Brain Responses to Visual and Word Stimuli
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Brain Responses to Visual and Word Stimuli
IRAS ID
309014
Contact name
Edwin Robertson
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Glasgow
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 0 days
Research summary
It always leaks. This principle extends from roofs to government reports. But not to our memories, which according to mainstream theory are tightly sealed within different encapsulated systems. For example, skilled actions are stored within one system; while, memories for specific facts, events or words are stored in another system. Challenging this idea are recent studies showing that different types of memory interact. Highly complex information can be transferred between memory systems. The abstract serial structure – “the grammar” – of a word-list can be transferred to, and so enhance the formation of a motor skill memory (and vice versa). Although this "leak" of information between memories has been described, we still have very little understanding of how it might occur. One possibility is that a motor skill memory is reactivated even during the learning of a very different type of memory (the word list) when they share a common abstract grammatical structure. According to this idea, the motor system will become activated during word-list learning, when and only when it shares a common serial structure with an earlier learnt motor sequence. The magnitude of this motor system activation will be related to the amount of word-list learning. One way to test this idea is to measure how responsive the motor system is to activation from a pulse of brain stimulation, and record the response in the size of the elicited hand muscle contraction. Our work seeks to identify a novel mechanism for how knowledge learnt in one situation can be applied flexibly to a novel situation (generalisation). This will provide fundamental insights into memory processing, and performance transfer, which may guide the creation of rehabilitative strategies and technologies in the future.
REC name
West of Scotland REC 1
REC reference
22/WS/0013
Date of REC Opinion
13 Apr 2022
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion