Featured publications
Nature Communications
Decomposing episodic memory into its supporting cognitive components
In this work, I combined behavioral tasks, EEG, and machine learning to track neural processes underlying visual perception, sustained attention, and selective attention during episodic encoding. This approach allowed me to quantify the degree to which each process contributes to subsequent memory performance.
BioRxiv
Hippocampal transformations occur along dimensions of memory interference
Using a range of similarity measures, I identified two dimensions that contributed to memory interference at different stages of learning. Strikingly, the hippocampus sequentially inverted the behaviorally relevant dimension at each stage.
Eneuro
Selective Attention Shapes Temporal Dynamics of Visual Memory
My work showed that selective attention shapes the temporal order in which lower-level (color) and higher-level (scene) features are encoded and retrieved. While this effect was similar across younger and older adults, older adults showed delayed encoding and retrieval.
NeuroImage
Comparing Machine Learning Classifiers for EEG-Based Memory Prediction
By testing multiple machine learning approaches for single-trial memory prediction, I found that feature selection, rather than classifier choice, drove prediction accuracy. This result generalized across tasks, imaging modalities, and populations, including older adults and clinical groups
Peer-reviewed journal articles
Mirjalili, S. & Duarte, A. (2025). Using machine learning to simultaneously quantify multiple cognitive components of episodic memory. Nature Communications, 16(1), 2856.
Cutler, R.A., Mirjalili, S., Pham, P., Devulapalli, H., Zafar, S., & Duarte, A. (2025). Semantic memory space becomes denser with age. Neuropsychologia, 208, 109083.
Justus, S.*, Mirjalili, S.*, Powell, P., & Duarte, A. (2023). Neural reinstatement of context memory in adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Cerebral Cortex, bhad139. (*equal contribution)
Lee, K., Mirjalili, S., Quadri, A., Corbett, B., & Duarte, A. (2022). Neural Reinstatement of Overlapping Memories in Young and Older Adults. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 34(8), 1376-1396.
Hokett, E., Mirjalili, S., & Duarte, A. (2022). Greater Sleep Variance Related to Decrements in Memory Performance and Event-Specific Neural Similarity: A Racially/Ethnically Diverse Lifespan Sample. Neurobiology of Aging, 117, 33–43.
Mirjalili, S., Powell, P., Strunk, J., James, T., & Duarte, A. (2022). Evaluation of classification approaches for distinguishing brain states predictive of episodic memory performance from electroencephalography. NeuroImage, 247, 118851.
Mirjalili, S., Powell, P., Strunk, J., James, T., & Duarte, A. (2021). Context Memory Encoding and Retrieval Temporal Dynamics are Modulated by Attention across the Adult Lifespan. Eneuro, 8(1).