Hagar Galbard-Shagiv, one of the two winners of the 2010 UNESCO L'Oréal Award for Promising Sciences, researched memory as part of her doctoral thesis at the Weizmann Institute, with the help of epilepsy patients undergoing a medical procedure during which electrodes are implanted deep in their brains. In her post-doctorate at Caltech, she seeks to examine consciousness in the same way
Memory is our amazing ability as humans to transform the experiences we experience into patterns of neural activity that are cataloged and stored in the brain. These patterns can be picked up at the right moment, even many years later, and we are able to experience them over and over again.
But how is the memory built? What are the neural mechanisms responsible for this wonderful ability? According to Hagar Galbard-Shagiv, who is currently completing her doctoral thesis under the guidance of Prof. Raphael Malach in the Department of Brain Research at the Weizmann Institute, we are still very far from understanding the process.
"Most of the studies that have been done on the subject of memory are very controlled studies, for example: you let people remember a list of words and then test them on remembering the list, or ask them to remember associations between two unrelated pictures. I was more interested in the natural, everyday aspect of memory, and we all intuitively understand what it is about: what happens in the brain when we come back from work and tell what happened to us today, or when we describe a movie we saw a few months ago."
This type of memory can only be studied in humans, who are able to share their memories with us, the researchers, explains Galbard-Shagiv. Most of the knowledge we have today about human memory comes from people with brain injuries who have lost the ability to remember or recall, or from studies using imaging methods such as fMRI or EEG. These studies direct us to certain areas of the brain, which are apparently responsible for creating and retrieving memories, but they do not have the sufficient resolution to examine what is happening at the level of the individual nerve cells, which is the really interesting level. "We had a rare opportunity to access exactly this type of information, by collaborating with Prof. Yitzhak Fried, a senior neurosurgeon from UCLA, who treats epilepsy patients who do not respond to medication. The only solution for them is to undergo an operation in which the epileptic focus is removed from their brain. In order to identify this center with certainty, and to analyze in the right place, patients are implanted with tiny electrodes deep in the brain and left there for about ten days, until they understand where the seizures start. These electrodes are able to monitor the activity of individual nerve cells."
Galbard Shagiv approached these patients during the waiting phase for surgery, which as mentioned lasts about ten days, during which the neural activity in different areas of their brain is continuously recorded in each case. She asked them to collaborate in her scientific research, watch short videos and share their experiences with her. According to her, they were happy about the added interest in their hospitalization.
"As mentioned, I tried to make the experimental paradigm as close as possible to everyday life. I showed people a series of short, familiar videos - famous places, clips from famous series, familiar people. Each video was repeated several times and we asked the subjects to watch the videos freely, as if they were in front of the TV screen at home. We saw that individual neurons in the hippocampus region - an area known to be responsible for creating memories - respond to a certain video or to a limited number of videos from the variety we showed. We then asked the subjects to freely recall the videos, and to report to us as soon as a particular video came to mind. We saw that the same neurons that responded to a certain video begin to respond a few seconds before the person reports the mentions of that video. For example, a cell that responded to a video from the TV series "The Simpsons" during the viewing phase, started firing pulses during the free recall phase, and a few seconds later the patient reported that he remembered the Simpsons video."
"In fact, we showed that the same hippocampal neurons that respond when we have a certain experience are the same neurons that also respond when we remember that experience. This finding was very important for the community of memory researchers, who for many years have seen such phenomena of "replay" of the same activity in the hippocampus cells of rats that are in different types of memory tasks. These researchers hypothesized that the same repeated activity indicates the rat's recollection of the experience it had, but of course it was not possible to verify this because we do not have access to the rat's thoughts or memories. Our research, in humans who are able to report their thoughts, came and gave a final confirmation to that hypothesis."
explore the mind
It may sound like mysticism, but Galbard-Shagiv seeks to explore not only memory but also the more elusive phenomenon known as consciousness. "After finishing my doctorate, I plan to go to Caltech for a post-doctorate with Prof. Christoph Koch, and continue to collaborate with Prof. Fried. I will move on to the field of consciousness research - a field that can only be explored in depth in humans, and therefore, even here, the access to the level of the single neuron and the high resolution in time that this method allows, are a tremendous advantage. I think that this kind of research can shed new light on many questions that remain open in the field.
25 תגובות
A:
You see?!
You haven't found anything to say yet!
Think a little - it's better than continuing to be humiliated.
You want to tell me that thousands visit the site again and again even though they see that it contains nothing but nonsense?
The truth is that there are two types of people here - those who enter the site to keep up with science and those who enter it to return people with a false answer. It is not difficult to know which of the two types you belong to.
from Rothschild
Anyone who stumbles upon the site sees that you are just mindless junkies who use science to cover up your nakedness
Go to the Knesset and see first if anyone even chooses you
A:
I don't agree with your claim, but it is clear that it is you - your whole purpose is to preach against anyone who is not in your head.
Too bad you couldn't find anything to say.
I came to this article by chance, because I am a student who is interested in neuroscience research, especially in Israel.
It saddens me that almost all the talkbacks do not relate at all to the matter for which we have gathered - which is the research (the most impressive, in my opinion) by Hagar Galbard-Shagiv.
What are you righteous husband priests preaching against anyone who is not in your head (who is)
The preaching articles are a top priority for you, the main goal.
You will not find such sermons on scientific websites
Did you not know that Elad is the supreme authority in determining which site is scientific and which is not?
Didn't you know that he examines the kidneys and heart and knows what the real agenda of the commenters is and it doesn't matter at all what they say about their agenda?
Didn't you know that Elad writes his words just like that - out of pure philanthropy and that he himself has no agenda?
So what if he insults and blasphemes without cover? He just finished whitewashing his crimes in the synagogue and now he feels that it is possible to start over without reckoning.
The thing is, Elad, the laws between man and his fellow man are more important than the laws between man and place and you should take into account that we have not forgiven you and we will not forgive you for your criminal behavior.
And your goal is to bring religious coercion even to a site that does not belong to the Broadcasting Authority and is subject to the hypocritical demand for balance. The scientific truth is the only thing that outlines the direction of the site, and anyone who wants to break away from science, whether it is an astrologer, engages in placebo medicine, his place in the New Age sites is not here.
Gali Weinstein: Avi Blizovsky:
This is not a scientific site but a site of self-righteous hypocrisy
What the site and the commenters have in common is that they all have ulterior motives.
My father's goal is to attack the religious people who hate their souls through the site.
Gali's goal is to gain recognition and publicity and also to join my father
Guy demonstrates his loathing of Gali because of some private scratch known only to him by criticizing the quality of her writing
No journey and no persecution - the review is about the quality of your writing, I and the other reviewers have no personal interest in defaming you. Why do we take care of you? There are other writers here who do not receive this criticism.
In order to volunteer to write, good will is not enough (what's more, in your case it is mixed with a considerable amount of excessive self-pity)
A comment on the comments of the commenter "Guy" or another nickname,
There are quarrel makers - the commenter(s) hiding behind fictitious nicknames - "Guy", "A. Ben Ner" and the like and appears/appears almost after every article I publish here on the science website (and now they also appeared after my comments). In the name of freedom of speech, these commenters decided to embark on a personal persecution campaign against me and harm my good name.
As my father wrote above, I voluntarily write scientific articles for science that are read by thousands of readers here in Israel.
It takes a long time to write scientific articles for the website. That's why I spend a lot of time writing and I do it willingly. Because the motto of the science site is that it is important that the public in Israel know what is happening in the world of science and technology and also in the world of Israeli and international academia.
But there are certain commenters (or the same commenter under false names) who hide under fictitious nicknames and pursue every article I post here with the clear aim of discrediting me. I am tired of the evil and I have no desire nor do I have any interest in arguing with malicious commenters and purifying the slanders against me.
Avi:
I am aware of my limitations and am not sure that I can do a decent job, if the situation were different I would gladly devote my time to the welfare of curious readers. I also appreciate your work and your investment and that of the other writers - there are quite a few talented writers here. The writer in question is notable for her mismatch between a series of highly deserving people
You commented on a comment, not an article. And besides, to all those who visit people who volunteer their time and energy.
Come and volunteer to write and translate. You have no idea how much work is involved in maintaining a site like this,
Avi:
The choice to present it as the leading site is your choice - if it is the only one then you could have presented it as the ugliest or shallowest site but you did not do so because you want to convey some message about the quality of the content appearing on the site, in light of this fact you also have a responsibility towards the content appearing on the site.
As for the congestion, it shouldn't be, we are looking for the reason for it, and hope that in a few days it will finally work out.
my father
Ha, right, I missed the "leader".
I took the "big one" from the 503 error (I think) that pops up when the site is too busy, and suggest trying the big science site in Israel later.
Ledi is both the leader and the greatest, he is simply the only one...
However, my role is to edit the site and bring the most interesting news to the readers, I don't remember that among the conditions for establishing a site in the State of Israel is also a kindergarten teacher's degree.
jewel:
"Leader" is the title that the site boasts of and is proudly emblazoned at the top of every page.
In light of this I would have expected a more rigorous quality control
Error correction - this is not the "leading" but the "biggest" science site in Israel.
Avi:
How long will the readers have to hear the pearls of one of the main authors of the "Leading Science Website in Israel"
So Galbard-Shagiv found findings in the field of memory: "In fact, we showed that the same hippocampal neurons that respond when we have a certain experience are the same neurons that also respond when we remember that experience. This finding was very important for the community of memory researchers, who for many years have seen such "re-transmission" phenomena. And she probably also found other similar findings, since this is a doctoral thesis. But according to this finding I understand that the direction of the findings is to understand our memory in general.
It seems that the research promotes pure science, but it does not have an immediate application in medicine. Let's say she mentioned some kind of illness. It seems that the research has general conclusions and is based on experimental findings. It is only useful for the curiosity of the researchers sitting in the ivory tower somewhere up there, those who tomorrow or the day after tomorrow will discover that the memory works in exactly the opposite way.
And why does it upset me? Because I would expect Galbard-Shagiv in the study to draw conclusions that will benefit the epileptics. Especially in view of their exceptional cooperation, and not just pure conclusions about the memory of humans in general, conclusions that have no immediate benefit and are obviously medically empty of content.
She missed the opportunity she was given - and she was really given a rare window of opportunity - to check what is going on in the brains of epileptics, to investigate focal activity and epileptic activity in general and other neurological activities related to the disease - if they are going to check epileptic patients then let them be helped. Because in the case of status epilepticus (status epilepticus) or slightly less severe cases, the patients suffer a lot. Even after the operation, the situation is not simple in terms of function.
And the study of consciousness is problematic because the experiments with the fMRI device do not actually "read minds". So much is not understood about our consciousness. And it is better not to investigate patients with the aim of understanding the normal functioning of the human being without first drawing conclusions about their illness. Because it is against research ethics.
Maybe instead of wasting the time of the epileptics for such stupid research, you will use them to find a cure for their disease?
Gila, I will allow myself to comment instead of Hagar. Things are simple. The advantage of the epilepsy patients is that they already have electrodes implanted in their brains as part of their medical treatment and use this to carry out the research. After all, you are not going to implant electrodes in the brain of healthy people just to do research.
Hello Hagar, I would like to know what is the relationship of epilepsy patients to your research topic? What is their relative advantage? Thanks