retroactive and graded enhancement of memory by reward. Nature Communications, 9:4886.
Wimmer, G.E., Li, J.K., Gorgolewski, K.J., Poldrack, R.A. (2018). Reward learning over weeks versus minutes increases the neural representation of value in the human brain. Journal of Neuroscience, 38(35): 7649-7666.
Wimmer, G.E., Büchel, C. (2016). Reactivation of reward-related patterns from single past episodes supports memory-based decision making. Journal of Neuroscience, 36(10): 2868-2880.
Wimmer, G.E., Braun, E.K., Daw, N.D., Shohamy, D. (2014). Episodic memory encoding interferes with reward learning and decreases striatal prediction errors. Journal of Neuroscience, 34(45): 14901-14912.
Wimmer, G.E., Shohamy, D. (2012). Preference by association: How memory mechanisms in the hippocampus bias decisions. Science, 338: 270-273.