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Researchers Design Memory-Strengthening Implant

Posted by Soulskill on from the i'd-like-to-order-another-two-braindimms-please dept.

Antipater writes "Researchers at Wake Forest University have created a brain implant that can imitate signals through the hippocampus, the part of the brain responsible for memory retention. Rats implanted with the device were able to remember information even after their hippocampus was shut down, reports the New York Times. Though still in its infancy, this technology could hopefully be used to help treat dementia or stroke victims."

6 of 72 comments (clear)

  1. Repeat after me... by erroneus · · Score: 2

    ...Borg!

  2. As long as I can delete stuff too by GoodNewsJimDotCom · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Memory is good to have, and it'd be fun to remember all sorts of things instead of having to look them up, but with Internet shock pictures, I want an option to delete stuff from memory too.

    Also, is it possible to transplant this device from one rat to another, and give it fake memories? Maybe the way to see is let a rat solve a maze several times over, and then hook it up to another mouse and let it go. If that is the case, put WIFI on it, and let Rats have a communal memory bank too.

    --
    God spoke to me
    1. Re:As long as I can delete stuff too by CrazyDuke · · Score: 3, Insightful

      There are differences between memory, experience, wisdom, indoctrination, and conditioning. I "know" how to drive a stick shift. I have never actually driven a stick shift. I am fairly certain that should I ever actually get stuck in a situation where I have to drive a stick without practicing first, I should upload the results to fAil Blog.

      --
      Any sufficiently advanced influence is indistinguishable from control.
    2. Re:As long as I can delete stuff too by layer3switch · · Score: 3, Funny

      "I know Kung Fu."

      --
      "Don't let fools fool you. They are the clever ones."
  3. Too much memory? by itsenrique · · Score: 2

    I once read an anecdote about a person who could not forget to the point that it basically drove them insane. Having vivid memory of happy or otherwise useful experiences seems great to me, but imagine being unable to forget gritty details as well. You see some especially disturbing violence for example, and you are more likely to experience a cluster of symptoms known as PTSD. Imagine cues that trigger sad thoughts about a loss (death, breakup, etc) always triggering a full on PTSD-style reliving of the event. As I understand, we "forget", or are unable to access a lot of things we "remember". Would a constantly juiced hippocampus dispose you splitting, compartmentalization, and other phenomenon related to "detachment" from psychological stress? Certainly good science, and I can see a huge potential benefit, on the other hand, something like this really opens up a can of worms.

    1. Re:Too much memory? by hedwards · · Score: 3, Interesting

      PTSD is more about being unable to leave the memories, pretty much anything you spend that much time thinking about is going to stick. If you repeated think about a specific page out of the phonebook over and over and over again all day long, you'll store that information indefinitely. It's not likely to be of any use, but if you concentrate on in long enough for enough iterations that will be with you permanently.

      It's probably more closely related to the problems of schizophrenia, one of the hypothesis surrounding it is that it's caused by hyperlearning and an eidetic memory. I'm not sure ultimately what the verdict will be when all is said and done, but if you look at the symptoms, it wouldn't be surprising. Folks that are overwhelmed by information overload tend to have trouble sorting and assembling information in meaningful ways.