Posted on 10/23/2007 1:28:29 PM PDT by crazyshrink
PHILADELPHIA - For the first time, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania are able to pinpoint brain waves that distinguish true from false memories, providing a better understanding of how memory works and creating a new strategy to help epilepsy patients retain cognitive function.
The study, the first to show that brain waves predict the veracity of human memories, is available online in the journal Psychological Science and in the November 2007 print edition.
To test whether distinct patterns of electrophysiological activity prior to a response can distinguish true from false memories, psychologists at Penn recorded brain activity from 52 neurosurgical patients being treated for drug-resistant epilepsy. Patients were asked to perform a verbal free-recall task while researchers used an array of implanted electrodes and intracranial electroencephalographic recordings to locate where in their brains the patients seizures originated. Patients volunteered to study lists of words which they were then asked to recall at a later time. When asked to recall the studied words, participants recalled some number of correct items and also made a small number of errors, recalling words that had not appeared on the target list.
While patients performed the memory game, scientists observed electrical activity in their brains to determine whether specific brain waves were associated with successfully storing and retrieving memories. Researchers found that a fast brain wave, known as the gamma rhythm, increased when participants studied a word that they would later recall. The same gamma waves, whose voltage rises and fall between 50 and 100 times per second, also increased in the half-second prior to participants correctly recalling an item.
These analyses revealed that the same pattern of gamma band oscillatory activity in the hippocampus, prefrontal cortex and left temporal lobe that predicts successful memory formation also re-emerged at retrieval, distinguishing correct from incorrect responses, said Per B. Sederberg, lead author and former Penn neuroscientist now performing post-doctoral research at Princeton University. The timing of these oscillatory effects suggests that self-cued memory retrieval initiates in the hippocampus and then spreads to the cortex. Thus, retrieval of true as compared with false memories induces a distinct pattern of gamma oscillations, possibly reflecting recollection of contextual information associated with past experience.
Gamma waves actually predicted whether or not an item that was about to be recalled was previously studied, said Michael Kahana, a professor of psychology in Penns School of Arts and Sciences and lead investigator. In other words, one could see a difference in brain activity just prior to remembering something that had and had not actually happened.
In addition to providing a better understanding of how memory works, the findings may also provide a clearer picture of how to assist those suffering with epilepsy. In epilepsy's 2.6 million American sufferers, brain oscillations become so strong that they sweep across the brain, producing seizures. Although seizures are controlled with medication in two-thirds of people with epilepsy, the remainder may be candidates for surgery to remove the brain regions where seizures originate.
Identifying the neural signatures of successful memory storage and retrieval can help neurosurgeons reduce the cognitive deficits that might result from epilepsy surgery, said Brian Litt, associate professor of neurology and bioengineering at Penn, and a co-author of the study.
In addition, these techniques for mapping cognitive networks could give rise to better ways of mapping functional networks in brain, which may help in treating a number of neurological disorders, including depression, schizophrenia, head trauma and affective disorders, Litt said.
A collaboration of psychologists, neurologists and neurosurgeons from the University of Pennsylvania, Princeton University, the University of Freiburg and Harvard Medical School participated in this research, which was funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Swartz Foundation, the Klingenstein Foundation and the Dana Foundation.
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bump
bmflr
Possible solutions to such vexing problems like:
1. How Hillary got her name, and
2. The exact location of John Kerry during Christmas 1968.
Calling Algorge!!!!Calling Algorge!!!!
H. Beam Piper rides again:
The Veridicator
“There was a bright conical helmet on his head, and electrodes had been clamped to various portions of his anatomy. On the wall behind him was a circular screen which ought to have been a calm turquoise blue, but which was flickering from dark blue through violet to mauve. That was simple nervous tension and guilt and anger at the humiliation of being subjected to veridicated interrogation.”
When did head trauma become a neurological disorder? It might be due to faulty reasoning such as 'I need my freedom to not wear a helmet when I ride my bike,' but that would be a pre-existing neurological disorder.
Can this technology be of use to victims of Repressed Memory Therapy?
I know some people who went through that, and it was unbelievably destructive.
Gridlock, you have repressed the memory that you owe Greg F $120. Gridlock, you have repressed the memory that you owe Greg F $120. Gridlock, you have repressed the memory that you owe Greg F $120. Gridlock, you have repressed the memory that you owe Greg F $120. Gridlock, you have repressed the memory that you owe Greg F $120. Gridlock, you have repressed the memory that you owe Greg F $120. Gridlock, you have repressed the memory that you owe Greg F $120. Gridlock, you have repressed the memory that you owe Greg F $120.
I do believe head trauma is classified as a neurological d/o do to the damage done to the brain during the “accident” which would result in problems in the similar area of the brain.
You are right in that TBI isn’t the first thing we think of when we talk about neurological d/o’s.
Probably correct. It is possibly a technical term being used technically rather than a common term used in the usual mishmash.
My apologies, I do not know the answer to that question. This is out of my areas of expertise.
This is research only. Any applications are likely years away.
Um, so how do they know the signals they observed that supposedly show false memories don’t just reflect a lack of confidence in the answer? The answer is, they don’t really know that.
That is why it is called “research”. Previous and newer research will help build the knowledge in this area. This is not climate change “research”. :)
bookmark
Funny how the ‘gamma’ rythms are between 50-100 cycles per second.
Like 60 cps. 60 Herz. Same as all our house current, and the rate at which light bulbs switch on and off, per second.
Hmmmmmmmmm........
This should be applied to everyone who makes a rape accusation. It could be a very good tool at finding out who’s deliberately/consciously making up a false memory of an event.
Of course, I wonder if it pings on false memories when the people actually believe the false memories occurred. “A lie isn’t a lie if you believe it.” - George Costanza
Fixed it for you.
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