Research To Probe Prospective Memory

In everyday life, people often have to remember to do things at a particular time in the future like remembering to take medication, make phone calls, switch off domestic appliances. This type of memory has been termed Prospective Memory (PM), and is vital for successful and independent everyday functioning in a variety of settings.

Dr Lia Kvavilashvili, a Reader in Cognitive Psychology within the University’s Health and Human Sciences Research Institute, who has been awarded the British Academy/Leverhulme Trust Senior Research Fellowship, will study and analyse the results from a large dataset on Vietnam veterans with head injury. This unique dataset can provide insights into the mechanisms of PM and the very long-term effects of penetrating head injury on PM, as well as to improve the accuracy of prognosis for people with similar injuries.

'Despite a recent explosion of interest in this area, the underlying mechanisms of PM and the brain regions which relate to these everyday tasks are still poorly understood,' said Dr Kvavilashvili. 'My aim is to use the unique Vietnam dataset to understand the very long-term effects of penetrating head injury on PM.”

This research stemmed from Dr Kvavilashvili’s international collaboration with Dr Jordan Grafman from the National Institute of Health on his $2,436,440 project funded by the Jackson Foundation.