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Stimulation of the temporal cortex improves memory

21.02.2018

Psychologists from several US universities have proposed a new method of electrical stimulation of the temporal lobes of the cerebral cortex. It proved to be more effective than previously proposed. Such stimulation is designed to activate the reproduction of information deposited in memory.

The fact that the temporal cortex is involved in the formation and storage of memories has been known for a long time. In fact, it turned out with the help of an accident: the American Henry Molaison, long known as a GM patient, was forced to undergo an operation to remove the right and left hippocampus. It was there that he had foci of abnormal cell activity that caused him powerful epileptic seizures that did not respond to drug therapy. Since the hippocampi are located under the temporal lobes of the cortex, when they were removed, they were also damaged. Molaison lost the ability to remember new information for more than a few minutes. Thus, it was revealed that the temporal lobes of the cortex of both hemispheres, as well as the hippocampus (this is also a paired formation), play a key role in long-term memory.

Patients with epilepsy also took part in the study in question. But they didn't have their hippocampi removed, but instead implanted electrodes in their temporal cortex to stimulate certain brain cells and thus prevent seizures. Using the same electrodes, the scientists also stimulated the lateral part of the temporal lobes of the subjects when they performed a series of tasks for memorizing facts and names. At the same time, the participants in the study actually retained information better in memory. This effect was especially pronounced in cases where the lateral temporal cortex was stimulated in the left hemisphere.

Stimulation of the temporal lobes of the cortex has also been used to improve memory, but the electrodes were placed in its medial (i.e., central) part, and not in the lateral (lateral). This was done because the medial temporal cortex and the hippocampus were considered the main brain structures for remembering. Activating the lateral temporal lobe of the left hemisphere is, in a sense, more convenient: it is easier to get to this part of the brain than to the medial temporal cortex and the hippocampus.

A new way of stimulating the temporal cortex could, in theory, help improve memory for those who have partially lost it, such as those suffering from Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia.

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Diagnostic shirt 11.05.2000

This shirt was invented by American engineer Marvin Sackner. Woven into the fabric of the shirt, which resembles a turtleneck, are six types of sensors, the same ones that monitor the condition of patients in an intensive care unit, but greatly miniaturized.

The shirt registers up to 40 vital parameters of the person wearing it. Both common medical indicators are measured: blood pressure, pulse, cardiogram, temperature, and less commonly used, for example, the difference in the movements of the left and right halves of the chest during breathing (this difference may indicate the accumulation of fluid in the lungs).

The experience of monitoring the health of cosmonauts was used. A thin cable from the shirt is connected to a pocket computer, which accumulates the collected data. Through the computer keyboard, the patient can also enter subjective data about their feelings, such as pain or dizziness.

From time to time, the wearer of the shirt sends all the collected information via the Internet to doctors, who give him advice in the same way. The diagnostic shirt will appear in American stores this fall. When mass-produced, it will cost less than a hundred dollars, which is six to seven times cheaper than the PDA required for this system.

Only one question arises: if a person is so ill that he needs constant monitoring of 40 parameters of the body, is it not better for him to lie in the hospital?

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