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An experimental and invasive brain implant tested in people with epilepsy has been found to boost memory:
Scientists have developed a brain implant that noticeably boosted memory in its first serious test run, perhaps offering a promising new strategy to treat dementia, traumatic brain injuries and other conditions that damage memory.
The device works like a pacemaker, sending electrical pulses to aid the brain when it is struggling to store new information, but remaining quiet when it senses that the brain is functioning well.
In the test, reported Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications [open, DOI: 10.1038/s41467-017-02753-0] [DX], the device improved word recall by 15 percent — roughly the amount that Alzheimer's disease steals over two and half years.
There's also an AI/machine learning angle.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Friday February 09 2018, @03:18PM
Severe untreatable epileptics are a rather desperate group - life for them and their families is so bad that they're willing to try just about anything.
Brain implants are still very crude tools - 20+ years ago my family (who all have mild Parkinsons-like symptoms) watched with rapt attention as 60 minutes showed a segment on the first Parkinsons patients to receive DBS therapy. Our conclusion: yeah, the guy is clearly improved, but on a scale of 1-10, he went from a 9 down to about a 6, which is a huge deal for him, but we're all running in the 2-4 range, hoping to get lower - but not willing to go to brain surgery to get there.
They have refined the technology a little in the passing decades, but not much - stimulation locations are still crudely defined, and the stimulation itself acts more as a baseline re-regulation of neurotransmitters than any kind of specific signaling mechanism.
🌻🌻 [google.com]