Place and Time: Abingdon, Thursday 17 October 2019 from 19:00 for 19:30

This event will be in the King Charles Room, King’s Head and Bell, (10 E St Helen St, Abingdon OX14 5EA) again.

TITLE: Understanding the Components of Memory

Where did I put my keys? Who hasn’t felt the frustration of losing their keys soon after putting them down?  This is a common experience due to everyday lapses in attention and working memory – our ability to temporarily ‘hold things in mind’.  We rely on working memory every day to hold things in mind, solve problems and to make sense of the continuous stream of perception.  We will talk about what working memory is, and give some examples of the important functions it serves in our everyday lives. As we age, people often experience their memory getting worse.  In clinical settings, we see many people who have no neurological issues, but report having much worse memory problems. We will discuss potential factors that might contribute to these lapses in attention and short-term memory and review some of the available assessments.

Speakers

Elitsa Slavkova is a Clinical Research Coordinator and Cognitive Behaviour Therapist. She has contributed to the research design and clinical implementation of a stroke-specific cognitive screen in the NHS, as well as conducting research with people with subjective and mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s Disease.

Rob Udale is a Cognitive Psychologist with a PhD in Experimental Psychology.  I use behavioural experiments and computational modelling to understand human attention, memory, and visual cognition.  I am currently working in Professor Masud Husain’s Cognitive Neurology lab at The University of Oxford.