Psychology Professor Ken Paller holds the James Padilla Chair, he directs the Cognitive Neuroscience Program, and he co-directs the Training Program in the Neuroscience of Human Cognition. He received an NIH Director’s Pioneer Award (2024-2029) and was awarded the George A. Miller Prize in Cognitive Neuroscience (2025). His research has focused on understanding conscious memory experiences as well as ways in which memory operations differ in the absence of awareness of retrieval, as in implicit memory and intuition. This research has linked memory deficits to poor sleep and shown that memory processing during sleep supports daytime learning. Advances in elucidating the critical contributions of sleep to cognition are leading to novel strategies currently under investigation to improve sleep and treat various disorders.