AsianScientist (Sep. 29, 2016) – A new study from Japan shows that it is possible to recall motor memories tagged to particular brain states by noninvasive, artificial brain control. The study findings were published in eLife.
Our memory is strongly influenced by the context of the situation when we form our memory, or recall something from it. Recent studies have shown that such ‘tagging’ of memory also exists in memories of motor skills. For example, separate motor memories are created for the motion of one arm depending on whether the opposite arm is moving or not, but little is known about how such tagging of motor memories is implemented in the brain.
The research team, led by Professor Daichi Nozaki from the University of Tokyo, non-invasively stimulated the area of the brain called the primary motor cortex, which is involved in the formation of motor memories, in test participants. By using electrical currents, the researchers essentially simulated two different brain ‘states.’
From the study, they found that the participants unwittingly tagged motor memories to two artificially created brain states. By manipulating the state of the brain, it was also possible to recall motor memories tagged to particular brain states.
Research such as this could someday lead to applications that manipulate the brain state to train motor skills, the researchers said. In particular, it could mean more efficient training methods for athletes, and rehabilitation and physical therapy for sufferers of motor paralysis.
The article can be found at: Nozaki et al. (2016) Tagging Motor Memories with Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Allows Later Artificially-controlled Retrieval .
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Source: University of Tokyo.
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