Memory traces in brain studied

2010-03-12
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Researchers have been able to show that memories can leave a trace in the brain, in a discovery that promises new therapies for neurological conditions.

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Researchers have been able to show that memories can leave a trace in the brain, in a discovery that promises new therapies for neurological conditions.

They also believe the discovery could aid the better understanding of neurological conditions.

ScienceNow quotes the study claiming that people would no longer have to suffer damage to their memory, such as those caused by strokes, injuries or simply ageing.

Using imaging techniques, British researchers at the University College London (UCL), studying how the brain forms, stores and recalls memory, shifted their focus from spatial orientation to the more complex function of the hippocampus called episodic memory of specific experiences.

The group, led by cognitive neuroscientist Eleanor Maguire, described an example of this as the associations formed in the brain when an individual sees the ocean for the first time.

To learn whether memories could be captured using their algorithm, the team selected 10 volunteers that shared the memory and placed them in an fMRI machine.

By analysing blood flow, the imaging method highlights the areas of the brain which get activated in the presence of certain stimuli.

The computer code was able to identify which films the volunteers were remembering with an accuracy "considerably higher than would be expected by chance," Ms Maguire said.

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