A memory prosthesis could restore memory in people with damaged brains

Song said that brain injury patients would be the first to be considered. Specific parts of the brain are affected by such injuries. Damage to the hippocampus is easier to target than damage to the other parts of the brain.

Jacobs thinks it's possible to replace a hippocampus with something else. He points out that it will be hard to recreate a healthy hippocampus. He says it is hard to imagine how a few wires could be used to replace millions of brain cells.

Wake Forest Medical Center is located in Wake Forest.

All of the volunteers in the study had their implanted deep into the brain to reach the hippocampus. Song says that they are only able to record from 40 to 100 cells. He says that any memory device that is designed to treat memory disorders will need brain electrodes with hundreds of contact points.

Hampson, Song, and their colleagues are still figuring out how the memory prosthesis might work. There are a lot of life experiences that people with memory disorders don't need the device to run all the time. Why don't you use thebrain space? The man says it.

Song thinks that a device that can detect when the brain needs to be in a ready-to- learn state could be used with the prosthesis.

Song doesn't know if a memory device should be on. When we sleep, the hippocampus replays some of the memories from the day in order to consolidate them in other parts of the brain. Song and his colleagues don't know if a memory device that replicates this replay would improve memory or if it's a good idea to use the hippocampus while a person is sleeping.

Either way, the prosthesis is still some way from clinical use, says Shapiro. “I think in principle it could work,” he says. “[But] we have a long way to go before we understand enough about memory to be able to use this sort of approach to replace hippocampal function.”