Systems neuroscience of human long-term memory, ageing and dementia

我们试图了解大脑是如何支持不同类型的记忆的，这对于理解大脑损伤、疾病或正常衰老后出现的记忆问题类型非常重要。我们的记忆以不同的方式表达自己。例如，有时你在人群中看到一张脸，并立即记住他是谁，以及你最后一次见到他是什么时候。在其他情况下，这张脸可能看起来很熟悉，但你永远也记不住他们是谁。这是有意识记忆的两种表达。在其他情况下，你可能会坚持说你对这个人没有记忆，即使你的行为的其他方面，比如你对他们的态度，可以通过你以前见过他们的事实来证明是有偏见的。这是一种无意识记忆。最近的研究表明，这些不同的记忆表达反映了我们大脑中不同神经系统的运作。我们研究的目的是利用功能性神经成像技术，在人们记忆事物时测量大脑活动，探索这两种记忆类型及其神经基础之间的差异。理解有意识和无意识记忆不仅对帮助那些因脑损伤（如中风）或阿尔茨海默氏症（Alzheimer's）等疾病而出现记忆问题的人很重要，而且对我们所有随着年龄增长而出现记忆问题的人也很重要。

We are trying to understand how our brains support different types of memory, which is important to understand the type of memory problems that follow brain damage or disease, or following normal ageing. Our memories express themselves in different ways. For example, sometimes you see a face in a crowd and immediately remember who it is, and when you last saw them. On other occasions, the face might seem familiar, but you can't for the life of you remember who they are. These are two expressions of conscious memory. On yet other occasions, you may insist you have no memory for the person, even though other aspects of your behaviour, such as your attitude towards them, can be shown to be biased by the fact that you have, in fact, seen them before. This is a type of unconscious memory. Recent research suggests that these different expressions of memory reflect the operation of distinct neural systems in our brains. The aim of our research is to explore the differences between these types of memory, and their neural bases, using functional neuroimaging techniques that measure brain activity while people are remembering things. Understanding conscious and unconscious memory is important not only for helping people who suffer from memory problems following brain damage, such as strokes, or following disease, such as Alzheimer's, but for all of us who experience memory problems as we grow older.