coolioo
March 7th, 2007, 05:27 AM
While the memories for life network contemplates how we record our lives as digital data, others are investigating a more direct fusion between memory and technology. Researchers in the US are developing a silicon chip designed to replace the region of the brain responsible for creating memories. The implant would interact directly with neurons in the hippocampus, th part of the brain where short-term memories are re-programmed for long term storae. When the hippocamus is damaged, as in stroke cases or Alzheimer's disease, patients loose the ability to store long term memories. The chip could bypass the damaged tissue, process the electrical signals itself and restore some long term memoy function. Thats the goal of Prof Theodore Berger working at the university of southern california. By studying the neural circuitry in the hippocampus, he and his team have devised mathematical models for the way neurons process electrical signals. The models allow the chip implant to accept a signal and process it in the same way as healthy tissue.
Berger has already proved this to work. In 2004, his team used the chip with slices of rat brain kept alive in nutrients. The implant stimulated neurons in the tissue and electrical output patterns were then compared with the real thing. They were 95 % accurate. Now the plan is to replicate the results in liverats, and then in monkeys. Eventually, Berger believes it will be possible to replace damaged hippocampus tissue with an implant. But he admits the process is complex: "[We will have to use] a chip small enough to be surgically and strategically placed in a particular part of the brain.
Researchers in the US are developing brain implants to help people store memories
Berger has already proved this to work. In 2004, his team used the chip with slices of rat brain kept alive in nutrients. The implant stimulated neurons in the tissue and electrical output patterns were then compared with the real thing. They were 95 % accurate. Now the plan is to replicate the results in liverats, and then in monkeys. Eventually, Berger believes it will be possible to replace damaged hippocampus tissue with an implant. But he admits the process is complex: "[We will have to use] a chip small enough to be surgically and strategically placed in a particular part of the brain.
Researchers in the US are developing brain implants to help people store memories