Scientists have recently created a
brain implant that has shown to boost memory. According to a New York Times
article written by Benedict Carey, the brain implant seems to only be active
when the brain does not store new information by itself and be inactive when
the brain does.
Scientists
have been working on this implant for years now and are well supported by the
Department of Defense. This new development can potentially be of good use for
those who suffer from Dementia and other memory trauma. However, doctors are
currently debating whether or not to put this brain implant accessible to the
people as it has been known that numerous people have abused many memory enhancer
drugs (such as Adderall) and because it has only been tested on patients with epilepsy
so far.
They
experimented with twenty-five patients in the hospital. With the patients’
permission, the scientists gave them multiple memory tests while the brain
implant was on and then tested them again with the brain implant off. These test results made the scientists
conclude that this brain implant can boost memory up to fifteen percent! Doctors
are still waiting for this to be replicated.
A Brain Implant Improved Memory, Scientist Report - New York Times by Benedict Carey
This is very interesting, a 15% memory increase could make a huge different in the life of people with disorders that include memory deficits as a symptom. I also find it intriguing that they are putting into the account the abuse of memory enhancement drugs because the technique itself seems to be quite invasive in terms of application so the future plans in attempting to replicate the device will be cool. Overall, this device can be great for people with severe memory disorder and if it does become used commercially it can alter the lives of people with memory deficits in an amazing way due to memory being a key aspect in life.
ReplyDeleteI certainly agree that an implant of this sort is extremely invasive, which is most likely why it has only been tested on severely epileptic patients who are already awaiting brain surgery. However convenient, as we discussed in class, research on subjects such as these comes with its own setbacks, mainly that scientists cannot be sure that severe seizure-prone brains accurately reflect normal, non seizure-prone brains. As mentioned in the article, there is little chance this type of implant would be largely publicly available, but would rather be reserved for extreme cases of impairment; this removes much concern for abuse. I also found it interesting that patients were unable to tell when the memory-enhancement implant was on, even though they scored modestly higher on those trials. Overall, a very thought-provoking article!
ReplyDeleteI find this article very compelling in how this brain implant can help those with degrading memory. However, there are several setbacks with how this can go. My first thoughts raced through the invasive technique used to get the implant wired into the brain. There is a chance that we encounter a malfunction within the hardware, thus further damaging the brain. We also cannot guarantee that the subject would not suffer acute head injuries that could rattle the implant out of place. Another note that you and the author hit on was abuse of the memory enhancer. After decoding electrical potentials of the brain, it is possible that the subject can manually send the enhancer into overdrive, effectively weakening their memory system they control, thus needing to rely on the implant more due to a reliance on the machine. Problems aside, I think that there is extraordinary potential with the implant in that we could see it evolve into a device that could store unconscious memory. Most people do not actively remember their dreams but, this implant could reshape that if it works while we are asleep. That information could be sent to a server that is accessed by they subject should the want to know what they recorded.
ReplyDeleteI think it's odd that they mentioned potential abuse of this technology given how invasive and delicate the implant operation would be. I know college students get desperate, but not to that extent! I do feel that if successful in more trials, people will be very interested in replicating this in a more consumer friendly and less invasive way, and thats where the concerns with addiction probably come from. When I read through the article it said that this device works very similarly to a pacemaker, which would be difficult to abuse. But what about memory improving technology that utilizes TMS? Wouldn't that have a similar effect? It's incredibly difficult for someone to stick wires into their limbic system (and I really hope no one attempts that) but I've seen a few videos of people attempting DIY magnetic brain stimulation. TMS for memory improvements is something that's already showing a lot of potential. I'm interested to see how these two technologies get used in the future, especially if both get commonly used.
ReplyDeleteSurgically implanting something into the brain is no easy task. The risk of damaging the brain is already high when any surgical operation is involved, let alone one that requires a chip to be invasively inserted and wired correctly to the patients own brain. The risk of making the patients condition even worse than it was seems a little too high to make a procedure like this worth it. In addition, how would an implant behave during a collision or impact to the skull? I think it's great that the implant has been shown to boost memory by up to 15%, however I don't know if the technology is ready yet or if there's been enough thought gone into damaging things that could occur post operation and later on in the patients life. As for the article talking about abusing an implant, I think that's highly unlikely as brain surgery is no easy thing to undergo. A pill is a pill, someone sticking needles and wires in your head is completely different. However, if you could potentially purchase implants I wouldn't see this as abuse, as there are no consequent side effects listed.
ReplyDelete