Electrodes for memory stimulation
Memory improvement technologies are being tested on humans
Copper news based on Nature materials: Sara Reardon, Memory-boosting devices tested in humans
Two groups of researchers funded by the US Defense Advanced Research and Development Agency (DARPA) presented their developments to improve memory in humans. Both technologies are currently being tested on epilepsy patients with already implanted electrodes.
In the first work, twelve subjects were presented with photographs, and then asked to recall them – with a break of up to 90 seconds. At this time, the researchers recorded the activity of CA3 and CA1 fields of the hippocampus involved in the formation of long- and short-term memory. Based on these records, an algorithm was developed that predicts changes in the activity of cells in CA1 in CA3. The forecast turned out to be correct in 80% of cases.
Thus, even if the CA3 area is damaged, it is possible to stimulate the CA1 area and get the desired results, explains Theodore Berger from the University of Southern California.
According to Dong Song, one of the researchers, such "memory recovery" has already been tested on a woman with epilepsy, but it's too early to talk about the results. In the near future, it is planned to test the effectiveness of such stimulation on a larger number of subjects. Perhaps the device will facilitate the process of transferring information from short-term memory to long-term memory.
However, some scientists are skeptical. Sometimes nerve cells can be too damaged, says Howard Eichenbaum of Boston University. In addition, the hippocampus is quite complicated and therefore stimulation of CA3 alone may not be enough. Finally, Thomas McHugh (Thomas McHugh) from the Japanese Institute of Brain Sciences RIKEN (Brain Science Institute) notes that it is not at all clear why stimulation of some areas of the hippocampus with its intricate organization leads to predictable results.
A team from the University of Pennsylvania has developed an even less explicable approach. These researchers relied on the fact that a person's memory changes depending on external conditions, for example, stress or exposure to different doses of caffeine. The experiment involved 28 patients with epilepsy. Scientists recorded the participants' brain activity while they recalled the list of words presented earlier. It turned out that stimulation of the medial temporal lobe, where the hippocampus is located, improves poor memory: when stimulated at the moment when a person reads a word that he might have forgotten, the ability to reproduce forgotten words increased by 140%. However, stimulation of the same zone in people with a well-functioning memory worsens memorization.
Despite the ambiguity of some processes during stimulation, both studies are interesting and important. Implantation of electrodes can help not only with the consequences of brain injuries to military and stroke survivors, but also to anyone who loses memory during the natural aging process.
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09.11.2015