Neuroscientist's Research Holds Clues About Short-Term Memory

George Mason graduate student John Fedota, right, takes the kind of memory test that helped identify Subject 7 at Raja Parasuraman's lab. "Ninety percent of neuroscience work has been done on animals. The techniques are all invasive and cannot be used on humans. But in the last 20 years we’ve developed noninvasive techniques to study human brain functions," says Parasuraman.

From Popular Mechanics:

What is a cognitive superstar? One grad student's exceptional brain could help settle the debate of nature versus nurture. For a full interview with neuroscientist Raja Parasuraman.

Last year, Raja Parasuraman was conducting a study of brain function among 650 participants at George Mason University in Virginia, when he stumbled across what he calls a “cognitive superstar.” The university professor studies neuroergonomics—a merger of neuroscience, the study of the brain, with ergonomics, the study of how to design systems and tech-nologies to be more compatible with users. Parasuraman hooks subjects to MRI, EEG and other brain scanners while conducting memory and attention tests to see what parts of the brain activate.

Read more ....