article_snippet.sent: Devlin and his colleagues were asked to lie in the scanner while talking for 30 seconds on random topics without hesitation, deviation or repetition
article_snippet.sent: a task based on the BBC 4 panel show Just a Minute.
article_snippet.sent: Among the comedians taking part were Robin Ince, who presents a show with physicist Brian Cox, Richard Herring and Helen Keen.
article_snippet.sent: Robin Ince, who presents a show with physicist Brian Cox, Richard Herring and Helen Keen were compared against a control group of students, who, according to Dr Devlin, were far less adept at the task.
article_snippet.sent: Dr Devlin said: 'One of the participants was given "Scotland" and just said "I've never been there", and that was basically it. '
article_snippet.sent: We asked the participants to speak about "a perfect cup of tea", topics that should've been easy for everyone. '
article_snippet.sent: The testers did say that the control group of non-professional speakers found the idea of talking on a surprise subject very difficult.'