Badanie podstawowe funkcji pamięci związanych z hipokampem
Basic Experimental Study of Hippocampal Memory Functions
W skrócie
Badania sprawdzają, jak hipokamp (obszar mózgu odpowiedzialny za pamięć) pomaga nam pamiętać zdarzenia i kontroluje to, na co patrzymy, gdy formujemy wspomnienia. Pacjenci z epilepsją, którzy przechodzą operację mózgu, biorą udział w testach wzroku i pamięci, a naukowcy mierzą aktywność mózgu za pomocą specjalnych elektrod wszytych w hipokamp. Badanie ma na celu lepsze zrozumienie, jak działa pamięć, aby w przyszłości móc leczyć zaburzenia pamięci w epilepsji i innych chorobach mózgu.
Oryginalny opis (angielski)
This project tests the role of the human hippocampus in providing online representation of episodic content and providing the top-down signals to brain networks for visuospatial attention and visual processing needed to drive visual sampling for the formation of coherent episodic memories. This hypothesis will be tested in several experiments that measure and manipulate hippocampal activity within eye-tracking tasks designed to isolate the interplay between memory and visual sampling during memory formation. These experiments will be performed in individuals with epilepsy undergoing neurosurgical procedures as part of clinical care, as this provides invasive recordings of neural activity (intracranial electroencephalography, or "iEEG") from the hippocampus and other regions of interest with temporal resolution that matches the rapid pace of eye movements. The temporal resolution of iEEG is key to addressing the hypotheses concerning how the hippocampus drives visual sampling, in addition to responding to it. Direct electrical stimulation through the iEEG electrodes will also be used to test the necessary role of hippocampal processing in driving active visual sampling. By rigorously testing the role of hippocampus in interaction with large-scale networks during the process of memory formation that occurs via active sampling, this project aims to better understand mechanisms relevant to the disruptions of memory formation that occur in neurological and psychiatric disorders.