What can you learn from studying the brains of London cabbies?
Hugo Spiers is Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at UCL. He studies how we remember, navigate and imagine space.
Some of his most interesting work has examined the brains of London cabbies who are required to learn the roads of London in painstaking detail. Now he leads the SeaHeroQuest project, in which his team are studying dementia using a mobile game.
We talk about his research — which in my opinion is fascinating but I delve a bit deeper — asking how ordinary people can themselves do fascinating research and not get stuck on mind numbingly boring projects. We speak about how he manages his time, how he sees work, mentorship and how he communicates and publicises his research so effectively.
I hope you enjoy.
Professor Spier's fiction book recommendation: Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe.
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