Cognitive Neuroscience

Set up in March 2008, the Cognitive Neuroscience Group at the University of Westminster represents a cross-departmental group of researchers who bring together their different areas of expertise to explore a range of theoretical and clinical questions from an integrated cognitive neuroscience perspective.

The group studies many aspects of cognition but has particular interests in multisensory integration, spatial processing, pre-attentive processing, memory, executive function, music processing, spatial disorientation & cognitive performance. Our aim is to use a wide range of techniques to establish the precise nature and biological basis of these aspects of cognition in typical and clinical populations. We also have a particular interest in developmental cognitive neuroscience with projects that focus on adolescence and middle-old age.

We employ a range of techniques to establish the brain basis of these cognitive processes including ERPs, fMRI, EEG, neuropsychology, and pharmacological interventions. We also work closely with our colleagues in computer science to ensure awareness and integration of evidence from connectionist modelling. 

The members of the group and main research topics currently undertaken by the group are as follows:

Laura Boubert - Cognitive neuropsychology of normal ageing, in particular in relation to sleep; cognitive neuropsychology of visual hallucinations

Alison Eardley - Cognitive Neuroscience, Spatial perception and spatial attention, Multisensory processing, mental representation

Trudi Edginton - Cognitive neuropsychology and psychopharmacology of memory: cognitive deficits associated with normal and abnormal ageing, psychopharmacological models of dementia, cognitive enhancers, cognitive effects of traumatic brain injury and hydrocephalus, executive functioning, imagery and emotional aspects of memory

Gillian Forrester -  human and non-human primate cognition at both the neural and behavioural levels

Mark Gardner - cognitive processes underlying imitation.

John Golding - spatial disorientation and cognitive performance.

David Groome - retrieval inhibition and retrieval-induced forgetting (RIF), especially RIF in clinical conditions (eg depression, OCD, and PTSD), and the effect of drugs on RIF.

Catherine Loveday - Cognitive neuropsychology of memory and executive functioning in: normal and abnormal ageing; acquired and congenital hydrocephalus; encephalitis; traumatic brain injury; anorexia nervosa. Particular focus on locating and enhancing specific aspects of memory and executive function. Further interests and publications in: neuropsychology of music; psychoneuroendocrinology in adolescent anorexia nervosa.

Kevin Morgan - cognitive impairment in psychotic patients, using a cognitive test battery including IQ, working memory, verbal memory, visual memory, verbal fluency, and set-shifting. Also investigating associative pathways in words generated by clinical and control subjects, using multi-dimensional scaling.

Rosalind Potts - optimal learning conditions

Tony Towell - unconscious awareness and pre-attentive processing in auditory, visual and somatosensory systems using EEG techniques.

Current projects

Use of external and body-centric spatial frameworks by the congenitally blind and sighted Alison Eardley with Dr José van Velzen (Goldsmiths). Traditionally it has been suggested that the congenitally blind are impaired in their ability to develop allocentric or external spatial reference frames. Instead they rely on egocentric spatial reference frameworks. Having explored this question behaviourally, we have shown that where spatial mental models are derived from verbal description, a lack of vision alone does not impair development of an allocentric mental map. We are currently using ERP correlates of both the preparatory control processes and sensory components selective attention to exploring the role of touch and audition on the use of external versus body-centric reference frames in both the blind and sighted, as well as looking at the effects when there is conflict between the two types of spatial coordinate. We are developing this work to examine how spatial information is integrated across body-centric and external reference frames.

Multisensory integration Alison Eardley with Professor Martin Eimer and Dr Elena Gherri (Birkbeck). We are using selective attention to explore the suggestion that multisensory integration is mediated by vision. This work will be based on a series of both behavioural and ERP experiments examining tactile and auditory sensory integration in sighted participants in a normally lit environment, in the dark, and in individuals born totally blind.

Gillian Forrester Current research projects centre on building an understanding of the mechanisms that underlie nonverbal communication. I have developed a novel method of recording, coding and analysing multimodal behaviours in individual subjects as they interact with their social partners and the environment. Drawing from my knowledge of neuroscience and brain processes, I take a distributed approach to social cognition. Behaviour cannot be viewed as isolated events, but rather as a network of interacting sensory signals within a particular social context over space and time. This research is important in order to gain a better understand the evolution of modern human communication systems.

Spatial disorientation and cognitive performance. John Golding in collaboration with Imperial College (Clinical Neuro-Otology, Medical School) & Kings College.

We are addressing the problem of disorientation and multi-tasking. An example current study is the impact of prisms on slalom walking in subjects performing cognitive tasks. We probe for effects of verbal versus spatial cognitive tasks and gender differences in performance. Performance is with normal vision or wearing prisms deviating gaze laterally by 20°. Subjects walk a slalom around 6, 1meter batons, returning to sit. Each visual condition is undertaken without task, with a verbal task (over wireless headphones the subject hears a random sequence of male and female names, each uttered at random in a male or female voice) and a spatial task (the subject hears a random sequence of the words ’right’ and ‘left’ delivered at random to either the right or left ear). Stimuli matches/mismatches are indicated via a keypad. Walking is self paced with the instruction to perform rapidly and conditions were balanced for order.

Other studies employ whole body motion in simulators to induce disorientation while undertaking a variety of cognitive tasks. These are usually loaded for spatial versus verbal difficulty.

The results of such studies have potential applications as diverse as astronauts navigating their way through the complicated internal layout of the international space station, to cognitive effects in patients with clinical balance and disorientation problems.

Retrieval-Induced Forgetting and Unwanted Thought Intrusions

(David Groome, Youla Pipilis, & Kevin Morgan)

The act of retrieving a memory has been found to inhibit the recall of related memories, a phenomenon known as retrieval-induced forgetting (RIF). This project aims to investigate the hypothesis that individuals with a strong RIF mechanism might be better at suppressing unwanted intrusive thoughts. A variety of samples will be tested for their RIF inhibition strength, including individuals suffering from clinical disorders such as PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder), OCD (Obsessional-Compulsive Disorder), and Anxiety Disorder. These are all disorders which are known to be characterised by intrusive thoughts and memories. It is hypothesised that those individuals who are particularly vulnerable to such disorders may have a reduced or impaired level of RIF. If this hypothesis is supported then these findings would have important implications for our understanding of PTSD and OCD, and for approaches to treating these disorders.

Retrieval-Induced Forgetting in Schizophrenia and Depression

(David Groome, Fiorentina Sterkaj, & Trudi Edginton)

Retrieval-Induced Forgetting (RIF) is thought to reflect the activity of a neural inhibitory process, which causes the suppression of rival memories when a target memory is successfully retrieved. The aim of this research programme is to investigate the characteristics of the RIF inhibition mechanism in schizophrenic and depressed individuals, and more specifically to test the hypothesis that the RIF mechanism might be impaired in these disorders. The relationship between RIF and depression will also be investigated within the normal population. It is also planned to study the relationship between RIF and cortisol, a hormone which is known to be associated with stress and depression. The findings of this study could offer new insights into the mechanisms underlying depression and schizophrenia.

Using SenseCam to enhance consolidation and retrieval of memory in an encephalitis patient with severe retrograde amnesia Catherine Loveday in collaboration with Martin Conway (University of Leeds)

This study is investigating recent and distant autobiographical memory in an unusual case of amnesia. In addition to exploring the specific nature of this amnesia, current work is investigating the usefulness of SenseCam. This is a new tool developed by Microsoft which is worn around the user’s neck and spontaneously records a series of pictures for later review. Based on other research we expect this device to enhance consolidation of memories and this hypothesis will be tested using both cognitive and physiological data.

The neuropsychological features of hyrocephalus and spina bifida Catherine Loveday & Trudi Edginton in collaboration with Joanna Iddon, Richard Morgan and John Pickard

This group have been studying the typical cognitive profile associated with hydrocephalus and spina bifida in relation to the known anatomical features of these conditions. Current work focuses on levels of insight in patients, their carers and professionals.

Identifying brain regions involved in music perception Catherine Loveday in collaboration with Ludovico Minati

Three studies have been recently completed that have used a novel methodology integrating ERP and fMRI to identify brain regions involved in specific aspects of musical perception, specifically consonance and dissonance and structured vs unstructured melodies

Neuropsychology of Adolescent Anorexia Nervosa Catherine Loveday, in collaboration with Sadie Williams (University of East Anglia) and David Wood (Ellern Mede Centre for Eating Disorders)

We have found a distinct profile of cognitive functioning in an adolescent group with AN, with heightened attention, reduced mental flexibility and alterations in inhibitory responses. This profile corresponds well with findings in the adult literature and also supports findings from brain imaging. Using data previously collected by one of our team, we are currently investigating how these cognitive differences link with the clinical symptomatology with the aim of informing current cognitive remediation therapies. Our longer term goal is to assess the extent to which this neuropsychological profile relates to differences in neuronal functioning and how this might map on to core deficits in emotional regulation.

Development of a Music Therapy Assessment Measure for use in neuro-rehabilitation Catherine Loveday in collaboration with Matthew Dixon (Nordoff-Robbins Centre) and Lynne Turner Stokes (Northwick Park Hospital)

There are few reliable measures for modelling the processes and assessing the effectiveness of music therapy. Those that do exist are wholly unsuitable for use in a neuro-rehabilitation setting. We have recently validated such a measure and now plan to use this to identify whether music therapy is tapping into areas of cognitive and neural activity that are not accessed through language or other forms of non-verbal communication.

The neuroanatomical basis of self-appraisal Kevin Morgan in collaboration with the Institute of Psychiatry, Kings College London where the 'host' AESOP study is based.

Several studies have suggested neuropsychological and structural brain deficits are implicated in poor self-appraisal of illness status. Few insight studies however have combined neurocognitive and structural neuroanatomical measures. In this study we are focusing on the ability to self-appraise psychotic symptoms as pathological. We are examining this factor along with measures of brain structure and neurocognition in first-onset psychosis. The principal methodology is the processing of voxel-based MRI data acquired from eighty-two patients and ninety-one controls who have also been assessed with a brief neuropsychological test battery. Symptom appraisal was measured using the Schedule for the Assessment of Insight (expanded version).

The cognitive profile of treatment compliance Kevin Morgan in collaboration with the Institute of Psychiatry, Kings College London where the 'host' AESOP study is based.

In the psychoses, patient insight is now viewed to be a multi-dimensional concept that comprises several interdependent factors such as illness awareness, symptom appraisal and treatment compliance. In this project we are examining cognition and compliance in a sample of 274 first-onset psychosis patients. In addition to a more 'traditional' analysis of compliance-cognition associations based on an insight interview and performance on a cognitive test battery we also report on a qualitative analysis of the verbal accounts provided by the patients when asked about their beliefs and attitudes about needs for treatment. In this study we hope to identify the extent to which different neuropsychological processes such as fronto-executive functioning are aligned with the more complex attitude-behaviour profiles rather than a simple uni-dimensional measure of compliance.

Structural brain asymmetry in psychosis Kevin Morgan in collaboration with the Institute of Psychiatry, Kings College London where the 'host' AESOP study is based.

The structure of the human brain is now known to be asymmetrical e.g. the frontal lobe is generally larger on the right and the occipital-parietal cortex is larger on the left (a pattern known as cerebral ‘torque’). Neuroimaging studies have shown however that normal patterns of brain asymmetry are disrupted in schizophrenia e.g. there is less evidence of cerebral torque. In this study, using a series of structural MRI scans, we are comparing patterns of structural brain asymmetry in patients with psychotic disorders (including schizophrenia) and healthy controls. Of particular interest is the longitudinal nature study, where we are examining brains scans acquired from each participant where there has been interval of six to eight years.

Temporal lobe volume and memory function Kevin Morgan in collaboration with the Institute of Psychiatry, Kings College London where the 'host' AESOP study is based.

In this brain structural MRI project we are investigating the extent to which the volume of the temporal lobes (left and right hemisphere measured separately) is associated with memory ability where verbal memory, visual memory and auditory-verbal working memory are the principal cognitive measures. Both a patient group (psychosis) and healthy control group will be included in the analysis. This is a longitudinal study and one of the main aims is to examine whether poor memory ability at baseline is a predictor of decreased temporal lobe volume over an eight year period.