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Out of sight, out of mind

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John Major is out and John Redwood is in. That is not the outcome of the Conservative leadership battle, but the surprising result of an attempt to improve the memory of a man who had suffered memory loss through a brain disease. He complained of difficulty with remembering names: he could only identify six prominent politicians.

The research team helping with the man's rehabilitation managed to teach him the names of another eight politicians. It was only as an afterthought that Professor Alan Parkin, along with researchers Ella Squires and Nikki Hunkin, thought to check that the patient had retained his previous knowledge. "Much to our surprise we discovered that he couldn't name John Major any more," says Alan Parkin. "Nor could he name Michael Heseltine or Tony Blair. The names, which did eventually come back to him, had probably been 'repressed' in some way, believes Alan. "It was as if he was saying to himself 'I know that's not John Major, I know that's not Michael Heseltine...', repeating this over and over again in order to learn the new names. We were a bit concerned by this: if we were going to use this technique to teach him new names, then it obviously wouldn't be much use if it overwrote names he already knew."

Alan Parkin has been involved in memory research for sixteen years, and spends a lot of time devising strategies to help the rehabilitation of those who have suffered loss of memory. In a second study the researchers overcame the problem by testing the man on his old knowledge immediately after teaching him anything new. The constant reminders allowed him to add, rather than replace, information. "When we did it that way we got a steady learning without this 'John Major' effect," said Alan. "It's been quite an interesting study in rehabilitation."

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Friday May 30th 1997