Episode 4 – Memory

8.30pm, RTE One – Monday 3rd December

This week, we investigate the complexities of human Memory. Kathriona meets Prof Gillian Murphy, psychologist at UCC, to investigate false memories, fake news and the power of suggestion, before putting her own memory to the test as the sole witness of a car crash.

Aoibhinn meets Professor Ciara Greene, head of the Attention and Memory Laboratory in UCD to discuss how memories are stored and recalled, and the crucial role attention plays to total recall. As part of her research, Ciara is carrying out cognitive studies to assess working memory capacity – how well can Dr Aoibhinn handle some simple maths and memory tasks when put under pressure?!

And what happens when our memory starts to deteriorate in later life? Dementia affects up to 55,000 people in Ireland and is one of the great health challenges of our times, but what if we could prevent it from happening in the first place? Jonathan meets TCD’s Prof Brian Lawlor and Prof Craig Ritchie of the University of Edinburgh who are running an international study that aims to identify biomarkers that could help target interventions for Alzheimer’s Disease years before memory loss and confusion develop.

Meanwhile in Weird Science, Fergus ask the question, what if we could transplant memories from one creature to another? As always with Fergus, truth is stranger than fiction…

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