Memory for events in adults referred to MAS: an fMRI study (v1)
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Memory for events in adults referred to Memory Assessment Service clinics: a functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging study (version 1)
IRAS ID
141517
Contact name
Chris Bird
Contact email
Research summary
The ability to be able to remember events is of fundamental importance to us; without it we would be permanently confused and disoriented. To remember an event whilst it is unfolding, we do not just “record” what is happening in the same way that a video recorder works; instead, we interpret what is happening with reference to our knowledge about the world. However, we have little understanding about the brain regions involved in combining new information with what we already know when remembering events. We also do not know why this ability breaks down in people who have Alzheimer’s disease, which causes damage to particular brain regions and severe memory problems as a result of this.
This study aims to investigate how memories for events are stored in our brain and why these types of memories are impaired in the very early stages of Alzheimer’s disease. Building on recent work in healthy young adults, we will ask participants to watch short video clips whilst lying in an MRI scanner. We will investigate brain activity whilst people are trying to remember these clips to see which regions of the brain they are using. We will also investigate how the pattern of brain activity changes if a person has Alzheimer’s disease.
All the people we test will be concerned about their memory, but only some will actually have Alzheimer’s disease. We will only be able to establish which people have Alzheimer’s disease by monitoring their clinical progress over the three years after they participated. Because we predict that the patterns of brain activity will change if a person has Alzheimer’s disease, we hope that the findings of the study will be important in developing techniques to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease in the earliest stages.
REC name
London - Queen Square Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
14/LO/1747
Date of REC Opinion
16 Sep 2014
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion