"This DARPA-Developed Brain Implant Can Help Recover Your Memories"

[Tom]

This is kind of cool.  It would help with a lot of injured people that have head trauma. 

https://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/a19709853/this-darpa-developed-brain-implant-can-help-recover-your-memories/?src=nl&mag=pop&list=nl_pnl_news&date=040918

"Can a neural implant help you recover your memory? A Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) funded research pilot suggests that the answer may soon be yes.

In a small trial on 15 patients at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, "prosthetic memory" implant helped patients improve short-term memory by an average of 35 percent — a "substantial improvement" according to lead research Robert Hampson. "We were not surprised to find that this worked," Hampson said, "what surprised us was how successful it was."

The patients were part of a epilepsy treatment program, and already had electrodes implanted in their brains to map neural activity for seizure treatment and surgery. On their off time, researchers recruited the patients to play a simple memory game (identifying which of several images were shown on a previous screen) and mapped patients' neuron activity, especially in the hippocampus, the part of the brain responsible for memory creation.

When the researchers stimulated the patients' hippocampus in later trials using personalized "memory codes," the patients' short term memories improved. A two-minute test showed 37 percent improvement, and a hour-long memory test showed 35 percent improvement.

"Memory is at the heart of who a person actually is," Hampson said. "Without our memories, we lose our sense of self." The researchers' goal is to restore memory for patients who suffer from traumatic brain injuries, strokes, memory loss due to aging, Alzheimer's or other diseases, creating neural memory triggers in patients who don't already have electrodes implanted.

Journal of Neural Engineering (via L"

[Guzzi Gal]

The time is coming when most will have some sort of implant to aid in their daily lives. 

[Zoom Zoom]

The time is coming when most will have some sort of implant to aid in their daily lives.

That is amazing and scary at the same time. Sadly someone may attempt to take advantage or capitalize on it. Privacy is fading in this age.

John Henry

[JJ]

That is amazing and scary at the same time. Sadly someone may attempt to take advantage or capitalize on it. Privacy is fading in this age.

John Henry

I don't know about the rest of you...but I am not having any "DARPA implants" anywhere in my body in the foreseeable future!!

[Guzzi Gal]

I don't see any "useful" version of this happening within our lifetime.  However, for kids currently under the age of 20, augmentation might be considered by some a viable option.   

[Hal]

There is a lot of research going into and several FDA approved uses for neural stimulation.
Will be a big industry.
 I wonder where the got the implant from.


Hal - http://www.neuropace.com

[Tom]

I think for the original purpose in the case of epileptic seizures it would useful.  For other than that, I would be cautious about how the technology would be used.  A bunch of movie scenarios come to mind. 

[Muzz]

I had never heard of it, being stuck on the backside of the planet and all. Have just read up about it. Some of it looks really quite useful; some of it is downright scary.

[Tom]

I agree.  The scary stuff comes from someone having a bright idea and using it to make money from additional features. 

[Muzz]

I agree.  The scary stuff comes from someone having a bright idea and using it to make money from additional features. 

Sort of similar to Zuckerberg and Facebook?

[Tom]