I Remember When...

One of the many functions of sleep is to strengthen newly-formed memories. Research in both animals and humans has shown that the sleeping brain fulfills this purpose by reactivating memories of new experiences across the night. In this talk, I will show how memory reactivations in sleep can be manipulated to influence what we remember and reduce social prejudice.

Patients with stroke aphasia can show problems ‘accessing’ their own stored knowledge about the world, such that they can mistake a cat for a dog, or a kettle for water. Patients show most problems when items are ambiguous (such as understanding that a sign on the motorway saying ‘salt spreading’ means there’s ice, rather than the traditional meaning of salt as a condiment). This talk will discuss ways in which we can facilitate memory retrieval in these patients.