Scientists have developed the world's first prosthetic implant that can help disabled brains to encode lasting memories, according to the Daily Mail. The technology has the potential to help individuals with degenerative brain issues, many of whom can remember events from long ago but have trouble encoding recent memories into long-term ones.
The prosthetic implant, which is made up of many tiny electrodes that are implanted into the brain, utilizes a computer algorithm that mimics that electrical signaling process that the brain uses to consolidate short-term memories into permanent ones.
"Being able to predict neural signals with the USC model suggests that it can be used to design a device to support or replace the function of a damaged part of the brain," said Robert Hampson of Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center.
Using the implant, the researchers were able to read the electrical input and output signals in the patients' brains, and they hope this understanding will eventually allow them to send electrical signals back into damaged brains and bypassed the problem areas, according to Science Daily.
Although the implant has been performed extensively on rats and monkeys, it has only recently begun to be tested on humans, according to the Financial Times.
The findings come after a recent series of prosthetic technology discoveries, as previously reported by HNGN here and here.
