Why study memory?

Memory makes a fundamental contribution to our everyday mental experience.

Complaints of memory failure are among the most common in clinics and hospital settings and these will continue to rise as life expectancy increases. Accordingly, a desire to improve memory and temper the anxiety associated with its loss, represent a significant societal concern.

Without memory, independent living can become very difficult if not impossible. Loss of memory not only means being robbed of your past, it can also be associated with problems inhabiting your imagination or contemplating the future as well as impairing your ability to navigate effectively in the environment, and even altering your perception of the world.

Until we understand in much more detail precisely how memory works, effective rehabilitation for memory-impaired patients will be limited. Our aim with MEMO is to provide some of this missing knowledge.