Memory and Brain Implants
A
From a psychological perspective, memory is the underpinning of everything an individual has ever experienced and learned, and it can thus be said that the capacity to remember is vital to who we are. As we age, however, it becomes harder to remember things, and this can cause great anxiety, particularly if the symptoms lead to Alzheimer’s. It is disturbing to think that a person can forget who his or her loved ones are. Some wish that someone would invent a switch that, if turned on, would get one’s memories back. Neurologists admit they know very little about human memory, but some are utilizing what they have learned to help people remember.
B
Essentially, memory is the ability to cipher, store, retain and subsequently recall information and experiences in the human brain. In times past, the brain was likened to a bunch of drawers, and as new memories were made, they were stored neatly beside each other. But how a memory is encoded, retained and recalled is a much more sophisticated and ambiguous process than what was once believed. Since the 1980s, numerous studies on neurons indicate that the making of a memory involves the entire brain, with separate aspects of the memory being stored where the neurons fired up to make them - in the visual cortex, the motor cortex, the language area, and so on. When the memory of a particular experience is recalled, the network of neurons involved in its creation work together to make the entire experience available.
C
For example, the act of crossing a street reactivates neural patterns from different parts of the brain, subtly bringing back related memories: the memory of how to take steps, the memory of looking both ways before crossing, the memory of how long the walk sign flashes before it changes to don’t walk. Meanwhile, the working memory is actively creating new memories as the person takes in the surrounding sights and sounds—the car engines idling, the pedestrians walking in the opposite direction, the snatches of conversation as a couple passes by, and the feeling of anxiety lest the walk sign changes too soon. The brain has reassembled the distinct memories involved into a logical whole that the individual can utilize; at the same time, it is actively making and storing new information.
D
But what happens when we begin to forget? The inability to recall what someone said just an hour ago can be due to any of a number of things that are not associated with brain injury, dementia, or Alzheimer’s, a degenerative brain disorder that destroys the memory. Jet lag, sleep disturbances, stressful situations, mental health issues such as depression and anxiety, and too much mental input or clutter can affect recall. This type of forgetfulness is temporary as long as the stressors are removed or greatly reduced. It is when long-term memories are involved, such as not remembering the name of a person one knows intimately, becoming disoriented in familiar places, and not recalling how to brush one’s teeth, that forgetting becomes a serious matter.
E
Memory loss affects not only the individual and his family and friends, but also an employer. In monetary terms, economies lose billions of dollars due to this malady. The repercussions of memory loss are so serious that the government has asked the private sector to develop an implant to reverse this loss. The technology available today provides deep brain stimulation to reduce the symptoms of neurological conditions such as Parkinson’s disease, a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system. But the call to produce groundbreaking technology has a more ambitious objective. Servicemen who were once capable of flying a plane or operating special equipment no longer remember how because of brain injuries incurred in battle. A brain implant would stimulate neurons to remember these skills.
F
Another type of technology involves transplanting memories. The premise is that knowledge and skills can be transplanted into a person in much the same way that Neo of Matrix became a martial arts expert simply by streaming memories of the skill set into his own brain. Scientists are a long way away from transplanting memories, however, for they don’t yet know how memories are encoded in the brain. Moreover, if the brain is damaged, such a device must be able to circumvent the damaged area and find an alternative spot to encode new memories. One technique that holds promise in memory transplantation is the brute force technique, which measures general cranial activity. If the coded signals recorded are the same each time the person does the same action, then scientists can work backwards to determine the actual encoding technique. That code can then be stored on a silicon chip on the implant.
G
Not everyone likes the idea of brain implants, however. A newspaper writer stated that it might someday be possible to create super soldiers with abilities that take years to master. The creation of super soldiers points to a sinister use of brain implants. They can control people and make them virtually robot-like. An opinion columnist asked what the government would do if a large percentage of its citizenry should mass together and protest against the government. How can they control mobs numbering in the millions? He mentioned that implants can be placed inside a person with the greatest of ease. In fact, as early as the 1950s, implants have been used by psychologists to modify behavior. It is very easy to embed them in a person any time he enters a hospital for a procedure or even when he is born.