Research
Neurocognitive networks for memory and perception
We use novel neuroimaging techniques to investigate how different brain networks support human memory, perception and navigation. By using diffusion MRI, for example, we can measure the properties of white matter tracts that connect different brain regions (the brain's 'highways'). Our work has shown that specific white matter networks seem to help us process different kinds of 'information' (e.g., scenes, objects, and faces), rather than specific cognitive processes (such as memory, perception, and so on). For instance, the white matter tract connecting the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex, called the fornix, seems to carry information about spatial environments that can be used during visual perception, navigation and everyday memory. We are now beginning to look at these networks in much larger groups of participants, and see how they develop across the lifespan.
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To learn more, check out our recent blog in The Conversation.
Key papers​
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​Williams, A. N., Ridgeway, S., Postans, M., Graham, K. S., Lawrence, A. D., & Hodgetts, C. J. (2020). The role of the pre-commissural fornix in episodic autobiographical memory and simulation. Neuropsychologia.
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Hodgetts, C. J., Postans, M., Warne, N., Varnava, A., Lawrence, A. D., & Graham, K. S. (2017). Distinct roles of the fornix and inferior longitudinal fasciculus in episodic and semantic autobiographical memory. Cortex, 94: 1-14.
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Hodgetts, C. J., Postans, M., Jones, D. K., Lawrence, A. D., & Graham, K. S. (2015). Dissociable roles of the fornix and inferior longitudinal fasciculus in place and face perception. eLife, 4: 1-25.
'Zooming in' on the hippocampus
Recent research suggests that the human hippocampus does more than just support long-term memory. It also helps create internal maps of our surroundings. However, the hippocampus isn't a single unit; it's made up of different subregions, each with its own functions and varying vulnerability to diseases like Alzheimer's. With support from the BBSRC, we are using ultra high-resolution brain imaging to study these hippocampal subfields in detail with an aim of uncovering how they form internal maps of places during perception and memory.
Key papers​
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​Read, M-L., Berry, S. C., Graham, K. S., Voets, N. L., Zhang, J., Aggleton, J. P., Lawrence, A. D., & Hodgetts, C. J. (2024). Scene-selectivity in CA1/subicular complex: Multivoxel pattern analysis at 7T. Neuropsychologia, 194, 108783.
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Hodgetts, C. J., Voets, N. L., Thomas, A. G., Clare, S., Lawrence, A. D., & Graham, K. S. (2017). Ultra-high-field fMRI reveals a role for the subiculum in scene perceptual discrimination. Journal of Neuroscience, 37 (12): 3150-3159.
Similarity and mental representation
Similarity allows us to form categories and generalise behaviours to novel situations and contexts. Classically, the similarity between objects and stimuli in the world has been conceptualised by the number of shared features, or via distance within a multidimensional representational space. While these theories have been adequate in many contexts, they are inherently limited in representing structural information - i.e., features and their interrelations. With Ulrike Hahn (Birkbeck, University of London), I have been applying and developing novel models of similarity based on transformation distance that can better capture structural information in human observers, but also in nonhuman species.
Key papers​
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Hodgetts, C. J., Close, J. O. E., & Hahn, U. (2023). Similarity and structured representation in human and non-human apes. Cognition.
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Hodgetts, C. J., Hahn, U., & Chater, N. (2009). Transformation and Alignment in Similarity. Cognition, 113 (1), 62-79.