Brain Implants Improve Human Memory
Researchers from the University of Southern California have reportedly found that using an implant – or “memory prosthesis” – could “improve participants’ memory performance by up to 30 percent” IFLScience.com reported.
The team implanted these devices in 20 volunteers who were already receiving electrodes in their brain to treat epilepsy. They then performed a two part test. First they recorded the subject’s brain activity as they learned, then, “they had the implant stimulate the same areas of the brain that lit up during the original memory test.”
The implant strengthens the normal pathways the brain uses to create a memory by mimicking what the hippocampus does naturally. This type of device could have applications for those suffering from long-term-memory loss, such as Alzheimer’s sufferers.
“We are writing the neural code to enhance memory function,” Dong Song of the University of Southern California told New Scientist. “This has never been done before.”
