Long-term memory allows humans to exploit information encountered minutes, days, or even decades ago in the service of current behavior. However, our memories are not static snapshots of our perceptual experiences – they are extremely selective, and at times, false. My research explores the cognitive and neural pressures that shape what information is stored in long-term memory and how this information is stored in a way that benefits behavior. By combining approaches from cognitive psychology, vision science, and neuroscience, my research asks the following questions: 1) How are perceptual experiences transformed into durable but flexible memories? 2) How do competing memories, task factors, and neural architecture shape these transformations? 3) How do these transformations promote adaptive behavior? To address these questions, I quantify the relationship between visual stimuli, their neural representations during perception and memory, and memory-guided behavior in healthy adult humans. My experimental approach combines measurements of behavior, brain activity from fMRI and electrophysiology, and computational modeling.