Jon Simons: Reality Monitoring- How the Brain Distinguishes Between Imagination and Reality

In the moment most people can readily distinguish between information that is coming into the brain from their senses and what information their brain is generating. However, when recalling information stored in the brain’s neuronal networks the ability to distinguish between what was real and what was imagined becomes more problematic.  How does the brain keep track of what we actually experienced in the past and what we imagined happened?  In this episode Jon Simons who is Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Cambridge talks about his research that is elucidating the neurobiological basis of reality monitoring including which brain regions and neuronal networks are involved, individual differences in people’s reality monitoring ability, the effects of early life experiences and aging, its alterations in schizophrenia and autism, and the broader implications of this research for individuals and societies in the [mis]information age.

 LINKS:

 Professor Simon’s laboratory web page: https://www.memlab.psychol.cam.ac.uk/

 Review article

https://www-sciencedirect-com.proxy1.library.jhu.edu/science/article/pii/S1364661317300554

 Selected original research articles

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2292823/pdf/ukmss-1581.pdf

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0010945216301745?via%3Dihub

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4860197/pdf/10803_2016_Article_2749.pdf

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5292760/pdf/main.pdf