̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge - Jon Simons

Search is on for ‘super memorisers’ to help scientists unlock the secrets of memory

cjb250 — Wed, 03 May 2023 06:00:04 +0000

Anyone who believes they have an exceptional memory is invited to take an online survey and memory test. Based on their performance, some people will be invited to Cambridge to have a brain scan so that the origins of exceptional memory can be explored in detail.

̽��ֱ��team will also be exploring whether people who are autistic or neurodiverse are more likely to have an exceptional memory.

It’s long been known that people differ in their memory ability, with some having seemingly infinite memory. For example, essayist and writer Daniel Tammet, who the Cambridge team have worked with previously, set the European record in 2004 for reciting the number pi from memory after recalling it to 22,514 digits. He is both autistic and has synaesthesia, where the senses are interconnected, which may go some way to explaining his talents.

Professor Jon Simons from the Department of Psychology at the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge said: “Memory is one of the best understood psychological processes in terms of brain networks and yet we still don’t really know why some people have exceptional memories. That’s why we’re inviting people to take part in our study.”

Professor Sir Simon Baron-Cohen, Director of the Autism Research Centre at Cambridge ̽��ֱ��, and lead investigator of the study, said: “You don’t need to have won any competitions to take part or to consider yourself neurodiverse – and you certainly don’t need to be able to recite pi to 22,000 digits! We’re looking for anyone who thinks they might be a ‘super memoriser’ to try out our memory tests.”

Anyone who wants to take part will need to take three brief online memory tests, such as memorising a phone number or patterns on a chess board. Anyone who scores highly on one or more of these tests could be invited to come to Cambridge for a brain scan using an MRI scanner. All expenses will be paid.

̽��ֱ��Cambridge scientists want to know whether the brains of people who have exceptional memory show differences in how they are structured or how they function compared to those who do not: in short, how do they achieve their remarkable feats of memory? ̽��ֱ��team also want to investigate if autism gives rise to a greater likelihood of exceptional memory.

Dr Carrie Allison, also from the Autism Research Centre, added: “We hope that people will enjoy taking part in this study, and in the process contribute to helping us understand more about memory and whether exceptional memory is related to autism. For decades, autism research has focused on disability, but this study is a wonderful opportunity to focus on strengths.”

To take part you must be between the ages of 16 and 60 years old.

Take the survey and memory tests here

Cambridge scientists are today launching a search to find people who have exceptional memory, as they attempt to understand why some people are much better at remembering than others.

Memory is one of the best understood psychological processes in terms of brain networks and yet we still don’t really know why some people have exceptional memories

Jon Simons

geralt

Pi on a blackboard

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Being overweight linked to poorer memory

cjb250 — Thu, 25 Feb 2016 17:28:44 +0000

In a preliminary study published in ̽��ֱ��Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, researchers from the Department of Psychology at Cambridge found an association between high body mass index (BMI) and poorer performance on a test of episodic memory.

Although only a small study, its results support existing findings that excess bodyweight may be associated with changes to the structure and function of the brain and its ability to perform certain cognitive tasks optimally. In particular, obesity has been linked with dysfunction of the hippocampus, an area of the brain involved in memory and learning, and of the frontal lobe, the part of the brain involved in decision making, problem solving and emotions, suggesting that it might also affect memory; however, evidence for memory impairment in obesity is currently limited.

Around 60% of UK adults are overweight or obese: this number is predicted to rise to approximately 70% by 2034. Obesity increases the risk of physical health problems, such as diabetes and heart disease, as well as psychological health problems, such as depression and anxiety.

“Understanding what drives our consumption and how we instinctively regulate our eating behaviour is becoming more and more important given the rise of obesity in society,” says Dr Lucy Cheke. “We know that to some extent hunger and satiety are driven by the balance of hormones in our bodies and brains, but psychological factors also play an important role – we tend to eat more when distracted by television or working, and perhaps to ‘comfort eat’ when we are sad, for example.

“Increasingly, we’re beginning to see that memory – especially episodic memory, the kind where you mentally relive a past event – is also important. How vividly we remember a recent meal, for example today’s lunch, can make a difference to how hungry we feel and how much we are likely to reach out for that tasty chocolate bar later on.”

̽��ֱ��researchers tested 50 participants aged 18-35, with body mass indexes (BMIs) ranging from 18 through to 51 – a BMI of 18-25 is considered healthy, 25-30 overweight, and over 30 obese. ̽��ֱ��participants took part in a memory test known as the ‘Treasure-Hunt Task’, where they were asked to hide items around complex scenes (for example, a desert with palm trees) across two ‘days’. They were then asked to remember which items they had hidden, where they had hidden them, and when they were hidden. Overall, the team found an association between higher BMI and poorer performance on the tasks.

̽��ֱ��researchers say that the results could suggest that the structural and functional changes in the brain previously found in those with higher BMI may be accompanied by a reduced ability to form and/or retrieve episodic memories. As the effect was shown in young adults, it adds to growing evidence that the cognitive impairments that accompany obesity may be present early in adult life.

This was a small, preliminary study and so the researchers caution that further research will be necessary to establish whether the results of this study can be generalised to overweight individuals in general, and to episodic memory in everyday life rather than in experimental conditions.

“We're not saying that overweight people are necessarily more forgetful," cautions Dr Cheke, “but if these results are generalizable to memory in everyday life, then it could be that overweight people are less able to vividly relive details of past events – such as their past meals. Research on the role of memory in eating suggests that this might impair their ability to use memory to help regulate consumption.

“In other words, it is possible that becoming overweight may make it harder to keep track of what and how much you have eaten, potentially making you more likely to overeat.”

Dr Cheke believes that this work is an important step in understanding the role of psychological factors in obesity. “ ̽��ֱ��possibility that there may be episodic memory deficits in overweight individuals is of concern, especially given the growing evidence that episodic memory may have a considerable influence on feeding behaviour and appetite regulation,” she says.

Co-author Dr Jon Simons adds: “By recognising and addressing these psychological factors head-on, not only can we come to understand obesity better, but we may enable the creation of interventions that can make a real difference to health and wellbeing.”

̽��ֱ��study was funded by the Medical Research Council and Girton College, ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge, and the James S McDonnell Foundation.

Reference
Cheke, LG et al. Higher BMI is Associated with Episodic Memory Deficits in Young Adults. ̽��ֱ��Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology; 22 Feb 2016. DOI:10.1080/17470218.2015.1099163

Overweight young adults may have poorer episodic memory – the ability to recall past events – than their peers, suggests new research from the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge, adding to increasing evidence of a link between memory and overeating.

How vividly we remember a recent meal, for example today’s lunch, can make a difference to how hungry we feel

Lucy Cheke

Franck Mahon

Too many croissants yesterday... (cropped)

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Hallucinations linked to differences in brain structure

cjb250 — Tue, 17 Nov 2015 10:00:15 +0000

̽��ֱ��study, led by the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge in collaboration with Durham ̽��ֱ��, Macquarie ̽��ֱ��, and Trinity College Dublin, found that reductions in the length of the paracingulate sulcus (PCS), a fold towards the front of the brain, were associated with increased risk of hallucinations in people diagnosed with schizophrenia.

̽��ֱ��PCS is one of the last structural folds to develop in the brain before birth, and varies in size between individuals. In a previous study, a team of researchers led by Dr Jon Simons from the Department of Psychology at the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge, found that variation in the length of the PCS in healthy individuals was linked to the ability to distinguish real from imagined information, a process known as ‘reality monitoring’.

In this new study, published today in the journal Nature Communications, Dr Simons and his colleagues analysed 153 structural MRI scans of people diagnosed with schizophrenia and matched control participants, measuring the length of the PCS in each participant’s brain. As difficulty distinguishing self-generated information from that perceived in the outside world may be responsible for many kinds of hallucinations, the researchers wanted to assess whether there was a link between length of the PCS and propensity to hallucinate.

̽��ֱ��researchers found that in people diagnosed with schizophrenia, a 1 cm reduction in the fold’s length increased the likelihood of hallucinations by nearly 20%. ̽��ֱ��effect was observed regardless of whether hallucinations were auditory or visual in nature, consistent with a reality monitoring explanation.

“Schizophrenia is a complex spectrum of conditions that is associated with many differences throughout the brain, so it can be difficult to make specific links between brain areas and the symptoms that are often observed,” says Dr Simons. “By comparing brain structure in a large number of people diagnosed with schizophrenia with and without the experience of hallucinations, we have been able to identify a particular brain region that seems to be associated with a key symptom of the disorder.”

̽��ֱ��researchers believe that changes in other areas of the brain are likely also important in generating the complex phenomena of hallucinations, possibly including regions that process visual and auditory perceptual information. In people who experience hallucinations, these areas may produce altered perceptions which, due to differences in reality monitoring processes supported by regions around the PCS, may be misattributed as being real. For example, a person may vividly imagine a voice but judge that it arises from the outside world, experiencing the voice as a hallucination.

“We think that the PCS is involved in brain networks that help us recognise information that has been generated ourselves,” adds Dr Jane Garrison, first author of the study, “People with a shorter PCS seem less able to distinguish the origin of such information, and appear more likely to experience it as having been generated externally.

“Hallucinations are very complex phenomena that are a hallmark of mental illness and, in different forms, are also quite common across the general population. There is likely to be more than one explanation for why they arise, but this finding seems to help explain why some people experience things that are not actually real.”

̽��ֱ��research was primarily supported by the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, funded by a joint award from the UK Medical Research Council and the Wellcome Trust.

Reference
Garrison, J.R., Fernyhough, C., McCarthy-Jones, S., Haggard, M., ̽��ֱ��Australian Schizophrenia Research Bank, & Simons, J.S. (2015). Paracingulate sulcus morphology is associated with hallucinations in the human brain. Nature Communications, 6, 8956.

People diagnosed with schizophrenia who are prone to hallucinations are likely to have structural differences in a key region of the brain compared to both healthy individuals and people diagnosed with schizophrenia who do not hallucinate, according to research published today.

Hallucinations are very complex phenomena that are a hallmark of mental illness and, in different forms, are also quite common across the general population. There is likely to be more than one explanation for why they arise

Jane Garrison

Prof. Dr. Mario Markus

HALLUZINATION

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Test your memory!

gm349 — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 15:29:41 +0000

Today, Tuesday 10 January, researchers at the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge launch what could be the world’s biggest ever memory experiment.

Yasemin Yazar, Dr Zara Bergström and Dr Jon Simons from the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge’s Department of Experimental Psychology, along with Dr Charles Fernyhough from Durham ̽��ֱ��, have teamed up with the Guardian to run an online experiment for members of the public to test their memory abilities and find out how they stack up against their friends.

“We’re hoping that thousands of people from all walks of life, and from all over the world, will go to the website and take part,” said Dr Simons, who is leading the research.

̽��ֱ��experiment, which will take just a few minutes to complete, investigates features of long-term memory (our ability to remember events we have experienced). Participants will study words presented on the screen and different aspects of their memory for the words will be assessed. All data will be collected anonymously and participants will be able to find out how their memory scores compare to those obtained by previous participants. They will also be able, should they wish, to share their score with friends via Facebook or Twitter.

“With this experiment, we aim to understand how it is that we're typically able to remember experiences that may be quite similar to one another without getting them confused. Related events often share features but, usually, we're pretty good at distinguishing those events from each other. Our experiment is designed to study the impact of overlapping memory features on remembering, so errors on the task are entirely normal and nothing to be worried about! ” said Dr Simons.

“There’s so much we still have to learn about how we remember the things we see,” said Dr Simons. “Hopefully, taking part in the experiment will be interesting and fun for participants, but in addition, the anonymous results we obtain will contribute a large amount of useful data to our research and will, we hope, provide a real advance in our knowledge about memory.”

̽��ֱ��experiment is part of the Guardian’s Memory Week, which culminates in a free guide, “Make the most of your memory”, available with the Guardian newspaper on Saturday 14 January, which includes articles and memory tips from Dr Simons, Dr Fernyhough and a number of other memory experts.

“Remembering is one of the most fascinating and complex functions that our minds perform,” said Dr Fernyhough. “With this study we hope to shed further light on how the brain fits together the different bits of information that go to make up a memory.”

Please note that although this test will help further our understanding in this area of research, it is not intended to be used as a diagnostic tool for memory problems.

Online test allows public to assess their recall; scientists will use data to study long-term memory.

We’re hoping that thousands of people from all walks of life, and from all over the world, will go to the website and take part.

Dr Jon Simons from the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge’s Department of Experimental Psychology

Patrick Denker from Flickr Creative Commons

Brain scan

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