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Topic · Cognitive Neuroscience

Memory and Neural Mechanisms

Memory and Neural Mechanisms is a research topic within Cognitive Neuroscience. Science Explorer counts 44k research works in it since 1950. 9.8% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores the neural mechanisms underlying memory formation, consolidation, reconsolidation, and retrieval, with a focus on the role of the hippocampus, amygdala, and prefrontal cortex. It also delves into the neural basis of spatial navigation and the interplay between memory and navigation processes in the brain.

  • Memory
  • Hippocampus
  • Navigation
  • Amygdala
  • Neural Circuits
  • Fear Conditioning
  • Spatial Representation
  • Neurobiology
  • Reconsolidation
  • Prefrontal Cortex
Research works
44k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
4.3k
per year above
Top-10% rate
9.8%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
-8%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
United States
44% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Memory and Neural Mechanisms

Which countries lead Memory and Neural Mechanisms research?

By volume, the United States and China publish the most (2k and 637 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States 2k works
  2. 2 China 637 works
  3. 3 Germany 388 works
  4. 4 United Kingdom 357 works
  5. 5 Canada 295 works
  6. 6 Japan 233 works
  7. 7 France 202 works
  8. 8 Italy 150 works
  9. 9 Spain 119 works
  10. 10 Netherlands 109 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

United States: 44.2%China: 14.3%Germany: 8.7%United Kingdom: 8.0%6 others listed: 24.8%44%largest
United States1,971 · 44.2%China637 · 14.3%Germany388 · 8.7%United Kingdom357 · 8.0%6 others listed1,109 · 24.8%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Memory and Neural Mechanisms research?

By volume in 2022-now, University of Toronto publishes the most Memory and Neural Mechanisms research, followed by Harvard University and Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 University of TorontoCanada 71 works
  2. 2 Harvard UniversityUnited States 70 works
  3. 3 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 63 works
  4. 4 University College LondonUnited Kingdom 53 works
  5. 5 National Institutes of HealthUnited States 48 works
  6. 6 Russian Academy of SciencesRussia 45 works
  7. 7 Columbia UniversityUnited States 43 works
  8. 8 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 41 works
  9. 9 University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 39 works
  10. 10 McGill UniversityCanada 38 works

Who are the leading researchers in Memory and Neural Mechanisms?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Memory and Neural Mechanisms include Ronald C. Kessler, Karl John Friston and Dan J. Stein.

  1. 1 Ronald C. Kessler United States 360k citations
  2. 2 Karl John Friston United Kingdom 310k citations
  3. 3 Dan J. Stein South Africa 306k citations
  4. 4 John Q. Trojanowski United States 286k citations
  5. 5 Luigi Ferrucci United States 281k citations
  6. 6 Narayanaswamy Venketasubramanian Singapore 252k citations
  7. 7 Kaj Blennow Sweden 247k citations
  8. 8 John Hardy United Kingdom 243k citations
  9. 9 John C. Morris United States 241k citations
  10. 10 Dennis W. Dickson United States 237k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in Memory and Neural Mechanisms?

The most cited paper in Memory and Neural Mechanisms is "Human-level control through deep reinforcement learning" (Volodymyr Mnih, Koray Kavukcuoglu, David Lawrence Silver et al., 2015), with 31,206 citations. Next come "Neuropathological stageing of Alzheimer-related changes" (16,612) and "An Integrative Theory of Prefrontal Cortex Function" (13,094).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Human-level control through deep reinforcement learning Volodymyr Mnih, Koray Kavukcuoglu, David Lawrence Silver et al. · Nature 24 Feb 2015 31,206
2 Neuropathological stageing of Alzheimer-related changes Heiko Braak, Eva Braak · Acta Neuropathologica Sep 1991 16,612
3 An Integrative Theory of Prefrontal Cortex Function Earl K. Miller, Jonathan D. Cohen · Annual Review of Neuroscience Review Mar 2001 13,094
4 A synaptic model of memory: long-term potentiation in the hippocampus T.V.P. Bliss, Graham L. Collingridge · Nature 1993 11,655
5 The Brain's Default Network Randy Lee Buckner, Jessica R. Andrews‐Hanna, Daniel L. Schacter · Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences Mar 2008 10,047
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Memory and Neural Mechanisms research done?

The largest centres of Memory and Neural Mechanisms research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), New York (United States), London (United Kingdom) and Toronto (Canada). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Bochum and Irvine.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 146 works
  2. 2 New YorkUnited States 127 works
  3. 3 LondonUnited Kingdom 104 works
  4. 4 TorontoCanada 91 works
  5. 5 ParisFrance 87 works
  6. 6 BostonUnited States 74 works
  7. 7 TokyoJapan 70 works
  8. 8 ShanghaiChina 65 works
  9. 9 MontrealCanada 64 works
  10. 10 CambridgeUnited States 57 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. BochumDE · 36.8 works13×
  2. IrvineUS · 36.5 works11×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Memory and Neural Mechanisms than the world average.

See Memory and Neural Mechanisms on the map

Where is the best place to study Memory and Neural Mechanisms?

Among universities, judged by research, Columbia University, University College London and Harvard University score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%10%20%mean 18.07%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →University College L…University of OxfordColumbia UniversityHarvard University
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1Columbia UniversityUnited States 74.817.8%8.1×43 +16.5%
2University College LondonUnited Kingdom 73.520.7%6.8×53 -20.9%
3Harvard UniversityUnited States 72.416.5%4.5×70 -4.8%
4University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 69.318.6%5.7×39 +1.8%
5University of TorontoCanada 68.110.8%7.2×71 -2.1%
6New York UniversityUnited States 64.017.6%6.7×37 -21.5%
7University of California, IrvineUnited States 63.014.7%11.0×33 +15.4%
8University of CambridgeUnited Kingdom 61.319.3%5.1×30 -24.7%
9Norwegian University of Science and TechnologyNorway 61.223.2%4.9×14 -29.7%
10Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyUnited States 61.021.5%5.2×18 -24.4%

Universities only. The score blends excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Memory and Neural Mechanisms, country by country

Is Memory and Neural Mechanisms research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 8% lower than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2013.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Memory and Neural Mechanisms as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.022% in 2024.

still counting0.025%0.050%0.075%Memory and Neural Mechanisms0.021% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Memory and Neural Mechanisms over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%Memory and Neural Mechanisms9.9% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

Questions people ask

Who leads research on memory and the brain?

By volume in 2022-now, University of Toronto publishes the most Memory and Neural Mechanisms research, followed by Harvard University and Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique. By volume, the United States and China publish the most (2k and 637 works in 2022-now).

All 1,273 questions in the Question Catalogue

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