According to DARPA statements, the group of volunteers who underwent brain implants are experiencing improvements in memory.
The project, Restoring Active Memory (curiously the acronym is RAM, just like the memory of a computer) can favor the mnemonic and cognitive recovery of all those affected by brain trauma. The group of volunteers, who underwent surgery for the placement of brain implants through electrodes close to the brain regions responsible for the development of declarative memory it achieves better results in the tests it is subjected to.
The declarative memory it can contain both the memories of life episodes and those relating to the general baggage of the individual, and is the type of memory used to remember lists and lists.
The researchers involved in the project monitored the brain signals of the volunteers during a huge number of tests, tracing paths related to the formation of a memory and its recovery: the final goal is to quantitatively and qualitatively increase these processes through appropriate electrical stimulation.
The results, really promising, they are part of the DARPA project called SUBNET, which aims to improve the living conditions of patients subjected to post-traumatic stress disorder and other neuropsychiatric disorders through the brain implants: Draper Laboratory engineers have developed flexible electrodes able to interface with neurons to amplify and interpret the brain signals, providing the necessary stimulatory support.
The first test at the University of San Francisco involved 7 patients, which have been stimulated in a specific area of the brain, and have seen anxiety levels reduced considerably.
“With the improvement of this technology,” says engineer Justin Sanchez, the researcher at the head of the project, “we will be able to stimulate the brain in a much more targeted and precise way, sending impulses to increasingly limited areas. It is a very difficult frontier to reach, but we are making great strides. "
