The brain loses memories during sleep
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Sometimes If you dream you see things from the past, so maybe it's true for a reason. It turned out, during sleep the brain works to consolidate and organize memories. In fact, scientists have long known that the brain needs sleep to review the day's events and transfer them to the departments long-term storage of memories. That is why before exams, students are often advised to study before going to sleep to remember the material. However, the mechanism by which the brain stores memories, poorly understood. Recently tiny microelectrodes placed in the brain of two patients with epilepsy for the first time showed exactly how the neurons of the brain aktiviziruyutsya during sleep to «play» our short-term memories and move them to permanent storage.
Tracking of individual neurons
The Study, which was published in the journal , was carried out with the help of Braingate (Braingate) is a device created by the joint efforts of scientists from brown University, Stanford University and Case Western Reserve. The last 10 years, researchers engaged in the development of interfaces brain-computer, which allows people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and other neurological diseases, traumatic brain injury or limb loss use brain signals to move computer cursors, robotic arms and other assistive devices.
In the new study, surgeons implanted tiny electrodes in the upper part of the brain of two paralyzed patients, and asked them to think about the hand movement in a certain direction. Displaying the behavior of neurons during of thinking, a decoder can translate a thought in speech or in action with the help of robotic prostheses and other assistive devices. Recently, editor in chief Hi-News.ru Renat Grishin told about the stunning device .
Neuron – electrically excitable cell that processes, stores and transmits information through electrical and chemical signals.
As the authors write operation, different neurons have different preferred directions. Some increase the speed whenever man wants to move his hand up; others, when a person wants to move to the right or left. Now, thanks to the work undertaken and the pattern of activation of neurons, scientists can determine in which direction a person is going to move the arm.
During the experiment two patients with implantable devices was asked to take a NAP. During sleep, neural activity was recorded as the source. Then each played modeled on the electronic game Simon 1980-ies, in which players were asked to repeat the same order of easy moves that just shows the game. Of course, both subjects did not move a limb, as did Simon. They used their mind to repeat the action game – this time neural activity was recorded. The results showed that during sleep the activity of neurons was identical to that recorded during a real game of two subjects. a This means that their brains continued to play after they fell asleep, reproducing the same patterns in my brain.
, Scientists are reading minds
As written , a complete understanding of how memories are stored in the brain may help to reveal the mechanism of the main functions of the brain. Moreover, the use of this technology for the study of neural activity during sleep is unprecedented. the study Authors hope that in the future will be able to develop more effective treatments for diseases that cause memory impairment, such as Alzheimer's disease.
a Partially paralyzed man controls robotic limb using the Braingate device.
Let me Remind you that sleep is a vital process in which researchers try to understand not the first century. So, just three years ago the General public became aware of the rhythms with a period of about 24 hours, which is in all living creatures on the Earth – including – responsible for sleep and wakefulness. But my colleague Artem Sutyagin wrote a detailed and fascinating article about the reasons why . Strongly recommend to read.
Ending this article I must mention that the study is not without limitations: subjects were just two of the patient. However, it is important to note that the Braingate device as a whole is rarely used – so, for all the time it was implanted a total of 12 such devices. But whatever it was, it in no way detracts from the fact that we are getting closer and closer to real mind reading. And even more. What do you think, when we learn to read minds and where will this lead? To discuss this and other interesting topics joinparticipants
every day we are getting closer and closer to sci-Fi films
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