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Indiana University Bloomington
Jonathon Crystal

Dr. Jonathon Crystal

Professor

 

jcrystal [at] indiana.edu

office: MSB2 224 | (812)856-2246

lab: Comparative Cognition Laboratory
MSBII 274 | (812)856-6917

 

Comparative Cognition, episodic memory, metacognition, time perception, circadian rhythms, learning and memory, disorders of memory (e.g., Alzheimer's)

Educational Background

  • 1997 Ph.D. Brown University
  • 1994 Sc.M. Brown University
  • 1992 B.Sc. University of Toronto

Research Areas

  • Biology, Behavior, and Neuroscience
  • Cognitive Science
  • Animal Behavior

Research Interests

Comparative Cognition, episodic memory, metacognition, time perception, circadian rhythms, learning and memory, disorders of memory (e.g., Alzheimer's)

Research Statement

    Dr. Crystal conducts research in animal cognition. The long-range goal is to understand how animals process events in time and remember these events in order to provide a theoretical framework for understanding disorders of memory. Dr. Crystal has a long-standing interest in studying mechanisms of temporal information processing - that is, our ability to make judgments about the passage of time. This research has focused on testing the hypothesis that timing is mediated by multiple, endogenous oscillators. More recently, Dr. Crystal's research has extended to the development of animal models of human cognition. This research has developed methods for assessing the content of memory in rats, using two complementary approaches. The first approach documented the content of episodic memory by assessing rats' knowledge about what, where, and when an event occurred in the past. The second approach evaluated the discrimination of a cognitive state (i.e., metacognition) in rats. The objective of this research is to develop animal models of memory disorders as in Alzheimer's disease.

Representative Publications

    Crystal, J.D. (2010). Episodic-like memory in animals. Behavioural Brain Research, 215, 235-243.

    Zhou W. & Crystal, J.D. (2009). Evidence for remembering when events occurred in a rodent model of episodic memory. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, 106, 9525-9529.

    Crystal, J.D. (2009). Theoretical and conceptual issues in time-place discrimination. European Journal of Neuroscience, 30, 1756-1766.

    Crystal, J.D. & Foote, A.L. (2009). Metacognition in animals. Comparative Cognition & Behavior Review, 4, 1-16.

    Foote, A.L. & Crystal, J.D. (2007). Metacognition in the rat. Current Biology, 17, 551-555.

    Crystal, J.D. & Baramidze G.T. (2007). Endogenous oscillations in short-interval timing. Behavioural Processes, 74, 152-158.

    Babb, S.J. & Crystal, J.D. (2006). Episodic-like memory in the rat. Current Biology, 16, 1317-1321.

    Babb, S.J. & Crystal, J.D. (2006). Discrimination of what, when, and where is not based on time of day. Learning & Behavior, 34, 124-130.

    Crystal, J.D. (2006). Long-interval timing is based on a self-sustaining endogenous oscillator. Behavioural Processes, 72, 149-160.

    Babb, S.J. & Crystal, J.D. (2005). Discrimination of what, when, and where: Implications for episodic-like memory in rats. Learning & Motivation, 36, 177-189.

    Crystal, J.D. (2001). Circadian time perception. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 27, 68-78.

    Crystal, J.D. (1999). Systematic nonlinearities in the perception of temporal intervals. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 25, 3-17.

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