Total Recall? Neuroscientists testing brain implant to restore people's memories- Memory prosthetic could be available in less than 10 years say developers
- Chip would teach brain how to remember again
- Epilepsy patients are likely to be the first to benefit
By Lewis Smith
PUBLISHED:15:30 GMT, 24 June 2013| UPDATED:15:30 GMT, 24 June 2013
Human trials are underway to test an implant designed to restore memories in patients with brain diseases, it has been claimed.
Researchers investigating how memories work have already carried out successful tests in rats and monkeys and are in the preliminary stages of testing human volunteers.
Patients with illnesses such as epilepsy are among those expected to be the first to benefit but eventually it is hoped that it could be used to treat people with Alzheimer’s Disease and other forms of dementia.
 In Total Recall, starring Colin Farrell as factory worker Douglas Quaid, memory machines were part of everyday life. They come a step close to reality with a brain implant that is intended to help people with diseases that impair their memory.
The memory device being developed in the US brings the world of science fiction into the operating theatre.
In the Hollywood 2012 blockbuster Total Recall starring Colin Farrell it was possible to implant new memories in people and the new device brings it a step closer to reality.
The memory prosthetic being developed in the US is designed to remind faulty parts of the brain how to remember.
The memory device, has already been hailed as one of the top ten scientific breakthroughs of 2013, and could be on the market in five to ten years, researchers believe.
Professor Berger Theodore Berger, professor of biomedical engineering at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, described the memory prosthetic in New York earlier this month when he spoke at the Global Future 2045 International Congress.
Researchers are now running a trial on a group of human volunteers with epilepsy, according to LiveScience.com
 Computer artwork of the brain showing the hippocampus (red), which is responsible for long-term memory.
Little information of any great value has been discovered yet but professor Berger is confident the results will be fascinating.
The device is designed to be used in the brain’s hippocampus where the ability to remember has been damaged.
It will be used in the area of the brain where short-term memory is turned into long-term recall.
It works by observing a memory being formed in one part of the brain and then stimulating another part of the hippocampus further down the ‘memory stream’ to replicate the process.
The device comprises of separate sets of electrodes, one which records memories being made before sending signals to a computer which mathematically transforms the process into long-term memory.
A second set of electrodes is then instructed by the computer how to stimulate another layer of the hippocampus to produce the same memory.
‘We’re not putting individual memories back into the brain. We’re putting in the capacity to generate memories,’ he said.
“You don’t have to do everything the brain does, but can you mimic at least some of the things the real brain does? Can you model it and put it into a device? Can you get that device to work in any brain?
‘It’s those three things that lead people to think I’m crazy. They just think it’s too hard.'
Last edited by NIXAR on 25-6-2013 10:28 AM
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Post time 25-6-2013 10:24 AM
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