Michael Yassa
Professor and Chancellor’s Fellow
- Irvine CA UNITED STATES
Michael Yassa is interested in how learning and memory mechanisms are altered in aging and neuropsychiatric disease.
Media
Social
Biography
What are the neural mechanisms that support learning and memory?
How are memory circuits and pathways altered in the course of aging, dementia, and neuropsychiatric disorders such as depression and anxiety?
How can we identify early preclinical biomarkers that can distinguish between normal and pathological neurocognitive changes so that we can better design diagnostic and therapeutic tools.
To address these questions, Yassa develops and refines cognitive assessment tools that specifically target memory processes and computations, such as pattern separation. Yassa's lab also develops, optimizes, and uses a host of advanced brain measurement techniques including high-resolution structural, functional, and diffusion MRI, PET, EEG, and intracranial recordings (ECoG) in patients, to explore the brain’s architecture at very fine levels of detail.
Yassa's lab combines these approaches with more traditional psychophysics including measurements of galvanic skin response (skin conductance), heart rate variability, and eye tracking. They are also working with collaborators to develop novel platforms for cellular resolution functional imaging in awake, behaving animals using novel MRI tracers. Finally, we are actively developing and testing several pharmacological and nonpharmacological cognitive enhancement interventions in older adults at risk for dementia, including studies of physical exercise.
Areas of Expertise
Accomplishments
Fine Science Tools Travel Award in Neuroscience
2010
University of California, Irvine
Carl W. Cotman Scholar’s Award in the Neurobiology of Neurological Disorders
2010
MIND Institute, University of California, Irvine
Roger W. Russell Scholar’s Award in the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory
2010
Center for Neurobiology of Learning and Memory
Ossoff Scholars Award in Cognitive Disorders Research
2011
Alzheimer’s Treatment Center, Johns Hopkins Medicine
Education
UC Irvine
PhD
Neurobiology and Behavior
2010
The Johns Hopkins University
MA
Psychological and Brain Sciences
2007
The Johns Hopkins University
BA
Neuroscience
2002
Affiliations
- American Psychological Association
- Cognitive Neuroscience Society
- International Neuropsychological Society
Links
Media Appearances
Not All Alzheimer’s Follows the Same Route
Technology Networks online
2026-08-12
“We keep talking about Alzheimer’s as though it is one disease with one cause, but the biology is much messier than that,” said senior author Michael A. Yassa, PhD, professor and James L. McGaugh Endowed Chair in Neurobiology and Behavior and director of UC Irvine’s Center for the Neurobiology of Learning & Memory. “Different biological problems may push the brain toward the same damaged state. For treatment, the key may be figuring out which processes are doing the most harm in each person and how they interact.”
Different inflammatory processes tied to the same Alzheimer's disease-related brain shrinkage and memory loss
Medical Xpress online
2026-08-10
"We keep talking about Alzheimer's as though it is one disease with one cause, but the biology is much messier than that," said senior author Michael A. Yassa, Ph.D., professor and James L. McGaugh Endowed Chair in Neurobiology and Behavior and director of UC Irvine's Center for the Neurobiology of Learning & Memory. "Different biological problems may push the brain toward the same damaged state. For treatment, the key may be figuring out which processes are doing the most harm in each person and how they interact."
Trump's milestone birthday and what happens to your body at 80
USA Today online
2026-06-14
While not all memory loss is reversible or preventable, there are tools to maintain and enhance cognitive function. These include staying physically active, eating a healthy diet rich in omega-3 fatty acids, managing stress, getting restful sleep, staying socially connected and doing activities that challenge your brain, such as puzzles, according to Michael Yassa, director of the Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory at the University of California, Irvine.
Everything, everywhere, all at once: Inside the chaos of Alzheimer’s disease
The Transmitter online
2025-06-16
Michael Yassa, UC Irvine pressor of neurobiology and behavior writes, “We have been thinking about Alzheimer’s the wrong way. …What if Alzheimer’s only looks like one disease because we keep trying to force it into a single narrative? If that’s the case, then the search for a single cause—and a single cure—was always destined to fail. Real progress, I believe, requires two major shifts in how we think.”
Does Sleep Apnea Pave Way for Cognitive Decline?
The Good Men Project online
2025-06-14
Co-corresponding author Michael Yassa, UC Irvine professor of neurobiology and behavior and director of the campus’s Center for the Neurobiology of Learning & Memory, adds: “We may have found a missing piece of the puzzle. Low oxygen during REM sleep seems to harm tiny blood vessels in the brain, and that damage shows up in areas we rely on for memory. This might help explain why even mild sleep apnea can impact brain health long before memory problems show up.”
Articles
CA1 20-40 Hz oscillatory dynamics reflect trial-specific information processing supporting nonspatial sequence memory
BioRxivSandra Gattas, Gabriel A. Elias, Michael A. Yassa, Norbert J. Fortin
2020
The hippocampus is known to play a critical role in processing information about temporal context. However, it remains unclear how hippocampal oscillations are involved, and how their functional organization is influenced by connectivity gradients. We examined local field potential activity in CA1 as rats performed a complex odor sequence memory task. We find that odor sequence processing epochs were characterized by increased power in the 4-8 Hz and 20-40 Hz range, with 20-40 Hz oscillations showing a power gradient increasing toward proximal CA1.
Down syndrome: Distribution of brain amyloid in mild cognitive impairment
Alzheimer's & Dementia: Diagnosis, Assessment & Disease MonitoringDavid B Keator, Michael J Phelan, Lisa Taylor, Eric Doran, Sharon Krinsky‐McHale, Julie Price, Erin E Ballard, William C Kreisl, Christy Hom, Dana Nguyen, Margaret Pulsifer, Florence Lai, Diana H Rosas, Adam M Brickman, Nicole Schupf, Michael A Yassa, Wayne Silverman, Ira T Lott
2020
Down syndrome (DS) is associated with a higher risk of dementia. We hypothesize that amyloid beta (Aβ) in specific brain regions differentiates mild cognitive impairment in DS (MCI‐DS) and test these hypotheses using cross‐sectional and longitudinal data.
Pattern Separation and Source Memory Engage Distinct Hippocampal and Neocortical Regions during Retrieval
Journal of NeuroscienceRebecca F. Stevenson, Zachariah M. Reagh, Amanda P. Chun, Elizabeth A. Murray and Michael A. Yassa
2020
Detailed representations of past events rely on the ability to form associations between items and their contextual features (i.e., source memory), as well as the ability to distinctly represent a new event from a similar one stored in memory (i.e., pattern separation). These processes are both known to engage the hippocampus, although whether they share similar mechanisms remains unclear. It is also unknown if, and in which region(s), activity related to these processes overlaps and/or interacts.
1100 Self-Monitoring Of PVT Performance In Healthy Adults And Individuals With MDD
SleepO Galli, N Goel, M Basner, J Detre, M Thase, Y Sheline, H Rao, D Dinges, P Gehrman
2020
Negativity bias in depression has been repeatedly demonstrated in the judgment and decision-making literature. Research investigating the impact of sleep deprivation on self-evaluation of performance in healthy or depressed populations is limited. We examined 1) whether individuals with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) exhibit a negativity bias in subjective ratings of performance on the Psychomotor Vigilance Task (PVT) as compared with healthy adults, and 2) the impact of total sleep deprivation (TSD) on these ratings.
Associations between pattern separation and hippocampal subfield structure and function vary along the lifespan: A 7 T imaging study
Scientific ReportsJoost M. Riphagen, Lisa Schmiedek, Ed H. B. M. Gronenschild, Michael A. Yassa, Nikos Priovoulos, Alexander T. Sack, Frans R. J. Verhey & Heidi I. L. Jacobs
2020
Pattern separation (PS) describes the process by which the brain discriminates similar stimuli from previously encoded stimuli. This fundamental process requires the intact processing by specific subfields in the hippocampus and can be examined using mnemonic discrimination tasks. Previous studies reported different patterns for younger and older individuals between mnemonic discrimination performance and hippocampal subfield activation.