Prof Raphael Lyne has been awarded a grant in a new interdisciplinary scheme run by UK Research and Innovation. The project’s title is ‘When memories come alive: an interdisciplinary study of the vividness of memory’.

What does it feel like to have a memory? We know surprisingly little about how we can vividly relive past events, which functions of the brain are involved, and how these processes vary across individuals, societies and cultures. In this new project, Prof Jon Simons (Psychology), Prof Raphael Lyne (English), Prof Alexandra Walsham (History), and Prof Charles Fernyhough (Durham University) will collaborate across disciplines to drive a step-change both in understanding memory vividness and the associated brain mechanisms across the life-course, and in enhancing the interpretation of vividness in literary and historical works dating back to the early modern era. The exploration of how literary, historical, and other humanities perspectives can enrich modern cognitive neuroscience, and vice versa, will offer unprecedented new insights into the study of memory vividness.

On hearing the news, Prof Lyne commented: ‘Gaining a better understanding of our topic — vivid memory, and subjective experience in general — requires contributions from scholars with very different expertise, and I’m delighted to be part of this team.’

Prof Alexandra Walsham said: ‘It is exciting to be involved in a project that transcends disciplinary boundaries and that promises to forge new insights about memory and experience at their interfaces’.

This new UKRI cross research council responsive mode scheme was launched to support creative interdisciplinary ideas. This project is one of 36 to be funded in the first round of this scheme.

https://www.ukri.org/news/first-projects-from-ukris-new-interdisciplinary-scheme-announced/