We saw a record number of guests at our annual Brain Injury Lecture, where speaker Dr Julian P Harriss, a distinguished consultant in Rehabilitation Medicine, discussed his game-changing new research into mirror neurons.
Leading South East law firm Thomson Snell & Passmore saw a record number of guests at their annual Brain Injury Lecture, where speaker Dr Julian P Harriss, a distinguished consultant in Rehabilitation Medicine, discussed his game-changing new research into mirror neurons.
Throughout the lecture, on 22 May 2014 at the Spa Hotel, Dr Harriss emphasised the ‘revolutionary’ nature of the research, which has yielded a ground-breaking understanding of how the brain works.
Dr Harriss explained that the idea that we learn through intellectualising, analysing and figuring things out is nearly always wrong. The way the mind really works has only recently been revealed by functional MRI, which highlighted the role of mirror neurons.
Dr Harriss stressed that imitation is key: our ability to learn from watching others is crucially important. Mirror neurons are invoked when there is a common goal of action. Mirror neurons will anticipate this action; and once we ‘get’ the goal we can smoothly complete tasks. Our understanding of how the brain works should therefore be focused on purposeful actions rather than anatomy.
These recent findings offer crucial insights into how we learn new motor and language abilities and how we can best recover these skills if we lose them through a stroke or brain injury. Dr Harriss believes these findings will revolutionise the treatments offered in therapy and rehab facilities, giving hope to many thousands of people.
Dr Harriss is the Clinical Lead of the Frank Cooksey Rehabilitation Unit at Kings College Hospital and Medical Director of the Queen Elizabeth Foundation for Disabled People, and honorary senior lecturer at KCL.
This is the eleventh consecutive year that Thomson Snell & Passmore has organised the event, which offers health and legal professionals the opportunity to learn about cutting edge developments in the field of brain injury science.
Partner and Personal Injury Team Leader Jonathan Clement said
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It is an honour to be able to introduce such an eminent and engaging speaker. It has been a really positive experience working with Dr Harriss. Rehabilitation is at the heart of what we do as a legal team and we are privileged to hear Dr Harriss talk about these developments, which we hope will have such an impact on our clients’ lives.
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Chrysalis Rehabilitation Case Management said "an excellent lecture as always, stimulating and very interesting."
Maidstone & Tunbridge Wells NHS trust said “Very good! Thank you so very much once again for arranging this event”
To find out more about personal injury law, and discuss any queries, please contact the Personal Injury team at Thomson Snell & Passmore on 01892 510000 or emailjonathan.clement@ts-p.co.uk.