Laboratory of Physiology of Cognitive Processes
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CONTRERAS Maria
  • Department：
  • Position：Postdoctoral Researcher
  • Research Field：Sleep, memory consolidation, cognitive development, noradrenergic system
  • Phone：
  • E-mail：maria.contreras@icpbr.ac.cn
Biography

After finishing her master's degree in Psychology at the University of Chile, Maria moved to Germany to obtain her PhD in behavioral neuroscience in the Lab of Prof. Jan Born. There, she studied the role of infantile experiences in the development of the sleep signatures for memory consolidation and in the adult memory capability. Then she started her post-doc at the Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology in Magdeburg where she dived into the noradrenergic neuromodulatory system in healthy and pathological conditions such as Parkinson's disease.


Research Interests

Sleep and memory consolidation processes across ontogeny, noradrenergic modulation in memory development.


Selected Publications
•Contreras, M. P., Mendez, M., Shan, X., Fechner, J., Sawangjit, A., Born, J., & Inostroza, M. (2024). Context memory formed in medial prefrontal cortex during infancy enhances learning in adulthood. Nat. Commun. 15(1), 2475. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-46734-6

•Contreras, M. P., Fechner, J., Born, J., & Inostroza, M. (2023). Accelerating Maturation of Spatial Memory Systems by Experience: Evidence from Sleep Oscillation Signatures of Memory Processing. J. Neurosci. 43(19), 3509–3519. https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1967-22.2023

•Contreras M. P., Born, J. & Inostroza, M. (2019). The expression of allocentric object-place recognition memory during development. Behav. Brain. Res. 372:112013. doi: 10.1016/j.bbr.2019.112013

•Fechner, J.*, Contreras, M. P.*, Zorzo, C., Shan, X., Born, J., & Inostroza, M. (2024). Sleep Slow Oscillation-Spindle Coupling Precedes Spindle-Ripple Coupling During Development. Sleep. zsae061. https://doi.org/10.1093/sleep/zsae061

•Harkotte, M.*, Contreras, M. P.*, Inostroza, M., & Born, J. (2022). Effects of Information Load on Schema and Episodic Memory Formation. Front. Behav. Neurosci. 16, 923713. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnbeh.2022.923713

•Borquez, M.*, Contreras M. P.*, Vivaldi, E., Born, J. & Inostroza, M. (2017). Post-Learning Sleep Transiently Boosts Context Specific Operant Extinction Memory. Front. Behav. Neurosci. 11:74. doi: 10.3389/fnbeh.2017.00074

* Denotes shared first authorship / equal contributions.


•Shan, X., Contreras, M. P., Sawangjit, A., Dimitrov, S., Born, J., & Inostroza, M. (2023). Rearing is critical for forming spatial representations in pre-weanling rats. Behav. Brain. Res. 452, 114545. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbr.2023.114545

•Shan, X., Contreras, M. P., Mendez, M., Born, J. & Inostroza, M. (2022). Unfolding of spatial representation at systems level in infant rats. Hippocampus. 32(2), 121–133. https://doi.org/10.1002/hipo.23392