At the last Memory Club, which took place on Thursday 18 September 2025, we had a chance to listen to a talk by Tim Dalgleish, who emphasised the central role of autobiographical memory in mental health and therapy. Clinical problems are often triggered by reminders tied to past experiences, and therapy frequently involves working directly with autobiographical memories, which shape self-related values and beliefs.
A key theme of the talk was that human cognition is not designed to produce accurate records of reality, but rather to maintain adaptive self-views. Childhood, particularly the first ten years, plays a powerful role in shaping our belief systems, which are in turn reinforced by our biased memories. This creates both resilience and vulnerability, depending on the nature of those early experiences.
Differences between ordinary and trauma memories were discussed. Trauma memories are vivid, multisensory, fragmented, and lack narrative coherence. Unlike typical memories that become integrated into a coherent linear story, trauma memories remain ‘unsimulated’, stuck in time, and resistant to updating. Importantly, fragmented recall should not be mistaken as evidence of falsity in legal or clinical contexts, as it is a natural aspect of traumatic memories.
Following this fascinating talk, we launched into our fMRI hackathon with an introductory presentation by project member Kasia Mojescik. She outlined the fundamentals of fMRI, highlighting how it differs from other neuroimaging methods, and explained key principles of experimental design, including the importance of a carefully considered baseline condition against which experimental manipulations can be compared. To illustrate these concepts, Kasia drew on a classic example from fMRI guides, walking us through the steps of designing a paradigm to investigate how the brain processes face perception while controlling for potential confounding variables.
Afterwards, we divided into three hackathon discussion groups, from which several key themes emerged. These themes will be refined into potential paradigms by the team, with one ultimately selected and developed into an fMRI study planned for 2026.
Following the hackathon, some Memory Club members continued the discussion over a drink.
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Photograph © Martha McGill.
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Photograph © Martha McGill.
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Photograph © Martha McGill.